Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-03-05

The best soil of our middle west" replied
Professor Georgeson, "can be duplicated in
very few places on earth. doubt whether
Alaska has any agricultural area equal to
that The country has no prairie lands, and
there are no extensive bodies of uniform
quality. Still, some parts of the country are
excellent for farming The silt loan of the
Tanana valley will compare in productive
ness with some of the best soil to be found
elsewhere, and we have at the Fairbanks
station land that is excelled only by the rich
prairie soils of the middle west That land
is light loan of a grayish color. 1t is sandy,
but free from gravel and it holds the moist
ure. It can be easily worked We have
been growing wheat upon it at the rate Of so
bushels to the acre, and we have had aver
age yields Of 90 bushels OF oats There are
good lands in the Matanuska and Sustna
valleys, and, in fact, there are tens OF mil
lions Of acres that can be made into farms. ="
The conversation here turned to the
grains of Alaska, and / asked Professor
Georgeson what grains could be successfully
raised during the short summer season He
replied:
We are now ripening all of the leading
grams at our interior experiment stations
During 1915 we matured and harvested on
our farm at Fairbanks 1900 bushels OF grain,
comprising wheat, rye, barley and oats 1t
is true that these were made up of the eari-
EST and hardest varieties, but the develop
ment OF varieties suitable to the country is
one OF the tasks of the experiment stations
With that in view we have made number
Of crosses and have succeeded in producing
many promising hybrids. We are raising
earlier and more productive barleys than
the best we have been able to mature in
more southern ATTITUDES, and we have a
dwarf spring wheat that is very early 1t
1t is only a matter of time when we shall get
one or more varieties OF wheat that will ma
ture in Alaska and be productive enough TO
make it worth cultivating. We are now
making many experiments as to winter rye
and are succeeding. We are also expert
menting with winter wheat and I think we
shall eventually produce all the grains for
both flour and feed that will be needed by
the people who inhabit the territory, and
that as freight rates fall it may even pay to
export grain to the states. Today all grain
is high in the interior Of the country. Feed
grain brings 800 ton at Fairbanks and S1O4
at Rampant
Where will be the farming center of
Alaskan
There will be many such, said Professor
Georgeson. Farms will spring up about
every important mining settlement. Fair
banks is the largest Of the gold camps today,
and that region has the most and best farm
ers. Since the government has decided to
build the railroad two or three hundred fam
lilies have located homesteads in the Mata-
nuska valley with view to supplying the
demands of the coal mines OF that region.
There are number OF successful farms in
the neighborhood of Seward and many
small farms about Juneau which is another
mining center Of great Importance. There
are little farms scattered throughout this
part of the territory and indeed wherever
there is local market you will find farm
center. These centers will enlarge and as
new settlements are established other farms
will be opened up, and Alaska will become
a great and populous state"
Would you advise Americans to come to
Alaska to engage in farming?"
Yes if they understand the conditions
and know what they are going to find when
they reach here and are ready to stay and
grow up with the country. would not adj
wise people to rush in pell-mel and take up
homesteads wherever they can be found
simply because Uncle Sam will give them a
farm for nothing. The would-be specua-
tors will stand slim chance OF making
money by a rise in land values There is no