312 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



Literature, Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



EDITORIAL LETTERS. 



ASTOKiA, Orkgon, July 31st, 1883. 



I was very much surprised at Alaska. In com- 

 mon with many other people in the East, I had 

 come to look on the seven millions or so which the 

 United States paid Russia for Alaska, as so much 

 money all but thrown away — and even the reports 

 of government officials as given in public docu- 

 ments, written even in the interest of the purchase, 

 give no good sort of an idea of the great value of 

 this far north-western corner of our dominions. 

 I am satisfied that the seven millions are not 

 thrown away — nor would twenty millions have 

 been — and I feel that our country owes a debt it 

 can never repay to the sagacity of W. H. Seward 

 for negotiating this strip of land for us. 



I had supposed it was a miserable country, fit 

 only for fish and seal-skins, and locked up in ice 

 and snow for the best part of the year. I found a 

 country far superior, in many respects, to Switzer- 

 land ; and with a climate and elements of great- 

 ness, at least equal to those which have given 

 Great Britain and all her commercial and in- 

 dustrial prosperity, so great an elevation in the 

 history of the world. Precisely the same condi- 

 tions exist here as in England. That part of the 

 world is in a high latitude, but a warm stream of 

 water rushes against its shores from the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and thus gives it a temperature and an 

 atmospheric moisture so favorable to a good 

 many products. Alaska has just such a warm sea 

 poured around its Western face, by the sea of 

 Japan, and the results are just about the same. 

 The summer temperature is just about as high, and 

 the temperature in winter goes no lower than in 

 England. We are told that it is very wet there, 

 and that it always rains. Well, we were four 

 weeks going from place to place through it, and 

 we had but two rainy days in all that time! 

 Writing this as 1 am in Oregon, I have no exact 

 data to hand, but I believe our goings to and fro 

 over it, could not have been short of 2500 or 3000 

 miles — and we reached a point as high as the 

 mouth of the Chilcat River, which is little short of 

 60° — north latitude. 



Chiefly because there has been no government 



given to the territory by Congress, and there is no 

 law to sell property or defend life — and no one 

 knows why, except that it is surmised not to be to 

 the interest of one or two powerful commercial 

 companies to permit the government to do it, — 

 there can be no settlement of white men there; 

 yet the attractions of the place have drawn about 

 500 or 600 white men. There are perhaps 

 40,000 or 50,000 Indians, a large number of whom 

 have been civilized, and work and cultivate to 

 some extent as white men do. We occasionally 

 met with little garden patches, and thus saw, by 

 actual observation what could be grown there. 

 There was however one particularly nice garden 

 at Wrangel, cultivated by Colonel Crittenden, 

 formerly of the Confederate army, which showed 

 very well what could be done. There were cab- 

 bages, turnips, beets, peas, potatoes, and indeed 

 one might say in a few words, all the vegetables 

 that would do well in the open air of England. 

 Col. C. had found onions and spinage not to do 

 well ; but I feel sure this is from some non-adapt- 

 iveness, on the part of the cultivator, rather than 

 from any serious objection on the part of soil or 

 climate. Cauliflowers do enormously well. The 

 Indians, according to Mr. Crittenden, are very 

 fond of raising these things. He often makes 

 them gifts of potatoes, turnips, and flower seeds 

 for their wives and children, which they take hun- 

 dreds of miles, sometimes into the country, and re- 

 turn the next year to him, with some of the products of 

 the soil to show him that they had appreciated and 

 profited by his kind thoughtfulness. These Indians 

 are very grateful for kindnesses. One may travel 

 through their whole country safely on this plat- 

 form. It is only when one comes in conflict with 

 the customs engendered by their theological 

 notions, or treats them with what they consider in- 

 justice, that what is called their savage nature 

 retorts in cruelty on the white man. Of course, 

 their views of justice are often unjust, but one 

 should endeavor to put himself in their place 

 before running a tilt against their desires. 



The destruction of one of their villages last 

 spring, by the United States ship " Adams," has 

 embittered them somewhat. For instance, the 

 Indians beheve that when anyone is killed inten- 

 tionally or accidentally, his spirit does not rest in 



