184 American Horticultural Society. 



and volume of water of the Volga are much greater. Like the Missouri, the 

 blullrt are loefs in formation, but thoy are roumlcr, smoother ami better 

 adapted to cultivation, as a whole, than those of our great western rivers. 

 So, also, the color and sediment, and the ever-shifting sands and channel, 

 remind us of our Big Muddy. 



But while the natural lay of the land and the a.spect of the water are 

 familiar, the changes wrought by man remind us constiiutly of very ancient 

 occupation, and at least partial civilization. On the higher bluflfs can be 

 seen the more or less perfect remains of ancient castles of defense of the 

 time when geographers gave the stream the classic name of Kha, and the 

 defense mounds of the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, iiolgas and 

 Tartars are visible at every bend. 



The steeper portions of the blufTs are covered with deciduous and ever- 

 green trees that give evidence of systematic planting and culture in their 

 first stages of growth. The undulating and level portions are dotted with 

 peasant villages, garden plats, cultivated lields, and orchards laden at this 

 season with high-colored fruits, as noted when the steamer followed the 

 channel often within stone throw of the trees. 



At intervals of a few miles we pass neat and clean looking cities and 

 trading villages, with the never-failing accompaniment of expensive and 

 showy cathedrals. Near these cities, on selected elevations, the modern cas- 

 tles and residences of Russian, German, French, Italian and North Tartar 

 grandees and noblemen are as artistic in design and linish as those of the 

 Danube or the Rhine. The lawns, gardens and orchards surrounding these 

 homes of wealth also show the handiwork of the best modern landscape gar- 

 deners. 



In this connection we may say that the number of nationalities repre- 

 sented by tht^ owners of these palatial residences on the Volga bluffs from 

 Nizhni to Saratov, a distance of over 1,0(X^ miles, was a surprise until we 

 learned that it had been the outgrowth of the wonderful commerce of this 

 river since the time of Peter the Great. Even England is here represented 

 by men who have amassed wealth from the steamboat, milling or manufact- 

 uring interests of this busy and populous valley. The peasant villages, seen 

 from the deck, or when rambling in the interior, are uniformly built of logs 

 or poles, chinked with a white and durable cement and thatched with long 

 hay or straw. 



As in Germany, these peasant homes diller little in size, mode of struct- 

 ure, or interior linish and furniture. These villages are also alike in their 

 possession of a showy cathedral — quite out of keeping with the cabins and 

 their surroundings — which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is pre- 

 sided over by a priest of the Greek division of the Catholic church. 



We should also adtl that the owners of cabins of each and all the villages 

 are alike in watchful care of the holy taper, which is kept burning from gen- 

 eration to generation in the holy corner of the main apartment. In connec- 

 tion with the holy taper, which must never go out, the holy corner contains 



