1971 
acid, the establishment of trees which yield chaulmoogra oil has become 
a subject of great importance in many parts of the world. 
Ever since Mr. Rock's first voyage to Burma and Siam, in 1920-1921, 
the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction has been actively en<- 
gaged in securing seeds of Taraktogenos hurzii, the true chaulmoogra, and its 
allies, propagating them, and distributing plants to all those regions 
where they are desired, and where they seem likely to succeed. 
Mr* Rock's shipments of Taraklogenot kurzii, Hydnocarpus wightiana, H. castanea, 
H. anthelminthica, and Gynocardia odorata have yielded many plants. Seeds of 
Oneoba echinata, known also to contain chaulmoogric acid, but not yet tested 
as a commercial source of this substance, were obtained in quantity from 
Sierra Leone, and nearly three thousand plants were grown and distrib- 
uted. 
Naturally enough, there has been more interest in this subject in . 
Hawaii than in any other portion of United States territory. Conse- 
quently, the Office has shipped large numbers of plants to Honolulu. • 
Smaller numbers have been sent to the Canal Zone, Porto Rico, and other 
tropical dependencies of this country. Already one species, Hydnocarpus ' 
wightiana, has borne its first fruit in the Canal Zone. 
Desiring to establish these trees in all tropical countries where 
they may prove useful, and to reciprocate some of the many favors which 
this Department has received at the hands of the republics of tropical 
America, the governments of Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba 
and several other countries have been supplied with plants of Taraktogenos 
hurzii and Oneoba tehinata. 
With large numbers of plants already distributed, it seems certain" 
that several chaulmoogra-yielding species will aoon be fruiting widely 
in tropical America, and in Hawaii. Because of the importance which 
they promise to assume in the last-named region, and because of the in- 
terest which their cultivation has aroused throughout the world, we 
think it desirable to reproduce in Plant Immigrants the following par- 
agraphs from an article by C. S. Judd, Superintendent of Forestry at 
Honolulu, published in American Forests for May, 1924: 
'•It is a long reach from Hawaii to Siam and to the winding Chindwin 
River and the Martaban Hills of Burma, but it was necessary to bridge 
this gap before the project of growing chaulmoogra trees for the produc- 
tion of oil could be started on a email island out in the Pacific Ocean, 
where by the scientific use of this promising drug a winning fight is 
being waged in the relief of those afflicted with leprosy. 
"The man who made this project possible was J. F. Rock. During a 
series of explorations for plant material, begun in 1920, Mr. Hock se- 
cured and forwarded to Hawaii seeds of the various chaulmoogra trees, >. 
the Hydnoearpus anthelminthica, from Bangkok, Siam; the Kalaw {Taraktogenos kurzii), 
from near Mawlaik, in the Upper Chindwin District of Burma, and the. 
