OFFICE OF EXPEEIMENT STATIONS. 269 



ber of crops adapted to Alaska conditions, was prepared and issued 

 as Bulletin No. 1, of the Alaska experiment stations. 



The station staff as now constituted consists of C. C. Georgeson, 

 siDecial agent in charge; F. E. Rader, assistant at Sitka; H. P. Niel- 

 sen, in cliarge of the station at Kenai; and J. W. Neal, who was 

 appointed to make investigations in the Copper River country pre- 

 liminary to the establishment of a station in that region. 



The equipment of the statiou in Alaska has been increased in sev- 

 eral ways. At Sitka a barn 50 by 25 feet and two stories high has 

 been constructed. This has under one roof a silo, stalls for four head 

 of cattle, seed and implement rooms, and rooms for the storage of 

 crops. A cottage for the farm foreman and a small blacksmith shop 

 have been built. The small station building at Kenai has been com- 

 pleted and furnished, and a telephone line nearly a mile long has been 

 constructed at Sitka between the headquarters Ijuilding and the farm. 



PLANS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1903. 



In addition to the work previousl}' undertaken, preparations will be 

 made for experimental work in the Copper River region. At Sitka 

 a beginning will be made of establishing a nursery of hardy fruits. 

 It is hoped to construct a small propagating house and procure nur- 

 sery stock for propagation this fall. Only a limited amount of work 

 in this line can be done until a horticulturist is added to the station 

 staff. It is also planned to secure a small flock of Angora goats with 

 a view to ascertaining whether these animals can be successfully 

 reared in the coast region of southern Alaska. The plants naturally 

 growing in this region will furnish abundant forage for goats. At the 

 ivenai station it is proposed to continue the clearing of land and the 

 growing of experimental crops as heretofore. Owing to the fact that 

 the assistant at Rampart declined to continue longer in the service of 

 the station the experimental work there the present season has been 

 quite restricted. Mr. J. W. Duncan, the local agent of the Northern 

 Commercial Company, has undertaken to care for the station property 

 there and to grow and harvest some crops. He is also keeping a record 

 of the soil temperatures at that place. At Wood Island the Rev. Curtis 

 P. Coe, in charge of the Baptist Orphanage, has agreed to conduct 

 certain experiments with grain and vegetables at a very moderate 

 compensation. He has already begun this work, and will report results 

 in the fall. 



It is hoped to complete the headquarters building at Sitka during 

 the present year. The cost of this work will be about 62,000. As 

 soon as i)ossible a small herd of cattle should be placed at the Kenai 

 station and experimental work in animal husbandry begun. This 

 would involve the building of a barn there and the employment of 

 additional laborers. The station at Sitka should have an equipment 

 . of chemical apparatus sufficient for simple chemical work. 



As long as the income of the stations is on the present basis it will 

 not be possible to do more than maintain the stations at Sitka and 

 Kenai and do a very limited amount of work at one or two places in 

 the interior. To fully equip and creditably maintain a station either 

 at Rampart or in the Copper River region will require the annual 

 expenditure of from $5,000 to $7,500. Unless this amount is i^rovided 

 in addition to the i)resent appropriation for the Alaska work, it will 

 be necessary to confine our operations in the interior for the present 

 largely to such work as can be done in cooperation with the residents 

 of that region. 



