ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 311 



beds in which to raise plants of such crops as are to be transplanted. 

 They have barns, root cellars, dwelling houses, and they have equipped 

 their farms with work animals and implements. Their work has so 

 far necessarily been of an experimental character, inasmuch as they 

 had to feel their way not only in regard to the crops which can be suc- 

 cessfully grown there bat also as regards the requirements of the 

 market. They have thus tested all the common, hardy vegetables, 

 potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, root crops of various kinds, carrots, and 

 parsnips, peas, etc., and with scarcely an exception all these crops have 

 been grown with marked success. This year the} 7 planted 24 acres 

 to potatoes and set out 35,000 cabbage plants. These two were their 

 leading crops, but they also had several acres of turnips, ruta-bagas, 

 radishes, lettuce, and such crops as are usually handled by grocers. 

 They have, both last year and this year, raised considerable fields of 

 barley, oats, and wheat. These grains, however, have been grown for 

 hay and not for the sake of the grain. Hay is worth $30 a ton, and it 

 consequently pays better to harvest the crops before they mature than 

 to allow the grain to ripen. Oats and barley have, however, ripened 

 on the Dyea farm both last year and this year. I visited their farms 

 at Skagway and Dyea early in September of the present year, and 1 

 must say that their crops were gratifying to behold. I have never 

 seen finer cabbages, or vegetables of similar kinds anywhere which 

 could equal theirs in quality. It is by this time an acknowledged fact 

 that vegetables grown in Alaska are far superior in quality to similar 

 vegetables produced in the States. For crispness and richness of 

 flavor Alaska vegetables are unequaled. This is acknowledged b} 7 the 

 merchants, and local produce consequently commands a higher price 

 than the same articles shipped up from Puget Sound. 



A portion of the ground which they have under cultivation is yet 

 too new to produce the best results. Certain tracts on the Dyea farm 

 are so low as to be flooded by occasional excessively high tides, but on 

 the whole these two gentlemen are much pleased with the results of 

 their efforts, and they have planned extensive improvements in the 

 near future. They are energetic and practical men, who thoroughly 

 understand their business, and now that it has been proved what the 

 soil and climate will produce, there can be no doubt as to their success 

 in the future. Mr. Nicolai has kindly consented to write an account 

 of their operations, which it gives me pleasure to present herewith. 



PI. XX, fig. 1, shows the farmhouse of Nicolai and Clark on their 

 Dyea farm, and PI. XX, fig. 2, is a view in one of their potato fields 

 at Dyea. Incidentally it shows also the kind of land they are working 

 with. Most of it was covered with timber or stumps, which had to be 

 cleared away. A portion of the present crop of potatoes is grown 

 among the dead timber. 



