s 



BULLETIN 50, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ties for water travel during the summer season. But as the streams 

 are icebound from early in October until June and only the harbors 

 on the south coast are ice-free during the winter, the clog team and 

 sled are still the most general and widely used mode of conveyance 

 in winter, although horses are being used more and more during this 

 season on established lines of travel. 



VEGETATION. 



Mention has been made of the heavy timber growth on the south 

 coast, largely of spruce, with some hemlock and areas of poplar on 

 some of the alluvial bottoms. In the Susitna Valley there are exten- 

 sive belts of poplar, some of which is good saw timber. 



Fig. 1. — Native grass and tundra-sod ice house, St. Michael, Alaska, July 29, 1911. 



Practically all of the interior that comes within our purview as 

 possessing agricultural possibilities is timbered, but for the most part 

 the growth is small and thin. Spruce is the most prevalent. There 

 are belts of balm of Gilead poplar at the lower levels and quaking 

 aspen nearer the snow line. Birch groves occupy many of the benches 

 and low hills adjacent to the river bottoms. If not destroyed by fire 

 and undue waste, there is enough timber in the interior to meet the 

 needs of a largely increased population. 



Grasses in great variety are native to Alaska (fig. 1) and are widely 

 disseminated, many of them being of large agricultural value for hay 

 and silage and for grazing. Wherever the timber is destroyed by fire 

 or cut away, grasses at once spring up and make a luxuriant growth. 



Other native vegetation of agricultural economic value includes a 

 considerable variety of wild fruit — salmon berries, red and black 



