509 
resembling champagne. As the summer is remarkably short in 
Yakutsk government, and the winter's cold most intense, this 
currant may be expected to thrive in even the coldest 
sections of the United States." (Meyer's introductions.) For 
distr ibution later. 
NOTES FROM FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS. 
Mr. Frank N. Meyer writes December 6, 1911, from 
Rostof f -on-Don, Russia, the following description of his 
visit to Mr. Woeikov, one of the most celebrated plant 
breeders in Russia: 
"Mr. A. D. Woeikov is a man of about 
thirty-five, who although of a family which owns a large 
amount of land, is conducting a nursery. As he says , 'Den- 
drology is my hobby, but the nursery is my business'. He also 
conducts a modest school of horticulture for about twenty 
country lads, for which business he receives a govern- 
mental subsidy. He is especially interested in introducing 
all sorts of hardy trees and shrubs he can lay his hands on, 
while hardy fruits take the second place. He has a reading 
knowledge of German and English, but prefers French as a 
medium of conversation. 
"His collections of trees and shrubs have been planted 
out on many spots, as he 'has been searching for the best 
all-around locality and he decided a few years ago to start a 
new plantation a few miles away from the old place, where he 
hopes things will do better. The climate in the Simbirsk 
Government is not congenial to trees. The summers are hot 
and dry, the winters quite cold,, with little snow as a rule, 
while in spring they experience often very severe, night 
frosts that kill off the young growth. Therefore the variety 
of trees and shrubs able to survive this climate is not a 
great one. On the hills one finds wild: Pinus sylvestris, 
Betula alba, Quercus pedunculata, Tilia parviflora, Ulmus 
pedunculata, Ulmus pumila, Amygdalus nana, Acer tataricum, 
Populus tremula, Crataegus sanguinea, Spiraea hypericif olia 
and a few minor things. On low places various species of 
willows occur, also Alnus glutinosa, Populus alba, P. nigra 
and some intermediate forms. On the whole it is not a very 
rich flora. 
"As to cultivated plants, Mr. Woeikov 1 s greatest spe- 
cialty is apples, of which he has about fifty different 
varieties, not all, however, strictly successful. They are 
nearly all grafted on the Eastern Siberian variety of crab- 
apple, as this has the hardiest roots and withstands drouth 
the best; the growth, however, is slow and hybrids between 
Malus prunifolia and M. baccata supply really a better stock, 
but one cannot get them in sufficient quantity. 
