For the most part, the coast section is very heavily wooded; the interior section is generally open in the valleys and wooded in the higher parts. The rainfall ranges all the way from two and onehalf inches in the most arid parts of the interior to over one hundred inches on the northwestern seacoast; the snowfall is small throughout the coast region and heavy in the mountainous parts. The temperature in the southern regions seldom goes above seventy-five or below eighteen degrees, and in the interior ranges between one hundred degrees and, in the coldest parts, twenty degrees below zero. Semihardy fruits are produced in the hot, dry valleys of the interior, and plants bloom fairly well all the year round on Vancouver island and the mainland adjacent, where the temperature is so equable that change from light to heavy clothing is rendered practically unnecessary in the winter. The markets of the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the mines, afford a ready outlet for all the products which those localities are naturally not adapted for producing; the Orient and Australia also constitute good and growing markets. Railroad facilities are good, and great developments are going on, which in the near future will give increased facilities for the cheap transportation of products. The water transportation within the boundaries of the province, owing to the numerous water-ways, rivers, lakes and extensive coast-line, is naturally of the best, and the numerous steamers plying to the Orient and Australia afford every facility to be desired. The population is principally white, from the Old Country, the eastern provinces and the United States; the Indians, about 25,000 in number, are increasing slightly; the remainder of the population is composed principally of Chinese and Japanese. The area of British Columbia is approximately 245,120,000 acres. The total value of the farm products for 1905 was nearly $6,500,000. The four chief sources of income are cattle, dairying, fruit and grain. The province has no agricultural college or experiment station, but there is an Experimental Farm at Agassiz with a very large collection of fruits. There is a Provincial Department of Agriculture, which has charge of agricultural affairs in general, the superintending of farmers' institutes and providing judges for fairs. Annual shows are held in various parts of the province, the principal ones being at Victoria and New Westminster. ALASKA. (By C. C. Georgeson.) The agricultural possibilities of the vast region of Alaska are so little known to the general public that it is well worth while to present them in some detail, even though, in so doing, the space devoted to the territory is out of proportion to that given to other political divisions. A discussion of the agriculture of that country will be aided, also, by some account of the other natural resources of the region. Alaska can scarcely be said to have an agricultural industry. Development in this line has only begun. The greater part of the present white population is there as the result of the discovery of gold, and the energies are directed chiefly to mining and trading. Soil culture and animal industry are limited to supplying a small part of the demand for fresh vegetables, horse feed and milk, as high prices for these commodities make their production profitable. This fact not only proves that their production is possible, however, but it also gives promise of larger development when the economic conditions are adjusted to the needs of a permanent population. A discussion on Alaskan agriculture, therefore, must naturally resolve itself into a consideration of the capabilities in that direction. Interest is centered less in the present stage of development than in the promise of future growth. But, to understand the potentialities, it is first necessary to call to mind briefly the controlling factors in nature. These are, geographic position, physical features, and, as a resultant of these, the climate. A glance at a map shows that Alaska stretches over some 18 degrees of latitude and 42 degrees of longitude. Much of this vast space is taken up, however, by the long arms of southeastern and southwestern Alaska, which reach out in the directions indicated by their names. The main body of the territory lies between latitudes 60° and 70° north, and between longitudes 141° and 166° west. This position is comparable to that of the Scandinavian peninsula, and in physical features, climate and products, the two regions have much in common. The area of Alaska is variously estimated, but in round numbers it is 590,000 square miles. Of this area it is estimated that about one-sixth, or approximately one hundred thousand square miles (the area of Michigan and Ohio), can be utilized for agriculture and grazing. The present population is estimated at 65,000, 132 132 120 60 BRITISH COLUMBI 52 120 VICTORIA 52 Fig. 101. Map to show the leading areas in which agriculture has been developed in British Columbia.