56 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



These melons continue all through August, they tell me, and are grown in open 

 gardens, though I suspect that they are started in frames. They are roundish, 

 a good deal oblate, deeply ribbed, inclined to be rough and warty (but not 

 netted), and have a very distinct 'areole' (or smooth circle) around the calyx, 

 sometimes as much as 2 inches in diameter. They range in size, apparently the 

 same variety, from 4 inches in diameter up to 8 or even 9 inches, and in retail 

 price from 2^ to 12, 14, and even as high as 17 francs for the finest specimens. 

 In good restaurants one portion (about 8 or 10 to a large melon) is served for 

 4^ francs. The melons are picked when they become a mottled gray-green in 

 color, never being allowed to ripen on the vines. They appear to carry remark- 

 ably well, but when well matured they are a dirty yellow color, not very 

 attractive. The flesh is rich orange-yellow, thick, firm, not at all netted, and 

 only moderately sw^eet but very satisfying. I am sending you the entire lot of 

 seeds from one, of V7hich I had a portion in the Grand Caf# de I'Alma, close to 

 the Ponte I'Alma. I am sure I have never seen a melon anything like this 

 type in the United States." (Mason.) 



51103 and 51104. Amygdalus communis L. Amygdalaceae. 

 {Prunus amygdalus Stokes.) 

 From Gedera (Katra), near Jaffa, Palestine. Budw^ood presented by 

 Amram Khazanoff. Received August 17, 1920. Quoted notes by Mr. 

 Khazanoff. 



" The two standard almond varieties of Palestine, which I consider worthy 

 of the interest of almond growers in the United States. This budwood was 

 selected with a view to possible bud variation." 



51103. GreeA; almond." 51104. " yicion'a almond." 



51105. Persea AMERICANA Mill. Lauraccse. Avocado. 

 (P. gratissima Gaertn. f.) 



From Rio Frio, near Santa Marta, Colombia. Budwood collected by Wilson 

 Popenoe, Agricultural Explorer of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. Received August 19, 1920. 



" (No. 432. Avocado No. 46. August 5, 1920.) A very choice variety of 

 avocado, said to be the earliest known in the Rio Frio region. This is a fine 

 oval fruit, green in color, about li pounds in weight, with thick meat of excel- 

 lent quality." (Popenoe.) 



51106. Otophora fruticosa (Roxb.) Blume. Sapindaceae. 



From Lamao, Bataan, Philippine Islands. Seeds presented by P. J. Wester, 

 agricultural adviser, Lamao Horticultural Station. Received April 24, 

 1920. Numbered August 30, 1920. 



" Balinaonao. A small tree with dark-red to black fleshy fruits about one- 

 third the size of grapes, in bunches like grapes, up to 200 fruits in a bunch. 

 The flesh is sweet and edible but rather insipid. The seeds taste like chestnuts 

 roasted and are eaten to a slight extent. The plant is of slight economic 

 value but is quite ornamental in the fruiting season by reason of its large 

 bunches of dull rose-red fruits. The tree grows at Lamao and may succeed in 

 Florida." (Wester.) 



