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Dw, of NEW PLANTS FROM THE 1954 EXPEDITION 
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Dr. N. E. Hansen, State College, Brookings, South Dakota, retu^nea) > Oc^f>t^T ' V 
19, 1954 from a four months tour to Soviet Russia. His son, Carl A. 
Brookings, South Dakota, accompanied him as Technical Assistant. T 
made at the invitation of the Soviet government through the Lenin Academy^o 
Agricultural Sciences at Leningrad. The tour extended as far east as Shilka, 
on the north branch of the East Siberian railway, at the headwaters of the Amur 
river. 
4 1936 
oat 
of A 
Srioultlt 
Program for 1955 : By special request a plan or program of work for the 
agricultural experiment stations is to be prepared and sent back for use next spring 
and succeeding years in the Soviet Union. A comparative survey of the work in fruit¬ 
breeding and agricultural exploration in both countries will make possible more 
rapid progress at this time. 
Dr. Hansen has made a total of eight tours of agricultural exploration in¬ 
cluding, Europe, Asia / and north Africa, and twelve tours to western Canada. 
The seeds and plants collected upon this seventh tour of agricultural ex¬ 
ploration to Russia will be propagated as rapidly as possible for distribution, and 
announced in the spring list of Northern Plant Novelties, usually published in Janu¬ 
ary of each year. The following is a partial list of plants and seeds collected: 
1. A Siberian apricot which is another species from the one brought by Dr. 
Hansen from Manchuria in 1924. This makes possible a new race, hardy in all parts 
of the prairie northv/est. 
2. The Siberian form of the Created Wheat Grass which was first brought to 
America by Dr. Hansen in his 1897-8 tour from the Volga river region end is now- 
recommended by the U. S. Department of Agriculture as the best grass for the 
western plains. 
5. Soy beans from their northern limit in the Amur river region. 
4. Many new Russian and Siberian apples, plums, pears and cherries, including 
a red cherry from the Ural mountains. 
5. Seeds of new Proso grain millets from Afghanistan. 
6. Seed of the native grass from which Soviet Russia is developing a peren¬ 
nial wheat. 
7. Seed of new frost-resistant and blight-resistant potatoes from South 
America, from which Russia is breeding an entirely new type of potatoes strongly 
resistant to frost and completely immune to the late blight which frequently 
destroys the potato crop. It was late blight which caused the potato famine in 
Ireland many years ago. 
8. Two native rubber plants from Central Asia which are now being cultivated 
on a large scale. This work is still in the experimental stage. 
9. The Chinese elrn is of great importance because it is completely immune 
to Dutch elm disease which is devastating the elms of Europe end the eastern United 
States. Many of the Chinese elms introduced so far have come from too far south. 
The present is the most northern importation made. 
10. Many other seeds were collected, including some choice wild flowers and 
ehe East Siberian wild peony. 
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