B. P. T — 231. 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED DURING THE PERIOD FROM 

 DECEMBER, im TO DECEMBER, 1905. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



This is the eleventh inventory of seeds and plants that have been 

 gathered together by this Office, mainl}^ from foreign countries, and 

 represents two years of work. 



It is not piA)lished to inform experimenters of plants that are on 

 hand for distribution, because in the great majority of cases the plants 

 and seeds listed have been imported for special problems upon which 

 the Department is at work and they have been already assigned to 

 their respective experimenters and are now, many of them, growing 

 in some part of the country. 



These inventories are historical records of the introduction of new 

 plants, some of which have already started new industries in this 

 countr}^ In the past historians have as a rule disdained to consider 

 the advent of a new crop as worth}^ of careful record, notwithstanding 

 the fact that its arrival might exert a remarkable influence upon the 

 development of the countr3^ It is believed that the publication by 

 the Government of such a record will avoid in the future for these 

 new industries the uncertainty which now exists as to the time of 

 arrival in America of some of our most important plant cultures, 

 which were probably first introduced by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. To the large number of agricultural experiment station 

 workers and others who are experimenting with the various introduc- 

 tions, these inventories will be almost indispensable. 



As remarked in previous inventories no attempt is made to reform 

 the nomenclature of the plants imported, for in many cases the iden- 

 tification of imported seeds and plants is impossible until several years 

 after their introduction. They must first be grown and studied by 

 specialists in the various plant groups, who are sure sooner or later to 

 include them in their monographs, in which places, and not in such an 

 inventory, botanists are accustomed to search for the most recent 

 nomenclature. 



5 



97 



