521 



with the aid of the Argentine Government, on the scientific 

 results of our work. Our topographic maps will cover a zone 

 50 kilometers wide extending from San Antonio to the Chilean 

 boundary, and we are trying to map the geology and the soils. 

 I would propose that your specialist should map the botanical 

 formations . " 



CEYLON. Peradeniya. Dr. John C. Willis writes November 

 30 that he is leaving immediately for England, where he will 

 spend the winter, leaving for Rio de Janeiro in April or May 

 to assume his duties as Director of the Rio de Janeiro 

 Botanical Garden. 



RUSSIA. Rostoff-on-Don. Mr. Frank N. Meyer writes Dec. 

 9, 1911: "We visited on November 17th the School of Garden- 

 ing, v/hich is situated near Penza and which is considered one 

 of the best schools of the sort in Russia. It was a dark, 

 misty day and not quite fit to walk over half-frozen earth 

 roads and glide from one mudhole into the other, but weather 

 in Russia is a topic one leaves at rest, for it gets to monot- 

 onous. So we saw at that School a very interesting old neg- 

 lected arboretum, with large specimens of Pinus strobus, 

 Picea siberica, Larix siberica, Hippophae rhmnoides, Malus 

 baccata, M. prunifolia, Juglans cinerea and other trees. We 

 also saw a newly laid-out arboretum, with small specimens of 

 most of the every-day trees and shrubs and along the roads 

 there were various hardy herbaceous perennials. Then we saw 

 the fruit plantations. Mr. Sokoloff, who is in charge of the 

 outdoor plantings, took us around, through thick and through 

 thin; they have about 60 varieties of apples in cultivation, 

 but the 2 leading sorts are Antoneffka and Anees, but of both 

 there some sub-varieties. They have experimented with various 

 stocks and have come to the conclusion that Malus prunifolia 

 is the best all-around stock for the black soil around Penza. 

 They find it difficult, howeve: . to obtain pure prunifolia 

 seed, as this apple readily hybridizes with M. sylvestris and 

 M. baccata. They also found that the Antoneffka apple is bet- 

 ter able to grow on low places than any other variety. As a 

 contribution to the uncongenial! ty of the East-Central 

 Russian climate, I was told that this year they experienced a 

 frost of 8 Reaumur in May (+14 Fahr . ) and that while every- 

 thing commenced to bloom. They lost of course a whole lot of 

 fruit. Many years ago they also started a collection of dwarf 

 fruits, but, such things are apparently not fitted for cli- 

 mates like around Penza, at least they almost produce no fruit 

 at all, as the blossoms freeze nearly every spring. There are 

 also many greenhouses in the School grounds and I saw some 

 pretty flowers, which are sold for revenue. The heating of 



