4 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOETED 



seeds and plants so far as was possible from the fragmentary material 

 often sent in. It was not then and is not now always possible to 

 idiMitify a new introduction without first growmg t, and it is as 

 impracticable to ])ostpone the publication of its importation for 

 months or years, awaiting its fiowermg and fruiting, as it is to get 

 some of our correspondents to prepare good botanical specimens and 

 send these in with the seeds and plants. Corrections of the pre- 

 liminary identifications must be made later. 



To Mr. H. C. Skeels was intrusted the task of identifying the seeds 

 and to Mr. W. F. Wight the plants, and arrangements were made by 

 which this was done under the general supervision of Mr. Frederick 

 V. Coville, botanist in charge of the Office of Taxonomic and Range 

 Investigations. To nothing, perhaps, more than to the faithful care 

 of Miss Mary A. Austin is due the accuracy and completeness of these 

 quarterly inventories, and her resignation from the service, which 

 occurred at the completion of this inventory, has been a matter of 

 keen regret to all who have been working with her on the records of 

 the office. 



Owing to the delays incid^it to the publication of such a technical 

 bulletin as this inventory, it has been found necessary to issue twice 

 a month what might be termed advance sheets of information, being 

 a bulletin called " Plant Immigrants," announcing promptly the 

 arrival of new plants and soliciting apphcations for them by reputable 

 experimenters at the State experunent stations and elsewhere. The 

 quarterly pubhcation of the inventories makes it possible to have on 

 the shelves of the experimenter the data regarding his new plants at 

 the time he is working with them, since, with the exception of annuals, 

 almost all species are first propagated in the various field stations of 

 the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction and distributed t^e 

 following season in the shape of plants. 



It has been customary in these introductions to the printed inven- 

 tories to single out some of the more interesting importations. The 

 following importations listed in this inventory appear to the WTiter 

 as worthy of special mention: 



No. 33279, the Alger Navel orange, a variety originated by Dr. L. 

 Trabut, of Algiers; No. 33281, a new sweet sorghum, apparently 

 related to the Red Amber variety, from German East Africa; No. 

 33290, Lathyrus muTkak, from the mountain slopes of Bokhara, 

 which Mr. Frank N. Meyer says is perennial and could be used for the 

 creation of a perennial sweet pea; Nos. 33295 to 33301, seven varie- 

 ties and species of Trigonella for trial in comparison mth T. foenum- 

 graecum, the fenugreek of Egypt and Tunis; Nos. 33303 to 33307, 

 five species of Hedysarum for breeding purposes and trial in com- 

 parison with sulla, the great forage crop of Malta; No. 33308, Spin- 

 acm tetrandra, a wild spinach from central Asia, to assist in the 



