ALASKA EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 317 



are of the same tenor. Wherever the soil was in proper condition and 

 the crops received the necessary amount of attention the results have 

 been very satisfactory. There is no longer any doubt in regard to 

 the possibilities of gardening in Alaska, in the interior as well as on 

 the coast, though it is true that the experiments in the interior are as 

 yet somewhat limited, but as a rule success has attended proper efforts. 

 A feature of some of these letters which merits more than passing 

 attention is the fact that the Indians have in many instances been 

 induced to raise gardens by the example and assistance of the white 

 settlers in their neighborhoods. This is an encouraging feature. It 

 fosters the hope that if the Indians could be taught how to raise the 

 most common hardy vegetables they would in many cases do so with 

 great benefit to themselves. The theory that the Indians will not eat 

 vegetable food; that they mostly, and always will, live on meat and seal 

 oil or starve has no foundation in fact. The natives will make use of 

 any food material, though perhaps they have a preference for that 

 which comes handy and can be obtained with the least exertion. 



MUCH PLEASED WITH HER GARDEN. 



Sitka, Alaska, October 28, 1901. 



Dear Sir: We wish to thank you for the garden seeds furnished, and would like 

 to report our great success. 



Our garden is situated where it gets the sunshine all day. It has been well worked 

 for four or five years. No fertilizer was used this year at all. It consists of a plat 

 of ground 30 by 80 feet. 



We commenced making our beds the 27th of April and planted lettuce and radishes. 

 The spring was cool and the seeds were a little slow in germinating, but grew rapidly 

 as soon as the warm days came. We continued to plant these during the summer, 

 and still have both lettuce and radishes in abundance. Our peas were sweet and 

 the pods well filled ; turnips large and sweet, and cauliflower did remarkably well, 

 many of the heads measuring 12 inches in diameter. The beets were exceedingly 

 fine and grew to be quite large. We planted onion seeds, but it was a little late; 

 but we have had an abundance of green onions all summer. Carrots, kale, and ruta- 

 bagas did well, and are as fully grown as I have seen farther south. The cabbage 

 have large, firm heads, free from worms, the pests of our neighbors farther south. 

 At this date we have just commenced to use our parsnips ; many of them over 14 

 inches in length, and as tender as any we have ever cooked. 



We also raised two varieties of beans, which did well, ripening the 1st of September. 

 From nine hills of potatoes we had enough to supply a family of three a month. 



We have had several rows of celery, which has headed out well, and it is firm and 

 crisp. 



Strawberries did very well, and from two small rows we had enough for our family 

 for about two weeks. We had a few raspberry bushes, from which we gathered 

 each day enough for dessert for six weeks and also put up several jars of jam. From 

 two or three gooseberry bushes we secured plenty of gooseberries for sauce for two 

 weeks. We have also a few bushes of the red and white currants, which yielded 

 an abundance of currants for table use for six weeks and over 20 pints of the most 

 delicious jelly we ever tasted. It is a good rich color, well flavored, and solid. 



We have raised from the seed six dozen asparagus plants and set them out. They 



