ALASKA 



H 



Raspberry, Patten Greening, Duchess, 

 Pi/nis baccata, and, of course, the native 

 crab. Those which matured were the 

 Whitney. Hyslop. Piinis bacvata, and the 

 native crab. The fruits on the others 

 blew off before they matured. None of 

 the trees is doing as well as one could 

 wish. Both climate and soil are unpro- 

 pitious. Trees which have been sent 

 from this station to settlers at Haines, 

 Alaska, are doing better than they are 

 doing here. The soil is better and the 

 rainfall is less. Nevertheless the fact 

 that apples have matured here argues 

 that it can be done again. The summer 

 of 1911 was long and favorable, above 

 the average. The summer of 1912 was 

 rather cool and the trees consequently 

 did not do well. It is evident that none 

 out hardy and early maturing varieties — 

 that is to say, varieties which would be 

 early summer apples in the states — can 

 be grown here with any expectation of 

 success. It is hoped that new varieties 

 may be developed suitable to this coun- 

 try, but as yet the experiments have 

 been without success. A small nursery 

 is maintained chiefly with a view to 

 propagating trees to be tested elsewhere. 

 As a whole it may be stated that the 

 outlook for apple growing in Alaska is 

 not bright. 



Cherries 



There are at the station a few types 

 of each of the four varieties of the sour 

 cherries — English Morello, Ostheim, Early 

 Richmond, and Dyehouse. The Early 

 Richmond is the best of the four vari- 

 eties. They have been in the orchard 

 nine years and began to bear fruit five 

 years ago. They are holding their own, 

 making a moderate growth each year, 

 and bear a little fruit, but are not at 

 home here. They are not doing as well 

 as they would south of latitude 49°. The 

 fruit on all varieties was ripe the past 

 season about August 20. 



The sweet cherry, a few kinds of 

 which are also grown at Sitka, has proved 

 a failure. 



Plums 



A number of young plum trees are un- 

 der test, mostly hybrids produced by 



Prof. Hansen, of South Dakota, but none 

 of them is doing well. The coast cli- 

 mate is apparently too wet, and none of 

 them ever showed fruit. The wood does 

 not mature well. The rainfall stimulates 

 growth until frosts, and then the tender 

 shoots die back from two to twelve inches. 

 They succeed better in a drier climate, 

 even though the winters are much colder 

 than they are here. So far not a variety 

 of plum gives promise of being a success 

 here. 



FBUIT BUSHES 

 Small fruits and berries succeed well 

 in Alaska. The fruit crop of the terri- 

 tory will be confined chiefly to these. 



Ciirraiifs 



The currant leads the list. It is in- 

 digenous to the mountains of Alaska, 

 and may often be found as far north as 

 Rampart, where the writer has repeatedly 

 gathered ripe wild currants. The currant 

 is not only suited to the climate, but it 

 has the advantage of being easily propa- 

 gated. It grows from cuttings without 

 trouble, and there is no reason why every 

 garden in the territory up to and even 

 beyond the Arctic Circle should not have 

 currant bushes enough to supply the 

 needs of any family. The same varieties 

 that have been reported on in former 

 years are growing at the station — Red 

 Cross, Ruby Castle. Victoria, Fay Pro- 

 lific, Wilder, also the so-called common 

 Red Dutch and White Dutch. Ruby Castle 

 is perhaps, all things considered, the 

 best variety so far tried. It has a large 

 berry, is moderately prolific, and ma- 

 tures usually a little earlier than the 

 others named. 



The native wild red currant is also 

 grown, but it is not yielding fruit as well 

 as the cultivated sorts, although the fruit 

 matures earlier than the former. 



Black Currants 



These also do well here, but they are 

 somewhat more tender than the red cur- 

 rant. Two species of the black currant 

 are indigenous to the coast, but they do 

 not range as far north as the red currant. 

 Like the latter it is easily propagated 

 from cuttings and can be grown any- 

 where in the coast region. 



