﻿2 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



In Nos. 46316 to 46320 we have a collection of strikingly orna- 

 mental trees and shrubs from New Zealand, sent in by our corre- 

 spondent, Mr. H. E. Wright. Freycinetia banksii (No. 46317) with 

 its striking fruit, Meryta sinclairii (No. 46318) with its immense 

 leaves, Pittosporum ralphii (No. 46319) w T ith bell-shaped, dark-crim- 

 son flowers, and Sideroxylon costatum (No. 46320), a handsome 

 shade tree, should all find a place somewhere in America. 



Mr. John Gossweiler has sent in from Loanda, Angola, a species 

 of Solanum (S. macro carp on; No. 46330) bearing fruits the size 

 of an apple, and also a brilliant violet-purple flowered species of 

 sesame (Sesamum angolense; No. 46332) that may possibly be used 

 to advantage in the improvement of the oil-producing sesame, which 

 has the defect of scattering its seeds, thus making mechanical har- 

 vesting impossible. 



A red-fleshed pummelo {Citrus grandis; No. 46336) from Shen- 

 chowfu, which its sender, Mr. N. T. Johnson, says ripens two months 

 earlier than other varieties, may prove valuable in Florida. 



The collections of beans and closely allied plants, accessioned in 

 this inventory, may be cited to show how the machinery of plant 

 introduction works when a plant breeder wants to get together as 

 many varieties of a certain plant as possible for experimental pur- 

 poses. Nos. 46338 to 46354, from Guayaquil, Ecuador; Nos. 46358 

 to 46373, from Caracas, Venezuela; Nos. 46490 to 46499, from Ko- 

 sario, Argentina ; Nos. 46502 to 46521, from Para, Brazil ; and Nos. 

 46525 to 46530, from Punta Arenas, Chile, will put in his hands a 

 total of 63 probable strains, including, of course, some duplicates. 



Whether or not there would be any distinct advantages to truck 

 growers in grafting eggplants on the root of the susumber (Solanum 

 mammosum), which is closely related to it, remains to be shown. 

 The idea is interesting, and seeds of the tree have been obtained 

 (No. 46374). 



The white sapote, which is much hardier than the avocado, is 

 gradually winning adherents, at least the large-fruited varieties of 

 it. A new one from Guadalajara (Casimiroa edulis; No. 46375), 

 with pear-shaped fruits, is welcome, and Mr. Furnivall may have sent 

 a sort superior to any we now have. 



The large-fruited Mexican oaks (Quercus sp.; No. 46383) are so 

 strikingly interesting that it is to be hoped they will withstand our 

 winters in the South and, like Litkocarpus cornea from Hongkong, 

 will find a congenial home along the Gulf coast. 



Could the kauri pine (Dammara australis; No. 46387), stateliest 

 of all the giant forest trees of the world because of its perfectly 

 columnar trunk, be grown anywhere in the western hemisphere, it 

 ought to be, for disquieting stories of its threatened extinction in New 

 Zealand are rife. We are protecting our redwoods and sequoias, and 



