72 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



described and the methods of cross-pollmating the bhjssoms of the 

 cotton plant as a means of improving the crop are given in detail. 



The officers of the station continued to take part in agricultural 

 extension and farmers' institute work among the rural negro popula- 

 tion of the State. 



The following bulletins were received from the station during the 

 year: Bulletins 18, Nature Study and Gardening for Rural Schools; 

 19, Some Possibilities of the Cowpea in Macon County, Ala. 



The Tuskegee Experiment Station, maintained by State appropria- 

 tion, is making progress in its particular field and is finding increas- 

 ing appreciation of its efforts among the people for whose benefit it 



was established. 



ALASKA. 



Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations, Sitka, Kodiak, Rampart, and 



Fairhank.s. 



Under the supervision of A. C. True, Director, Office of Experiment Stations, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. 



C. C. Georgeson, M. S., Special Agent in, Charge, Sitka. 



During the past year there were a few changes in the personnel of 

 the Alaska stations, but there was little interruption of the work. 

 Some additions were made to their equipment, the most important 

 of which are a stock and hay barn and an additional 100-ton silo at 

 the stock farm on Kalsin Bay; a silo and dairy barn at Kodiak; a 

 barn, a well, and a frost-proof cellar at Fairbanks; and a barn and 

 implement shed at Hampart. 



The work at the Alaska stations was carried out during the past 

 year in accordance with the plans outlined in former reports. At 

 Sitka, horticultural and plant breeding work was given prominence. 

 At Rampart, the principal work was in testing and breeding varieties 

 of grain and in experiments with potatoes and hardy leguminous 

 plants. Farming on a commercial scale was carried on at Fairbanks, 

 and at Kodiak breeding and care of live stock were the principal in- 

 vestigations. 



Plant-breeding work at the Sitka station included tests with hybrid 

 strawberries and with crosses between the salmonberry and the culti- 

 vated raspberry. Nearly 200 h3^brids produced by crossing the native 

 strawberry with a cultivated variety showed characters warranting 

 further tests, and about 35 varieties produced berries improved in 

 size and flavor. The test orchard set out in 1903 during the past 

 season produced the first mature apples, six introduced varieties bear- 

 ing fruit of medium size and good quality. Work in hybridizing 

 native criib with other varieties Avas carried on and tests were con- 

 tinued with cherries and plums and with gooseberries, currants, rasp- 

 berries, and other bush fruits. The Early Richmond cherry pro- 



