SEEKING PLANT IMMIGRANTS 



Explorations in Asiatic Russia, in Search of New and Valuable Plants Suitable 

 for Introduction to the United States — Desert Flora not Rich 

 in Species — Small Forests Established in Pure and 

 Moving Sand — Fruits Mostly of Common- 

 place Character — Trying 

 Conditions of Work. 



Frank N. Meyer 



Agricultural Explorer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, Bureau of 



Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington D. C. 



AlthougJi plant breeders realise in a general way that new material is constantly 

 being jurnished to them, and that new crops from time to time make their public ap- 

 pearance and assume a prominent place in our agriculture, while old ones are frequent- 

 ly being improved by the spread of newer and better forms, few understand in just what 

 way these new plant immigrants are secured. It has seemed, therefore, that an account 

 of some of the work done in Asiatic Russia by an American citizen of Dutch birth, 

 Frank N . Meyer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wotdd prove of great interest 

 to American plant breeders, while his graphic pictures of these semi -civilized coun- 

 tries are certain to attract the general reader as well. The following article is made 

 up solely of extracts from Mr. Meyer's letters to his chief, the scientific names being 

 in the form used by him and not neccessarily the form accepted by the botanists of 

 the Department. The illustrations are all from his original photographs — The Editor. 



AsKABAD, Turkestan. 



June 7, 1910. 



WELL now, you'll no doubt 

 be interested to know how 

 I got into Central x^sia. 

 We left Baku on Monday 

 night. May 30, and landed the next 

 afternoon in Krasnawodsk, where we 

 found a few police officers and gen- 

 darmes asking us for our passports. 

 My name had been booked already for 

 months and I was informed that all 

 my requests to explore and photograph 

 had been granted and that the various 

 authorities had been instructed to 

 assist me. On June 1, I received my 

 passport back and left in the afternoon 

 for Kizii-arwat, where according to 

 my interpreter's belief many rare 

 Persian seeds could be obtained. When 

 we arrived there the next day, we didn't 

 find it to be so, as most of the Persian 

 population had shifted to Askabad and 



Baku. In the afternoon we left again 

 for Bachar-den, a small town near to 

 the mountains, where some fine native 

 vegetation was said to occur. 



To obtain a cart consumed the whole 

 next day (June 3) but we left at four 

 o'clock in the morning of June 4. Our 

 cartman, a conceited Armenian, pro- 

 fessed to know the country, but — at 

 eight o'clock we were quite at a loss 

 where we were and we camped in the 

 open. On June 5 we found a soldiers' 

 post, for we were close to the Persian 

 frontier, and made our headquarters 

 there for that day and on June 6 we 

 returned again to Bachar-den. I found 

 some interesting plants during these 

 days; an ornamental Eremurus, a few 

 species of Tamarix, an Acer, Cerasus 

 microcarpa, Prunus sp., Rhus sp., in- 

 teresting grasses, etc. We made a 

 goodly pile of herbarium material 

 which will reach you in due time. 



Ill 



