1153 
Zea mays L. (Poaceae.) 44564. Seeds from Rosarlo, 
Argentina. Presented by Mr. William Dawson, Jr. , Amer- 
ican Consul. Maiz amargo. A so-called "bitter corn," 
grown In the Chaco region of Argentina as a locust- 
proof variety. Otherwise it seems to have no advan- 
tages, as the yield is but one-fourth to one-half that 
of other varieties and the development is extremely 
slow, requiring from nine to ten months to mature. 
Zinziber mioga Roscoe . (Zinziberaceae. ) 44579. Roots 
from Yokohama, Japan. ' Purchased from the Yokohama 
Nursery Company. A perennial Japanese herb about 3 
feet high, with nearly linear, smooth, membranous 
leaves, up to 15 inches long; white flowers in spikes, 
2 to 3| inches long; and ovoid capsules. It occurs 
wild and also in cultivation. In summer and autumn 
the flowers, with the bracts, are eaten, either raw 
or boiled; they have a slightly acid taste and an ar- 
omatic odor. (Adapted from Useful Plants of Japan, 
p. 30, and from P. Tracy Hubbard, in Bailey, Standard 
Cyclopedia of Horticulture, vol. 6, p. 3544, the form- 
er under Amomum mioga.) 
Notes from Correspondents abroad. 
Mr. Eugene Andre writes from Port-of -Spain, Trin- 
idad, B.W.I. , October 22, 1917: 
"I enclose two bulletins of our Department of Ag- 
riculture. Part 1, Vol. 16, pages 18-20, gives the 
results of certain experiments made by the Government 
in 1915-1916 with the object of acquiring definite 
knowledge as to the yield of the various kinds of 
cassava grown by our peasantry. The spot where the 
experiments were conducted forms part of the old St. 
Augustine Sugar estate, one of the oldest estates in 
the island. Bulletin Part 2, Vol. 16, deals with other 
matters connected with the cassava industry here. Un- 
fortunately, the inhabitants of Carenage, in spite of 
the Inducements offered to them, would not take up the 
growing of cassava on a scale that would have kept 
the factory busy, so that this part of the enterprise 
has been a failure. Speaking generally, comparatively 
little cassava Is grown here. The laboring man has 
got used to his wheateh loaf and he turns his nose up 
at the disks of cassava which is the staple of the 
Venezuelan poor. Like cassava corn is but little used 
as a bread, but corn is more widely grown than cassava 
because it is the food generally given to our domestic 
