ALASKA EXPEKIMENT STATIONS. 313 



to bloom about the same time and have continued in full bloom ever since (PI. 

 XXIII). 



The sweet peas, which are shown in the photograph at the base of the greenhouse 

 and at the right of Mrs. Clark, have been in bloom the greater part of the season 

 and will continue until frost comes. 



Mrs. Bigger, at Dyea, had pansies in bloom the first week in May, which had 

 been in the open ground all winter, and are in full bloom yet. Pansies do excep- 

 tionally well here, but nearly all ordinary flowers do well, roses included. 



EXPERIMENTS AT DYEA. 



The land at Dyea is similar to that of Skagway, only a little more sandy and 

 somewhat drier, so that we shall be compelled to irrigate some for certain crops. 



I commenced operations at Dyea May 6, with three men and three horses. In 

 explanation I will mention that there had been no preparation made for farming 

 previous to this time, except that there had been a few acres of tide land broken up 

 the year before and sown to grain, which was cut for hay, and about 5 acres in an 

 old slashing where the rotten logs had been picked to pieces and piled. I will also 

 mention that I met with new conditions here in the line of farming, which require 

 new methods of treatment. 



On May 10 we planted our first potatoes, 1£ acres of Early Ohio, and on May 15 

 we planted 4£ acres more of the same variety. May 18 we planted 2 acres of the 

 Early York variety, and another acre of the same variety May 21. These were all 

 planted on what might be classed as semitide lands. Most of this land was covered 

 by debris that was deposited there during extraordinarily high tides. The results 

 from this land were not satisfactory so far as our potato crop was concerned. The 

 land is so salty that 4 acres of the potatoes did not come up at all, and while the bal- 

 ance came up quite strong, they made a weak growth after they got about 3 inches 

 high. I think the dry weather was mainly the cause of the weak growth, there 

 being no rain to speak of during the months of May, June, and July, but I am also 

 satisfied that there is too much salt in this soil for potatoes to do well. 



We commenced using potatoes from the field July 28, and by August 15 they were 

 dry and mealy, but rather small, although there were quite a good many potatoes 

 that weighed half a pound each. Some of the vines began to turn yellow by August 

 1, but at that time our rains commenced and they started a new growth which was 

 more of a damage than a benefit at that stage of the crop. 



We commenced harvesting the crop September 18. There were about 5? acres 

 left after deducting the ground that was too salty to grow anything. They yielded 

 480 bushels and were of fair quality, though rather small and containing a few 

 rotten ones. 



On the same kind of land as already described, on May 16, we sowed 2 acres of oats 

 mixed with field peas and 2 acres of wheat. The wheat proved to be fall wheat, so 

 it did not head. It made a slow growth all summer and is now a perfect mat, cov- 

 ering the ground completely, but there is some danger of its being winterkilled on 

 account of its exposed location. The oats made a fine growth, attaining a height of 

 4 feet. The berry was large and heavy, and it commenced to ripen during the last of 

 August, but was cut for hay. 



Our next experiment was on 3£ acres that had a very heavy growth of flower-de- 

 luce on it; also some small spruce trees, which we grubbed out. After thoroughly 

 fitting the piece we planted it on May 24 to three varieties of potatoes, viz, Early 

 Ohio, Early York, and Milwaukee. The Milwaukee had been chilled before they 

 left Wisconsin, so that there were only about half that grew. All made a weak 

 growth at first on- this piece, owing to the tough sod, but improved as the season 

 advanced. There was plenty of subirrigation in this piece, and it was the only piece 



