﻿4 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



thousands of new plants which the man of the coming centuries is 

 going to need and use. 



A number of valuable plant introductions are described in this in- 

 ventory. In his remarkable work, " Farmers of Forty Centuries," 

 King calls attention to the fact that the Chinese pay 28 cents a 

 pound for the young shoots of a certain species of clover, or six 

 times as much as they do for any other vegetable. It is not only 

 eaten fresh but dried and used in soups. In view of the value placed 

 upon the fat soluble vitamine which occurs in green leafy vegetables 

 it has seemed worth while to introduce this species {Astragalus sini- 

 cus, No. 45995) for experimental purposes. 



Mr. Barbour Lathrop, during his last trip to Japan, discovered 

 that among the Japanese of all social classes the mitsuba (Bering a 

 canadensis. No. 46137) was a common and universally appreciated 

 vegetable. It is a strange circumstance that, although this species 

 is found wild in the woods of the Atlantic coast and as far west as 

 the Mississippi and has for a century or more been cultivated ex- 

 tensively in Japan, no attempt has ever been made to utilize it in 

 America until Mr. Lathrop called attention to it. It is more easily 

 grown than celery, has a characteristic flavor of its own, and would 

 doubtless fit easily into the menu of those who once become familiar 

 with its taste. 



In the hammock lands of southern Florida, where every year 

 hundreds of acres are devoted to the raising of early potatoes for 

 the northern market, February frosts or flooding from unusually 

 heavy rains make potatoes a precarious crop. On % these lands the 

 tropical yautia grows and produces amazingly, not being affected 

 by flooding and recovering quickly from frost injuries. The tubers 

 when properly prepared form a delicate vegetable, comparing in 

 this respect with the best potatoes. The introduction of a new 

 variety (No. 46030) whose tubers have yellow flesh instead of 

 white and a more mealy character, which make it preferred to all 

 others in Porto Rico, is worthy of special mention. It is known in 

 Guadeloupe as the malanga colore. 



The Australian casaba (No. 46029), which produces fruits the 

 size of a cucumber that are esteemed very highly in Australia for 

 pies and are eaten there fresh with sugar, might be worth testing 

 in our own casaba-melon areas. 



The Puget Sound region seems to be one in America where 

 Himalayan plants are most at home, and Dr. Cave's collection of 

 seeds from Darjiling has in it several unusually interesting species. 

 The giant lily (Lilium, giganteum, No. 46085), which grows to 12 

 feet in height and bears fragrant yellow-throated blooms ; the Nepal 

 lily (L. nepalense, No. 46086) with deep maroon-purple, almost 



