458 ANNUAL, REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



station. In addition there were secured for the Fairbanks station 

 some Hampshire hofjs and To<^genburg goats. After adequate pro- 

 visions are made for their care, some of the Galloway cattle now at 

 Kodiak will be transferred to INIataniiska and Fairbanks. Two yak 

 were secured through the Canadian Government from the herd at 

 Banff, and these were taken to Fairbanks where experiments in cross- 

 ing them with Galloways will be undertaken. It is believed that a 

 hardy race of cattle can be developed in this way, but in order to 

 make the experiment a success additional j^ak will be needed. 



At Kodiak the herd at the end of 1919 consisted of 46 head of 

 all ages — 23 purebred Galloways, 9 purebred Holstein, 6 crossbred 

 Holstein-Galloways, and 8 Galloways in the tuberculous herd which 

 were being used for breeding experiments according to the Bang 

 method. The station has been quite successful in rearing calves from 

 reacting dams and there has been no case of reacting to the tuber- 

 culin test in the young stock. • The sheep at the Kodiak station now 

 number 23, with a purebred Lincoln ram at the head. 



The crop work at the several stations continues about as formerly. 

 Several hybrid barleys and oats have been given further test at the 

 Rampart station, and their early ripening and quality commend them 

 for extended trial in other regions. Some A^ery promising spring 

 wheats have been produced which are being grown in increase plats 

 for distribution to farmers throughout the interior of Alaska. At 

 the Fairbanks station the work is carried on on a field scale for most 

 part, and many of the hybrids developed at Rampart are given their 

 first extended trial at Fairbanks. Advantage is taken of its location 

 to make use of the Fairbanks station for demonstrating the agricul- 

 tural possibilities of that portion of Alaska. From the station a dis- 

 tribution of seed grain was made to the farmers in 1918 in an effort 

 to induce them to begin grain production on an independent basis. 

 So successful were these efforts that in the summer of 1919 there 

 were thrashed for 22 farmers in the Tanana Valley 1,128 bushels of 

 spring wheat, 2,811 bushels of oats, and 121 bushels of barley. Dur- 

 ing the same season the station produced 303 bushels of spring wheat, 

 774 bushels of oats, and 125 bushels of barley. As a result of this 

 production and the demonstrated quality of the flour a cooperative 

 25-barrel flouring mill has been purchased for erection at Fairbanks. 



In the Matanuska region fully 1,000 bushels of grain were pro- 

 duced in 1919. The work of clearing and building at this station, 

 which v>^as established in 1917, is progressing favorably, and experi- 

 ments have been begun with crops that appear suited to the region. 

 Root crops do well in this locality, which is contiguous to the rail- 

 road being built from the coast to Fairbanks, potatoes and turnips 

 giving very satisfactory yields. Experim.ents were begun in 1918 

 with sugar beets. Samples of beets grown in 1919 averaged about 1 

 pound each, and of 20 beets that were analyzed the sucrose varied 

 from 17 to 21.4 per cent, with a coefficient of purity ranging from 

 78.9 to 83.3 per cent. 



An horticultural nursery has been established at the Matanuska 

 station, where it is planned to not only carry on experiments with all 

 sorts of hardy tree and bush fruits, but to grow them in sufficient 

 quantity to supply homesteaders in the region contiguous to the 

 station. 



