LX REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



to grow crops in Alaska has been due to the natural acidit}" of the 

 soil and the lack of drainage. When these difficulties are removed by 

 proper treatment the land is fertile and productive. 



During the past summer Professor Georgeson, the agent in charge 

 of the Alaska experiment stations, and one assistant made a jouruej' 

 in the interior and examined especially the agricultural capabilities of 

 the Yukon Valle}^ going as far as Dawson. Under date of July 4 

 Professor Georgeson wrote as follows: 



I am very favorably impressed with the agricultural possibilities of the country as 

 far as I have seen them. While the banks of the river are generally hilly and 

 in places mountainous, there are also large areas of excellent agricultural land; and 

 best proof of all, they have here in the rooms of the chamber of commerce very fine 

 samples of wheat, barley, and oats which were raised here at Dawson last year. The 

 grain is plump and fully matured. As soon as we pass the coast range the glaciers 

 and snow entirely disappear. I have not discovered a speck of snow even on the 

 highest mountains in sight. Along the river the native vegetation seems \ngorous, 

 and in many places the slopes are covered with a profusion of flowers. Here at 

 Dawson are three successful market gardens, and the town is well supplied with early 

 vegetables, especially lettuce and radishes. It gets occasionally uncomfortably hot 

 here. They tell me that the mercury has been up to 96° F. twice already this 

 summer. 



There is evidently much misconception regarding the work which 

 the Department is attempting to do in Alaska. Persons who are 

 unfamiliar Avith the work of experiment stations have criticised our 

 operations at Sitka and elsewhere because they are conducted on so 

 small a scale. In this respect, however, they do not differ material^" 

 from similar experiments at the experiment stations generally, where 

 it is the usual practice to test different varieties of plants first on small 

 plats. In this way it is entirely feasible to determine in a general way 

 the adaptabiiity of a region to the growing of different kinds of plants, 

 and what varieties of these plants are likely to be most successfully 

 grown. The plat tests should be supplemented by field and garden 

 trials on a larger scale, and this we shall do in Alaska as soon as it is 

 practicable. 



It has been said over and over again that Alaska can never become 

 an agricultitral country, and this is undoubtedly true in ti.e sense in 

 which the criticism is made — that is, Alaska will never become a region 

 in which the soil will be generally cultivated as it is in most other 

 parts of the United States, and especially in the Mississippi Valle3\ 

 There is at present no agriculture in Alaska. Successful attempts have, 

 however, been made in growing vegetables in a considerable number 

 oi places in different parts of the Territory, and here and there fields 

 of potatoes and oats have been grown and a few head of live stock 

 have been maintained. Native grasses grow abundantly over large 

 areas, and here and there have been successfully utilized for hay and 

 silao-e. 



