1963 
ions, including almonds, had their crops either killed entirely or very 
badly cut down. We also found that Primus mume is apparently quite re- 
sistant to crown gall, seemingly wholly resistant to oak-root fungus, 
and last and most important of all, it appears to be resistant or en- 
tirely immune from the attacks of nematodes. The flowers of some va- 
rieties are quite attractive and very fragrant. We believe it possess- 
es real value for stock purposes. However, it will be necessary to 
make a selection from the more vigorous types, as some of them would 
likely tend to dwarf the soions." 
The Pejibaye 
During the past three years, this office has received more than 
£5,000 seeds of the pejibaye palm (Guilielma utilis Oerst.) from Costa Rica. 
Ho plants were grown from the first shipments, the seeds having lost their 
viability before they reached Washington. Finally, through the courtesy 
of the United Fruit Company, a box of pejibaye fruits was sent from 
Fort Limon. It was thought the seeds might carry better in this fash- 
ion than when cleaned and dried. On reaching New York, it was found 
that the fruits had fermented and were decidedly unsavory to smell and 
handle. Consequently, they were thrown into the bay by stevedores who 
assumed that they had been intended for eating, and that it was useless 
to forward them to their destination. A eecond shipment dispatched 
in the same fashion, with the addition of instructions to let them 
proceed to Washington, reached our hands, and nearly a thousand fine 
young plants have been grown from it. These are now in the greenhouses 
at Bell, Maryland. 
The pejibaye has been described in Plant Immigrants (see No. 191, 
March, 1922, pp. 1734-35) and more fully in the Journal of Heredity for 
April, 1921. It is a tropical palm of ornamental appearance, which pro- 
duces large racemes of top-shaped fruits, each the size of an apricot, 
bright orange-yellow in color, and having a single bony seed surrounded 
by a quantity of mealy pulp. This latter, when boiled, has the flavor 
and consistency of roasted chestnuts and is an excellent food. At the 
time of the Conquest, the Indians of Costa Rica subsisted almost ex- 
clusively upon pejibayes during a certain part of each year. The fruit 
has become a very popular article of diet among Costa Ricans of European 
blood, and fetches a high price in the markets of the capital. Farther 
south, in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, this palm or one very closely 
allied to it, is cultivated by many Indian tribes, and highly esteemed 
by them as an article of food. The renowned peach palm of the Amazon 
may also be this same species, though it is usually catalogued as 
Guilielma speeiosa. 
