Meyer: Seeking Plant Immigrants 



121 



that all of his spineless Opuntias would 

 go, and even long before that, telling him 

 of the experiences at San Antonio, 

 where all the spineless forms of Opuntias 

 froze when it was 12° Fahr. 



experiences in BOKHARA. 



Samarkand, Turkestan, 

 June 28, 1910. 



As I said, I arrived in New Bokhara 

 on Sunday afternoon. On Monday we 

 went to the police for passport and 

 photograph matters, but it was a hol- 

 iday again and we couldn't do a thing, 

 so we went to Old Bokhara and had a 

 glimpse around. The interpreter pre- 

 tended to know all about the town, but 

 I found him to be misinformed, like I 

 had experienced several times these last 

 days, and his eyes had become so bad 

 these last hot days that when he passed 

 from the light into the shade we had to 

 assist him, otherwise he fell into holes 

 and ditches. So we returned in the 

 evening without having seen the grain 

 market or Mr. Parkinson. 



The next day, Tuesday, June 21, we 

 went again to the police and saw the 

 Political Agent, a gentleman of shrewd 

 appearance and possessing much power. 

 He said that I would be permitted to 

 travel in the Hissar Mountains in 

 Central Bokhara and take photos of 

 botanical subjects; he thought it, how- 

 ever, advisable that I shouldn't go alone 

 and wishes me to have a Bokharian 

 official go along, I having to pay him a 

 salar\^ and sustenance. My route of 

 travel he also wishes me to send him. 



I answered that I couldn't decide 

 right on the spot how these matters 

 will go, as I expected important mail in 

 Samarkand and have to supply me yet 

 with a tent and some more camping 

 outfit. 



That was all right, he said, he only 

 wished me to know that Bokhara is not 

 an easy country and travelling alone 

 without a native of some standing 

 would be extremely difficult. He also 

 said I will not be allowed to go near the 



Afghanistan frontier, as no foreigners 

 are permitted to go there. 



products of sart gardens. 



In the afternoon we repaired again to 

 Old Bokhara, took a droshky and drove 

 to the office of Diirrschmidt & Co., 

 where Ernest Parkinson, of the Reich- 

 ardt Asiatic Trading Co., resides. We 

 found him and William Donohue at 

 home and had a long talk. The weather 

 was very hot, 114° Fahr. in the shade, 

 but Mr. Donohue went with us and 

 showed us the grain market, the medi- 

 cine shops and other points of interest. 

 As it became late, however, we made 

 arrangements to come back early next 

 day. And so we did. Then Mr. Park- 

 inson went with us, too; we bought 

 some seeds, like wheat, cowpeas, hemp 

 and poppy, and saw a real Sart garden 

 where grapes, apricots, apples, pome- 

 granates, quinces, peaches and figs were 

 grown. The pomegranates and figs 

 have to be buried, however, every 

 winter, but still they bear fruits. 



In general, from what I saw, I cannot 

 say that there was much of interest to 

 be found among the seeds and plants. 

 They are apparently all well known. 

 For fruits I am apparently somewhat 

 early yet. Grapes are just coming in, 

 but they are small and not very fine. 

 The apples are greenish and, though 

 ripe, of a very insipid taste. Apricots 

 are small and apparently most times 

 seedlings, though a few of fine, melting 

 flavor are once in a while seen. The 

 plums one sees now are those of Prunus 

 insititia and perhaps also of P. divari- 

 cata and there is much variation among 

 them, although the fruits are small. 

 The muskmelons are just coming in 

 and two kinds there are, the one green- 

 ish and generally split open and the 

 other yellow ones, small in size, but of 

 very sweet and melting flesh. I was 

 assured that later in the season fine 

 large plums and still better grapes and 

 melons are coming, but that is a few 

 months later. 



Eugenics Not Impossible 



There is nothing either in the history of domestic animals or in that of evolu- 

 tion to make us doubt that a race of sane men may be formed, who shall be as 

 much superior, mentally and morally, to the modem European, as the modern 

 European is to the lowest of the negro races. — Francis Galton: Hereditary Genius 

 (1902). 



