ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 315 



but I had also brought 6 little cherry trees from my home in Wisconsin, which made 

 a healthy growth and ripened off the wood in August. 



I set out about 200 strawberry plants on May 20. It was between life and death 

 with them until August 1, when we had a good rain. Since then they have made a 

 vigorous growth, until now they are the finest plants I ever raised, though I have 

 been a grower of them the past twenty-five years. In conclusion, allow me to say 

 that I am well pleased with our summer's experiment, and shall try to double our 

 efforts during the coming year. 



It would be hardly fair to close this report without mentioning my neighbors' 

 success. Mr. William Workman has 6 acres of potatoes and about 12 acres of grain. 

 The oats and barley were ripe by the middle of September, and though the wheat 

 was green it made excellent hay. The whole was on land plowed last fall, and 

 made a heavy growth. His potatoes were mostly Burbanks, and yielded about 200 

 bushels per acre, being on old ground, some of which had been manured. Mr. L. 

 Wilson had about one-fourth of an acre of Burbank potatoes which yielded at the 

 rate of 300 bushels per acre. They were large and of good quality. The ground 

 had been well manured before planting. 



There is but one drawback to the development of agriculture in this section of 

 Alaska, and that is the want of title to our land and the meager amount of land 

 allowed to a squatter. I can see no valid reason why the general land laws of the 

 United States could not be extended to Alaska, or such portions of them as would 

 give us a chance to acquire title to our holding, and not be continually at the mercy 

 of the claim jumper. 



H. E. Nicola i, 



Dyea, Alaska. 



Prof. C. C. Georgeson, 



Special Agent in Charge of Alaska Investigations, Sitka, Alaska. 



PRIVATE GARDENS AT SKAGWAY. 



Being compelled to wait in Skagway for a boat for two days in the 

 early part of September, I improved the opportunity to look over the 

 private gardens in the town. I found them to be not only numerous, 

 but excellent. There were in Skagway the past season not less than 

 50 private gardens, none of them very large, but most of them large 

 enough to supply vegetables to the respective families. Potatoes 

 were the leading crop, followed closely by cabbage, cauliflower, tur- 

 nips, lettuce, radishes, carrots, and parsnips. In some cases cucum- 

 bers were also grown successfully. Flowers were also well repre- 

 sented. There was scarcely a dooryard in which could not be found 

 a fine collection of the hardy annual flowers. Pansies and sweet peas 

 seemed to be the favorites, but poppies, nasturtiums, mignonette, 

 marigolds, larkspur and a dozen other annuals were also much in evi- 

 dence. The remarkable feature was not that the residents should 

 attempt to grow these things, but rather the extraordinary luxuriance 

 of everything. I have seen no finer pansies and sweet peas anywhere 

 than could be found in some of these Skagway dooryards. Fine 

 patches of lawn could also be seen here and there. A splendid sod of 

 close-shaven grass presented a carpet of green which could not be sur- 

 passed. Patches of red clover could be seen nere and there 2 feet 



