1524 
animals including buffaloes and elephants; hence farms 
with plenty of spekboom need not fear an ordinary drought. 
"Providence meant to spoil our farmers in placing 
the spekboom on the hills of the Karoo," wrote MacOwan 
in one of his articles on the fodder plants of the 
country. (Adapted from Marloth, The Flora of South 
Africa, vol. 1, p. 209.) 
"The yearly average rainfall of the region in 
which the spekboom thrives is 18 3/4 Inches and the 
rainiest months (November, December and January), are 
the hottest ones, the temperature reaching 308° P. 
During these months the rainfall averages 2 inches. 
In the winter months the rainfall is between .35 and 
.54 inches and the temperature is sometimes as low as 
21 J P. The plant has b«een successfully introduced into 
America and small trees of it are now growing in San 
Diego and Santa Barbara, California." (Fairchild.) 
Ribes lobbii (Grossulariaceae ) , 48511-15, Gooseberry. 
From near Castle Rock, Wash. Seeds collected by Dr. 
David Fairchild. "The largest wild gooseberry I have 
ever seen. The fruits, some of them three-fourths of 
an inch in diameter, were attached by a very slender 
pedicel, and when I touched them they dropped into my 
hands. They were covered with flat-topped glandular 
hairs which made them slightly sticky to the touch and 
they had an odor reminding me of that exhaled by the 
leaves of Rosz xanthina. A farmer whom we met on the 
road dec lared that he could tell when he was near bushes 
of this species of gooseberry by the odor. The entire 
skin, which Is claret-red when the fruit i6 ripe, peels 
off easily, exposing a whitish tissue inside of which 
is the characteristic gooseberry flesh containing a few 
small seeds. The flavor is extremely mild, not sour, 
but sweetish and rather lacking in character ; capable , 
possibly, of being improved through breeding by the 
addition of that tartness so characteristic of our 
eastern wild gooseberry. The seedlings from this par- 
ticular specimen may inherit the unusual size and so 
be of value in breeding experiments." (Fairchild.) 
Notes on Behavior of Previous Introductions. 
A letter received October 15, 1919, from Mr. B. 
Kouwenboven, Edmonds, Wash., states the following: 
"Aesculus wilsonii, S.P.I. No. 40037, is a beautiful orna- 
mental tree with graceful leaves, now a gorgeous mixture 
of orange, bronze, green and red, with purple ribs." 
