20 
BULLETIN 50, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of soil warmed by the hot springs, and also by utilizing the water 
for heating extensive greenhouses. 
Twelve miles out from Fairbanks, on the Government wagon road 
leading to Valdez, on the south coast, is the Byler homestead and 
stage station, which was visited by the writer July 9, 1911. Since 
then Jonathan Byler has sold the property. In a letter dated May 
23, 1912, he writes : 
It is not true, as has been reported to yon, that the damage was great to 
my crops by frost. There was a very light frost about August 20 that nipped 
the tops of potato vines, after the bloom was dead, but it did not hurt the 
potatoes. You saw the crops growing when you were there last July and the 
land that was cleared and in cultivation, about 4 acres. One acre was in oats 
that grew about 4 feet tall, heavy on the ground and fully matured, and as good 
Fig. 9. — Mrs. J. P. Anderson's chicken yard, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1910. 
as any new ground would produce anywhere in the United States. From the 
remainder of the ground, about 3 acres. I sold produce as follows : 
Potatoes, 13* tons, at 7 cents per pound $1, 890 
Cabbage. 1 ton, at 6 cents per pound 120 
Cauliflower, 200 pounds, at 5 cents per pound 10 
Carrots, 300 pounds, at 3 cents per pound 9 
Parsnips, 100 pounds, at 3 cents per pound 3 
Turnips and rutabagas, 500 pounds, at 2 cents per pound-- 10 
Onions, 70 pounds 5 
Total received 2.047 
The oats as hay, 1 about 3 tons, worth .$G0 per tonJ ISO 
2,237 
This shows how much the frost damaged me in Alaska, and there are many 
others that did equally as well, and I think some did better. 
1 This hay went with the place, which I have sold. 
