284 ANNUAL RBPOET 



except, perhaps, the English Morello, and as large and beautiful as 

 any cherries grown in the Eastern States. 



*■ Yesterday, on the grounds of the Royal Pomological Institute 

 near Prague, we had an opportunity to taste the fruit fresh from 

 the trees of many varieties likely to prove very valuable with us. 

 The special hardiness of these trees will be carefully studied as we 

 go north, as we shall keep ahead of the cherry season at points like 

 Warsaw, Riga, etc. 



"As we go north and east, the dropping out of tender forms from 

 the botanical gardens, parks, and fruit gardens, is a matter of spe- 

 cial interest to us. 



"At the horticultural schools we are assured that we are the first 

 persons, to their knowledge, who have made a comparative study 

 of the fruits, trees, plants and shrubs of the interior portions of 

 Europe on different parallels of latitude and at different elevations." 



HORTICULTURAL SCHOOL AT PROSKAU, IN" SILESIA. 



"We are still working northward and eastward. For two days 

 we have been studying the grounds, appurtenances, course of study, 

 etc., of the most complete and instructive horticultural school we 

 have yet seen in Europe or America, and it seems located where 

 ordinary tourists would not be apt to find it. Far into the interior 

 of one of the largest steppes of central Europe, on the 51st parallel 

 of north latitude, six miles from any railroad station, but near the 

 small, ancient town of Proskau, is the ^Kimfs Pomological Institute.'' 

 The grounds contain over three hundred acres, quite a large part of 

 which is covered with arboretum, which includes a beautiful ap- 

 proach from the town, one mile in length — gardens, nurseries, 

 orchards, beautifully laid out and planted lawns, etc. What is 

 oalled the arboretum really contains about every tree and shrub of 

 the world that will grow in this northern prairie climate. I say 

 prairie, as this slightly undulating plain north of the Carpathian 

 mountains is apparently as boundless as those of the west. We 

 passed over it two hundred miles from Dresden in coming here, and 

 it extends much more than two hundred miles eastward, and north- 

 east it meets the Russian steppes. In northern Silesia this plain 

 is very fertile, and is under high culture. The expression is pecu- 

 liar, as we see no houses, only as we catch glimpses of distant vil- 

 lages, and we see no fences, no loose stock of any kind, only now 

 and then a flock of herded sheep on the stubble fields or meadows. 

 The division lines and roads are planted with trees, usually of low 



