Much as I dislike and have written against the practice of scattering over the country from the Agricultural Department common garden seeds, that are to be had at any store, I must come to the defense of the department in the matter of plants, cuttings, etc. They do distribute to stations and nurserymen many valuable plants and cuttings. I have received from them the present season a number of rare sorts of foreign grapes to be used for hybridizing purposes under glass, and thirty varieties of figs imported from the best fig growing parts of the world. Citrus trifoliata was sent out by the department, and many of the best softs of oranges now grown in Florida and California owe their introduction to Mr. Saunders efforts, including the Navel orange, which he brought from Bahia. In regard to Citrus trifoliata, I would like to state that trees planted by me in northern Maryland in 1880went through in the winter of 1880-81, (not '86 as Orchard and Garden has it), a temperature of 18° below zero unhurt, and are now in full bearing. We are now testing the Satsuma, and one of our little trees only a foot high made flowers this spring.

Satsuma is an evergreen and we do not feel so sure about it as trifoliata, but hope it may be hardy here. - W. F. MasSEY, N. C. Experiment Station.