488 Journal of Agriculture. [10 Aug., 1908. 



on the Diptera, went through their collections, and obtained a great deal 

 of information about the distribution of the fruit flies, particularly those 

 collected some five years ago in the East by Bero. In the afternoon I visited 

 the Central Bureau of Ornithology under the charge of Dr. Otto Herman, 

 who has raised this Branch of the Department of Agriculture into one of 

 the best known in the world, second only to the United States Bureau of 

 Biological Survey at Washington. Under this, useful birds are protected, 

 both on account of their insectivorous habits and value as game birds ; 

 exhaustive studies are made on the migration of birds, and nests are 

 constructed in, large quantities and placed on the islands in the Danube, 

 and distributed among the Forest Guards and Inspectors. Through the 

 schoolmasters, literature on the value and uses of birds is distributed, 

 and even specimens are given to the children '.s school museums. 



With Dr. Howarth, I called upon the Minister of Agriculture (Dr. 

 Daranyi) who is one of the foremost agriculturists in the countr\ , and 

 afterwards went to the Agricultural Museum, which is built on an artificial 

 island. It is unique in its w^ay, and has the finest collection I have seen. 

 It comprises all kinds of agricultural implements, all products made in 

 the country, raw products, models and pictures of all kinds of stock and 

 methods of dealing with them. It includes all branches of forestry, 

 animals and birds found in forests, and dead and living fish, the old and 

 modern weapons used in hunting, and the harness and implements used 

 by shepherds, stockmen, and fishermen. The collection is beautifully 

 arranged in a very fine building, which cost ^^50,000 when built as part 

 of the Hungarian Exhibition. I also visited the City Markets, another 

 fine block of buildings, where every kind of product is sold, from flowers 

 and fruit to the curious curly-haired Hungarian pigs, lambs, and live fish. 

 All the oranges in the Market belonged to two kinds of blood oranges, 

 sweet, but rough skinned, and said to be imported from Italy. The 

 Technical Branches of the Department of Agriculture are housed in a very 

 fine set of modern buildings on the Buda side of the Danube, and have 

 fine grounds and experimental plots of ground round them. Here I met 

 all the experts of the Department. Dr. Fablonowsky, the Assistant 

 Director, is also the Entomologist, and had a very fine collection of all 

 kinds of injurious insects and samples of the damage done by them exhibited 

 in cases. I'he phylloxera has done an immense amount of damage to the 

 viticultural industry, and in all clay or loamy soil they are re-planting 

 with American stocks, or going into the light sandy soil of the hills where 

 the phylloxera cannot exist. This has to a considerable extent changed 

 the nature of the vintage, and they produce a great deal of light wine 

 that is chiefly sold in Germany and Xorthern Europe, but will not sell 

 in England. The Government Fas constructed some verv extensive wine 

 cellars in the side of the mountain, outside Buda, down the river, where 

 they mature a large quantitv of wine grown in their own vineyards of 

 2,500 acres. Here they also have a .staff, and train ten young men as 

 " Cellar Masters." I visited these cellars, and was shown all over 

 the Institution, where they also hold auction sales of wine four times a 

 year. I also had the opportunity of going down to Nyiregyhaza near 

 Tokay, at the invitation of Dr. Kallay, and visited some vineyards, where 

 I found the rows are planted so close together that evervthing has to be 

 done by hand once the vines are planted. Most of the small growers 

 sell the grapes, or simply press t"he grapes and sell the must to the larger 

 growers who have wine-cellars. All the soil here and round the hills of 

 Tokay is very fine and sandy, and ph vlloxera- proof , with few exceptions. 



On the 2ist April I left by the Orient Express at midnight for Con- 

 stantinople, on my road to Cyprus and Cairo, and reached there on the 



