481 
when covered up with ashes. The fruits of the wild form 
are too astringent to be of any value to man, but some of the 
cultivated forms supply a sweetmeat to children. The dry 
cast-off leaves are a favorite food of sheep, goats, donkeys 
and cattle. The flowers possess a remarkably sweet odor and 
seem to be rich in honey. Its highly ornamental qualities, 
combined with drought and alkali resistant capacities, put it 
in the first order as a desirable garden and park shrub or 
tree in the more arid parts of the United States. Its sil- 
very-gray foliage resembles the olive very much, while in 
autumn the' contrast between it and the multitude of generally 
orange-red colored small fruits, is gloriously beautiful. The 
habit of this oleaster is extremely variable. The majority 
of the trees acquire gracefully drooping habits when getting 
older; some, however, assume quite rigid outlines. The size 
of the fruits varies also considerably, ranging from that of 
a pea up to the size of an ordinary date; the color of the 
berries is pure white on one tree while dark brown red on an- 
other and all shades are found between. In the leaves even 
there is a considerable variation, as regards sizes, nuances 
of gray-green and the relative quantity a tree may possess. 
The roots are ■ sometimes a mass of nodules,- and as the trees 
grow often quite luxuriantly even in pure sand, they seem to 
derive nutrition from these tubercles and perhaps even fer- 
tilize the soil to some extent. One notices, for instance, 
that crops even close- up to a row of oleaster trees are not 
impoverished" to any extent. For this reason the natives of 
Central Asia seem to prefer this tree to any other sort of 
windbreak. The plants are very well able to grow even in 
pure sand, or in alkaline soils, while they exist with very 
little water although they do not grow luxuriantly then. They 
cannot stand, however, low., water-logged soils. The propaga- 
tion is easy. Cuttings from- the size of . a lead pencil up to 
poles six feet long' and twoi to three inches thick, all strike 
roots easily as long as the soil is moist- enough to give 
them a chance. In regions 1 of the United States where the 
summers are very hot and dry , and the winters not too cold, 
where the soils are sandy or alkaline, but where irrigation 
water is occasionally supplied, the oleaster deserves the 
highest consideration for the following purposes: as a hedge 
plant, as a fence material, as a windbreak, as a sandbinder, 
and as a characteristic ornamental tree around the home." 
(Meyer's introduction?) See half-tone. For distribution 
later. 
ERUCA SATIVA. (Brassi caceae . ) 31819-820. Seeds from 
Chinese Turkestan. Two varieties from different oases, "the 
oil of which is used both for culinary and illuminating 
