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. Rostof f -on-Don. Mr. Frank N. Meyer writes Dec. 
9, 1911: "We visited on November 17th the School of Garden- 
ing, which 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 allr-around stock for the black soil around Penza. 
They find it difficult, however, 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 uncongeniality of the East-Central 
Russian climate, I was told that this year they experienced a 
frost of 8° Reaumur in May (+14° Pahr.) 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 
