3i8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 30 
He had grown cauliflower heads to weigh 40 pounds. 
All of the cabbage and turnip family did well. Carrots, 
radishes, lettuce and such vegetables as did not require 
a long, warm Summer were a success. He tried to 
clear some land once, and managed to get a small gar¬ 
den patch. 
The typical forest of Alaska is a dense tangle of 
growing and dead trees and underbrush. Their bodies 
lie in every imaginable direction. Moss covers them, 
and in this, tree seeds catch and sprout, and their 
roots penetrate and straddle this moss until they find 
their way to the earth. It rains so often on the coast that 
these tangles of mossy logs never dry out, and it is so 
cold that they do not rot much. They are sometimes 
10 feet deep. It is absolutely impossible to burn them 
out profitably, even after the live timber is cut. All 
must be dragged out on other and open ground that 
may be near. Mr. Young got his logs and brush to 
the ocean beach, and let the tide wash them away. 
He said that it would cost from $100 to 8500 per acre 
to clear timber land in Alaska, and that what he had 
cleared was about half bowlders. The soil was good, 
but little of it was available. 
One curious thing he told us about was the way his 
chickens behaved. They had hard work to raise any 
young ones, because it rained so much. But the 
curious part was their roosting habits. He took them 
there in the Summer, and as the days shortened they 
went to roost promptly at dusk. It soon became roost¬ 
ing time at 4 r. m., then at 3 and finally 
at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Through 
the long Winter nights of about 20 
hours, the chickens sat quietly until 
the morning light, crowing only occa¬ 
sionally, as though to keep up courage 
and hope. When Spring came at last, 
and the days grew longer, they roamed 
about and scratched the bare ground 
in delight. But when the days length¬ 
ened to 20 hours, they wearied of it; 
at least, they took to the roost at mid¬ 
day or a little after. There they would 
sit through the long afternoon, as 
though tired of the day and wishing 
for the shades of night, which delayed 
their coming until near 10 o’clock. My 
friend said that Alaska is a good place 
for ducks and fishes, but not for 
chickens. In fact, there need be no 
fear of a lack of fish, so long as one 
keeps near the water ; for there are 
myriads of them in both salt and fresh 
waters, and of the best kinds. Halibut 
weighing 300 pounds are not uncom¬ 
mon in the sea. Salmon run to the 
head of most streams in Summer. 
There are wliitefish of several kinds, 
trout of immense size in many of the 
lakes, and the graylingisin the smaller 
streams. It is the gamiest and most 
prized of all fishes that take the fly. 
Native Vegetation. —The native 
vegetation of Alaska is abundant and 
somewhat varied, even to the shores of 
the Arctic Ocean. Pine, spruce, cedar, 
aspen, birch, etc., are in the southern 
part, and of magnificent dimensions in 
some places. As the timber line is 
reached above the Arctic circle, the 
birch remains almost alone, and the 
willow grows smaller and smaller, 
until it, too, is the last shrub to give place to the ever¬ 
present Arctic moss. There is no danger of the nur¬ 
serymen’s supply of sphagnum moss giving out, if 
they can afford to pay for transporting it. The 
P 0 PPy goes the farthest north of any of the pretty 
flowers, and it is gorgeous in brightest colors even 
at Point Barrow, the northern extremity of Alaska, 
where my old Washington neighbor, John Mur¬ 
dock, spent two whole years as one of a scientific 
party in Government employ. He showed me beauti¬ 
ful specimens, as did Dr. C. Hart Merriam, taken by 
him at the Pribylov Islands; and Biederbeck, from 
northern Greenland, who was one of the six that lived 
through with Lieut. Greeley. There are several species 
of the Saxifrage and Ranunculus on the open tundra 
and at least eight species of grasses, but not in great 
abundance. 
