Meyer: Collecting in Turkestai 



167 



WILD DESERT PEONY. 



Unidentified species having medium large, carmine flowers and glossy, gracefully cut foliage 

 of a dark green color; found growing on rather stony and sterile places in Turkestan. vSent 

 to the United States by Meyer as a spring flowering plant for gardens and parks in the 

 northern United States. (Figure 9.) 



mens of pomegranates to be seen; that 

 is, of fine color and size, but of very sour 

 taste. Of grapes, the beautiful rosy- 

 white Ghusaine table grape was very 

 fine with its long, translucent berries, 

 which taste remarkably sweet. 



In the immediate neighborhood of 

 Kokand one sees field after field covered 

 with cotton, alternated with alfalfa and 

 "jugara." This last can stand consider- 

 able alkali and may be of some value in 

 alkaline regions with long and hot sum- 

 mers. One also notes the masses of 

 Oleaster trees that are everywhere around 

 the fields and along watercourses. These 

 Eleagnus trees exhibit a remarkable 

 variation in general habitus, productiv- 

 ity and sizes of fruits. The bigger part 

 of them all seem to be seedlings, and are 

 planted apparently only as shelter 

 material ; at least the fruits of many are 

 too astringent to be edible, and even of 

 the larger fruited forms, only here and 

 there are the fruits collected. It is, 

 however, a beautiful tree in the land- 

 scape, especially the silvery- white forms 

 with the narrow, long leaves. 



cholera encountered. 



On Thursday, September 29, we left 

 Kokand by train, after having packed 

 our baggage so that the railroad could 

 accept it. In the afternoon we arrived 

 in Margelan, a town where the governor 

 of the Ferghana Province resides. (The 

 name Margelan was changed last year 

 into that of Skobelevo, but men persist 

 yet in calling it by the old name, 

 although the native city of Margelan, 

 where only Sart people live, still retains 

 its old name.) 



We left Margelan in the afternoon of 

 October 1, and arrived at evening in 

 Andishan, where I have been writing 

 these last days. We saw the police, 

 of course, or rather were requested to 

 come, and as my papers are in good 

 shape, the German interpreter is allowed 

 for the present to stay too, but we had 

 to whisk our Chinaman away to some 

 native inn, where he keeps company 

 with a few fellow countrymen and eats 

 with them. There is much cholera here 

 in this place, and we are very careful 

 with our food. Yesterday I believe 



