102 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
j)()inl('(l !eav('s in chistcn’s of three, and dark purple-blaek 
berries. Plants from western Cliina ean be seen in the 
Arboretum. 
.luMPEHus cniNE.NSis, VAH. Sahgentii. Tliis dwarf 
form of a wild tree of China and Japan a})pears to have 
h('(Mi first eolleettnl by Professor Sargent near Mororan in 
southern Hokkaido in tlie autumn of 1892, and the plants 
I’aised from the seeds whieh he eolleeted at that time are 
probably the only ones in eultivation. This Juniper 
forms a low dense mat of w ide-spreading branches cov¬ 
ered with small, dark green, seale-like leaves, mixed w ith 
})ointed ones. It finds its most southern home on the 
high mountains of noithern Hondo; it is more abundant 
in Hokkaido w here it sometimes descends to the sea-level 
and ranges northw ard to Saghalin and the more southern 
Kurile Islands. In the Arboretum it is lunv the hand¬ 
somest of the prostrate Junipers. It ean be seen here to 
advantage on the Hemlock Hill Road oi)posite the Laurels 
where several plants form a large mass and show con¬ 
siderable seminal variation. There are also three large 
plants on the eastern slope of the knoll on which the gen¬ 
eral Juniper Collection is planted. 
JuMPERus coxferta, wliich has been called J. litoralis. 
is also a Japanese species ranging northward from the 
southern island of Tanegashima to Saghalin and to the 
shores of the Sea of Okhotsk. The sand dunes of Hak¬ 
odate Bay in southern Hokkaido are covered with the 
long prostrate stems of this plant which root freely as 
they grow' and extend over broad areas. The leaves are 
thickly crowded, straight, sharp-pointed, concave, pale 
above and dark below'. The fruit is three-seeded and 
ripens at the end of the second year. Although this 
Juniper has been known to l)otanists for more than fifty 
years it has never been cultivated until Wilson sent seeds 
from Japan to the Arboretum two years ago. From this 
seed a number of plants have been raised; they are doing 
w ell and there is reason to ho])e that this ])lant w ill soon 
be better know n in eastern gardens. In nortbern Japan 
it grows on the sandy seashore w ith Rosa rugosa, w hich 
is such a good plant in the most exposed jilaees on the 
Aew' England coast, and it seems reasonable to expect 
that this Juni])er may prove the most valuable plant 
whieh has yet lieen tried to hold the drifting sands of our 
eastern coast. 
JuNiPERus Sabina. The dwarfest of all the prostrate 
Junipers in the Arboretum collection is a form of this 
European species with branchlets ascending only a few 
inches from prostrate stems and covered w ith dark blue- 
green seale-like leaves. The right name for this little 
jdant is jirobably var. cupressifoUa: another name is var. 
nana. A better know n variety of Jumperus Sabina is 
the var. tainarisrifoJia from the mountains of central and 
southern Eurojie. This is a dw arf plant w'itli proeum- 
bent or rarely ascending branches and needle-shaped, 
slightly ineuiTcd. dark green leaves marked on the upper 
surface w ith a w hite line. 
NEW TREES AM) PLANTS FOR AMERICA 
Manij Foreign Varieties \oir Beuig Tested in Plant 
Introduction Gardens t>g Departineid of Agriculture 
A wide variety of promising foreign plants are now' 
being propagated and tested by the government in the 
plant introduction gardens maintained by the U. S. De¬ 
partment of Agriculture in Florida, California, Washing¬ 
ton, and Maiyland. 
These gardens may be called the “Ellis Islands” of the 
plant immigration service. In them the plant immi¬ 
grants are carefully studied in order to make sure that 
they carry with them no disease, and only those which 
are known to be desirable additions are permitted to 
make a home in this country. The plants which have 
successfully passed this scrutiny are distributed to the 
State experiment stations and to thousands of experi¬ 
menters and breeders throughout the countiy. 
At the present time, says an article by P. 11. Dorsett in 
the 1916 Year book of the Department, much attention 
is being bestow'ed upon recent importations from China. 
Among these are the jujube. This, it is said, may well 
prove commercially profitable in California and the semi- 
arid South and Southwest. When prepared with cane 
sugar, jujubes have as delicate a flavor as many dates. 
It is also a very good fresh fruit and has long been pop¬ 
ular in China. 
The Chinese pistache is another importation which has 
been suggested for use as an avenue tree. Thousands 
of young trees have been distributed to parks throughout 
the country for this purpose. One advantage of this 
tree is the great age to w hich it lives. For the produc¬ 
tion of nuts the variety of pistache found in central and 
western Asia is being tried. At present the entire supply 
of the nuts used in the coloring and flavoring of ice cream 
and candy comes from abroad, but it is said that there is 
no reason wdiy this country should not grow its owui 
supply. The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys in 
California appear to be w-ell suited to the industry. 
Chinese persimmons and Chinese chestnuts are also 
being tested. It is believed that the Chinese chestnut 
may prove exceptionally valuable because of its powder 
to resist the chestnut bark disease, w^hich is doing so 
much damage among the native chestnuts. The per¬ 
simmon, it is thought, might he growm commercially in 
California and in those sections in the South w^here the 
temperature does not fall much below zero. In China 
and Japan dried persimmons are a staple food and there 
seems to he no reason w^hy they should not be eaten 
largely in the future in this country. 
Still another importation is an early sw^eet cherry 
w'hich has been introduced from Tanghsi, China. This 
may prove profitable to growers as an early cherry for 
the eastern markets. 
A number of new vegetables, too, are now^ being tested 
in the plant introduction gardens. Among these are the 
chayote from tropical America. This vine produces 
pear-shaped fruit in abundance in the fall. They some- 
w^hat resemble in flavor summer squash or vegetable 
marrow^, and may be used as a fresh vegetable through¬ 
out the winter. 
The udo is a new salad plant from Japan that may be 
grown in practically every State. This is growm in 
much the same w'ay as asparagus and may be cooked as 
w ell in the same w'ay. A few'^ plants of udo, says tbe 
article, should be in eveiy home garden. 
