UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
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FOREIGN PLANT t NTRODUCTTOW 
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BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY 
WASHINGTON 
August 7 t 1928. 
Mr. R. E. Holttum, 
Director, Bot&aic Garden, 
Singapore, Straits Settlements. 
Dear Mr. Holttum: 
From information which Dr. Fairchild has given ns 
we understand that you are interested in establishing some of 
our best avocados at the Garden. We have already sent you a 
trial shipment of avocado plants and I trust you have been 
successful in propagating them. In the growing and distribution 
of avocados in this country we have found by experience that when 
budded varieties are grown in pots or boxes where the roots are 
cramped the trees seldom, if ever, amount to very much. Wherever 
it is possible to get seedling avocados growing in the ground in 
advance of budding with wood of good varieties, it is desirable 
to do so. In order that we may render you the best assistance in 
our power in the matter of getting certain of our best varieties 
established in Singapore, we are sending you today 50 seeds of the 
West Indian avocado. These were collected for us through the kind¬ 
ness of Dr. Wilson Fopenoe, who recently passed through Cuba and 
found the fruit quite abundant. It has been our experience that 
the West Indian avocado makes the best stock for most of our cultivat¬ 
ed varieties. We are sending these seed to you with the suggestion 
that you plant them in the open ground where you desire to have the 
trees remain. Later on we can send you either by parcel post or by 
express or ocean freight in a wardian case some of our best budded 
varieties of avocados. These can be put out for the purpose of furnish¬ 
ing you with wood for top-working the seedlings grown from the seed we 
are sending you. 
We trust the seed will reach you in good condition and 
that you will be in position to plant them out in the open as suggest¬ 
ed. If upon receipt of the seed and they are found to be in good shape 
you will notify us, we will then take steps to send the plants to you. 
Sincerely, 
BTGWST. 
Knowles A. Ryerson, 
Horticulturist in Charge. 
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