﻿6 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



which, according to Mr. Meyer, is likely to prove even more drought 

 resistant than the latter species and be useful as a stock in the dry 

 regions of this country; two wild plums, Prunus spp. (Nos. 40014 

 and 40015), with possibilities for breeding purposes, from Shensi 

 Province; and a citrus species (Nos. 39897 and 40039), with fruits 

 resembling those of a sour mandarin, which would appear to have 

 unusual hardiness. 



Of shade trees and shrubs for doorj^ards, Mr. Meyer secured a 

 poplar, Populus suaveolens przewalskii (No. 39900) ; a beautiful 

 evergreen bush, Daphne tangutica (No. 39914), suited to regions like 

 Long Island; a bush honeysuckle, Lonicera sp. (No. 39915), for low 

 hedges in the colder sections of the country; a Chinese rowan, 

 Sorbus sp. (No. 40021) ; an ideal cover for shady portions of the door- 

 yard, Schizandra sphenanthera (No. 40025) ; a valuable late-flowering 

 porch climber with white flowers, Polygonum sp. (No. 40034) ; and 

 Wilson's horse-chestnut, Aesculus wilsonii (No. 40037), from near 

 Chenghsien, Kansu, a new form of this valuable avenue tree. 



Of the introductions made through correspondents the following 

 are the most noteworthy : 



Four varieties of corn, Zea mays (Nos. 39936 to 39939), were col- 

 lected by Mr. F. Kingdon Ward in the Valley of Nmaihka in Upper 

 Burma, where a remarkable corn culture exists at an altitude of 5,000 

 to 6,000 feet, which appears to be very ancient. On one of these 

 varieties (No. 39937) Mr. Collins has found signs of the characteristic 

 waxy endosperm which has heretofore appeared only on corns from 

 eastern China and nowhere else in the world, and this fact may be of 

 value in determining the origin of this remarkable corn. A surpris- 

 ingly interesting collection of Spanish corn varieties, Zea mays ( Nos. 

 40259 to 40294), from Spain and the Canary Islands and different 

 portions of the mainland, which was made by Senor Valero, an offi- 

 cial agricultural engineer who recently visited this country, has 

 already unusually excited the interest of the corn specialists. 



So much interest attaches to the spineless cactus that the dis- 

 covery in Hawaii of a form without spines and with very few spicules, 

 Opuntia sp. (No. 39853), which is supposed to have been brought 

 there by Don Marin and which in comparison with Burbank's spine- 

 less cactus has shown its ability to live on dry islands of the Hawaiian 

 group where the Burbank cactus has quickly perished, will interest 

 a wide circle of experimenters. 



The Porto Rican black walnut, Juglans portoricensis (No. 40236), 

 which matures its nuts in April and May ; the red bush nut from New 

 South Wales, Hicksbeachia pinnatifolia (No. 39871) ; the late-bloom- 

 ing varieties of English walnut, Juglans regia (Nos. 39839 to 39844 

 and 39881 to 39886) , from Grenoble, France, to which our attention was 

 directed by Prof. J. Russell Smith ; the Tibetan tree hazelnut, Corylus 



