Vavilov

The importance of wild coffee

May 4, 2011

The Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog has a post pointing out the valuable lessons to be learned from the well-documented failure of a project to exploit the wild coffee of Kibale National Park in Uganda, thereby contributing to the park’s protection. Remembering fondly my own experiences with wild coffee in the mountains of Abyssinia, I noted that [...]

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Asmera

July 29, 2010

March 1927 Asmera is a civilized city with large public gardens, colourful flower beds, paved roads and satisfactory hotels. I went to the governor of Asmera to surrender the arms, no longer needed. The governor invited me to supper in the evening, so that I could meet all the local dignitaries. Among the guests there [...]

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The realm of the baobab

July 21, 2010

March 1927 In contrast to Abyssinia, there is a great variation of climates, soils and other natural conditions in Eritrea. Toward the north, in the vicinity of Sudan, the climate becomes drier. In Cheren there are about 600 mm, of rain instead of the 1500 mm, common in Abyssinia. This is the realm of the [...]

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In Eritrea

July 19, 2010

March 1927 After parting with the hospitable Italian consul and reorganizing the caravan, I proceeded toward the border and took a short road in the direction of the capital, Asmera, which is situated in a mountainous area. In essence, the mountainous Eritrea is a continuation of Abyssinia. Asmera is situated at an altitude of 2380 [...]

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Bad luck again

July 15, 2010

February 1927 There were still a few days left before reaching Eritrea. Fields had disappeared. The area had become more sparsely populated and increasingly more beautiful. Ahead a panorama of a picturesque valley opened up. In hollows and along deep ravines there were groves of wild palms (Phoenix abyssinica), a relative of the date palm [...]

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It was necessary for me to go in front

June 21, 2010

February 1927 Beyond the [Tekezé] river there was trouble again. The Amharan attached to us by the Italian ambassador claimed that the road along which the caravan was proceeding had become dangerous since ahead of us were many robbers, so it was necessary to choose a different road. The people in the caravan looked with [...]

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During the night something incredible happened

June 18, 2010

February 1927 Again a descent began, into the canyon of the Takkaze (Tekezé) river, flowing not far from the Eritrean border. This is a deep river with gently sloping banks supporting a vegetation of wild, small-fruited castor-bean plants. Just like the Nile, the Takkaze is full of crocodiles. We stopped to camp overnight on a [...]

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Cemeteries that serve the living

June 16, 2010

February 1927 On the way from Fiche through Godzham to Gonder and Aksum the caravan often passed cemeteries. These are something like botanical gardens. Usually the cemeteries are situated in forests and around the graves all kinds of trees are planted, in part brought from far away. Here also rare species, including citrus trees, are [...]

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A first-class discovery

May 24, 2010

February 1927 I made a first-class discovery between Gonder and Aksum. In a field I found a peculiar awnless hard wheat, previously unknown. For decades, plant breeders from different countries have tried to produce awnless hard wheat by crossing ordinary awned hard wheat with soft awnless wheat. The creation of such a wheat is extremely [...]

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Money was as good as useless

May 14, 2010

February 1927 We hurried on to the former capital, Gonder. The caravan had become worn out after a month and a half constantly on the road. On the map there was a large circle indicating a major city, an old capital. It turned out that in this capital there were neither market stalls nor any [...]

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