544 
investigations of fruits and develop varieties better suited 
to the South Russian climate. Mr. Stebut stated that although 
the Svalof wheats are absolute failures in Southern Russia, 
the oats are successes, especially "Whiteling" and "Ligowo"; 
that the name "Kherson oats" is American, that a variety so 
named is not known in Russia, but that these same oats, re- 
imported from American, are proving a great success in Sara- 
toff Government; that Russia is realizing at last that agri- 
culture is the basis of all prosperity and that it is today 
spending more than ten times the amount of money upon agri- 
cultural investigations that it did four or five years ago; 
that America is taken as a model for all this new work; that 
the Russian people appreciate their own products better after 
they have been re-imported from America than they do when 
picking them out themselves; that Mr. Bogdan at Krassny Koot 
is doing a noble work; that he has given to the world two new 
fodder plants, Triticum cristatum and Medicago falcata, both 
true Russian products; that Russia has long been dormant but 
that the world may expect yet many new things from her in the 
agricultural line. 
Mr. Stebut is much interested in obtaining from us 
samples of various wheats and literature on wheats and cereals 
in general. Then he wants to exchange with us later on local 
wheats for American wheats. Mr. Stebut has studied in Vienna 
and at various places In Germany; has visited Dr. Nilsson at 
Svalof, in Sweden, and Prof. Johansen in Denmark, and is' of 
good scientific training in general. He also told me, as an 
example of what a monetary loss may result when the wrong 
sorts of grain are imported, that several years ago the beer 
of Samara was famous for its good qualities. Now, however, it 
has become quite bad, simply on account of a serious drouth 
which ruined the barley crops and which made the farmers 
import barleys from the Caucasus, which were absolutely unfit 
for beer production. The results are that the breweries of 
Samara are being closed one after the other and beer is im- 
ported from places, where there is apparently still good brew- 
ing barley to be had. I also heard that the mills in Russia 
pay extra salaries to those men who thoroughly understand how 
to mix the largest quantities of flour from soft wheats with 
durum wheat flour, as the last flour is the more expensive in 
Russia. 
The country around Sarepta is very interesting. The 
level land stretching down to the Wolga, suddenly rises up in 
a tableland and this land is cut up by numerous gullies and 
ravines. Some of these ravines are covered with a dense 
growth of Acer tataricum, some are full of Ulmus suberosa and 
others have groves of wild apples as inhabitants, while small 
scrub of Spiraea hypericif olia is seen on the higher edges. 