As to native fruits, there are in southern Alaska, an 
abundance of berries in some sections. The Juneberry, 
raspberry, salmonberry, gooseberry, currant, and a 
number more with Indian names, that are peculiar to 
those high latitudes. I have had several of them sent 
to me in the fresh state that seemed quite edible. The 
natives cook them up in whale and seal oils, and keep 
them for Winter use. There are acres and acres of 
strawberries in some sections, that, when ripe, redden 
the ground and perfume the air for long distances. 
The cranberry is found in the mossy bogs far to the 
northward. An old neighbor boy, Fred Funston, 
from Kansas, spent a summer botanizing on the upper 
Porcupine River, which is a tributary of the Yukon 
that heads far above the Arctic circle. He found lots 
of berry plants of a creeping habit, and ate the fruit 
with a relish. The wild geese and ducks find plenty 
to eat and feed their young upon in Summer. They 
do not fatten on animal diet alone. 
Native Animals. —Regarding animal life, there are 
some moose and mountain sheep in the most southern 
parts, and Woodland caribou too, with thousands of 
deer. The Barren Grounds caribou, which is the wild 
reindeer of Alaska, inhabits the more northern and 
open regions. It lives on the moss of the tundra. 
The members of the Point Barrow Expedition killed 
and stored in an underground refrigerator, about 30 
of them one winter, to go with 1,000 and more 
Eider ducks that they shot and caught in nets in a 
short time. The bear, fox, and fur-bearing animals 
are plentiful. It is remarkable how many of our home 
birds are found there in Summer. The plover, curlew, 
snipe, kingfisher, robin, thrush, jay, blackbird, swal¬ 
low, sparrow and warbler are among them. Insects 
are there, too, and in myriads during the short, hot 
Summers. Mosquitoes, gnats and flies drive the deer 
into the lakes and streams, and on to the ocean beach 
at times. They would almost devour our domestic 
animals, even if they could be profitably kept through 
the long Winters of the Klondike region. 
Future Prospects. —This one thing must be kept in 
mind in all our speculations as to agriculture and 
horticulture in Alaska, that there is a great difference 
in local, climatic influences as well as in latitude, be¬ 
tween the two divisions made by Nature, and as 
defined at the beginning of this discussion. There is, 
also, almost absolute lack of experimental work or 
attempts at it in the northern section; which is des- 
tined to be the greater in importance, by far, as a 
mining region. It may be that we shall be happily 
surprised in its artificial soil products ; but at present, 
it does not seem reasonable to suppose, from the in¬ 
formation at hand, that they can amount to much. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
A POULTRY TEST IN UTAH. 
OLD HENS VS. PULLETS. 
In November, 1896, James Dryden, of the Utah Ex¬ 
periment Station, began a series of experiments in 
egg production which lasted one year, and the results 
of which were published in a bulletin lately issued. 
There were nine pens ; six of R. C. Brown Leghorns— 
two of old hens, two of early-hatched pullets and two 
of late-hatched pullets ; one pen of Light Brahma 
pullets, one pen of B. Rock pullets, and one pen of 
Brahma-Leghorn cross pullets. There were four fowls 
in each pen except the P. Rocks, and this had five. 
This was not intended as a feeding test. The Leg¬ 
horn pens were pitted against each other, three being 
given grain in boxes, the other three, and the other 
breeds being fed grain in litter so that they had to 
scratch for it. The latter gave the best results, but 
not so much better as one might expect. 
The P. Rocks and L. Brahmas were immature at the 
beginning of the experiment, and the old hens were 
moulting. In fact, the Rocks and Brahmas never 
came anywhere near the regular weights of those 
breeds. The general results as to cost of feed, num¬ 
ber, value and cost of eggs laid, and per cent of profit 
are summarized in the following table: 
Summary of Results. 
| Pen. 
Cost of Food 
Number of 
Eggs Laid. 
Value. 
Food Cost 
per Dozen. 
P. et. Profit 
on Feed. 
No Exercise. 
Cents. 
Cents. 
1 
Old hens. 
