12 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



34768. Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertner. Ragi. 



From Bangalore, Mysore, India. Presented by Mr. H. V. Krishnayya, Acting 

 Officer in Charge of the Agricultural Department, Received January 8, 19] 3. 

 JIasaragumbi. The ground should be plowed 4 to 6 times with an ordinary plow; 

 rake with a bullock rake a day or two before sowing, sow with a country drill as a 

 mixed crop, mixture being jola {Andropogon sorghum) and avare {Dolichos lablab), 

 middle or end of June. Should be weeded ^\^.th a hand hoe, two to foiu* times, as 

 required. (The pai'ticular plat from which the sample is brought was weeded only 

 once.) It is harvested and stacked in November; thrashing and winnowing, De- 

 cember to February; yield, 1,500 to 2,000 lbs." (Krishnayya.) 



34769 and 34770. 



From Hangchow, China. Presented by Rev. J. H. Judson, Hangchow College. 

 Received January 10, 1913. 

 Seeds of the foUoAving: 



34769. Sapindus sp. Soapberry. 



34770. Thea sinensis L. Tea. 

 (Camellia thea Link.) 



34771. Chaetochloa italica (L.) Scribn. Kursk millet. 



(Setaria italica Beauv.) 

 GroAvn at Akron, Colo., in 1912. Received December 26, 1912. 

 "This strain of millet is the product of a single plant selected at the Belle Fourche, 

 S. Dak., Experiment Farm, in 1908, by Mr. A. C. Dillman, of the Office of Alkali and 

 Drought Resistant Plant Breeding Investigations. The original seed (S. P. I. No. 

 22420) was obtained from the Dakota Improved Seed Company from a selected strain 

 of Kursk millet developed by Prof. W. A. Wheeler. This strain of millet is of excel- 

 lent forage type, is good in seed production, and is drought resistant." (Dillman.) 



34772. Medicago carstiensis Wulfen. 



From Edinburgh, Scotland. Presented by Prof. Bayley Balfour, regius keeper, 

 Royal Botanic Garden. Received January 13, 1913. 



34773 and 34774. 



From German East Africa. Presented by the Usumbwa Company, Post Tabora. 

 Received January 14, 1913. 



34773. Curcuma longa L. Turmeric. 



''Resembles ginger in the nature and form of its rhizomes and rounded tubers, 

 but larger and shorter. In commerce they are separated into ' longs ' and ' rounds. ' 

 In India much of the turmeric is used- for dyeing silk, because the tuber con- 

 tains a starch associated with a coloring matter (curcumine) of a beautiful 

 orange yellow. Because of its essential aromatic oil it is used as a condiment 

 in the Far East, and especially in the manufacture of curry. Many tribes of 

 Polynesia use it to stain their bodies and their hair. Curcuma is known still 

 in the spice trade under the name of Indian saffron, and in the West Indies 

 under that of coolie saffron." (Capus et Bois, Les Produits Coloniaux.) 



34774. Carica papaya L. Papaya. 



