ALASKA 11 
Raspberry, Patten Greening, Duchess, 
Pyrus vaccata, and, of course, the native 
crab Those which matured were the 
Whitney, Hyslop, Pyrus baccata, and the 
native crab. The fruits on the others 
blew off before they matured None of 
the trees is doing as well as one could 
wish. Both climate and soil are unpro 
pitious. Trees which have been sent 
from this station to settlers at Haines, 
Alaska, are doing better than they are 
doing here. The soil is better and the 
rainfall is less. Nevertheless the fact 
that apples have matured here argues 
that it can be done again. The summer 
of 1911 was long and favorable, above 
the average. The summer of 1912 was 
rather cool and the trees consequently 
did not do well. [It is evident that none 
put hardy and early maturing varieties— 
that is to say, varieties which would be 
early Summer apples in the states—can 
be grown here with any expectation of 
success. It is hoped that new varieties 
may be developed suitable to this coun- 
try, but as yet the experiments have 
been without success. A small nursery 
is maintained chiefly with a view to 
propagating trees to be tested elsewhere. 
As a whole it may be stated that the 
outlook for apple growing in Alaska is 
not bright. 
Cherries 
There are at the station a few types 
of each of the four varieties of the sour 
cherries—English Morello, Ostheim, Harly 
Richmond, and Dyehouse. The Harly 
Richmond is the best of the four vari- 
eties. They have been in the orchard 
nine years and began to bear fruit five 
years ago. They are holding their own, 
making a moderate growth each year, 
and bear a little fruit, but are not at 
home here. They are not doing as well 
as they would south of latitude 49°. The 
fruit on all varieties was ripe the past 
season about August 20. 
The sweet cherry, a few kinds of 
which are also grown at Sitka, has proved 
a failure. 
Plums 
A number of young plum trees are un- 
der test, mostly hybrids produced by 
Prof. Hansen, of South Dakota, but none 
of them is doing well The coast cli- 
mate 18 apparently too wet, and none of 
them ever showed fruit. The wood does 
not mature well The rainfall stimulates 
srowth until frosts, and then the tender 
shoots die back from two to twelve inches. 
They sueceed better in a drier climate, 
even though the winters are much colder 
than they are here. So far not a variety 
of plum gives promise of being a success 
here. 
FRUIT BUSHES 
Small fruits and berries succeed well 
in Alaska. The fruit crop of the terri- 
tory will be confined chiefly to these. 
Currants 
The currant leads the list. It is in- 
digenous to the mountains of Alaska, 
and may often be found as far north as 
Rampart, where the writer has repeatedly 
gathered ripe wild currants. The currant 
is not only suited to the climate, but it 
has the advantage of being easily propa- 
gated. It grows from cuttings without 
trouble, and there is no reason why every 
garden in the territory up to and even 
beyond the Arctic Circle should not have 
currant bushes enough to supply the 
needs of any family. The same varieties 
that have been reported on in former 
vears are growing at the station—Red 
Cross, Ruby Castle, Victoria, Fay Pro- 
lific, Wilder, also the so-called common 
Red Dutch and White Dutch. Ruby Castle 
is perhaps, all things considered, the 
best variety so far tried. It has a large 
berry, is moderately prolific, and ma- 
tures usually a little earlier than the 
others named. 
The native wild red currant is also 
grown, but it is not yielding fruit as well 
as the cultivated sorts, although the fruit 
matures earlier than the former. 
Black Currants 
These also do well here, but they are 
somewhat more tender than the red cur- 
rant. Two species of the black currant 
are indigenous to the coast, but they do 
not range as far north as the red currant. 
Like the latter it is easily propagated 
from cuttings and can be grown any- 
where in the coast region. 
