﻿SEEDS AXD PLANTS IMPORTED. 



more luscious varieties of Pyrus cormnunis. Under No. 45592 Mr. 

 Meyer sent in 100 pounds of seed of the small-fruited wild pear of 

 the same species, and specialists are experimenting with these. 



Wilson Popenoe sends in from the Vera Paz region a small-fruited 

 chayote no larger than a hen's egg (No. 45350) ; the inga, which he 

 says is a fruit worthy of a place in the gardens of the amateur in 

 southern Florida (No. 45351) ; an interesting tropical walnut 

 (Juglans mollis, No. 45352), which makes a small tree only 45 feet 



Fig. 1. — Wilson Popenoe's routes of exploration in Guatemala from September 6, 1916, to 

 December 13. 1917. Tbe search for hardy avocados which Mr. Popenoe made during 

 the 16 months of his agricultural exploration of Guatemala constitutes a noteworthy 

 horticultural accomplishment. His journeys on muleback and on foot traversed over 

 2,000 miles of the mountain trails and roads of that Republic and resulted in the 

 successful introduction into this country of 36 distinct types of the hard-shelled hardy 

 avocado. Each one of these represents the successful importation of bud sticks from a 

 selected seedling avocado tree from which he collected the fruits and of which he took 

 record photographs, not only of the fruit itself but of the tree as well. The collection 

 is further remarkable in that each number in it is backed up by a careful description, 

 written on the spat, of the characteristics of the tree from which the budwood was 

 taken. This precaution will make it possible years hence to study the variation which 

 takes place in the fruit, as well as the trees which are grown from the imported buds. 

 In addition to this, which was Mr. Popenoe's main quest, he discovered and introduced 

 two wild relatives of the avocado, the anay and the coyo, both worthy of the careful at- 

 tention of tropical horticulturists, and also 190 other especially selected rare and useful 

 species of plants which he believes can be grown in the warmer sections of the United 

 States and similar regions throughout the world. 



tall, but which fruits abundantly and bears nuts with even thicker 

 shells than those of our own black walnut ; a species of tropical Eubus 

 (No. 45356) with soft seeds and of good flavor, which fruits abun- 

 dantly and should be tried in the Southern States ; and seeds of the 

 coyo (Persea schiedeana, No. 45354), on which will be grafted his 

 large- fruited variety of this new fruit, which he declares is more 

 highly esteemed by the Indians of the Vera Paz region than the 

 avocado itself and deserves to be brought to the attention of all 



