kent, and by field expeditions. Tashkent, for example, has been transformed during 

 the last 30 years into a modern city by irrigation, by the utilisation of power, and by 

 education. The Tashkent Academy of Sciences integrates the activities of 23 research 

 institutes comprising about 1500 full time research workers who are additional to those 

 working in the University, and most of them are of the Uzbek and other Asian races. 



A soil survey is being made in considerable detail. Shifting sand has in parts 

 smothered fertile desert soils which are being reclaimed. A detailed knowledge of the 

 soil and subsoil is necessary both for the choice of the most suitable crop plants, and 

 for the decisions concerning methods of improving difficult types of soil. Research 

 stations are engaged on these problems. For example the clay plain north of Kizyl- 

 Arvat and patches of clay on the route of the canal were once considered unsuitable 

 for cultivation. Studies on the chemical and physical properties of these peculiar 

 soils has shown that when the texture can be improved they become fertile. 



The areas to be watered by periodic flooding are greater than those to be irrigated. 

 Agronomists from the Institute for the Amelioration of Water and Marshes Economy are 

 selecting suitable grasses for growing on the new pastures, and the plant breeding 

 stations are taking steps to produce the seed in quantity. There are now 72 plant 

 breeding stations with 4,000 to 5,000 acres each, situated in different parts of the 

 Soviet Union. The animal breeders are endeavouring to improve the stocks of Karakul 

 sheep to graze these new meadows, and Turkmenian Tekin horses are already of high 

 quality. Increase in cattle is being pr6secuted by careful breeding and by modern 

 methods, and improvement in agricultural methods of fodder crop production. The 

 natural supply of fertilisers occurring in parts of the Turkmenian desert are being ex- 

 ploited in increasing quantity, fertilisers are added every six weeks for some plants, 

 and seven crops of lucerne, for example, are being harvested each year by these 

 methods. 



The mechanisation of desert agriculture and the production of suitable varieties 

 of economic plants have made great strides in recent years. Problems of drainage are 

 being attended to, and are equal in importance to those of irrigation because increases 

 in soil salinity must be avoided. Yields of cotton per acre had trebled since 1932 in 

 the fields which I visited. The Tashkent cotton institute for example, employs more 

 than 40 scientists and over 200 other workers. Varieties of cotton suited to certain 

 localities are produced by hybridisation and by other means. A pre- sowing treatment 

 of the seed is providing a method of obtaining plants which are more resistant to saline 

 soils, and much of the desert which will be watered is saline. Two crops a year can 

 be harvested, and up to 30cwt. of cotton per acre can be raised in the irrigated parts 

 of Turkmenia. Two crops of wheat a year are also practicable. The plant breeding 

 stations near Ashkhabad and at Kara-Kala and Kara- Kalinskaya are engaged in pro- 

 ducing subtropical fruits suitable for cultivation in the areas to be irrigated, and large 

 scale production of cherry, apricot and peach trees is going ahead for planting on the 

 present arid wastes of Turkmenia. The Uzbekistan stations have already accomplished 

 much in the production of locally suitable varieties of hard fruit which I saw cropping 

 heavily. The first 5,000 acres of new land were irrigated in 1952 and on it experi- 

 mental crops are being grown. 



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