73 



which sooins i(» Ix- fully .is popiiI:ir .is the ttiin;it<i catsup, wliitli it closely 

 icseinhlcs. 



SlcaiEiway's Uowcr j^anli'iis ^^mw more nuiiicrous and finer every year. There 

 lias been no snow or weatlier <ol»ler tlian "JC.' aliove zt'ro as yet, and the pan- 

 ties are still lilos.soniiiii; out of tliiors. thou^ii somewhat spoih'd l)y the rains. 



Jaincft GcniKinsni. Kajinh. Mushn. — I want to thanlc you for the seed you 

 sent us at Middleton Isl.iiid. Vou must excuse us for not reporting to you our 

 .success. We have had no mail facilities. We were bottled uj) on Middleton 

 Ishind one year and twenty days, and all the news we received was from the 

 whaler Montcnni. We had no way hut a small canoe to come to the mainland. 

 We ran out of provisions, and starvation was staring us in the face. Finally 

 the whalers gave us a little " gruh " to tide us over until we could hear from the 

 mainland. My jiartner and i have located a ranch apiece, hut if we can't get 

 any mail we are going to leave the island. 



We have dumped tons of jiotatoes on the ocean beach just to make a Utile 

 more mud. The same jiotatoes are selling at Catella for 'M cents pi-r poiuul. 

 Middleton Island is the finest island in .Vl.isUa. We are ji.ist expei-imciiting. 

 We can raise anything they can raise m the Temperate /one. Last summer we 

 gathered 4 pounds of ruta-liaga seed from volunteers we K'ft in the gardi'ii all 

 winter. (Mir cabbage h.is grown ail winter in the garden. The coldest we 

 have seen since we h.ive been on the island was U(»° above zero, the warmest 71 ^ 

 •ibove. The deepest snow we have had was 14 inches. It lasted twenty d.iys. 

 Last winter we had no snow. The grass was green all winter. .Middleton 

 Island is the finest stock island in .Mask.i, but iiiiloituii.itely from 4."> to CO 

 miles from the nearest islands. I'.ut we have no h.-irlmr w here we can le.ive a 

 lioat. It would be only .".." miles out of the ri-gular route of the steamers. If 

 we could get seven mails ;i year we could get along nicely. We have not been 

 able to rai.se any carrot, beet, or onion seed. We want some (iariiet Chillu 

 potatoes, jmre se«'d, for late potatoes. We could furnish this part of Alaska 

 with potatoes if we had transiiortation. 



Fred LUjPfircii. Little Xahcd Ixldiid. I'rincc WiUimn Snuinl. — Having the 

 seeds and plants you so kindly senj: me this spring. I will therefore let you 

 know the results. 



Apple grafts, apple seedlings, <-urrants. and raspberries all took nxjt nicely, 

 except one Strawberry apple and one Charlimoff apjile graft that died. 



Stone Mason and Early Flat Dutch cabbage, set out May 19, made good 

 solid heads, the first variety nailied being the largest. There being no frost yet 

 I still keep them in the ground. 



Curled Scotch kale grew to about 2 feet in height and was fine, dark, and 

 tender. 



Early Snowball cauliflower headed nicely. Peas, American Wonder aii:l 

 Pacific Early ^Market, planted May l.>, did splendidly, the vines a\eraging 4 

 feet and the pods being large and well filled. 



Half Long Stumprooted carrots did very well, some being 2i inches in 

 diameter. 



I planted some iiarsnip seed, but they did not come up. 



Ruta-bagas and beets proved a failure with me this year, as they mostly 

 went to seed. 



I tried several varieties of lettuce and radishes, and they all did very w'ell. 

 I also planted some potatoes May 10. The latter part of July we commenced 

 to use them. I have just dug them, and we prefer them to those brought from 

 Puget Sound, as they are more mealy. 



