ALASKA. 73 



duced abundantly and seemed better adapted to its surroundings than 

 the others. The possibility of growing vegetables has already been 

 demonstrated by this station and its efforts were, therefore, confined 

 to determining the varieties giving the best results. 



At the Rampart station, 30 acres are now under cultivation, 4 acres 

 having been added during the past year. The work here consisted of 

 testing varieties of grain, cross-breeding promising varieties, the in- 

 troduction of hardy leguminous plants, and testing vegetables. 

 Where rye and wheat were sown in the fall and well covered with 

 snow, they came through the winter and matured a considerable por- 

 tion of their crop. Winter rye and winter wheat were injured by 

 severe freezino- in the earlv winter before snow covered the ground. 

 A number of crosses of varieties of barley have been made and in the 

 first generation some appeared to have desirable qualities. Work to 

 secure pedigreed stock of known superiority Avas carried on with all 

 grains grown at the station. Some of the Siberian alfalfas were in- 

 troduced and the plants of some withstood the winter without appar- 

 ent injur}-. As a result of 10 years' work at this station it appears 

 that grain growing is practicable in the interior of Alaska and that 

 it can be made a success in many parts of the broad interior valleys. 



An experiment with potatoes was carried on at Sitka, Fairbanks, 

 and Rampart with practically the same results at each station. 

 Tubers allowed to sprout in the light for four weeks before planting 

 yielded in nearly every instance an increase of 10 per cent or more 

 in the total crop with a proportionate increase in marketable tubers. 



At the Fairbanks station in 1911 the value of the potatoes grown 

 on 7 acres was estimated at about $2,500. In variety-test plats, yields 

 of from 120 to 300 bushels per acre were obtained. The same year 

 30 tons of oat hay were produced on 25 acres of light soil. All early 

 varieties of oats, barley, and fall grains where the latter had a good 

 snow covering matured, and the results with vegetables, especially 

 with cabbage, cauliflower, rutabagas, carrots, etc., were also quite 

 satisfactory. Twenty-three acres of land were cleared, and the sta- 

 tion now has 93 acres of cleared land, 70 of which are in cultivation. 



Satisfactory progress was made at the Kodiak station, where there 

 are now 85 head of pure-bred Galloway cattle of all ages, 10 grade 

 cattle, and 89 sheep and lambs. The animals were successfully win- 

 tered on native forage, supplemented by a small amount of purchased 

 grain feed. The cattle secured sufficient grass to keep them in good 

 condition until late in November, after which they were given a half 

 ration of hay until December. 1911. From that time until April 15 

 they were regularly fed silage and hay until May 9, when the supply 

 of grass was again adequate. The sheep wintered well and were in 

 good, thrifty condition in the spring. When sheared in June the 

 fleeces of ewes averaged 7 pounds of clean wool of good quality. 



