EXPERIMENTS IN ALASKA. 93 



to twelve pounds, and a single turnip would mean quite a little — when 

 they are willing to pay those prices, it is hard to get them to do anything. 



Now, in the interior of Alaska, there is probably — the Geological 

 Survey has made an estimate and Professor Jordan has made an estimate 

 — between fifteen and twenty thousand square miles up there that would 

 be adapted for agriculture as is general in Northern Europe. But I was 

 going to say that probably not one hundred acres all told are in cultiva- 

 tion, save perhaps in the vicinity of the new town of Fairbanks on the 

 Xanana River, where they have found some excellent mines, and there 

 is a rapidly growing town. At that place, a number of people have gone 

 there, they are making truck gardens very profitable. We have this 

 year opened a station between Chena and Fairbanks, and Professor 

 Jordan says, he found early in August ripe wheat and oats and barley 

 that had been self-sown, growing right there where there had not been 

 any cultivation of the soil, and he sees no reason why it should not be 

 done. 



The President — Where did they come from, self-sown? 



Dr. Evans — From manure and feed, right on a trail. That is where 

 the seed came from. That is how it got there. These were not selected 

 varieties. There were many things taken up there to feed the animals, 

 and the animals had sown them. There had been no care given them, 

 but a portion of them had ripened. They found a number of instances. 

 He left Tanana in August, so they had plenty of time to mature. The 

 valley is not a high one. It is undulating and it has a plentiful rainfall. 

 Last year we had but i^ inches rainfall during the entire growing 

 season, and then Jack Frost came along and succeeded in putting to the 

 bad about all our crops, but we went to work and cut them for hay, 

 and sold this to the mail contractor at $200 a ton. That sounds like a 

 very big price for hay, but we paid Indians $6 a day to help make that 

 hay, and after we had sold this to the mail contractor, there was a very 

 vigorous protest came through the Secretary of Agriculture from people 

 who had a ranch along this same trail, and they protested in a vigorous 

 way, as vigorously as they could, against the sale of hay by the Govern- 

 ment to the mail contractor, and particularly, as they could not com- 

 pete with the government selling hay at $200 a ton! (Laughter.) 



Secretary Barron — In regard to the cabbages, you say it is the New 

 Jersey Wakefield type ? 



Dr. Evans — Yes. 



Secretary Barron — Have you any information about the varieties of 

 the Little Pixie type? I wonder if they would do in that climate better 

 than the larger headed varieties? 



Dr. Evans — I don't know. 



Secretary Barron — I know in some parts of Europe, the little cabbage 

 grows much better than the big drumhead type, but over here, around 

 New Jersey and New York, I have found that the Little Pixie type al- 