-A, general farming area; B. fruit, general farming, dairying, and at southern end of island sheep, also; C, cattle; D, dairying and general farming; E, fruit; F, fruit and general farming; H, dairying. 1200 the territory and numerous small ones. The Yukon is the largest. It is navigable for 2,000 miles, and carries a body of water almost equal to that of the Mississippi. The Tanana and Koyukuk, two of its tributaries, are, in themselves, majestic streams. The Kuskokwim lies south of the Yukon, and flows southwest into Bering sea. The Sushitna and the Copper both flow south, the former 66 falling into Cook inlet and the latter into the ocean east of Prince William sound. Each of these rivers has a large valley, or basin, fenced 62 by high mountains. These valleys are not to be thought of, how60 ever, as level rich bottom-lands, but as vast stretches of undulating and hilly country, each many thousands of square miles in extent, and each 56 subdivided into numerous smaller valleys, through which flow 54 creeks, rivers and glacial torrents of all sizes and degrees of swiftness. 140 Fig. 102. Alaska.-The heavy line near the coast marks the approximate boundary between the coast region and the great interior region. The four squares represent the United States experiment stations: the one farthest south is at Sitka: the farther west on the gulf (Cook inlet) is the Kenai station; the succeeding inland station is at Copper Center, on Copper river; that near the arctic circle is the Rampart station. Southeastern Alaska is the narrow strip of mainland, with contiguous islands, in which Sitka is located. Southwestern Alaska is the long peninsula, with its contiguous islands. eral thousand miles more than the coast-line of all the rest of the United States. Another characteristic that has an important bearing on the climate is the fact that the mainland is bordered by a range of mountains averaging between 5,000 and 6,000 feet in height. The highest peak in this range, Mount St. Elias, has an altitude of over 17,000 feet. This range is rough and rugged, and all but the lower elevations are covered with perpetual ice and snow. It divides the "Coast Region" from the "Interior," two belts so distinct agriculturally that they require to be treated separately. The islands that border the mainland are but outlying spurs of the coast range, partly submerged. They consist of jumbled masses of rugged mountains, which differ from those on the mainland only in height. The leading features of the interior are groups and chains of high mountains, extensive river systems and large river-basins. The mountain chains run, for the most part, in an east and west direction. The highest watershed is the Alaska range, in which Mt. McKinley towers to a height of 20,000 feet, and has the distinction of being the highest peak on the North American continent. It lies in latitude 63° 30', longitude 151° 15', about 300 miles from the ocean and about 100 miles south of Tanana river. There are four large rivers in In far northern latitudes, successful agriculture depends more on the weather than it does in regions farther south. An intimate knowledge of climatic conditions is therefore of first importance. In so vast a territory, with so pronounced physiographic features, there would naturally be great variation in climate. Details cannot be discussed here, but the leading features must be noted. There are two distinct climatic belts separated from each other by the coast range. They may be designated as the Coast Climate and the Interior Climate. The narrow belt of mainland and the islands bordering thereon have a climate that is characterized by mild winters, cool summers and heavy rainfalls. The moisture-laden winds from the ocean are chilled in rising over the range, resulting in heavy precipitation. The rainfall is heaviest in southeastern Alaska and gradually diminishes to the westward. At Sitka, on Baranoff island, the rainfall averages ninety-six inches a year. The temperature is uniform and moderate, and seasonal changes come on very slowly. At Sitka the thermometer rarely rises to 80° in summer and rarely falls to zero in winter. In the coast region, as a whole, there is little frost after the first of May, and killing frost rarely occurs before the first of October. The summer has a large proportion of rainy and cloudy days. The rainy weather is detrimental to the ripening of grain and the curing of hay. This fact will always prevent grain-growing in the coast region except to a very limited extent, and the silo must be largely depended on for the preservation of winter feed for cattle. The interior climate is noted for cold winters, warm summers and light rainfall. The open season lasts only four and a half months, from the beginning of May until near the end of September, and killing frosts are liable to occur at any time after the middle of August. The summer temperature not infrequently reaches 95° Fahr., and in winter it sometimes falls to 70° below zero. Meteorological data have been collected in the interior by the Department of Agriculture during the last few years. At the Copper