
          The plants imported by this office of
the Department of Agriculture are in most
cases so little known to experimenters that
their scientific or even common names alone
would convey little idea of their character.
To distribute them under a name simply and
depend upon the experimenters to look them up
in a catalogue entails a burden upon the 
investigator which often results in his being
Ignorant at the close of the year of what the
new plant is good for. To enable him at any
time to refresh his memory as to the use of
any one of these introductions, special labels 
have been devised upon which are printed
sixty words of description. These descriptive 
labels are attached to the plants when
they are sent out. This catalogue is made up
of the identical descriptions which will 
appear upon them.

The information on the labels consists
of the Seed and Plant Introduction (S.P.I.)
number, under which the plants are known at
all times, of the scientific name and a common 
name, when one has been adopted for this
country, and a brief description of the plant
with its uses and, where possible, a suggestion 
of the general region to which the plant
is likely to be adapted.

In some instances few or no plants of the
exact number given in the description may be
available for distribution, but in such cases
plants of the same species and variety under
another introduction number may be substituted.
        