Kodiak Farming Facts Learned At Starbl
Last year they brought in
the first million-dollar crop in
the Matanuska valley, farmers
are hacking out homesteads at
Homer on Coal bay and in the
Interior and along the Inland
passage there were Victory Gar
dens of some sort at all of the
more habitable Army and Navy
bases in the Territory, and 1
myself spent a very enjoyable
and instructive summer finding
out what would grow on Kodiak
island’s pecuh'ar volcanic-ash
soil.
ine question of wnetner or
not things will grow in Alaska
no longer needs to be argued.
The problem now is the practical
one of working out the best
techniques to match the soil and
.climate, developing diversifica
tion, and hitching buyer to pro
ducer so that Alaska’s pioneers
can farm at a profit. This last
is a problem of transportation,
as Delegate Tony Dimond never
neglects to point out.
On the Mainland of Alaska,
several farming areas have al
ready been developed to the
point where markets are now
the main problem. But on Kod
iak, because of the unusual soil
(the island was covered with vol
canic ash from 8 inches to 2 feet
thick in the eruption of Mt.
Katmai across Shelikoff Strait in
1912), I had the good fortune
to get in on the ground floor
with the basic plant-growing ex
peiiments.
There have been small gar
dens on Kodiak island for
many years, and cattle and
sheep-ranching is an estab
lished and expanding indus
try. But our Fort Greely Ex
perimental Farm, a full 10
acres under intensive cultiva
tion and study, is perhaps the
most complete effort along
these lines up to now, and cer
tainly the most recent, the last
THE
Victory
Cafe
Opposite Orpheum Theatre
Lloyd Smith & AJ Miller
Owners
such project being two govern
ment dairy-gardens left to
shift for themselves 20 years
ago.
The Greely Farm was first
planned in the fall of 1941 by
Major General Charles H. Cor
lett soon after his arrival here.
His plans were carried out in the
! spring of 1942 under the direct
'supervision of Lt. Eugene L.
Russell, a graduate of Oregon
State. Lieutenant Russel broke
ground and supervised all work
at the garden that first season,
which proved excessively rainy
most of the summer, and was
not very encouraging from the
produce standpoint.
The project was not aban
doned, however, and in the
spring of 1943, Lieutenant Rus
sell having gone to another
Alaskan post, Lt. L. O. Hollist
was placed in charge and began
the work of preparing the seed
beds and planting the early
crops.
About this time, General Cor
lett left the post, and Colonel
VVm D. Frazer assumed com
mand. Lieutenant Hollist was
called back to his outfit, but
Colonel Frazer strongly desired
that the project thus begun be
continued, with the following
purposes on mind: (1) to deter
mine the soil characteristics and
productivity; (2) to discover an
economical means of counter
acting the volcanic ash deposit
on the soil, in order that normal
yields might be expected; (3) to
provide the men of Fort Greely
with fresh vegetables during the
summer months. The Colonel
furihur hoped that the results of
these experiments might be of
value to the men who desired
to make Kodiak their home after
the war, and helpful to the few
hundred civilian families al
ready established on the island.
I had grown up in Utah where
American pioneers a couple of
generations earlier had staked
their lives on the solution of an
equally difficult problem of
agronomy. I hsd also graduat
ed from Utah State, so the job
of running the Fort Greely Ex
perimental Farm fell to me.
With the project (which was
financed by the post Special
Service Office, under ('apt. W.
C. Talbott (also of Utah) came
four of the finest GI farmers in
this man’s Army: Pvts. Alva
Russell of Westfield, Oklahoma;
Leroy Gilbert of Herrell, Ark
ansas; Albert Goode of Hurri
cane, West Virginia; and Orden
Greathouse of Spencer, West
Viiginia. Also a small caterpil
lar tractor, plenty of hand-pow
ered hoes, an old disc harrow,
and a cultivator which we made
ourselves.
The 10 acres were planted in
the following manner:
Acre No. 1—Vegetables, con
sisting of onions, turnips, let
tuce, and radishes. Also a few
strawberry and raspberry plants
were included. Acre No. 2—
Vegetables, consisting of onions,
swiss chard, spinach, corn, peas,
lettuce, and radishes. Acre No.
3—Vegetables, con isting of
corn, onions, turnips, celery
parsnips, parsley, carrots, peas,
beans, cabbage, beets, rutabagas,
spinach, swiss chard, rhubarb,
lettuce, and radishes. Acres No.
4 and 5—Potatoes Acre No. 6
—Red clover. Acre No. 7
White clover. Acre No. 8—
Pasture mixture consisting of
perennial rye grass, timothy,
and red clover. Acre No. 9—
wheat. Acre No. 10—Oats.
The vegetables were not all
planted at the same time but
were rotated throughout the sea
son so as to provide a supply of
the early maturing vegetables
during the entire summer.
The first vegetables were
taken from the garden on July
10, and consisted only of radishes
and green onion3. From this
date on the garden produced a
consistent supply of radishes,
lettuce, and green onions. Later
in the season some turnips, spin
ach, swiss chard, and carrots
were furnished by the garden in
small quantities. At the end
of the season potatoes, carrots,
turnips, cabbage, onions, pars
nips, parsley, beets, lettuce, and
green peas were taken from the
garden. The potatoes grown in j
our soil are very small, but num- j
erous and of good quality.
Th • Fort Greely hospital got
first priority on the vegetables
produced by the experimental
garden. After the hospital mess
was taken care of, the vegetables
then went to the officers’ and en
listed men’s messes on the post,
and nearly everybody got at
least a taste of home-grown
greenstuff.
This same policy was contin
ued under Colonel Edward L.
Macaulay when he assumed com
mand of the Fort.
The experiments were plan
ned and set up in such a way as
to determine the fertilizer re
quirements of the soil, the rela
tion between deep and shallow
plowing, and the effect these
acid soils have upon the growth
and developement of garden
crops.
Throughout the season all of
the exoeriments were carefully
watched and records were aver
aged as to growth, development,
and yield of the croDS concerned.
It has long been known that
there are certain elements which
are of vital importance to plant
growth. Of these elements
those w’hich are used in great
est quantities and found to be
most commonly lacking in the
soil are: nitrates, phosphates,
potash and calcium With these
facts in mind, the fertilizer ex
periment was set up as follows:
The 10-acre garden plot was
divided into one-tentu ac-«
In each of these plols, \'it|
exception of one plot in
acre which was left untre
a fertilizer or combinatia
fertilizers was applied.
All of the commercia^l
lizers were applied at rate
acre ranging from 50 to
pounds. The fertilizers
were nitrate of soda, tn
super phosphate, calcium!
ammonium fertilizer, murat
potash, fish meal, and bari
manure (manure applied 10|
15 tons per acre).
(Results of the fertilizers
fects of acid soils & shallow
deep plowing are discusset
next week’s final instalment.
IN THE “STATES”
UNITED
FLIES BORDER TO BORDER
and
COAST TO COAST
From Vancouver, B. C. and Seattle to
Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Chicago, New York, Washington
and the East
UNITED
AIR LINES
SEATTLE—Fourth Avo. and Union Stroet
VANCOUVER —723 Wo»t Georgia Street
WHY- WELL FELR- .v
HE NEVER EVEN
SPOKE TO US M
SPEAK to us? (
...he actep like '
HE NEVER EVEN
SEEN us//
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AP Features
-AND WHEN
THE STRANGER. CAME
DOWN AGAIN AND STILL
DIDN'T GIVE THEM A TUMBLE—•
•- THEy DECIDED TO FOLLOW HIM *