The Alaska daily empire., 1916-09-25

is no plentiful in the lower Cook Inlet and elsewhere along the coast can be used to good advantage on these thin soils, and perhaps, also. on all che deeper soils.
 "The bunch lands. CKnik soils). are characte,isticany acid or sour. It is probable that treatment with lime would prove decidedly benefic- ial to them. Samples of limestone have been collected along the gov ornment railroad and Cook Inlet that wni be analyized to determine their value for agricultural use.
 "In 1914 no one had attempted to raise stock in this section. except on Kenai >Peuinsula. Some of the homesteaders in the Matanuska val les now have cattle. and local dairy herds are supplying milk to Anchor age. For many years cattle have been raised at Kenai and Ninilchik. chiefly Go supply milk and butter for the villages This year home steaders near Anchor Point have sold beef raised on their ranches to the canneries. at profit, they claim. ! This stock has been maintained on locally produced feed, mainly redtop. postinage and hay. This summer about 80 tons Of hay were put up by one of the homesteaders near Anchor Point for winter feed. The results of the experiments with cat tle by the experimental station for maliy at Kenai were summarized as follows:
 ~. A-it was proved that cattle can be raised in that locality, and that butter and cheese of good Qual ity can be made from the milk Of cattle kept there. A small herd was maintained exclusively on ma tive pasture and on the feed pro duced at the station for several years. The cattle had 10 be fed several months in the year, but if Ihay is provided this long feeding per Iiod Is no obstacle to successful dairy | ing it was proved chat hay can loo made not only from the ma live grasses but that grain Ihay can be made in abundance with certainty and success every year
 "In view Of the fact that valuable lhay and grazing grasses grow in abundance throughout the region. were above timber line. and that grain hay ana root crops valuable for feed can be cheaply produced. Beef production and deirying appear to be promising lines of agricultuT. el development t-thc most practical way of utilizing to best advantage the crops to which the soils are best adapted. These industries likely will develop gradually to meet the needs Of the inhabitants. but the quantity Of hay that annually goes Co waste and the productive capacity of the land in stock feed are far in excess of the requirements for the produc- ton cS the beef and dairy products needed. even by a much larger pop Iulation than the present This is true also Of thc Panama region, where successful dairics are now in operation
 Considering tnese large pasnr- age and feed production possibili. ies, coupled with the fac; thet cat tie are being raised here upon such pasturage and feed. there seems to bo no unsurmountable obstacles to carrying these industries beyond the requirements of Alaska-tO export beef. cheese and butter, that is,
 from those sections where grass is plentiful and farming land available The pcssimists point to the long
 winters when the stock must be fed,
 the high rates of transportation the long distance to the outside" and the vast possibilities of stock pro- duction in the States.
 "To these it may be pointed out ltaat transportation rates may be im-