485 
interest. Among the things I secured or am promised are, 
'Japanese' sorghum, a peculiar drooping broomcorn affair, 
Indigofera linifolia, a very^ promi s ing forage - legume , and 
Dalbergia sissoo, a handsome leguminous tree with wood of 
high value. It stands frost and should do well in California. 
Howard's bred stuff in roselle ,and sesame may yield some 
good things. He has also a' great;, lot-' of young mangos, hut 
none have fruited yet, also a ju.hibe. reputed, to "be seedless, 
hut. this also has not yet fruited:! The institution is yet 
very young, hut they have a' splendid area of land and fine 
"buildings . The- whole Ganges Valley, from Calcutta here, 
contains great numbers of mango trees, singly, and in groves.- 
Indeed, they are the most conspicuous feature of the' land- 
scape. Most of them are seedlings, and, everyone agrees , are 
not comparable in quality .with, those on the Bombay side. At 
Calcutta they have colored plates of all that .<have fruited 
at Sibpur. If you will make the request',- I am certain 
Major Gage will prepare and send you a copy. I have a full 
list of their varieties and the opinion of Mr. Lane, the 
Superintendent, of their relative merits. I shall secure 
similar lists wherever they are investigating the fruit, so 
that you may know just what to get and -where to get them." 
Mr. Piper writes also f rom .Dehra Dun, Sept. 22: 
"At Cawnpore there is a splendid new agricultural 
college, very well equipped, but very poorly manned, that is 
as to numbers. The only field crop work is that of Leake on 
cottons and wheats, the latter in cooperation with Howard of 
Pusa. Leake's efforts with cotton are to improve the Indian 
varieties, although he also thinks the Americans can be 
acclimatized. His work impressed me as being very excellent. 
He certainly has made marked advance in improvement and inci- 
dentally cleared up some of the confusion as to species. His 
aim is to produce a cotton that will spin forties, and I 
believe he has already reached that end in his best varie- 
ties. Of the wheats, I can say nothing, as they are not now 
growing, but most of the results up to to-day have been 
published by Howard. . 
"At Lucknow I was much pleased with Mr. H. J. Davies and 
his work, at the Horticultural Gardens. He has a great variety 
of things and all in excellent shape. I have a full list of 
his mangos and his > opinion of each so far as they have 
fruited. At both Cawnpore and Lucknow I was surprised at the 
luxurious growth of native grasses, several of which seem to 
me excellent. I have secured seed of a number and made 
arrangements to get others later. Their value will be 
primarily in natural pastures in the . South, provided they 
have the necessary aggressiveness like Bermuda grass. Three 
