Report on the Agricultural Experiment Stations, 1929 Page: 13
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INSULAR EXPERIMENT STATIONS 13
can profitably be brought under culti- in general crop production and in
vation, this region is preeminently dairying. At this station. the average
fitted to truck growing and the family frost-free period is about 115 days,
garden. and some varieties of grain have
The station, from the time of its ripened that did not mature at Fairestablishment,
has devoted its activi- banks. Plant-breeding experiments
ties to testing fruits and vegetables to have resulted in the production of
determine their adaptability, and it varieties of wheat, oats, and barley,
has carried on plant-breeding experi- many forage plants, and root crops
ments by which, through selection and that can be depended on to yield good
crossing, have been developed varieties returns in the average season.
that are superior in a number of ways The work in dairying consists
to varieties of the same crops that mainly in establishing a new type of
were introduced from regions having dairy cow that will be hardier and a
widely dissimilar conditions. The better rustler than the common dairy
work in producing hybrid strawberries breeds. Crosses have been made bethat
are hardy in most regions of tween the Galloway and Holstein
Alaska where they have been tested breeds, and the F1 and F2 generations
and that with seedling potatoes are are being compared with purebred
outstanding in results. Methods of animals of each breed. One F1 cow
growing many kinds of vegetables have gave 12,010 pounds of milk in her
been developed, and the presence of fourth lactation period, and three F2
gardens in almost every town and cows each gave 8,000 pounds during
village attests the value of the sta- the first lactation. Genetic data are
tion's work. on hand for each animal, and the
At the Fairbanks station the prin- dominance of Galloway characters of
cipal lines of work are concerned with color and absence of horns is clearly
cereals, forage plants, and livestock. indicated. All of the crossbred aniAbility
to mature crops within an mals are as hardy as the Galloways
average frost-free period of about 95 and exceed them in milk yield.
days is the main problem in agronomy. The work on Kodiak Island is carPlant-breeding
experiments have re- ried on at Kalsin Bay, some 15 miles
suited in the production of varieties from the village. The principal exof
wheat, barley, and oats that grow periment consists of the maintenance
and ripen within this period, and their under range conditions of a small
yields over several years have been purebred herd of Galloway cattle to
considerably in excess of the general determine their winter management.
average for these crops in the United This region is representative of a vast
States. treeless area in southwestern Alaska
At this station an experiment has where summer pasturage is abundant,
been in progress for several years in but by reason of much rain and many
crossing the Asiatic yak with Gallo- cloudy days haymaking is very unway
cows in order to produce a hardy certain. A solution of the wintering
beef animal for the interior of Alaska. problems for livestock will mean much
Progress on this project has been very for this region.
slow by reason of the limited number Congress, by an act approved Febof
animals, but some PF and 2 gen- ruary 23, 1929, extended the Hatch
eration crosses have been under ob- Act to Alaska with the proviso that
servation for some time and their no appropriations should be made unability
to withstand the winter's cold der this act until the Secretary of
with a very limited quantity of feed Agriculture should determine the abilis
undoubted. One of the cows, dur- ity of the Territory to make effective
ing a relatively short lactation period, use of the funds. The Secretary of
gave a fair quantity of milk that tested Agriculture proposed 'certain condiover
6 per cent butterfat. The only tions relating to buildings and permale
of the cross that was old enough sonnel as preliminary to the extension
for breeding purposes proved to ba of the Hatch funds to the Territory,
sterile. This confirmed observations, and a bill was introduced in the Terrisaid
to have been made in Germany, that torial Legislature to provide for them,
first-generation males of yak-cattle but it failed of passage. When the
crosses are sterile. All the females conditions are met, it is probable that
produced thus far have been fertile. the Fairbanks station will be turned
The work at the Matanuska station, over to the Agricultural College and
which is located about 320 miles south School of Mines located near Fairof
Fairbanks, is mainly experiments banks.
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United States. Office of Experiment Stations. Report on the Agricultural Experiment Stations, 1929, book, October 1930; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4995/m1/15/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.