
          PLANT INTRODUCTIONS.

Experimenters will please read carefully this Introductory

Note before sending in their requests for plant material.

This, the Sixteenth Annual List of Plant Introductions, contains descriptions
of many new and rare plants, not yet widely tested in this country. The available
information concerning some of them is meager, and it is therefore impossible to
speak with assurance regarding their value, their cultural requirements, and their
adaptability to the various climates and soils of the United States.

These plants have been imported because of some direct or indirect use which,
it is believed, can be made of them. They are first placed at the disposal of the
experts engaged in plant breeding, crop acclimatization, and horticultural investigations 
generally in the United States Department of Agriculture and the State Experiment 
Stations. Many of them have been grown in sufficient quantity, however, so
that they can be distributed to private experimenters who have the facilities to
test them carefully.  The List is therefore sent to those who have qualified as 
Experimenters 
with the Office of Foreign Plant Introduction, and who have indicated a
willingness to care for material sent them.

Accompanying this Annual List are complete Check Lists showing all seeds and
plants available for distribution at the several Plant Introduction Gardens during
the season 1927-28, and the Garden from which available. Applicants for material
should fill out all blanks at the top of the Check List of each garden from which
they request plants, place a mark to the left of the F.P.I. (Foreign Plant Introduction) 
number of each plant desired, and return the lists promptly to this Office.

It should be distinctly understood that the Office does not agree to supply
all the plants requested. The object of the Annual List and the Check Lists is to
place experimental material where it is thought the chances of success are best; to
this end the experts of the Office will allot the available number of plants to those
experimenters whose location and facilities seem most suitable, having in mind, at
the same time, the order of receipt of the returned Check Lists, and giving 
preference 
to those which arrive first.

The shipping season extends, as a rule, from December first to April first.
Because of the large quantity of plants which must be handled, it is difficult for
the Office to single out individual requests and ship them at a certain date; where
there are, however, valid reasons for requesting that material be sent at a 
specified 
time, every effort will be made to meet the requests.

These plants are placed in the hands of experimenters with the understanding
that reports on their behavior will be sent to this Office from time to time. It is
particularly desired that reports be sent to this Office regarding the flowering,
fruiting, hardiness, utilization and other interesting features of plants which have
been sent for trial; and it is hoped that experimenters will at all times exercise
care to preserve the original labels sent with the plants, or accurate plats showing
the location and F.P.I. number of each one.
        