AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA. 17 



the lumber, and 200,000 feet of logs burned. * * * Tbe beat from tbe fire 

 blighted my apples so only two ripened, but tbis year tbe trees are loaded with 

 green fruit. I will let you know in tbe fall bow it came out. We bad tbe army 

 worms here this year. They took all my cabbage and a great many other things ; 

 but they have disappeared now, and everything is looking fine. I had to replant 

 twice. 



J. J. Rath began late in the season of 1910 to improve his home- 

 stead (fig. 6) . He writes under date of June 18, 1912 : 



The outlook for this season's crop is very favorable. Spring was about three 

 weeks earlier than in 1911. 1 I sowed field peas and barley together on a gravelly 

 soil. They look well. Japanese millet on a clay soil where buckwheat was 

 grown last season is looking fair. Brome-grass is fair to middling ; oats are 

 good. We had a light frost on the 11th instant that shriveled some of the top 

 leaves of the devil's-club. 



Skagway, Alaska, is a few miles beyond Haines. It is the end of 

 deep-sea navigation by the " inside route " and the tidewater terminus 

 of the White Pass Railroad. H. D. Clark is an extensive and suc- 

 cessful market gardener here. One of his specialties is a half 

 acre of rhubarb, from which shipments are made to Juneau, Dawson, 

 British Columbia, and other points. Chickens, ducks, and geese are 

 kept and make good returns. Oats are grown for hay, and hay is 

 made of native grass. Mr. Clark's neighbor keeps a dairy of 20 cows. 



EXAMPLES IN THE INTERIOR. 



The interior may be reached by the White Pass and Yukon River 

 route, which is by train from Skagway to "White Horse, British 

 Columbia, and by steamer down the Yukon River about 600 miles 

 through British territory to Eagle, Alaska, near the international 

 boundary and 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle. 



Clyde H. Thompson writes from Eagle, under date of May 13, 

 1912: 



My chickens stood the winter fine. They laid a little during most of tbe 

 winter, and are now shelling out eggs. I get 20 to 30 a day and sell at $1.50 

 a dozen. I have 40 hens, including 15 or 20 old hens, which bring the egg 

 average down. Will have chicks out in about 10 days. My cow came in a 

 little early this year for grass, about March 30. Feed is good now. * * * 



We had the best garden here last year we have ever had. Potatoes were as 

 good as any I ever saw. I have put in some Russian wheat and Danish oats 

 this year. 



The potato crop at Eagle in 1910 was about 15 tons, grown in 

 small patches in individual gardens. Most of these, together with 

 several tons of oat hay, were shipped to Fairbanks. 



1 The spring of 1911 was two weeks late. — L. C. 



