282 AliTNUAL llEPOKT 



" In connection with these hasty notes, I might note the fact 

 that no trace of blight of pear or apple trees can be seen in Europe. 

 We have all kinds of theories as to its cause with us. Over our 

 meandering path through Prance and Germany we have met ex- 

 ceedingly varied climates. We have been in sections where trees 

 of all kinds have bten injured by winters cold to an extent I nev^er 

 knew in Iowa, and in sections where the fig was hardy in the open 

 air. Yet in all the varied sections we have found no place where 

 the maize, the tomato, the alternauthera, the coleus, and other 

 plants requiring a high summer temperature, reached the perfec- 

 tion they attain on our prairies. On the north side of the moun- 

 tain range we have, indeed, lost sight of plants of this character,. 

 until we reached the valley of the Danube. Join our semi-tropical 

 summer with the fact that we must plant trees that will endure a 

 Russian winter, and we can readily guess why we have blight, and 

 France and Germany do not know such a thing." 



A VALUABLE LETIER FROM DRESDEN — HORTICULTURAL SCHOOLS OF 

 CENTRAL EUROPE. 



" Dresden, July 27. — For the past week we have been giving 

 attention to the work done at some of the special horticultural 

 schools in northern and eastern Austria. Of these the one located 

 at Klosterneuberg, near Vienna, and the one at Troja, near Prague, 

 in Bohemia, deserve special mention. 



" They are both called Royal Pomological Institutes, and receive 

 about $70,000 annually from the government to keep up the muse- 

 ums and the varied divisions of experimental work. They are in 

 charge of men who by birth and education are specially fitted for 

 the work. For instance, Dr. Rudolph Stoll, the Professor of Hor- 

 ticulture at Klosterneuberg, acquired his knowledge of theoretical 

 and practical horticulture from his father, who, for over a quarter 

 of a century, has been the Director of the Horticultural Institute 

 at Oppeld in Silesia; who in turn was the son of one of the ablest 

 horticulturists of the time of Van Mons. 



"Dr. Stoll is not only an able manager of his division, but is an 

 enthusiast who cannot do too much for those who visit the school 

 seeking horticultural light. When we came on the grounds he 

 was in the field directing a class of twelve young men engaged in 

 training espalier apple trees. At once he delegated the work to an 

 advanced pupil, and entered heart and soul into the work we came 

 here to do. For ten hours he gave his time and ability to the 



