ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 241 



there being" no other available land. It was sown in a poor, gravelly soil 

 containing- very little plant food, and it was therefore necessary to 

 give it a dressing of fish guano at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre. 

 Many varieties of wheat were sown, but not one of these survived the 

 winter. The Swedish winter rye was the onty kind that came through 

 alive. Owing to the late seeding it did not make much growth in the 

 fall; it was in rather weak condition in the spring and the early growth 

 was slow. By June 15 it had reached the height of 22 inches, and was 

 then beginning to head. By June 24 it was two-thirds headed. July 1 it 

 was all headed out and beginning to bloom. Jul} r 18 it was 4 feet 9 

 inches high, and part of it still in bloom. August 1 the grain was all 

 formed, and August 15 it was in che dough. September 15 it was 

 ripe, and was harvested on September 17. As noted, the soil was 

 poor and the yield was not heavy. The value of the experiment lies 

 wholly in the fact that it was a winter grain and survived the winter 

 uninjured. 



Although the winters are not severe on the coast, they are, never- 

 theless, tiying on winter grains when the snowfall happens to be 

 light. Last winter there was not to exceed 1 foot of snow on the 

 ground at any time, and it did not last more than two weeks at any 

 time. The frequent thawing and freezing of the ground were the 

 cause of winterkilling of the wheats above noted and not the cold 

 weather. 



WHEAT. 



Romanow spring. — This is the only variety which was seeded this 

 year. Of the several kinds which have been tested this has uni- 

 formly given the best results, and this point settled, it did not seem 

 wise to continue an endless variety test. The wheat was originally 

 imported from Russia by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture in 1897. It is a brown bearded wheat with a red berry. The 

 qualities which commend it for cultivation in Alaska are that it matures 

 early, stands up well, and is a good yielder. Its milling qualities 

 have not been tested. Three small plats were seeded to this wheat, 

 two of them being on the lots in town, the third on new ground on 

 the farm. The two plats in the town lots were seeded May 8 and 

 the plat on the new ground on the farm May 11. All plats were up 

 Ma}^ 27. On June 15 it was 10 inches high on the old ground and only 

 5 inches high on the new ground. July 1 it was 22 inches high on 

 the old ground and only 1 foot high on the new ground. The stand in 

 both cases was fairly good. July 18 it was 2£ feet high on the old 

 ground and three-quarters neaded; it was 20 inches high on the new 

 ground and the heads just beginning to show. August 1 it was 3 feet 

 high on the old ground and just passing out of bloom; on the new 

 ground it was 34 inches high and still in full bloom. It should be 

 H. Doc. 334 16 



