Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-03-24

which is being tested at the expert
ment stations of the agricultural de- |
partment. ard this time / got good
supply Of all three. but they will not |
go out Of government hands for some |
time yet. until our experiments are
complete and we have had an oppor- |
tunity to determine which are the best |
soils and climate for them to grow In. |
We are constantly receiving applica-
tions for this and other seeds, but 1t |
will be several years before they are |
ready for distribution.
81 had considerable difficulty In col |
lecting seed, because most of the al
| falfa grows wild. sparsely scattered
over desert lard. and that which Is
cultivated IS so valuable to the farm
ers that they do not want to let their
| seed 90. The farms are few and
| widely separated In most of the coun-
tries l visited. and the farmers treas
ure these plants | was treated with
! the greatest kindness by everybody
| both the officials and the people
| In some places, however, particu
larly IN Mongolia, 1t was necessary
| for me to have Cossack escort for
protection as well as for guides"
"yNhat is the most Interesting thin.
| you found en- your Journey" / asked
1.-The most interesting things found
were n clover plant and an alfalf"
! growing near the point of greatest co"
| in northern Asia. 1t was between VA
Ilutsk and Verkhoyansk. north Of LAX
| Baikal. on the sixty-secoud parallel
| latitude Glover and alfalfa grow vii
! there and live through the winter
where the temperature falls to 90 an,
20 degrees below zero and the mercur.
freezes In. the glass. They are not GU!
tivated at all. There are no farms
that region. The people are nomad
and have no towns.
after returning to Russia l shipped
my seeds and plants from Riga to
Washington via Copenhagen and then
returned to Moscow to get ready for
trip into Turkestan and Persia to
look for Persian clover. which is one
of the best Of the fodder plants OF
India and other rainlesS regions. The
| Russians are introducing 1t into all Of
their arid sections. My journey from
Moscow to Tashkend, the capital of
! TurkeStan, was made by railway via
Orenberg over newly built track
which the Russians have recently con
structed in order to bring food sup
ply and raw cotton into their markets.
Il got a good supply of Persian
clover seed and expect to get more.
! 1t is especially suitable for western
| Texas, New Mexico. Arizona and the
| western parts of our cotton belt.
Il visited eight different nations,
travelling several hundred miles among
| the Mohammedans and picking up
what l could. That country has been
sealed up by Russia. and the officers
do not allow foreigners to go in there.
But everybody was very courteous and
helpful, both the officials and the peo-
pie, and rhad no trouble at all.
Since the opening of the new rail
way the people have secured access to
outside markets and are now shipping
some extraordinary grapes from Tur-
keStan called the 'maSkah.' They are
grown under irrigation and have been
cultivated by the Mohanmedans for
have never been shipped out of the
country. and the seeds and cuttings
have not been accessible to foreigners
before. The maskah is a very large
grape with superior favor-much
larger than our Hamburg grape. got
some vines and cuttings, which i hope
will be of value to the Californians
and other people in semiarid regions.
| obtained 4 number of other varieties,
including two seedless grapes, bigger
than any we have now, which will be
the subjects of experiment by the agri-
cultural department, but it will be sew
eral years before we can distribute
any of them to private growers.
81 came home across ancient Trans
caucasia, via Tiflis and Batum, over
the Caspian sea, and took a steamer
for Marseilles which stops at many
ports to discharge and take on car
goes, SO that had an opportunity to
go ashore and see good deal. 1 left
the steamer at Corsica and went over
. into Italy to study the lucernes, which
. are the alfalfas of Greece and Italy.
From Marseilles 1 went to Algiers and
made a journey into the heart of the
desert Of Sahara to study the alfalfas
there.
81 brought some seed from that des,
ert also The Arabs have grown al
falfa as fodder for ages. 1t was car
ried over into Spain by the Moors
from Africa, from there to South
America and Central America and
Mexico, and from there to California
and that is the roundabout way In
which alfalfa was introduced into the