2 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



and F. Albert, consulting forester to the Chilean Government, has 

 sent in three of these species, the coigue {N. dombeyi^ No. 52592), 

 the roble {N. obliqua^ No. 52593), and the rauli {N . procera^ No. 

 52594), as well as a number of other Chilean trees and shrubs, in- j 

 eluding the tique {Aextoxicon punctatum^ No. 52556), the beautiful ' 

 tara (C aesalpinia pectinata, No. 52587), and an attractive liliaceous 

 shrub {Philesia magellanica^ No. 52596), remarkable in its ability to 

 withstand the fumes from copper-smelting furnaces. 



The growing interest in hybrid trees for forestr}^ work as well as 

 for street tree planting will make the hybrid poplar {Populus rmu- i 

 mowskiaom^ No. 52705), a cross between P. nigra and P. suaveolens^ ' 

 and the hybrid walnut {Juglans intermedia vilmoreana, No. 52681), 

 sent in by Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., of value to parks and forests. 



J. F. Rock, our agricultural explorer, secured in Bangkok, Siam, 

 seeds of the giant forest tree Castanea diversifolia (No. 52387) , which 

 bears quantities of edible chestnutlike nuts; and from the same 

 region he obtained Quercus junghuhnii and other species of oaks 

 (Nos. 52440 to 52448), bearing sweet edible acorns in great clusters, 

 which might take the place of the scrub oaks of the pinelands of 

 Florida. 



We are so accustomed to think of the forests of Africa as 'track- 

 less and inexhaustible that to learn of the threatened extinction 

 in Rhodesia of the magnificent Milanji cypress {Callitris whytei, 

 No. 52807), which grows to 140 feet in height at altitudes of 10,000 

 feet, comes as a distinct shock. It should make us realize, perhaps, 

 that the virgin forests of the whole world are threatened by fire 

 and the strangling grasses which man is taking into them. At least 

 an effort can be made to save this cypress from extinction. 



Grains. — The rise of plant-breeding institutions is a thing of recent 

 times, and it is encouraging to note that already a free exchange has 

 begun of the seeds and plants which are being produced by them in 

 various countries. From the two foremost institutions in the Nether- 

 lands, those at Groningen and Bussum, have been received valuable 

 collections (Nos. 52818 to 52840, 52842 to 52844) of their best selected 

 strains of wheat, oats, barley, and flax, which can scarcely fail to 

 be valuable in some of the cooler summer regions of America ; where- 

 as from the famous Australian plant breeder Pridham have come 

 nine pure-line selections of the Hard Federation wheat (Triticum 

 aestivum, Nos. 52557 to 52565) which has proved to be an improve- 

 ment over the old Federation and which has been grown commercially 

 in Australia since 1914 because of its equal yields and the better 

 milling quality of the grain. Professor Ducellier, of the School of 

 Agriculture of Maison Carree, Algiers, has presented a collection of 

 11 varieties of Saharan wheats (Triticum spp., Nos. 52546 to 52556) 



