| Summary: | Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith for publication a bulletin containing some suggestions to pioneer farmers in Alaska, prepared by Prof. C. C. Georgeson, special agent in charge of Alaska investigations. The bulletin is devoted mainly to a discussion of the preliminary operations of selecting and preparing land for cultivation under Alaska conditions, indicating briefly the kinds of crops which have been found to succeed in Alaska and the methods of manuring which may be used with advantage in certain cases. The advice given is based upon the results of investigations carried on in the Territory since 1893, and it is believed that it will prove timely and useful to the increasing number of persons who are undertaking the home production of some of the necessities of life in Alaska. Very respectfully, A. C. True, Director. A study of the agricultural resources and capabilities of Alaska was begun under authority of Congress in 1898. Results of the earlier preliminary surveys seemed to justify the continuation and extension of the work and its establishment on a more definite and permanent basis. This has been carried out by the organization of a system of stations for observation and experiment at different points in the Territory which seem best adapted to the purposes in view. Stations have now been established at Sitka (the headquarters), Kenai, and Rampart on the Yukon. Five reports giving the results of the agricultural investigations in Alaska have been issued as Congressional documents and bulletins of the Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Those who have received these reports and who have noted the letters which are published in them from settlers in nearly all parts of the territory south of the Arctic Circle can doubt no longer that Alaska has agricultural possibilities. These letters bear testimony that hardy vegetables have been grown with marked success almost everywhere in Alaska where they have been tried, and that, likewise, early maturing grains have been ...
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