16 GKASS LANDS OF THE SOUTH ALASKA COAST. 



IMPORTANT FACTORS RELATING TO THE AGRICULTURAL 

 VALUE OF THE .GRASS LANDS. 



In determining whether or not the grass hinds previousl}' described 

 offer a desirable fiekl for settlement, a number of factors that bear 

 more or less directly upon the problem need consideration. These 

 factors may be discussed in the following sequence: 



(1) The abundance and permanence of the feeds available. 



(2) The possibility of raising forage on cidtivated lands. 



(3) The known facts in regard to live-stock raising. 



(4) The aA'ailable markets. 



(.5) Trans])ortation facilities and freight rates. 

 (6) The desirability of south Alaska as a home. 

 (T) The choice of a location 



THE ABUNDANCE AND PERMANENCE OF NATIVE FODDER PLANTS. 



Live-stock husbandry in Alaska will have to depend primarily 

 upon the native plants, supplemented in time, perhaps, by such 

 additional ones as experiments shall indicate may compete with the 

 native plants, or which upon cultivated land will yield heavily 

 enough to be profitable. The most important and abundant of the 

 native forage plants are as follows: 



Bluet op. — Bluetop {Calamagrostis langsdor-fii) is by far the most 

 plentiful tall grass in Alaska, growing along the whole coast. On 

 Kadiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula it is especially abundant, 

 often being 6 feet high and very dense (PI. III). It grows with 

 special luxuriance on hillsides that have been burned over earl}' in 

 the spring. This burning destroys the moss, and thus makes the soil 

 better drained and warmer. Bluetop also flourishes on the level 

 boggy lands, l)ut prefers a well-drained soil. Owing to its thin 

 stems and leaves it cures very readily, and is therefore the usual hay 

 grass of Alaska. It is often called redtop, but this name should be 

 restricted to the true redtop, a very different grass. 



There are no accurate data bearing on the point as to how well 

 this grass will withstand continued cutting, but the general belief is 

 that it rapidly becomes thinner in stand. It is noticeable about 

 villages where cows are kept that the bluetop is scarce, being replaced 

 by other grasses, especiall}^ bluegrass and wild barley. The area of 

 bluetop is so great, however, that in many places it would be quite 

 practical)le to manage so as not to cut the same plats two years in 

 succession, which practice would probably- maintain the density of 

 the stand. 



Beach rye. — Along all the quiet shores and inlets of Alaska, 

 wherever there is low land near the beach, there is a strip of beach 

 rye {Elymiis mollh) occurring just above high-tide level. Some- 



