62 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



vegetable: gardens along THE IRTISH : SIBERIA 



Imagine the agricultural explorer walking through these gardens in southwestern Siberia, 

 examining each variety of plant, in the hope that among them somewhere he might find a 

 new kind or a new strain of vegetable which would prove better in some particular than those 

 which we already have growing in America. 



tering of Russian and no knowledge at 

 all of the Sart language, which is much 

 spoken here. I'll get out of it, however. 



"On Saturday, June n, we wanted to 

 leave early, but I got a message from the 

 police to appear before them. Something 

 new, I thought. Well, we went and the 

 whole thing was nothing but a curiosity 

 to see me. 



"The captain, or whatever his rank was, 

 asked my interpreter whether I really was 

 a botanist, whether I only had interest in 

 plants, and more of such suspicious ques- 

 tions. He then told me that permission 

 had come from St. Petersburg allowing 

 me to photograph trees and plants only, 

 and that for every locality I wanted to 

 visit I had to get a special permit, either 

 written or verbal, depending upon the im- 

 portance of the place. But under no 

 consideration would I be granted permis- 

 sion to go to the Afghanistan frontier, as 

 foreigners were not allowed ! 



"We left the same day for Merv, 

 where we arrived after midnight. The 

 next day was exceedingly hot and the 



light so intense as to make one almost 

 dizzy. We took out the collected herba- 

 rium material, which wasn't all dry yet, 

 and gave it an airing — much trouble her- 

 barium material causes on a journey! 



"In Merv there is a pretty park, where 

 tall specimens of poplars occur. I also 

 saw there, for the first time in my life, 

 fine, large specimens of Karakash elms! 

 Very striking trees they are, with their 

 umbrella-like shape and a dense mass of 

 rather small foliage. These trees will be 

 highly appreciated by our settlers in the 

 desert regions. 



"On Monday, June 13, there was a 

 great market held in Merv. Turkomans, 

 Afghanistanese, Kirghizes, and many 

 other wild-looking inhabitants of these 

 regions here mingled one with another- 

 I bought some barley, millet, and wheat, 

 but found little new. 



THE CAMEL'S THORN OE THE DESERT 



"The desert around Merv is quite inter- 

 esting. The camel's thorn covers tens 

 of thousands of acres of land. It was 



