APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1914. 



27 



37723. HoLcus sorghum L. Poaceae. Sorghum. 

 {Sorghum vulgar e Pers.) 



From Algeria, Algiers. Presented by Dr. L. Trabut, Government botanist. 

 Received April 9, 1914. 

 " Sorghum gathered at the mouth of Oued Zhour. Gathered from the fields 

 where I observed the Mezera or sorghum hybrid of Sorghum halepense (Sor- 

 ghum annuum, Trabut's Flora of Algeria). It is probable that you will obtain 

 this form from the seeds. I would have gathered seed of Mezera, but these 

 seeds drop w^hen they are ripe like Sorghum halepense." (Trahut.) 



When grown this proved to be the ordinary sorghum, with no trace of the 

 expected hybrid, and it has been discarded as a variety of little or no value. 



37724. Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck. Rutaceae. Pummelo. 



(Citrus decumana Murr.) 

 From Siam. Presented by Mr. Harry Boyle, assistant horticulturist, Bu- 

 reau of Agriculture, Philippine Islands. Received December, 1913. 



" On September 13 the writer proceeded to the Nakon Chaisri district, where 

 the finest pummelo orchards are located. The largest of these was owned by 

 a Chinese planter and contained about 20 hectares, three-fourths of which 

 was planted with pummelos of the ' seed ' variety, while some 25 per cent of 

 the area contained ' seedless ' trees. The orchard is divided into plats some 

 7 meters wide by 60 to 90 meters long, separated by trenches some 3 to 4 

 meters wide by 2^ meters deep. The pummelo trees are planted in single rows 

 on these plats. All trees are propagated by marcottage, or the ' don ' method. 

 The wTiter was able to demonstrate the modern methods of buddage, and 

 through the assistance of Koon Pisit explained each step so that, were it not 

 for the deeply inoculated custom in vogue there, the planter \vould now be 

 able to propagate his trees much more rapidly and economically. The soil 

 of this orchard contains about 60 per cent clay. 



" The first fruits examined in the * seedless ' section proved to be full of 

 seeds. Upon inquiry as to the reason for this it was stated that the seed- 

 lessness was due to the salt deposited from the brackish water which backs 

 up into the river during the dry season ; the planter also said that a coco- 

 nut shell of salt was placed in the hole at the time of transplanting the tree, 

 and that another shellful was given the tree each year." (H. H. Boyle, in 

 Philippine Agricultural Review, February, 1914.) 



37725. Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub. Fabaceae. Guar. 

 (Cyamopsis psoraleoides DC.) 



From Bombay, India. Procured from Messrs. Ralli Bros., through the 

 American consul at Bombay. Received April 7, 1914. 

 "A robust annual pulse cultivated in many parts of India from the Himalayas 

 to the Western Peninsula and never found truly wild in any part of India. 

 Mollison mentions three forms met with in Kaira and Baroda territory, viz, 

 (1) pardeshi, sown sparsely among kharif (autumn) cereals; (2) sotia guvar, 

 growing 8 to 10 feet high and sown extensively in Gujarat. It is raised as 

 a shade plant to ginger, and the leaves are left on the ground as a green 

 manure ; in the garden lands of Surat it is grown with cucumbers, being planted 

 in May and irrigated until the rains. The pods are used as a vegetable and 

 served like French beans; (3) deshi, the common form with violet seeds, 

 sown as an ordinary dry crop and extensively used as cattle fodder. Duthie 

 and Fuller mention a form known as deoband kawdra, which is often culti- 



