Mr. Harlan. 



INVENTORY OF FOREIGN SEEDS AND PLANTS. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



The present inventory consists almost entirely of a continuation of 

 the list of garden vegetables, fruits, forage plants, and ornamentals 

 secured by Mr. Walter T. Swingle, Agricultural Explorer of this Depart- 

 ment, in France, Italy, and Algeria. These represent a careful selec- 

 tion of the newer and more promising varieties and species recently 

 introduced into cultivation, which seemed worthy of being tested in 

 the United States. An extensive series of varieties of the European 

 grape, which would come numerically in this inventory, is to be issued 

 separately. Cuttings are not available for general distribution, having 

 been imported in quantities sufficient only to permit tests which are 

 being made in cooperation with the Division of Pomology at various 

 points in the South Atlantic States, Louisiana, and Kansas. An impor- 

 tation of ten tons of seed rice, secured by Prof. S. A. Knapp from the 

 island of Kiushu, Japan, appears under No. 1962, but the fruit trees 

 and ornamentals obtained by him arrived much later, and an inventory 

 of them will be published hereafter. There are also some varieties of 

 interest, particularly for the subtropical parts of the country and the 

 newer insular possessions, sent' from the West Indies by the Hon. 

 Barbour Lathrop and Mr. D. Gr. Fairchild, while on their way to South 

 America. 



It will, of course, be readily understood by all who examine these 

 inventories that the values of the various importations are extremely 

 unequal. Some may prove of technical interest merely, while others 

 will have far-reaching commercial importance. For example, the Turke- 

 stan alfalfa distributed last year bids fair to extend materially the 

 range of cultivation of this valuable crop, the recently imported sort 

 having proved more resistant both to cold and to drought than the 

 variety previously in cultivation in the West. 



It is not to be expected that all the species or varieties secured by 

 our agricultural explorers will prove to be entirely new to specialists 

 or dealers. Many plants have been imported and tested heretofore 

 without any permanent record as to results. We are intentionally 

 securing small quantities of the seeds of many such species, either to 

 permit tests by some improved methods of culture or for distribution 

 to parts of the country where experiments have not been made. Fur- 

 thermore, specialists in various crops often apply for imported seed of 

 well-known plants, in order to ascertain by careful comparative tests 

 the existence of differences in vigor or other qualities, some of which, 

 though inconspicuous, are economically of great importance. It should 



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