544 



investigations of fruits and develop varieties better suited 

 to the South Russian climate. Mr. Stebut stated that although 

 the Sval'if wheats are absolute failures in Southern Russia, 

 the oats are successes, especially "Whiteling" and "Ligowo"; 

 that the name "Kherson oats" is American, that a variety so 

 named is not known in Russia, but that these same oats, re- 

 imported from American, are proving a great success in Sara- 

 toff Government; that Russia is realizing at last that agri- 

 culture is the basis of all prosperity and that it is today 

 spending more than ten times the amount of money upon agri- 

 cultural investigations that it did four or five years ago; 

 that America is taken as a model for all this new work; that 

 the Russian people appreciate their own products better after 

 they have been re-iinported from America than they do when 

 picking them out themselves; that Mr. Bogdan at Krassny Koot 

 is doing a noble work; that he has given to the world two new 

 fodder plants, Triticum cristatum and Medicago falcata, both 

 true Russian products; that Russia has long been dormant but 

 that the world may expect yet many new things from her in the 

 agricultural line. 



Mr. Stebut is much interested in obtaining from us 

 samples of various wheats and literature on wheats and cereals 

 in general. Then he wants to exchange with us later on local 

 wheats for American wheats. Mr. Stebut has studied in Vienna 

 and at various places in Germany; has visited Dr. Nilsson at 

 Svali'f, in Sweden, and Prof. Johansen in Denmark, and is of 

 good scientific training in general. He also told me, -as an 

 example of what a monetary loss may result when the wrong 

 sorts of grain are imported, that several years ago the beer 

 of Samara was famous for its good qualities. Now, however, it 

 has become quite bad, simply on account of a serious drouth 

 which ruined the barley crops and which made the farmers 

 import barleys from the Caucasus, which were absolutely unfit 

 for beer production. The results are that the breweries of 

 Samara are being closed one after the other and beer is im- 

 ported from places where there is apparently still good brew- 

 ing barley to be had. I also heard that the mills in Russia 

 pay extra salaries to those men who thoroughly understand how 

 to mix the largest quantities of flour from soft wheats with 

 durum wheat flour, as the last flour is the more expensive in 

 Russia . 



The country around Sarepta is very interesting. The 

 level land stretching down to the Wolga, suddenly rises up in 

 a tableland and this land is cut up by numerous gullies and 

 ravines. Some of these ravines are covered with a dense 

 growth of Acer tataricum, some are full of Ulmus suberosa and 

 others have groves of wild apples as inhabitants, while small 

 scrub of Spiraea hypericif olia is seen on the higher edges. 



