14 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOKTED. 



24450— Continued. 



a handsome tree, with dark-green, shining leaves which have a resinous odor; it is 

 common in the greater part of India, growing up to 4,000 feet; when cultivated is a 

 middle-sized tree of 35 feet, but when wild is a scrubby tree. 



"The leaves, roots, bark, and fruit are used in native medicines and the last named 

 in European medicines also, and from the flowers a scent water is distilled. 



" Bael is cultivated for its fruits and as a sacred tree, being thought a lot of for worship 

 of the god Shiva, and is one of the few woods prescribed by the Hindoo scriptures for 

 sacrificial fires. The wood is close grained, tough, and strong, but often splits in 

 seasoning. 



"The leaves, bark, and roots are used as a febrifuge and the first mentioned is also 

 lopped for cattle fodder. 



"The unripe fruit, either boiled or roasted, is used as a specific for diarrhea and 

 dysentery. When ripe it is very much like an orange in shape, color, and size, but 

 has a hard shell, which is sometimes made into snuffboxes; the pulp of the fruit is a 

 laxative and when mixed with milk or soda water, or both, makes a healthy, cooling, 

 and agreeable sherbet. To make this they take the pulp of the fruit out of the shell 

 and put it into a little water, then pass it through a strainer, and put it into a glass of 

 milk or soda water and sugar to taste. The pulp is also used to strengthen mortar for 

 building purposes and the mucus with which the cells are filled is used as a glue; also 

 used with water paints to add to their strength and brilliancy. This fruit is greatly 

 valued for eating by the natives, but can scarcely be looked upon as palatable to the 

 white man except as a sherbet and for its medicinal properties. The tree comes true 

 to seed and is not grafted. It might be tried in several districts, as it grows equally as 

 well up here as in Calcutta, where the air is moist and hot all the year round, and here 

 it is very dry and hot in the summer, with a temperature of 112° to 120° F. in the shade, 

 and in the winter with sometimes 12 degrees of frost at night; but the bael always 

 looks healthy and green, no matter what the weather is. It is leafless for about one 

 month only, January or February, and its one year's fruit is ripe at about the same 

 time that it is flowering for the next year's fruit. 



"This is really a valuable tree both from a decorative and economic point of view, 

 and I do not consider it gets the attention in India that it should." (Mustoe.) For 

 further description and previous importation, see No. 22957. 



Introduced at Mr. Walter T. Swingle's suggestion for use in breeding new types of 

 citrus fruits. 



24451 to 24575. 



From northern and central Asia. Received through Prof. N. E. Hansen, of the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Brookings, S. Dak., while traveling as an 

 agricultural explorer for the Department of Agriculture, December 3, 1908. 

 The following seeds: 



24451. Medicago ruthenica (L.) Trautv. 



"(No. 59.) From same source as No. 58 (S. P. I. No. 24456). This is a 

 favorite wild forage for the stock kept by the Mongolian nomads of this region, 

 should be tested in the driest, coldest parts of the Northwest, especially where 

 the most extreme cold comes at times without snow on the ground . For a com- 

 mon name Gobi Desert, Mongolian, or East Siberian alfalfa will do." (Hansen.) 



Distribution. — A native of stony and sandy regions of Siberia, extending east 

 to the region of Lake Baikal, and into China. 

 162 



