306 ANNUAL REPORT 



ment receive the true Antonooka, or was it lost ? In discussing- 

 the winter varieties we hr.ve seen and tested, and the winter vari- 

 eties specially recommended by Dr. Shrader, Dr. Fischer, and a 

 hundred orchardists in various parts of Russia with friend Gibb» 

 we got out the Washington list, hoping to find at least one of the 

 specially prized sorts which had been fruited with us. We utterly 

 failed to find it. 



HIS REPORT FROM OREL. 



As near as we can tell the climate here is about like that of the 

 northern counties of Iowa. The black locust lives in an imperfect 

 way, but is killed back in extreme winters, and no fruit of France 

 or England will endure the most ordinary winter. Some of the 

 apples and pears have German names, but this comes from the 

 introduction of German gardeners as early as the reign of Peter 

 the Great. I have before me three fine winter apples with German 

 names, yet they are as truly Russian, we are told, as is the Boro- 

 vinka or Anis. So, some of the pears have the generic name of 

 Berganiotte, but where does this name belong? Karl Koch shows 

 that it is truly of Chinese origin, and the primitive forms of the 

 Bergamot are the most beautiful dark-foliaged trees found in the 

 parks in the far interior and northern provinces of Vladimir and 

 Kazan on the Russian steppes. Some of the improved Bergamots 

 of Russia have possibly some admixture of southern forms, yet the 

 leaf and habit of growth are more truly like the Bergamot race 

 than any of the southern pears bearing this name. To-day we 

 had the first opportunity to taste well-ripened fruit of the Bessem- 

 iauka pear. It is a true Russian, and the old trees here are hale 

 and hearty, and have this year borne fine crops of fruit. Yet I am 

 glad to report that the fruit is decidedly tender and good for dessert 

 use. Uniformly we have been told — even by Germans — that the 

 fruit was good, but we did not expect to find the specimens as per- 

 fect in form and flavor as those we now have on our own table. 

 It is one of the coming pears of Iowa, We have ordered scions of 

 this and other good pears from the Institute in considerable quan- 

 tity. We have also paid for scions of a number of choice winter 

 apples long grown in this vicinity. One of these varieties bears 

 the name of Borsdorf Zivebel; yejb it has a historic fame in the val- 

 ley of the Olga as a fruit fit for the table of a prince. I wish to 

 repeat that we are perpetually surprised at finding fruits of great 

 excellence and value which have not spread far beyond the bounds 

 where they have been grown for generations. Here at Orel we 



