EXPERIMENTS IN ALASKA. 89 



In addition to seeking for the best varieties of vegetables 

 that were already grown, the stations have sought to introduce 

 others, with considerable success. Kale, Brussels sprouts, Broad 

 Windsor beans, rhubarb, cress, and various flavoring herbs have 

 been distributed throughout the Territory and are being cul- 

 tivated with marked success. In the gardens of Alaska all of 

 the important hardy vegetables may be grown, and in some fa- 

 vored localities some of the more tender ones, as string beans, 

 cucumbers, and tomatoes, are produced. 



Considerable attention is being given to the introduction of 

 hardy fruits, and about 12,000 fruit trees and shrubs have been 

 distributed from the station nursery at Sitka. These consist 

 of early maturing varieties of apples, crab apples, plums, cher- 

 ries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and strawberries. Some 

 varieties of all of these except the apples have already fruited at 

 Sitka, and this year some of the apples bloomed and set fruit, 

 but no report has been received as to their ripening. In con- 

 nection with the fruit investigations, plant breeding work with 

 strawberries, raspberries, and currants has been begun. In 

 Alaska there are probably two. distinct indigenous species of 

 strawberries, one a coast species, the other occurring in the in- 

 terior. Experiments have been under way with the coast form 

 for a number of years. Plants were brought from Yakutat, 

 where wild strawberries abound, to Sitka and were grown in 

 rich earth for several years without fruiting. Upon transplant- 

 ing them to poor, sandy soil they fruited abundantly. This spe- 

 cies grows best in gravelly soil, is extremely hardy, and the ber- 

 ries are of excellent flavor. It has one serious drawback ; the 

 peduncles have the habit of strongly curving downward after 

 fertilization, thus forcing the berries into the sand. Crosses 

 have been made between this form and some of the best culti- 

 vated varieties, using the wild species as the staminate parent, 

 and several hundred seedlings resulting from this hybridization 

 are now under observation. Similar experiments have been 

 begun with the smaller form that was secured in the interior of 

 the country. Seedlings resulting from crossing the cultivated 

 raspberry, which is frequently winter-killed, and the native sal- 

 mon berry (Rub us spectabilis) are being grown and some should 



