The Daily Alaska empire., 1930-12-13

Matanuska station furnishes the school with Alaskan dairy cattle which originated at that station and supervises the breeding work The school provides feed and shell ter for the dairy cows, uses the milk to replace the canned milk formerly used by the children, and keeps production records of each COW for the experiment station. This cooperative project reduces the cost of fresh milk to the Indus trial School and enlarges the scope of breeding of dairy cattle by the Matanuska station.
 "A similar project has been in progress at Curry for the past three years. The Matanuska Experi- ment Station and the Alaska Rail- road are the cooperating organi- cations. Dairy COWS are furnished to the Railroad by the Experiment Station. The Alaska Railroad uses the milk produced by the cows for it's hotel and furnishes such milk production data as is requested by the Experiment sta- ton.
 Experimentation in Progress
 Projects in agricultural experi- mentation are in progress at each of the four stations. At the Mata- nuska station a breed of Alaskan hardy dairy cattle has been de- veloped, which is well adapted to the Matanuska -Susitna Valley. Be- ing located in the heart of the dairy region of Alaska, most of the investigation work on farm crops and livestock is centered on dairy ing. The ensilage crop consisting of a mixture of peas and oats, and the hay crop consisting of oats and vetch, have never failed in this region.
 Hogs have proved to be profit able adjunct to dairying. Hog pas lures consisting of mixture of peas, oats and rape furnishes suc- culent feed throughout the sum- mer, and with the addition of some grain fed in the fall of the year, an excellent quality of pork is pro- duced
 Breeding of cereal and forage crops is in progress to originate new varieties which are especially adapted to the region. New varie- ties are also introduced each year from different parts Of the world. A series of crop rotation experi- ments were begun the past year to determine the best cultural prac- tices for maintenance of soil fer tility.
 Apple Orchard Started
 "The experimental orchard which was started in the spring of 1929 established the fact that certain varieties of fruit trees can be grown. The winter was unusually cold and there was but little snow on the ground, causing all but the hardest trees to winterkill Among the varieties of apple trees which survived the winter are Red Si- berlan, Dolga, Whitney and Veal thy.
 Four younk yak were added to the herd at the Fairbanks sta- ton this winter. These animals were donated to the Alaska Agri- cultural Experiment Stations by the Canadian Government. One of the old Yak COWS was slaughtered to determine the quality of meat. Those persons to whom it was sent pronounced it equal to beef. The Yak-Galloway hybrids thrive well in the region. They are more hardy than the pure Galloway cattle. Hardy Alfalfas Survive Several varieties of the hardest alfalfas survived the winter Rye 1 proved to be the hardest of the winter cereal crops Fall sown wheat winter killed almost com pletely Cereal grains sown in the spring of 1929 matured, but due to rainy weather in the fall of the year, it was difficult to cure the grain in the shocks.
 "The Galloway .herd at the Ko- diak station is in excellent condi- ton. Feed is plentiful at the head i of Kalsin Bay, where the cattle ranged throughout most of the year. All the hay that was fed was J made on the station reserve. An experiment in range management conducted on small plats under controlled conditions indicated that burning the dead grass while the frost is still in the ground i'm l proved the range.
 'At the Sitka station, experi- a ments are in progress to determine q the best cultural practices for grow 1 ing vegetables and fruits adapted
 to the coast region of Southern and
 Southeastern Alaska. Other sub q jects under investigation are the
 control of the root maggot and ! control of frost heaying injury to
 plants
 GEORGE BUILDING