The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-25

cattle from tho state of Washington to
 cross breed them with the Galloways. I quote from this letter:
 The Alaskans need a hardy dairy COW
 and one that is 8 good milker. Now, the
 Galloways are notoriously poor milk
 CTS and we have been slow in increas- ing their milking qualities although we
 are progressing. It Is my idea to cut across lots and introduce some good
 milking blood into the Galloways. We snail cross them with the Holstein- fTlesians, and we shall then have pure- breed Galloways and crosses. The Gal i loways are valuable also on account of
 their heavy coat of hair. This is of value In cold climate and I believe that we shall raise Galloway robes which will
 be as valuable to Alaska as buffalo robes were once to the states"
 Another experiment Prof. Georgeson is anxious to make is the introduction of
 the Tibetan or Mongolian yak into the
 island of Kodiak in order to cross 1t with the Galloway cattle So far the off cers of the agricultural department at Washington have not consented to this introduction, but MT. Georgeson is still | urging it and it may be tried next year. The director of a Russian experiment station at Irkutsk, Siberia, has written that the yak is the domestic animal of Mongolia. and he finds that it cross breeds readily with the domestic cattle. The hybrids are more or less sterile but some of them are breeders and if a strain could be established it would be l of great advantage to Alaska. The Sibe- rian yak are good for milk and beef and also as draft animals and burden bear ers They might be used by the miners and prospectors in carrying packs over the country. Before the war broke out Prof. Georgeson had made arrangements to lay down a number of young yak in Baltimore at $500 a pair, but he could not obtain the departments permission to buy them. I know we have a number of yak in the geological garden at Washington city. and that they thrive there in a cli- l mate which Is much the same as that of Kodiak.
 The hills of Kodiak Island are still cov- cred with the ashes of the Katma1 VOL cano which fell in 1912. The volcano Is only 90 miles west of Kodiak, and the
 ashes were carried over the island by a west wind. which blew for two days dur ing the eruption The ashes fell like snow for IS hours, and they covered the whole island with ashes and sand to depth of IS inches without drifting. There were numerous slides of ashes down the hills and mountainsides, and where they drifted they swept away fences and al- most buried some of the experiment sta
 tion buildings. Some of the sheep and calves were suffocated by the ashes and the live stock outside the barns were without feed and water during that time.
 When the eruption stopped, the vege-
 tation was covered with ashes and all
 most all of the pasture destroyed When
 the rains came the ashes flowed into the
 creeks and made quicksands there which
 were dangerous to man and beast. The
 sheep would lie down at night in what
 seemed perfectly dry places and by morn-
 ing find themselves so mired in the sand
 and ashes that they could not get out.
 To make matters worse, the bear of Ko-
 diak, which were unable to get pasturage
 or fish from the streams, came down from
 the mountains to feed upon the stock.
 E. All the springs were filled with ashes,
 and it was necessary to dig a well to
 water the cattle. At the same time hay