280 REPOET OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Rampart, in 1895 and 1896, a Norse miner named Peterson, who died last winter, 

 raised cabbage and potatoes successfully on what is now a mining claim on Little 

 Mi nook Creek, a tributary of the Big Minook, which enters the Yukon at this 

 point. In the summer of 1900 there were several successful gardens at Rampart. 

 Last year Professor Georgeson established an experiment station with Mr. Isaac 

 Jones, a graduate of the Kansas Agricultural College. Single handed, and with mat- 

 tock and spade alone, Mr. Jones cleared the ground, stripping the moss and grubbing 

 roots from about a half an acre, which was planted with wheat, rye, oats, barley, 

 buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes. 



RABBITS DAMAGE CROPS. 



Rabbits caused some damage to his crops, but the way they looked on July 13 of this 

 year may be seen in the photographs better than from description. It should be 

 said that the most successful growth was of rye, which was seeded from a few heads 

 of ripe volunteer grain found by Mr. Jones on August 15 of last year, growing in the 

 rear of the North American Transportation and Trading Company's store at Rampart, 

 where the seed had evidently been dropped the season previous from a sack of feed. 

 All this grain was sown in the fall, and as last winter was the severest know T n on the 

 Yukon, it is evident that seed at least will survive the hardships of a Yukon winter. 

 Mr. Jones's poorest crop was Siberian buckwheat, sown from seed supplied by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Some buckwheat of unknown origin did 

 much better, and both were in flower when I took the photographs. The rye, barley, 

 and oats made a fine stand, but wheat was not well on. The soil at this point was a 

 clay loam, with some sand, located about a furlong from the present river bank. The 

 grain was far enough along to indicate that it would be ripe before the hard frosts 

 would naturally set in. At Fort Gibbon, at the mouth of the Tanana, on the north 

 fork of the Yukon, Mr. Georgeson saw and picked oats that were ripe on August 4, 

 1900. They were part of a patch of volunteers, most of which had been eaten down 

 by the cattle of the fort, but had headed out in second growth and were in bloom. 

 At Holy Cross Mission the Jesuit Fathers, under Father Raphael J. Crimont, a learned, 

 accurate, painstaking, and systematic worker, have made greater progress in farming 

 than at any other point. They have a herd of cattle, all but one native born, 

 fed wholly on native grasses. There are over 3 acres in garden and grain this year. 

 On this they have raised over 500 bushels of Early Rose potatoes on less than two 

 acres. Most of the potatoes are small and not mealy, but they are good, and the 

 largest weighed 17 ounces. They have raised turnips weighing 8J pounds, and beets 

 and carrots weighing over f of a pound each. This year, for the first time, they 

 planted grain which was supplied by Professor Georgeson, and I give photographs 

 showing how it looked on July 28. The soil at this point is not very good, and it 

 was prepared without suitable implements. 



MOST CROPS FLOURISH. 



It is true that "one swallow maketh not a summer," and there is no reason to 

 think that the farms of the Yukon will ever rival the bonanza wheat fields of Dakota; 

 but it is equally true that wheat, oats, rye, and barley have ripened and produced 

 mature seed at different points during several years under the most adverse circum- 

 stances on the Yukon. It is also true beyond peradventure that most crops and 

 nearly all garden vegetables grow to perfection wherever the ground is scratched, 

 and that currants, raspberries, gooseberries, cranberries, huckleberries, and many 

 other native small fruits do exceptionally well. It seems reasonable to conclude, 

 therefore, that time and attention will show that ordinary agricultural operations 

 can be carried on successfully, more so than anyone would have believed four years 

 ago, and more than the great American public yet realizes. It will amaze most people 



