74 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



ALASKA. 



Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations. Sill:ii. KniHttk. J.'iiniiKtrl. and 



F(iirhiiiil:s. 



I'ndcr the siipcivisidu of A. (". Trm'. Diri'dur. (Mlicf of lO.xpcriuient Stations, 

 Initc'il Stall's Departuieiit of Agriculture. 



('. C Gkorgk.so.n. M. S., S/xTidl .[(!< lit ill Vhargc, Sitka. 



The general policy of the Alaska stations as outlined in i)revioiis 

 reports was continued. The most important change was the tem- 

 l)orarv closing of the Copper Center Station. This was done for 

 several reasons, among them its isolation, which made the trans- 

 portation of supplies very expensive; insufficient rainfall during the 

 growing season ; early frosts, due to the proximity of high mountains; 

 and the desire to develop the P'airbanks Station, where a larger 

 population had already become established. 



The station at Copper Center had been maintained for six j'ears, 

 and while some success had been met with in growing cereals in 

 favorable seasons, in other vears all grains were destroyed bv early 

 frosts. The practicability of growing hardy vegetables in the Cop- 

 per River Valley was fully demonstrated, and with the rapid settling 

 of the Tanana Valley it was thought desirable to close the Copper 

 Center Station and transfer the implements and movable equipment 

 to P\iirbanks, where work was actively begun during the summer of 

 1909. Sixty acres were cleared and brought under cultivation at this 

 station, a number of buildings were erected, and a portion of the 

 reservation is now fenced. A fairly good equipment of implements 

 and tools has been provided for this station, and it is intended to 

 prove or disprove the possibility of profitable farming in that por- 

 tion of Alaska. 



At the Kampart Station IG acres are under cultivation, and the past 

 season was a favorable one to all crops. Out of 05 varieties of grain 

 seeded, 57 matured their entire crop, and a portion of the crop of 

 others was ripened sufficientl}' for seed purposes. The results ob- 

 tained at IJampart are in line with those of the past eight years, and 

 show that grain can be brought to maturity in the Yukon Valley 

 Avithout serious liability to failure. 



The live-stock work is centered at Kodiak, where the Galloway 

 herd has been kept. A portion of the herd is kept near the village 

 of Kodiak and is used for experiments in dairying, while the larger 

 number of animals have been transferred to Calsinsky Bay, where a 

 large tract has been fenced, buildings erected, and the work of cattle 

 breeding installed on a considerable scale. The cattle wintered satis- 

 factorily without any shelter other than that afforded by an open shed. 

 During the summer they grazed on native grasses and were fed during 

 the winter exclusively on hay and silage made from native grasses. 

 Some difficulty has been experienced from an epidemic of contagious 



