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Saissansk, Altaisk, and eastward into the mountains, finally 
descending the Katun River to Biisk, Barnaul, thence to Omsk. 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Comendador. Mr. M. E. Beall, 
Collector of Customs, writes May 22, that he is still on the 
lookout for an especially fine muskraelon he has heard of, and 
recently "was told of a small round melon that grows near 
Azua, very fragrant, and the people put them in their trunks 
to give odor to their clothes." He will attempt to secure 
seed of this for us. 
INDIA. Calcutta. Mr. John D. Shanahan writes May 22 
that he is looking into the possibilities of white linseed, 
concerning which we requested information, and finds that in 
some cases at least one Bombay firm has been able to get 
considerable premiums for it. He has requested further infor- 
mation from the Economic Botanist of India, who has promised 
to give it. / 
INDIA. Darjeeling. Mr. G. H. Cave of the Lloyd Botanic 
Garden writes May 15, that the Asparagus filicinus we have 
requested does not occur in Sikkim, but that his collectors 
are instructed to watch for it and to procure it if possible. 
INDIA. Ootacamund. Mr. F. H. Butcher, Curator of the 
Government Botanic Gardens, writes May 15 that he will send 
us seeds of Bassia longifolia, the mahua, in August, but 
doubts his ability to get us Bassia malabarica, the southern 
India form of B. longifolia. 
INDIA. Simla. Mr. Everard Cotes writes May 14 that he 
i3 leaving for England, but has turned our request for Aspar- 
agus filicinus over to Mr. Bernard Coventry, officiating 
Director General of Agriculture for India, who will use his 
best efforts in our behalf. 
PARAGUAY. Villa Encarnacion, Mr. C. P. Mead writes 
April 25 and May 2 that he will send us seeds of the Samun, 
or tree cotton (Chorisia sp. ) in June when it is ripe. This 
cotton is as fine as silk and each boll appears to contain 
about as much as the average cotton boll in America. The 
tree is certainly somewhat frost resistant as the trees are 
in blossom, although for a week there have been heavy frosts 
every night. He has received a letter from Sr. H. Louis 
Krummel, a botani-st and land surveyor who has had thirty 
years experience in the upper Parana. "He says that thirty 
inch maize is pretty large, but that he would not at all be 
surprised if such was found. He has seen extraordinary large 
maize brought by Brazilian colonists from Rio Grande or Santa 
Catharina, Brazil, of the class called r diente de caballo' 
