76 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



37570 to 37576— Continued. (Quoted notes by Mr. J. F. Jewell.) 



37575. PiiASEOLUS angularis (Willd.) W. F. Wight Adzuki bean. 

 "No. 6. No special name for these beans." 



37576. Phaseolus aureus Roxb. Mung bean. 

 "No. 7. Nogtir 



37577. Carka papaya L. Papaya. 

 From Manila, Philippine Islands. Presented by Mr. William S. Lyon. Re- 

 ceived March 11, 1914. 



*• One of these ' seedless ' fruits has now perfected 26 and the other 35 seeds 

 nnd at the same time we are still getting plenty of entirely vacant fruits. After 

 all, seedlessness is no especial virtue in a papaya, even though the normal fruit 

 found here bears always a double handful, several hundred at least, but has 

 the undoubted value of decreasing the size of the placental cavity and greatly 

 increasing the thickness of the flesh. Most of our seedless plants have had a 

 rind of 30 to 32 millimeters in thickness as against an average of 12 to 15 

 millimeters of the unimproved kinds. These figures are by measurement and 

 not by guess. If prolificacy be a trait worth cultivating, then this variety has 

 it in a superlative degree. Only about 16 months from the seed, we are now 

 eating the last of the third crop, aggregating (for the three) about 100 fruits, 

 and a fourth crop is due to begin to ripen in about one month. The greater 

 part of the first crop I have sold at the rate of $15 per hundred, although, as 

 I indicated to you before, the greatly reduced size of the subsequent crops 

 would depreciate their market value. Still another freak development I notice, 

 that would make the fixation of the variety even by vegetative means a matter 

 of doubt, is a sudden variation in form, the present crop showing a pre- 

 ponderance of oblong fruits, while a few are as round as a pomelo. This is a 

 feature, however, that I surmise may lie much within the control of the culti- 

 vator. The immense size of the fruits and their position, one bearing down 

 upon the other, has an undoubted tendency to elongate them. Careful thinning, 

 I am of the opinion, would modify this to the extent of producing fruits more 

 nearly round; that is a desideratum." {Lyon.) 



37578 to 37600. 



From Edinburgh, Scotland. Presented by the Royal Botanic Garden. Re- 

 ceived February 25, 1914. 



37578 to 37581. Asparagus spp. Asparagus. 



37578. Asparagus gonocladus Baker. 



37579. Asparagus gracilis Royle. 



37580. Asparagus plumosus Baker. 



37581. Asparagus scandens Thunberg. 

 37582 and 37583. Sorbus spp. 



37582. Sorbus alnifolia (Sieb. and Zucc.) Koch. 

 {Crataegus alnifolia Sieb. and Zucc.) 



"A deciduous tree of rather slender, erect habit, ultimately 40 to 50 

 feet high; branchlets furnished with short silky hairs when quite 

 young. Leaves of thin texture; 1^ to 3 inches long, three-fourths 

 of an inch to 1^^ inches wide; the apex pointed, the base rounded, 

 margins double toothed ; nerves parallel in 7 to 12 pairs ; silky hairy 