Valley Experiment Station, the maximum and minimum temperatures between October, 1902, and 1905, were respectively 96°, and minus 60°. The mean daily temperature during June, July and August, for the same years, was 55.13°. The average rainfall for the same period each year, or during the most important growing season, was 3.7 inches, while the average precipitation for the year, including melted snow, was but 9.27 inches. The number of clear days averaged but six to each of the above named months, partly cloudy eleven, and cloudy, fourteen days for each month. In both the coast belt and the interior there is much variation in the climate from year to year. Some seasons are very favorable to all agricultural operations; others are equally unfavorable. The chief difference between a favorable and an unfavorable season lies in the amount of sunshine. When the period from the beginning of June to the middle of August is bright, all crops flourish, grains mature, and results are most encouraging to the husbandman. When, on the contrary, the major part of that period is rainy and overcast, the temperature remains low, growth is slow, and grains fail to mature. It is to be noted, however, that the long hours of daylight in these high latitudes are very favorable to rapid growth. In bright weather the soil soon warms up, and all forms of vegetation develop with leaps and bounds. In the moist and comparatively mild climate of southeastern Alaska, vegetation of all forms is very luxuriant. Nearly the entire region is covered with spruce forest, interspersed with hemlock, yellow cedar, and, in moist places, alder. The spruce (Picea Sitchensis), in itself a beautiful tree, which furnishes an enduring quality of lumber, is omnipresent. It crowds out everything else, reaching from the seashore to the timber limit, an elevation of 2,500 feet. Trees five feet in diameter are by no means uncommon. It insinuates itself into every cleft and crevice of the rocks, and gives to the landscape a universal somber green, which, contrasted with the snowcapped peaks, produces striking scenic effects. The moist, cool climate fosters certain forms of cryptogams; and the surface of the ground, both in the woods and in the open, to the very snow-line, is covered with a thick coating of moss of many species. The accumulations of ages have formed thick deposits of peat, varying in depth from a foot to twenty or more feet. In the sense of universal distribution, moss may be said to be the dominant form of vegetation. It is found from the spruce forests of the south, westward and northward, to the arctic circle. When tree forms disappear, the moss remains, displacing even the grasses, and covers the tundra in the higher latitudes. The timber is heaviest in southeastern Alaska, and, passing westward, it gradually diminishes in size, until finally, westward of the Kenai peninsula and Kodiak island, the forest disappears altogether, and its place is taken by grass and thickets of alder and willow. Of the minor forms of arboreal vegetation may be mentioned several species of the huckleberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium, V. parviflorum, V. uliginosum, V. VitisIdea), the salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), the wild red and black currants, the high-bush cranberry, and others of less importance. Westward from Kodiak, grass is the most important form of vegetation, from an economic standpoint. Along the Alaskan peninsula, the Aleutian islands and the shores of Bering sea, nature has provided a vast amount of pasturage for live-stock, which is but slightly utilized at present. Passing now to a consideration of the vegetation in the interior, we find spruce still the leading tree, although of another species. It fills the mountain valleys of the Coast range, and it covers the major part of all the valleys already referred to. As one Fig. 103. Typical Alaska cabins. goes northward the trees are shorter and smaller, but in latitude 64° trees eighteen inches in diameter are not uncommon, though on the arctic circle the writer has seen few trees more than eight inches in diameter. The birch and balsam poplar in many places dispute the ground with the spruce, the poplar reaching a larger size than the spruce. Along the water-courses are willow thickets. Among the shrubs the huckleberry, raspberry, red currant and highbush cranberry are the most conspicuous, while the mountain sides are quite generally covered with the scrub birch (Betula glandulosa). In places, there are extensive natural meadows, in which the leading grass is the Alaska blue-top (Calamagrostis Langsdorfii), which, in favorable localities, reaches a height of six feet; in other places, there are square miles of boggy land covered with sedge; but under and among it all is found the moss, which, as noted, gradually displaces even the grasses near the arctic shores. The crab-apple (Pyrus rivularis) is found in patches and scattered thickets in the coast region. It produces little apples, the size of sour cherries, which make a most excellent