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TURKESTAN. MR. FRANK N. MEYER, AGRICULTURAL EXPLORER. 
Was in Merv June 12. Says there is a pretty park there where 
tall specimens of poplar occur (Populus alba pyramidalis) . 
He also saw there for the first time some fine, large spec- 
imens of the karakach (Ulmus campestris umbraculif era) . 
They are very striking trees with their umbrella like shape 
and dense mass of foliage. They will he highly appreciated . ,- 
by settlers in desert regions. Other trees in this park are 
Acer negundo, Robinia pseud-acacia, Sophora japonica, Ailan- 
thus glandulosa, Gleditsia triacanthos, Salix babylonica, 
Toxylon pomiferum, Catalpa bignonioides , Morus alba, Cydonia 
vulgaris, Prunus armeniaca and Pyrus communis. On June 13, 
there was a great market h41d in Merv. There were present 
Turcomans, Afghani stanese , Kirghisians and many other wild 
looking inhabitants of these regions. The products, such as 
fruits and vegetables, were mostly very poor. There is a Ger- 
man colony 30 versts northeast of Merv. Here he went to see 
cotton and alfalfa culture at the edge of the desert. De- 
scribes in some detail the method of cultivating these crops. 
In the desert around Merv there are tens of thousands of acres 
of land covered with camel's thorn (Alhagi camelorum). Its 
small, pinkish-purple flowers give color to the landscape as 
the heath in Northwest Europe does. This plant is very use- 
ful, being used as food for the camels, mown and used for 
fuel and as a sandbinder. It grows in pure, sterile sand, 
and being leguminous, enriches the soil. There are many ca- 
nals around Merv, some of them said to be 3,000 years old. 
Large new canals are being dug, and it is hoped to bring much 
of the desert under cultivation. On June 15, he visited the 
Imperial Estate of Murgab. The apricot trees were heavily 
loaded. Some varieties of apricots, pears and quinces seemed 
out of the ordinary, and he will send scions. Visited Mr. 
W. A. Palletsky, in charge of sandbinding work along the rail- 
road in Central Asia. It is most interesting to see how tall 
bushes of Calligonum caput-medusae , C. arborescens, Salsola 
richteri and Haloxylon ammodendron (saxaul), have grown into 
a sort of forest in a soil that is almost pure sand, and mov- 
ing sand at that. And even a few seeds of the Chinese tree 
of heaven (Ailanthus glandulosa) have lodged • between these 
real desert plants and grown vigorously to a fairly good size. 
The saxaul will not grow on shifting sand. To arrest a shift- 
ing sand hill various Calligonums, the Salsola richteri, and 
after that saxaul are planted. There are an immense number of 
Calligonums; up to the present 57 species have been found, of 
which only 30 have been scientifically determined. Visited 
the nursery where the young plants are raised and describes 
the method of getting the plants started in the shifting sand. 
Hedges of Tamarix and the wild form of Elaeagnus angustifolia 
