614 
or two's difference- may make all the difference in fertiliz- 
ing. You will see that from the list I sent you about mango 
flowers that there is a considerable difference in flowering. 
"I have had outlined, life size, drawings made of the 
fruit of all of our varieties, and I have pleasure in sending 
you a set. Mr. W. Popenoe has also taken away a set with him. 
These fruits are on the whole, probably below the average 
size . 
"I a trying to arrange for a similar investigation to be 
made of mangos all over India, and have enlisted the coopera- 
tion of the various Economic Botanists. I hope that in time we 
shall be able to get together a fairly complete set of draw- 
ings and descriptions of the majority of the mangos of India. 
It is a subject that will well repay the trouble that it in- 
volves. 
"I have interested Mr. Popenoe in our so-called Country 
Plums. He has seen specimens in spirit and says that as far 
as he knows there are nothing like them in America. I have 
tried to find out where these plums came from, but no one 
seems to know. Royle called them P. Bokhariensis so they pro- 
bably came from that direction. Mr. Howard, the Imperial 
Economic Botanist at Pusa, suggests that possibly your ex- 
plorer, Mr. Meyer, I think, may have found them in his travels 
in Northern China. 
"I am taking up the peaches and plums next season and 
will have them done out in a similar way as I have done the 
mangos . 
"We went into the question of the avo'cado and Mr. Popenoe 
thinks that they will do well here. We have 2 or 3 trees here 
that we got originally in 1883 from the Agri-Horticultural 
Society, Calcutta. They are I believe of average size but so 
far have not fruited very readily. Their edible qualities 
have never been properly tested, but I fear that it will not 
readily "catch on" as it is not a fruit that the natives will 
take to. At the same time I would be very pleased to extend 
the experiment, as Mr. Popenoe thinks that we have not a good 
variety. About 3 years ago I got some Cuban avocado from 
Reasoner Bros, and these are growing well. Mr. Popenoe has 
made arrangements for one or more Wardian cases of fruits to 
take back with him in February or March, some of which he in- 
tends for you. If the Wardian case of avocado would come be- 
fore then, it would be utilized in sending the plants he 
selected . 
"Amongst other fruits that I have drawn Mr. Popenoe 's at- 
tention to is the China pear, or as it is often called here, 
country pear. They were taken up with its superior qualities 
as a stewing or canning pear. Infinitely superior to the 
Keiffer. I cannot find that the China pear (at least the 