53 M 
64 
10.56 
9.9 
5 
2 
Late-hatched pullets_ 
56 H 
137i/ 2 
1.32 
4.9 
135 
3 
Early-hatched pullets... 
6114 
157% 
1.68 
4.6 
174 
Exercise. 
4 
Early-hatched pullets... 
62 
181% 
1.88 
4.1 
203 
5 
Old hens. 
62 
106% 
1.00 
6.9 
61 
6 
Late-hatched pullets.... 
63 
150% 
1.51 
5.0 
124 
7 
B. L. cross pullets. 
73 M 
145 
1.47 
6.1 
100 
8 
Lt. Brahma pullets. 
81 >4 
147% 
1.40 
6.6 
72 
9 
B. P. Rock pullets. 
63 
79% 
.79 
9.4 
25 
The feed consisted of a morning mash composed of 
two parts of bran and shorts, and one part each of 
chopped corn and oats. About 10 o’clock a little grain 
was fed, and grain in the evening. Three times a 
week cut bones and meat were fed. 
Cabbages were fed during Winter, 
green grass in Summer, and Alfalfa 
leaves dry during the time the others 
were not available. The grains fed 
were principally wheat and oats, corn 
sparingly, and barley was tried but 
was soon dropped, as the fowls did 
not relish it. “ The idea kept upper¬ 
most in mind was so to feed as to in¬ 
duce the largest possible consumption 
of food of the right kind.” 
These figures show some surprising 
results. The first six pens are Leg¬ 
horns. The poorest pen in the whole 
lot so far as results are concerned was 
the pen of old hens without exercise. 
Next came the P. Rocks, which were 
unaccountably low in egg production. 
But a single test of a single strain is 
not sufficient to prove anything; the 
P. Rocks have too good a general record 
for this single trial to harm them. 
But the Brahmas showed up won¬ 
derfully well, especially when we con¬ 
sider the fact that they were far from 
mature when the trial began ; they ex¬ 
celled even one pen of the Leghorn 
pullets (those with no exercise) in 
number of eggs laid, though they cost 
most to feed of any pen in the trial. 
This larger cost was, probably, offset 
by their gain in weight, which was con¬ 
siderable. Still, they surpass three of 
the pens in the per cent of profit on 
feed consumed. Then, again, they 
didn't lay an egg until January, and 
during the last month of the year’s 
trial, October, they laid but seven. The 
Brahma eggs averaged heaviest per 
dozen of any of the breeds, and in 
total weight of eggs laid, they were 
exceeded by but one pen, consisting of early-hatched 
Leghorn pullets. The cross-bred birds were ex¬ 
celled by only three pens in number of eggs laid, 
stood next to the highest in cost of feed, and stood in 
the middle in per cent of profit on cost of feed. 
The old hens made a poor showing as compared with 
pullets, but they were three and four years old, such 
hens as no practical poultryraan would think of keep¬ 
ing. Leaving out the P. Rocks, whose record is not 
worth comparing, food cost per dozen eggs far ex¬ 
ceeded that of any other pens, the value of the eggs 
was much less, and these were mostly produced when 
eggs were lowest in price. Fig. 140 represents the 
per cent of profit from the pullets, and Fig. 139 that 
from the old hens. A number of changes in conditions 
should be made to render this a fair test. No hens 
more than two years old at the beginning of the test 
should be used. P. Rocks and Brahmas should be • 
hatched from one to three months earlier than the 
Leghorns. The Brahmas should have more room than 
the Leghorns; in this experiment, the pens were of 
equal size. The pens should consist of a larger num¬ 
ber of birds ; there is less chance for wide variation 
caused by poor performance of individuals. Still there 
are many valuable points in these experiments, and a 
continuation of them will likely prove valuable. It 
would be a good idea to include other breeds like the 
W. P. Rocks, W. Wyandottes, S. C. W. Leghorns, Minor- 
cas and others,that the merits of these may be compared 
