2 



SEEDS AXD PLANTS IMPORTED. 



(No. 54270). an 18-ounce avocado with all the earmarks of a hybrid 

 iDetTveen the hardy Mexican and the true West Indian races, with 

 all that this may mean in the way of increased vigor and hardiness 

 and better fruitino^ habits, can not fail to attract the notice of those 

 engaged in building up this new industry, avocado production. 

 It is true, others of the collection (Nos. 54270 to 54278) made in this 

 valley may ultimately surpass it in flavor. 



A new blackberry (No. 54279) ; a large-fruited wild blackberry 

 (No. 54280) ; a wild Andean currant with orange-yellow fruits on 

 racemes 2 inches long, which msij make possible a race of currants 

 for the Southern States (No. 53994) ; as well as the white black- 

 berry (No. 53955), which Mr. Popenoe considers one of the most 

 promising species of Eubus yet collected in South America, should all 

 be given the careful attention which they deserve. 



The wild potato (No. 54060) from an altitude of 11,500 feet in the 

 mountains of Ecuador will perhaps be a disappointment to the 

 pathologists, inasmuch as it appears to be attacked by the potato 

 blight, much as the cultivated varieties are, but it may at least help 

 to settle the origin of this disease. 



Dr. W. A. Orton's studies of those vegetables which can be eaten 

 "by persons affected by diabetes have already attracted wide atten- 

 tion in medical circles, and our search for foreign species which may 

 add to his already large collection has brought in 13 East Indian 

 species (Nos. 53896 to 53908) through the kindness of Mr. Lane, 

 of the Botanic Garden in Calcutta, India. These include potherbs 

 and c,ucurbits which it is to be hoped may help Doctor Orton to 

 diversify the restricted menu of sufferers from this ailment. 



For those who have an experimental corner in their vegetable 

 gardens there are in this inventory several interesting things. The 

 acom (Dioscorea latifoUa, No. 53925. ) , which bears its good-sized tubers 

 in the axils of the leaves; the Southern Rhodesian Coleus rotuncli- 

 folius (No. 54321), tubers of which Mr. Thompson described as an 

 excellent substitute for the white potato; and a remarkable collec- 

 tion (Nos. 54411 to 54424) of the rare type of Japanese vegetables 

 belonging to the mustard family, sent by Doctor Onda, of the Im- 

 perial Horticultural Experiment Station at Okitsu, are among the 

 most interesting. 



Forage-crop specialists will want to test the drought resistance of 

 Doctor Proschowsky's strain of creeping white clover {Trifolium 

 repens, No. 53912) which along the flat meadowlands bordering the 

 River Var is cut five times a year for its hay, and of Pole Evans's 

 two South African grasses (Nos. 53956 and 53957), which form a- 

 highly relished part of the forage eaten by the game animals of that 

 great wild stock region; or perhaps they will desire to take the 

 advice of Doctor Trabut and try to hybridize Trifolium panormita- 

 num (No. 54032) with T. alexandrinum^ the great berseem clover of 

 the Nile Valley, which has all but succeeded in America and has 

 made such a success in Italy and Algeria ; or to test in the Southern 

 States the native wild grasses {Aristida spp., Nos. 54396 to 54399) 

 of Angola, which Mr. Gossweiler, of Loanda, has sent. 



Mr. Buck, of the College of Agriculture and Forestry, of Nanking, 

 China, has secured for us seeds in quantity of the forest tree Gatalpa 

 hungei (No. 53989), to whose excellent qualities Frank N. Meyer 



