8 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOKTED. 
From our correspondents in various parts of the world, particularly 
from American diplomatic officials and consuls abroad, who have 
shown an unusual interest in this work, a number of promising 
plants have been secured: No. 33184, seeds of a remarkable cherimoya 
weighing 2 pounds 6 ounces, from a tree owned by Mr. Charles F. 
O'Brien, of Los Angeles, Cal., and probably one of the best varieties 
now in the United States; Nos. 32470 to 32477, a collection of fig and 
grape varieties from the island of Chios, off the coast of Greece, by 
Mr. Pantelides; No. 32480, the Manila maguey, or cantala, from the 
Philippine Islands, an agave suited for rich, loamy soils containing 
little lime and for a climate with heavy rainfall, such as is to be found 
in the island of Porto Rico; No. 32692, a Mexican species of avocado 
(Persea mexicana) from the province of Vera Cruz, through Consul 
William W. Canada; No. 32705, another of the hard-shelled edible- 
fruited species of Strychnos from Inhamban, Portuguese East Africa; 
No. 32706, Abies numidica, from the Department of Constantine, 
Algeria, a spruce which grows to 75 feet in height, occurring at 
5,000 to 7,000 feet altitude, sent us by the veteran French botanist, 
Dr. L. Trabut; Nos. 32713 to 32725, 13 varieties of dates from 
Egypt; Nos. 32845 to 32859, 15 varieties of dates from the 
various oases of the Sahara, selected by Dr. Trabut; No. 32730, 
Nitraria schoberi, a remarkably alkali-resistant plant from Australia 
which, according to Dr. J. H. Maiden, bears edible cherrylike fruits; 
No. 32751, a new variety of prune from Thun, Bern, Switzerland, 
for trial in the Oregon prune area; No. 32892, a fodder sedge (Carex 
physodes), collected by Mr. W. W. Mackie in the loose sands of the 
Peshy Kara Kum Desert, where only 4 inches of rain fall; Nos. 32924 
to 32929, six species closely related to the cajuput tree of Australia, 
remarkable because of its ability to grow rapidly on the coast of 
Florida along the very edge of the salt water; Nos. 33031 to 33047 
and 33155 to 33160, a collection of Cotoneaster, remarkable door- 
yard shrubs, with attractive red berries in winter and dark-green 
foliage in summer, which are especially suited as front and back yard 
shrubs wherever hardy; No. 33093, a broad-leaved 'evergreen tree 
from Java, Dammara alba, a close relative of the kauri pine of New 
Zealand, which ought to be peculiarly suited as an avenue tree in 
Porto Rico, Hawaii, and possibly in Florida; Nos. 33111 to 33118, 
eight varieties of edible grapes from the western slopes of Mount 
Lebanon; No. 33166, Juglans pyriformis, a walnut said to be native 
on the slopes of Mount Orizaba, in southern Mexico; Nos. 33205 to 
33234, a remarkable collection of Spanish fruit and ornamental trees 
from the nurseries of Pedro Giraud, of Granada, which were selected 
by Mr. Swingle during his recent explorations in Spain and which 
include the azarol (No. 33205), a large-fruited Crataegus with a deli- 
282 
