60 



Seeds and plants imported. 



51116 to 51135— Continued. 



51123. RuBus ADENOTEiCHos Sclilecht. Rosacese. 



"(No. 417a. July 1, 1920.) Mora. Seeds of a wild blackberry from 

 the roadside between Cartago and Tierra Blanca, at an altitude of about 

 6,000 feet. A vigorous, bushy species reaching about 8 feet in height 

 and producing in abundance blackberries somewhat less than 1 inch long 

 and of good flavor. Of especial interest for breeding purposes." 

 51124 and 51125. Weecklea insignis Pitt, and Standi. Malvaceas. 



51124. "(No. 419. July 1, 1920.) Cuttings presented by Dr. Ricardo 

 Jimenez Ntinez, of Guadalupe, San Jose. A rare and handsome 

 plant, discovered a few years ago in the mountains near La 

 Palma, Costa Rica. It is an arborescent shrub about 15 feet in 

 height, usually branching close to the ground to form several main 

 limbs, which in turn branch (though sparingly) to form long 

 stiff shoots, each crowned with a cluster of orbicular leaves nearly 

 a foot in breadth. The flowers, which appear among the leaves 

 at the ends of the branches, are similar in size and form to those 

 of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, the common hibiscus of the Tropics. In 

 color, however, they are quite distinct from those of the hibiscus, 

 being bright lilac, turning to golden in the throat. Since it is 

 found in Costa Rica at an altitude of 5.000 feet, the speci'^ may be 

 sufficiently hardy to succeed in southern Florida. It probably 

 requires a moist climate, and in its indigenous condition it grows 

 upon heavy soil." 



51125. "(No. •419a. July 1, 1920.) Seeds of the shrub of which 

 cuttings were sent under No. 419 [S. P. I. No. 51124]." 



51126. Manihot esculenta Crantz. Euphorbiaceae. Cassava. 

 {M. utilissima Pohl.) 

 From Honolulu, Hawaii. Cuttings presented by J. M. Westgate, agrono- 

 mist in charge, Agricultural Experiment Station. Received August IC, 

 1920. 



" Wiebke cassava. A very superior variety from the island of Kauai, selected 

 from volunteer seedlings by a man named Wiebke, in whose honor the variety 

 has been named. Not only does it yield better than three long-established 

 varieties [Sweet, white, early-maturing culinary cassava ; Bitter, red, late- 

 maturing stock-feed cassava; Martin's Intermediate cassava], but it also has 

 the habit of remaining tender or at least not becoming woody as do most of our 

 varieties if left growing several months after maturity. 



" Wiebke cassava promises to be superior to any of the above-mentioned 

 varieties for culinary, feeding, and starch-manufacturing purposes. Har- 

 vested on June 15, at the end of a 15-month growing period, at the Haiku 

 substation, it yielded 17,776 pounds per acre of clean roots. This result was 

 obtained on rough pineapple land, without fertilization and with little or no 

 cultivation aside from the initial plowing under of the old pineapple stumps and 

 one cross-plowing. 



" In an 18-month growing period completed in August, 1920, on soil fertil- 

 ized with 500 pounds of phosphates, half super and half reverted, the Wiebke 

 cassava yielded 19,111 pounds of roots per acre; on soil fertilized with 1,000 

 pounds of phosphates, half super and half reverted, it yielded .22,211 pounds 

 of roots per acre. The starch recovered was 20 per cent. The crops were 

 grown on old pineapple land with a view to testing their adaptation as a rota 

 tion crop." (F. G. Kraiiss.) 



