67'5 
Wight, of this bureau. Seventy-nine varieties, some cul- 
tivated, .some wild, some with yellow flesh, others with 
large edible berries, all introduced for the work of the 
Bureau in potato breeding. For distribution later. 
SUzolobium spp. ( Fabaceae.) 35677-684. Seeds from 
India. Presented by D. Hooper, Esq., Economic Botanist, 
Calcutta, through Mr. C. V., Piper. Eight varieties from 
various parts of India introduced for the work of the 
Office of Forage Crop Investigations in the study of, this 
genus. For distribution later. 
Ziziphus spp. ( Rhamnaceae.) 35601-609. Fruits of 
Chinese jujubes from Tsinanfu, . Tientsin, and Peking, 
China. Nine varieties. These were secured by Mr. Meyer 
on his recent trip through Shantung in search of especial- 
ly fine varieties of the jujube, and they vary' greatly in 
flavor and shape. For distribution later. 
NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENTS ABROAD. 
Costa Rica. San Jose. Mr. Carlos Werckle writes June 
30, "Within, two months,, more or less, the fruits of the 
matasano, Casimiroa edulis , will be ripe; I have arranged 
today to have some seeds forwarded to you from a farm in 
San .Cristobal , about seven leagues from here. They shall 
send you mixed seeds . of different trees, and separately, 
seeds of a single tree, which bears, , by far, the best 
fruits I have ever found in the country; they are somewhat 
under average size, flattened, with a rough, ash grey 
skin; delicous! Few or no seeds, but if they gather all 
the seeds for me, as they promised me, you can get a few 
hundreds. I do not know to which degree the Casimiroa 
•comes true from seed, therefore I shall send you also some 
, scions of this special variety. As to Passiflora membran- 
acea I do not know if I will be able to secure some seeds 
for you this year; I do not remember when the fruits are 
ripe; besides, I have found, till now. ..only three speci- 
mens of this plant: one near the top of the Poa's and two 
near Coliblanco, between the Irazu and the Turrialba. 
When in bloom the plant is as fine as Antigonon leptopus 
(Corculum leptopus) or Bougainvillea glabra', the fruit is 
eatable raw, but not good; cooked, as a vegetable, it is 
valuable; also for preserves, cooked with sugar. You have 
no idea of the difficulty with which we meet here to get 
seeds of such plants which are scarce and occur in distant 
mountains. One does not remember, generally, when they 
have ripe fruits; besides you can not find it out from the 
