4 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 

 PRINCIPLES WHICH UNDERLIE SUCCESSFUL CROP GROWING. 



The principles which underlie successful crop growing may be thus summarized : 

 Maintaining the fertility of the soil, the adoption o'f a judicious system of rotation 

 of crops, following the best methods of preparing the land, the selection of plump and 

 well ripened seed, early sowing and choosing the best and most productive varieties. 

 Along all these lines many experiments have been conducted, under the different clima- 

 tic influences which prevail where the several experimental farms have been located. 

 Continued efforts have been made to gain knowledge as to the best methods of main- 

 taining and adding to the fertility of the land. 



MAINTAINING THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 



In this connection, special attention has been given to investigations to determine 

 the best methods of handling and using barMyard manure, the universal fertilizer 

 which is everywhere more or less available to the farmer. Experiments continued for 

 eighteen years in succession with all the more important farm crops have shown that 

 a given weight of manure taken fresh from the barnyard is equal in crop-producing 

 power to the same weight of rotted manure. It has also been shown by repeated tests 

 that fresh manure loses in the process of rotting from fifty to sixty per cent of its 

 v; eight. The effective use of barnyard manure so as to obtain the best results with 

 the least waste is without doubt one of the most important problems connected with 

 successful agriculture, for on this material the farmer's hopes of maintaining the fer- 

 tility of his land, and thus providing for a succession of good crops, are mainly based. 

 It is estimated that the manure produced in the solid and liquid excreta of animals in 

 Canada amounts to about 100 millions of tons per annum. The fijiancial loss involved 

 in the wasteful handling of so large an amount of valuable fertilizing material should 

 impress every farmer with the importance of this subject. 



Similar tests have been conducted for the same period with artificial manures to 

 gain information as to their relative value when used separately or in combination 

 on nearly all the more important farm crops. The results obtained from artificial 

 fertilizers used alone have been less satisfactory than those had from barnyard man- 

 ure, even when the fertilizer has been complete, that is, when it has contained in com- 

 bination all the more important elements required for plant growth. Better result?! 

 were expected considering the large proportion of available plant food which such 

 fertilizers contain. The reason why artificial fertilizers show a less crop-producing 

 power than barnyard manure lies probably in the fact that they contain no humus, 

 and that the proportion of vegetable matter in the soil has been much reduced by 

 frequent cropping, and the capacity of the soil for holding moisture lessened to the 

 detriment of its crop-producing power. 



RESULTS OF TESTS CONDUCTED WITH DIFFERENT FERTILIZERS. 



Tests have been made with many different sorts of fertilizers on spring wieat, 

 barley, oats, Indian corn, field roots and potatoes, and full particulars of these experi- 

 ments covering 105 plots of one tenth acre each have been published each year in the 

 Annual Eeport of the Experimental Farms, beginning in 1893, when the average of 

 the results of the first five years was given. 



In the experiments with fertilizers on spring wheat the best results have been 

 had from the use of barnyard manure in its fresh condition. This has given an 

 average from 18 successive crops grown on the same land of 22 bushels, 46 lbs. of 

 grain per acre, with 3,969 lbs. of straw. The two unfertilized plots in this series have 

 given an average during the same period of 11 bushels, 14 lbs. per acre, with 1,892 lbs. 

 of straw. The best result obtained from artificial fertilizers was an average of 15 

 bushels, 33 lbs. per acre, with 2,658 lbs. of straw. 



The heaviest crops of barley have been had from the use of rotted barn-yard 

 manure. This has given an average for 17 years of 37 bushels, 6 lbs. of grain per 



