ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 267 



years, hence we may conclude that grain can be successfully cultivated every few 

 years in this part of Alaska. 



I am sending samples of the wheat, barley, and oats. The frost of August 31 

 entirely destroyed the buckwheat. As for the clover, it grew to a respectable 

 height, but did not blossom. 



Yours, very respectfully, V. O'Hare. 



Prof. C. C. Georgeson, Sitka, Alaska. 



PL XIV, figs. 1 and 2, gives views of portions of these grain experi- 

 ments. Fig. 1 shows the barley and fig. 2 the wheat. 



In the neighborhood of the mission is an extensive meadow of native 

 grass. This grass grows as high as a man's shoulder. I wanted to 

 get a photograph of the cattle in the grass, and for this purpose asked 

 to have them turned into the meadow, but they were entirely lost to 

 sight when they got into the grass. Four of the five head of cattle 

 were native born, and, of course, had lived exclusively upon native 

 feed. The}^ were in most excellent condition. A view of this meadow 

 can not fail to convince the most skeptical of the fact that it is pos- 

 sible to grow cattle feed there in unlimited quantities. The meadow 

 is shown in PI. XIII, fig. 2. 



WORK AT RAMPART STATION. 



As stated in last year's report, a tract of land containing about 313 

 acres has been reserved for an agricultural experiment station oppo- 

 site the town of Rampart, on the Yukon River. The tract was, and 

 nearly all of it still is, virgin forest. The whole area is covered with 

 spruce, interspersed with an occasional poplar and birch, and under 

 the trees the ground is covered thickly with moss. The features 

 which recommended this tract for an experiment station were, first, 

 the location, and secondly, the nature of the soil, and its exposure. 

 The greater portion of it is a gentle slope facing the south. 



When 1 left the Yukon in August, 1900, Mr. Isaac Jones, the assist- 

 ant assigned to the work in the interior, began work here, at Ram- 

 part. The means at our disposal did not admit our purchasing 

 implements and work animals, nor could we even hire men to work. 

 With the exception of a single laborer, who was hired for about two 

 weeks, Mr. Jones performed the work single handed and alone with 

 ax, mattock, and spade. He began clearing a patch of ground, grub- 

 bing out the stumps, and digging up the earth so as to get as much as 

 possible ready for seeding, in order that we might test grain and the 

 commoner vegetables during the present year. Mr. Jones cleared 

 and prepared in this way about half an acre of ground. This is but a 

 small beginning, but the best that we were able to do. The cheapest 

 rate at which labor could be hired was $5 a day, and the lowest charge 

 for the hire of teams was $10 a day. Could we have had a team and 



