Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-20

as high as 81 degrees 30 minutes.
across the Arctic circle. 1 got some
seed of one Of the varieties, which is
being tested at the experiment stations
Of the Agricultural Department. and this
time / got q good supply of all three:
but they will not go out of government
hands for some time yet. until our ex-
periments are complete and we have had
an opportunity to determine which are
the best soils and climate for them to
grow in. We are constantly receiving
applications for this and other seeds.
but it will be several years before they
are ready for distribution.
Difficulty in Collecting Seed.
II had considerable difficulty in collect
ing seed. because most of the alfalfa
grows wild. sparsely scattered over desert
valuable to the farmers that they do
not want to let their seed go. The farms
are few and widely separated in most
of the countries visited, and the farm
ers treasure these plants. l was treated
with the greatest kindness by everybody,
however. both the officials and the people.
They are very hospitable and well dis
posed, and there are many men OF un-
usual intelligence.
Many of them are exiles, but Siberia
is filling UP with immigrants very rapidly.
The great Siberian railway is being re-
built and laid with new rails. and the
traffic is rapidly increasing. American
Siberia and making 1t easier for the
farmers there to earn living and cult
vate a larger area Of land. At all of
the larger cities ! found depots for the
sale of American mowers, reapers bind
ers and other agricultural implements
and machinery. In some places. how
ever. particularly in Mongolia, 1t was
necessary for me to have q Cossack es-
cort for protection. as we'll as for guides. "
Interesting Things Found.
What is the most interesting thing you
found on your journey?" l asked.
1.-THE most interesting things I found
were a clover plant and an alfalfa grow
ing near the point of greatest cold In
northern Asia. 1t was between Yakutsk
and Verkhoyansk. north Of Lake Baikal.
on the sixty-second parallel of latitude.
Glover and alfalfa grow wild there and
live through the winters where the tenn
perature falls to 60 and even Is degrees
zero. and the mercury freezes in the
glass. They are not cultivated at all.
There are no farms in that region: the
people are nomads and have no towns.
II got my seed q little further south,
where the mercury freezes every winter
at 40 below. and both plants will endure
that degree of cold with the ground bare
of snow. 1 brought a limited amount
Of the seed and will plant 1t at the ex-
pertinent stations of the Agricultural
Department, so as to raise q supply for
distribution among the farmers of our
own northwest; but 1t will be several
years before the distribution can be made,
because we must have It thoroughly test
ed before we can let any of it go into
private hands.
"You got other seeds and plants?"
asked.
Eyes; got $50 lots Of seeds and plants.
all of economic value, mainly for the
northern sections of the United States to
help the farmers in securing a rota-
ton of crops. so that their land may not
be idle and the soil may not be exhausted.
Other seeds and plants in my collection
will be valuable In dry farming and in
fruit culture, and in the semi-arid and
northern sections OF the country. One of
the alfalfas will be great thing to sow
in clearings In northern Michigan. Wis
consin, Minnesota and Maine, where the
timber has been cut away. 1t Is espe-
cially adapted for that sort of soil and
conditions
Exciting Experiences.
did you have any exciting expert
ences?"
occasionally. One day we came into a
rather tough neighborhood-a village
where the enraged peasants had stoned
to death one murderer the day l got there
and another the day before. 1t was a
Siberian lynching bee to rid the COM
munity of dangerous characters and the
government arrested and sent away