290 ANNUAL REPORT 



PROFESSOR BUDD AT ST. PETERSBURG. 



Of the Imperial gardens, I can only say at this time that under the 

 able management of Dr. Regel, they have attained a proud position. 

 The doctor is now sixty-seven years of age, and has had charge of 

 these gardens for twenty-six years. Before coming here he was 

 director of a botanic garden in the mountain regions of Switzer- 

 land. He is probably the ablest botanist in northern Europe. He 

 is really a walking encyclopoedia striding over the grounds and 

 talking of the 24,000 species of plants under his charge. We tried 

 to keep up with him for six hours yesterday. We did not observe 

 that he was tired, but we freely admitted that we were. Some idea 

 of the magnitude of the place may be inferred from the fact that 

 the large glass houses, if placed end to end, would extend two Eng- 

 lish miles. 



DR. REGEL's nursery. 



Dr. Regel, in company with a business partner, has an extensive 

 nursery about two miles distant from the gardens. This nursery 

 is in one sense also a botanical garden. Plants are grown quite 

 largely, ol little known species of northern Europe and Asia, for 

 distribution to botanical gardens, private collections, etc., in all 

 parts of the world. Fruit trees are not largely grown. Indeed the 

 soil here is not favorable for growing of fruit or fruit trees ; yet 

 here are found very many varieties of the apples of the hardiest 

 known varieties. 



A SHOT AT OUR AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT RUSSIANS. 



The German varieties in stock when the scions were sent to our 

 Department of Agriculture in 1870 were long since discarded. The 

 sorts now grown are true Russians, which can stand rough usage. 



MARKET FRUITS AT ST. PETERSBURG. 



Some of the fruits in the market specially interest us. The Rus- 

 sian summer apples are fine in size and color, and run into many 

 variations in texture and flavor. Some of them will prove as valu- 

 able as our Duchess of Oldenburg and much better quality for 

 dessert use. The market is supplied with cherries to an extent not 

 observed before in any city of Europe or America. These cherries 

 come from the far interior provinces of Vladimar and Samara, 

 where the climate is dry and hot in summer and the winters are 

 even more severe than with us. Though they vary in size and 

 quality they are all of the same dwarf tree race, and are known un- 