jelly. This is the only tree-fruit indigenous to Alaska, unless, indeed, the Juneberry (Amelanchier Canadensis) may be classed among the tree-fruits. A few trees of these are found. The other fruits are berries, of the species already mentioned; and, in addition, it should be noted that Alaska has a wild strawberry, which grows for two hundred miles along the exposed sandy beach, from Muir Glacier to Mount St. Elias. The most successful flowers comprise nasturtiums, sweet pea, Shirley poppy, stock, sweet alyssum, mignonette, candytuft, cornflower, wallflower and several varieties of pinks. Roses (excepting Rosa rugosa) and flowering shrubs are generally failures. Market-gardeners, as a rule, are very successful. They are found in every settlement which affords a market for their produce. In growing vegetables, and, in fact, every sort of crop, it is important to choose early-maturing varieties. In favorable seasons, late crops may do well, but they cannot be depended on. Fig. 104. Clearing land for a garden in the coast region of Alaska. It has a berry as large as a thimble and of most delicious flavor. Transplanted to garden soil it produces a luxuriant growth, but yields no fruit. The writer has also seen a strawberry in the interior, but it is rare. The berry is no larger than a pea, but is highly flavored. The agricultural belts correspond to those of the climate, viz., the coast region and the interior. The foregoing data have been given with some detail in order to afford an intelligible basis on which to form an estimate of the capabilities of the country. Experiments by the United States Department of Agriculture, and by settlers, have in a measure defined the limitations of this capacity to produce useful crops, but much remains to be learned. In the moist coast region all the hardy vegetables thrive with a luxuriance that is scarcely equaled in more favored and warmer regions. Potatoes are, perhaps, the most important crop. They are commonly grown by settlers along the entire coast to Bering sea, and in favorable seasons almost to the arctic circle. Turnips, lettuce and radishes are equally common, and even more successful. The entire cabbage tribe, also peas, carrots, parsnips, beets, parsley and rhubarb, flourish, though beets do not develop roots except under favorable conditions. Onions do not do well from seed, and are therefore commonly grown from sets. Windsor beans and celery can be grown in favorable seasons. Mint, sage, thyme and dill do well, but they are not common crops. All the hardy flowers do remarkably well, and none better than the pansy. Pansies have been gathered outdoors, in Sitka, on Christmas day. In this coast belt grains are not grown, except to a very limited extent in garden patches, and sometimes on a larger scale for green feed. While there are thousands of gardens, varying in size from a turnippatch of a square rod to well-managed gardens of fifteen or twenty acres, there is not at this writing a single private farm devoted to grain- and stock-raising, in the sense in which these terms are used in the States. There are several reasons for this. Chief among them is the fact, already noted, that the persistent rain prevents the grain from maturing, except in very favorable years. Second, there is but a limited area of land in the coast region which can be cleared and put under culture at a cost that is not prohibitive to the pioneer. The omnipresence of the spruce has already been noted. Though land is cleared of its timber, the stumps remain and they never rot. They have large root development and, unlike trees in the interior, the roots go deep. To dig or pull them out for anything larger than a garden patch is too expensive at this stage of the country's development. Third, even though grain were grown, there would be no market for it except for stock feed. Fourth, the soil conditions are not favorable in all places, and in some places they are very unfavorable. Drainage is a necessity. The peat formation largely takes the place of humus in the more southern latitudes. Soil of this character is very sour, and, until the acidity is corrected by the application of lime, or by the longer ameliorating process of cultivation, the soil is very generally unproductive. These conditions do not obtain everywhere, but they are frequent enough to demand consideration. That conditions will gradually change, and small farms devoted chiefly to dairying will become established, cannot be doubted. It is an ideal dairy country. The climate is all that can be desired, and green feed and grain for silage can be grown in any quantity. At the Sitka Experiment Station it has been demonstrated that the native grasses make first-class silage. The best species for this purpose is beach-rye (Elymus mollis), a tall coarse grass which grows on the beach, just beyond the reach of high water. A sample which had been in the silo a year gave the following analysis: Water, 69.77 per cent. Water-free substance: Fat, 3.32 per cent; protein, 10.64 per cent; ash, 6.89 per cent; crude fiber, 34.64 