﻿10 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOKTED. 



The demand for large- fruited varieties of olives for pickling pur- 

 poses may make the Tafahi olive (No. 44709) from the Fayum Oasis 

 of Egypt peculiarly interesting to olive growers, for it is 4.5 cm. 

 long and 3 cm. in shorter diameter, according to Prof. S. C. Mason, 

 who arranged for its introduction. 



It is a curious fact that in Great Britain black currants are looked 

 upon as a delicacy, while in America little or no attention is paid to 

 this fruit, although it is peculiarly adapted to cultivation in the 

 extreme North. Collections of black and red currants are repre- 

 sented in this inventory under Nos. 44475 to 44499, 44581 to 44587, 

 44638 to 44648, 44706, 44707, and 44904. 



The Chinese grafted jujube has reached a stage in this country 

 where it will soon go on a commercial basis, but the investigation of 

 all the other forms of the jujube which are to be found in the world 

 should go on, and the tropical species from Khartum, Ziziphus mu- 

 cronata (No. 44748), may be of value. 



The question whether it would ever be profitable to cultivate the 

 species of Acacia which yield the gum arabic of commerce is one 

 which can hardly be expected to be answered a priori. The fact that 

 to-day the Brazilian sources of Para rubber have sunk into insignifi- 

 cance in comparison with the plantation rubber from the cultivated 

 Para rubber trees in the East Indies should certainly make advisable 

 an investigation of the possibilities of desert plantations of these gum- 

 producing plants. For this purpose two of the African gum acacias 

 have been introduced (Nos. 44922 and 44923). 



The new problem of growing chestnuts in orchards, which the chest- 

 nut bark disease has brought up, has attracted attention to the smaller 

 species of oriental chestnut trees, such as Castanea mollissima, and to 

 the hybrids between our chinkapin and the Japanese chestnut. Is 

 it not possible that a dwarf species of the related genus Castanopsis 

 may have value in this breeding work ? Seeds of this species, Castanea 

 mollissima (No. 44448), from Nanking, have been sent in by Rev. 

 Joseph Bailie, of Nanking, who has just had the distressing experience 

 of being beaten nearly to death by Chinese bandits while at work to 

 help the Chinese establish a better forest policy. 



The introduction by Mr. H. M. Curran of a species of cactus, 

 Cephalocereus lanuginosus (No. 44454), from Curacao, which has at- 

 tractive red fruits, brings up the whole question of the utilization of 

 the fruits of the Opuntias in this country. With thousands of acres 

 in California where the best fruit-bearing varieties will grow to per- 

 fection and with hundreds of people in the Eastern States who have 

 been accustomed from their childhood in the Mediterranean region 

 to eat the " fico cl'India," it seems unfortunate that a method has 

 not been devised for the removal of the small spicules which are 



