332 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The following are the directions we have used in growing our cabbage plants. We 

 take a box from 15 to 20 inches deep; put 5 inches or more of fresh horse manure in 

 the bottom, pack it close, and next 5 to 6 inches good, rich, old soil. Sow your seed 

 and cover with very little moist soil. Have a window or glass to cover the box with, 

 so no warmth can escape from middle of box. Keep the box outdoors, any place, 

 but better on the south side of the building. Cabbage seed sown in this way will 

 come up in ten or twelve days, even if the nights are from 10 to 16 degrees below 

 freezing. To make good, hardy plants, keep box open if the weather is too warm. 



Cauliflower. — Early Snowball transplanted the same time as cabbage in good, 

 heavy, moist soil. They grew to the size of a dinner plate. The heads are firm and 

 of excellent flavor. Cook Inlet, the garden spot of Alaska, proves to be the home 

 for cauliflower. 



Celery. — White Plume; seed sown in a box outside March 25, and transplanted 

 June 15. The seed did not germinate very well and we obtained only about a dozen 

 plants. I transplanted mine in very rich four-year-old soil. The stalks proved to 

 be of medium size. 



Kale. — Proved to do very well here. 



Lettuce. — Does very well here in rich, moist soil. 



Onions. — They have been a failure up to this time. We have noticed a fly, or 

 mosquito, which kills the tops of the onions from 2 to 4 inches downward, and two 

 or three flies will be found dead on the tops of each onion. The mosquito does much 

 damage to the growth of the onions. No doubt if the proper onions can be obtained 

 for this climate maybe they would grow here, as the flies and mosquitoes are not any 

 more numerous than they have been since 1896. 



Potatoes. — Early Rose and White Burbank, planted May 7 and again May 20. 

 Fifty pounds of seed were used on a space of 77 by 32 feet on new, sandy soil, and 

 produced only 568 pounds of potatoes. We have planted from 100 to 110 pounds 

 potatoes other years, and we have had yields of from 1,900 to 2,000 pounds. Potatoes 

 have produced only a small crop in $900. The reason for this was most likely the 

 dry weather. We had 1J inches of snow on May 28. In June and also the begin- 

 ning of July it was too dry for potatoes planted in sandy soil. The potatoes attained 

 the size of from 8 to 18 ounces, but they were a little watery. 



Parsnips. — Hollow Crown. They do about as well as carrots. One hundred and 

 thirty feet drill row produced from 45 to 50 pounds of medium size. 



Radish. — Early Scarlet Turnip, White Tipped, and Olive Shaped. The early turnip 

 or twenty-eight day radish grows well here. The Half Long or Long Radish, also 

 called Four Weeks Radish, never has proved to be very good, except late in the 

 autumn whenever it is cold with a good deal of rain. 



Tomatoes. — Atlantic Prize Extra Early. Grown in the following way: We put the 

 tomato seeds in the same box we grew our cabbage plants in, after the cabbage plants 

 were removed. We kept the box covered with a window at night and cold days 

 until the tomatoes attained the height between the earth and the glass. In this way 

 the tomato vines have grown 3 feet high, and the fruit as large as a goose egg. The 

 fruit did not ripen, only attained a light golden color. After keeping in the house 

 for three or four weeks the fruit was purplish red. 



Turnips. — Early White Milan, and Purple Top White Globe. Were sown May 7, 

 came up May 20. Two hundred feet of drill produced 612 pounds on poor sandy 

 soil. The Purple Top White Globe will get as large as from 12 to 15 pounds if not 

 seeded too close, and it is also a good keeper. Turnips can be sown early in the 

 spring, and the last week in June or the first week in July again. We have marketed 

 turnips July 25. At this date they weighed 9 ounces and over. 



We also will try early corn this summer. 



Euta-bagas. — Yellow or Swedish Turnips. Sown May 24 and came up June 10. 



