APEIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1913. 



7 



it is made a unique preserve. The vigor and productiveness of our 

 native hawthorn, the delicious character of the fruit of the Palestine 

 species {Crataegus azarolus), and the hardiness and drought resist- 

 ance of this cultivated Chinese species should suggest experiments in 

 domestication and selection for the production of a fruit adapted to 

 conditions other than those ideal for the apple and the pear. 



The so-called wild pear (Pyrus ussuriensis) , No. 35304, is perhaps 

 the hardiest species of the genus to which the pear belongs, and, com- 

 ing from Harbin, it will doubtless stand the cold of our extreme 

 Northwest and prove of value to pear breeders there. Even as an 

 ornamental it should be worth planting on the northwestern Great 

 Plains. 



Grape breeders seem to have done much in the crossing of our 

 native species of Vitis, but it has remained for the Russian plant 

 breeder Mijurin to make the cross between Vitis riparia and the wild 

 grape of the Amur Valley, Vitis amurensis. This hybrid, No. 35306, 

 Mr. Meyer reports, produces a small berry of good flavor. As to its 

 hardiness, little seems yet to be known. 



A sweet-fruited mountain ash, or rowan, another of Mijurin's pro- 

 ductions, No. 35305, according to Mr. Meyer, ought to do well in 

 Oregon. 



Two new red currants, Nos. 35308 and 35309, one from the Amur 

 region and one from the northern Altai Mountains, should possess 

 unusual hardiness and be of interest to breeders. 



The culture of the hazelnut or cobnut has made but little progress 

 as yet in America, although it is an important industry in England 

 and along the Mediterranean. Corylus mandshurica, from Harbin, 

 No. 35288, a small, hard-shelled species, may bring increased hardi- 

 ness and disease resistance into hybrids between it and the European 

 species. 



The growing interest of amateurs in the jujube, or Chinese tsao, 

 makes the collection secured by Mr. Meyer in Shantung a matter of 

 special importance. The trees of the seedless form, No. 35253, are 

 ringed or girdled, in order to induce them to bear larger crops of 

 fruit, sometimes doubling the crop. The scarlet jujube, Nos. 35255 

 and 35601, the fruits of which are as large as a small egg, and 10 of 

 the best market varieties planted in large orchards in the Shantung 

 Province, Nos. 35257 and 35601 to 35609, add 11 important numbers 

 to our collection of this hardy drought-resistant new tree crop. 

 Ziziphus trinervia, No. 35416, has been introduced as a possible 

 tropical stock for the Chinese jujube. 



The North China varieties of walnut (Juglans regia sinensis) have 

 not been tested in America sufficiently, and Mr. Meyer thinks in the 

 warmer valleys of the southern Rocky Mountain region they may 



