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agricultural products. By one we are informed that the character 
of the climate is such that resources of this nature must fail, or, 
at most, permit nothing more than a bare existence for civilized 
man. By another we are told that Alaska may some day furnish 
California with certain agricultural products. How is this differ¬ 
ence of opinion to be explained ? In the one case it appears to be 
the impression of the casual visitor for a limited season at certain 
coast ports, and at a particular season ; in the other the conviction 
of a man of science, who has explored, with great labor, much 
of the interior of the Territory, and can add this knowledge to his 
previous knowledge of the coast. Then until further scientific 
investigation exposes the errors of the past, we must respect the 
teaching of our only Alaska scientist, whose merits were fully 
appreciated and recognized by the Smithsonian Institute at Wash¬ 
ington. In his report to the Commissioner of Agriculture in 1868 
the following relating to agriculture appears: 
44 Grain has never been sown on a large scale in the Yukon 
district. Barley, I was informed, had once or twice been tried at 
Fort Yukon in small patches, and the grain had matured, though 
the straw was very short. The experiments were never carried 
any further, however, the traders being obliged to devote all their 
energies to the collection of furs. No grain had ever been sown 
by the Russians at any of the posts. In the fall of 1867 I shook 
out an old bag, purchased from the Russians, which contained a 
handful of mouse-eaten grain, probably wheat. The succeeding 
spring, on examining the locality, quite a number of blades ap¬ 
peared ; and when I left Nulato, June 2d, they were two or three 
inches high and growing rapidly. As I did not return, I cannot 
say what the result was. Turnips and radishes always flourished 
extremely well at St. Michaels, and the same is said of Nulato 
and Fort Yukon. Potatoes succeeded at Fort Yukon, though the 
tubers were small. They were regularly planted for several 
years until the seed was lost by freezing during the winter. 
Salad was successful, but cabbages would not head. The white 
round turnips, grown at St. Michaels, were the best I ever saw 
anywhere, and very large, many of them weighing five or six 
pounds.” 
44 The treeless coasts of the Yukon territory are covered, as 
