PLANT INTRODUCTIONS. 



Experimenters will please read carefully this Introductory 



Note before sending in their requests for plant material. 



This, the Seventeenth 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 investi- 

 gations generally in the United States Department of Agriculture and the State Ex- 

 periment Stations. Many of them have been grovm 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 Ex- 

 perimenters 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 1928-29, 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 Intro- 

 duction) 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 prefer- 

 ence 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 speci- 

 fied time, every effort will be mads 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. 



