248 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



were planted on old ground. The seed was grown at the station in 

 1900 and kept over winter in perfect condition. The first row was 

 manured with seaweed at the rate of 30 tons per acre. The second 

 was manured with fish guano, at the rate of 500 pounds per acre, and 

 the third row was not fertilized. The fourth was manured with sea- 

 weed again, and so on through the whole patch. Although the crop 

 was but light and can scarcely be called a success, the experiment is 

 nevertheless of interest, because it shows that seaweed, so abundant 

 everywhere along the coast, is an excellent fertilizer for potatoes. 

 The guano, likewise, showed its effect, but not to the same degree. 

 The rows which were not fertilized produced practically no pota- 

 toes. The ground was a vegetable mold which would ordinarily be 

 considered rich, and with continued cultivation it will be productive 

 in two or three years. 



SMALL FRUITS. 



CutKbert raspberries. — Some plants were obtained from an old 

 plantation, in Governor Brady's garden, and transplanted to a corner 

 at the base of Castle Hill. The plants grew with great vigor and in 

 spite of having been transplanted produced berries from the beginning 

 of August until frost. The red raspberry is indigenous to Alaska, and 

 flourishes in the coast region to perfection, and it can also be grown 

 along the Yukon River. 



Bed currants. — 1 have obtained a few bushes by purchase and also 

 procured cuttings from neighbors. These are doing well. It is the 

 intention to use them for propagation if the proposed nursery is estab- 

 lished. None of the station bushes has borne fruit, but vigorous 

 bearing bushes can be found in nearly every garden in Sitka and other 

 coast towns. The same may be said of the black currant. 



Gooseberries. — Gooseberries are less common than currants, but they 

 do well eveiywhere in the coast region. A few bushes have been 

 procured with a view to use them for propagation. 



NEW STATION BUILDINGS. 



A NEW BARN. 



The past year we have built a barn at the station 25 by 50 feet in 

 dimensions and two stories high. The lower story is built of logs and 

 the second story is frame. An illustration is submitted herewith. 

 (PL VIII, fig. 1.) The logs were cut in the winter of 1899 and 1900, 

 but there was not snow enough on the ground that winter to enable us 

 to haul them out of the woods. During the past winter there was 

 snow enough to haul them for only two weeks and the marshy ground 

 over which we had to drive was not frozen solid for a much longer 

 period, which proves incidentally that the winters are not severe at 

 Sitka. The barn is not entirely completed at this writing, but the 



