OCTOBER 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1912. 17 



34415. Berberis vulgaris L. Barberry. 



From Sherbom, Mass., Presented by Miss Martha L. Loomis. Received Octo* 

 ber 15, 1912. 



"A barberry found growing wild here which bears seedless fruits." (Loomis.) 



34416. Phaseolus angularis (Willd.) W. F. Wight. 



Adzuki bean. 



From Cabanas, Cuba. Presented by Mr. S. H. Camahan. Received October 5, 

 1912. 



"Last year I found a few plants of what was to me a new bean. The plant is small, 

 4 to 10 inches tall, with yellow blossoms, but the pods set on more like a cowpea than 

 like a white soy bean of the north. They roast nicely and make a good cereal coffee; 

 also seem to cook as a soup bean, except a little slow to soften." (Carnahan.) 



"These are much employed in Japan for human food. The commonest method of 

 eating them is to make a meal from the beans, from which cakes and confections of 

 various kinds are made." (C. V. Piper.) 



34417. AcROCOMiA sp. 



From South America. Presented by Mr. Thomas R. Gwynn, Horqueta, Para- 

 guay. Received October 14, 1912. 



Mbocata (coco)? The coco, from the root up, is most valuable; when it is very 

 young, the roots, so the natives tell me, can be used as mandioca; when matiu-ed, 

 from a foot or two above the roots toward the bud of the plant makes excellent starch, 

 just as good as that furnished by the mandioca plant; besides, this part of the plant 

 is a nourishing food, without any preparation, for all kinds of live stock and fowls. 

 The leaves make the best kind of thread and twine, and woven roughly by hand the 

 Indians make hammocks that for endurance are par excellence. 



"The coco, like all the family of palms, has a long, straight body, sometimes 80 feet 

 in height, and from its tip top sends out its long, feathery, waving leaves. The fruit 

 is formed from the base of the leaves and resembles huge bunches of grapes in shape. 

 From two to four bunches are furnished eYery year from a single tree. Another 

 • thing, the oil from the kernel is better than any olive oil to be found in this country, 

 and the soap is equal to any in use for the toilet. The one drawback is the thorns on 

 the stems of the leaves and on the trunk of the tree. Sometimes, however, the trunks 

 are entirely free from thorns, especially when very tall and in full \'igor. The leaves 

 also give food to stock, and in droughts, when pasture fails, the natives fell the trees 

 for their horses and cattle and split open the trunks, that the cattle may eat the pith." 

 [Gmynn.) 



34418. PsmiuM guajava L. Guava. 



From Dehra Dun, India. Presented by Jkliss Louisa M. Kelso, American Presby- 

 terian Mission. Received October 21, 1912. 

 These seeds were procured at the suggestion of Mr. Charles F. Morrison, Apopka, 

 Fla. 



"I saw these trees growing in the compound of the American Presbj-terian Mission, 

 Dehra Dun, United Provinces, India, in 1882. The tree has a single trunk, which 

 attains a height of 15 to 20 feet and is very prolific. It is perfectly hardy in that 

 climate. Thin ice forms in the open every winter. Practically the entire annual 

 rainfall, 140 inches, falls in three months. 



"This is the finest eating guava I have ever seen and makes jelly equal to any other. 

 The fruit is yellow, smooth, thin skinned, and elongated, not spherical, slightly larger 

 than the yellow Cattley guava. The seeds are in a small spherical mass at the center, 

 leaving a large quantity of white pulp free from seeds." (Morrisan.) 



