90 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



fruit next season. Similar experiments are being made with 

 currants and other small fruits. 



The climate of the coast region of Alaska is insular in char- 

 acter and is distinguished by a heavy rainfall. In the interior 

 the climate is continental, with less rainfall and higher summer 

 temperatures. On this account investigations in grain growing 

 are confined to the stations located in the valleys of the Yukon 

 and Copper rivers. In the Copper River Valley early autumn 

 frosts have destroyed much of the grain, but in no season has 

 there been a complete failure to mature some portion of the 

 crop. At the Rampart Station, which is situated in the Yukon 

 Valley, some 350 miles from the mouth of that river and only 

 about 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, cereals have ripened every 

 year since the establishment of the station in 1900. For each of 

 these stations the earliest varieties of cereals have been secured 

 and from each of the more promising the earliest ripening heads 

 have been gathered for seed. This procedure will be continued 

 until local varieties are developed that are suited to the aver- 

 age season in Alaska. Last year three varieties of winter rye, 

 one of winter wheat, three of spring-sown barley, and two of 

 oats matured at Rampart, and a recent letter states that the 

 grains this season are even better than last year, all varieties 

 ripening except some common oats that were sown for hay. At 

 each of the interior stations experiments with vegetables are 

 being conducted along about the same lines as described for the 

 work at Sitka. 



In the work of acclimatization in Alaska the problems are 

 twofold : to discover or develop varieties adapted to the moist 

 coast region where the summer temperature is rather low, vary- 

 ing but little from day to day, and varieties for the interior 

 where the growing seasons are shorter, the maximum tempera- 

 tures higher, and the range of temperature much greater. In 

 some portions of the interior the summer rainfall is deficient and 

 that adds another factor to be considered. That some progress 

 has been made is shown by the somewhat hasty review of the 

 results of eight years' work. The greatest difficulty experienced 

 in the Alaskan investigations is not due to climatic conditions, 

 but rather to the ignorance or prejudice of certain individuals 