per cent; nitrogen-free extract, 44.51 per cent. This is rich feed, and with little grain makes an excellent ration for dairy cows. The western half of the coast region, as already pointed out, has no forest, and, instead, is covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. Here, dairying and stock-raising can be made profitable, with competent management. Cattle can run out nine or ten months of the year, feed is abundant, and for dairying the climate is all that can be desired. Grain can be grown in the coast region, with the limitations already noted. At Sitka station springwheat of excellent quality has been grown two years out of five, and barley and oats have matured every year, though it is often difficult to save these grains. Fiber flax of fine quality has also been grown. The cultivated grasses do exceedingly well, tall meadow oat-grass being the most promising on muck soils. White and alsike clovers are luxuriant and persistent, and red clover usually does well. Turning now to the interior belt, which extends from the coast range to the arctic circle, we find entirely different climatic conditions. It may be noted, in passing, that beyond the arctic circle, agriculture, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is not practicable. Turnips, radishes, lettuce and similar quick-growing stuff can be grown, and sometimes potatoes, cauliflower, and even cabbage, but they are doubtful. Barley has been matured at Fort Yukon, just inside the circle, and it is grown as far as latitude 68' in Finland; but at this stage of development it is not necessary to take this into account. The region north of the circle is the legitimate range of the reindeer. The soil in the interior belt differs much from that on the coast. The dry climate has not been conducive to luxuriant vegetation, and humus is, in consequence, not plentiful. Gravels and sand predominate. One is impressed with the idea that nature has not yet completed her work of disintegration and preparation for the cultivator. The soil is not rich, as a rule, except in creek bottoms and on other deposits of alluvium. Farming lands should be selected with care. The section, nevertheless, has certain advantages over the coast belt. The land is more easily cleared, because the forest is lighter and the roots are on the surface, and a large part of the land is covered only with bushes and grasses. It is a "warm" soil compared with Fig. 106. Market-gardener's greenhouse at Fairbanks, in the central part of Alaska. in latitude 65° 40', or less than one degree from the arctic circle. Experiments have been made at the latter station since 1900, and at the former since 1902. Some varieties of grain have been matured at both places every year; and it is a remarkable fact that although the Rampart station is three and one-half degrees farther north than the Copper river valley station, grain-growing has been more successful at this northernmost station. Winterrye sown in the fall of 1900 matured perfect grain in August of 1901, though the winter temperature was very severe, falling to 70° below zero. The grain was protected, however, with a covering of three feet of snow, and did not suffer. Last winter (1904-05), on the other hand, winter-rye and winterwheat were partly winter-killed at the same station, because the snowfall was light; although the temperature did not fall below 50° below zero. Early varieties of barley and oats have matured at this station every year, but spring-wheat and springrye have not always matured. Seeding should take place as early in May as the ground can be worked after the snow leaves it. Growth is slow at first, but by the middle of July, when the soil has been warmed, it proceeds with astonishing rapidity. The amount of sunshine during the summer has a direct bearing on success. The season of 1905 was abnor mally cloudy and rainy everywhere in the interior; growth was slow in consequence, and grain did not mature at Rampart until early September. There had been several light frosts during August, which, however, did not seriously damage the grain. Tender plants, such as potatoes, may be killed at any time during the summer, but grain has not been injured earlier than August 14; and usually frosts hold off until the latter part of the month. Winter grains have never been a success in the Copper river valley, for the reason that the snowfall is usually too light to afford adequate protection. Spring-wheat has matured in the valley only in small protected patches, but early varieties of barley and oats have matured every year when they have been planted early. Early seeding is ab Fig. 105. Cattle-farming on the Kenai peninsula, Alaska. -The Kenai peninsula lies between Cook inlet and Prince William sound. that on the coast, that is, it responds rapidly to the sun's rays, and growth is forced. There is no difficulty in curing hay or maturing grains, because of excessive moisture. On the other hand, the light rainfall is soon dissipated, and it appears certain that irrigation will be an advantage in many places. |