14 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



bulletin showing as they do which are the best and most productive sorts, arranged in 

 the order of their merit, do much to influence farmers to make choice of the best 

 varieties, and thus the cultivation of the most productive sorts is rapidly extending. 



At the branch farms many experiments have also been conducted in reference to 

 the best methods of preparing the land for crop, also in the testing of the best varieties 

 of cereals, &c., in fields and plots, the proper depth at which seed should be sown and the 

 quantity of seed needed per acre to produce the best results. The value of Indian corn 

 when used as ensilage for the feeding of cattle has been tested and the relative value 

 of the different sorts for his purpose carefully estimated. Indian corn has also been 

 sown in rows at different distances to ascertain which meihod of treatment would 

 produce the heaviest crops. Many experiments have been conducted with turnips, 

 mangolds, carrots and potatoes to ascertain their suitability as a crop in the different 

 provinces, also the best time for sowing, the best methods of treatment of the land and 

 the most profitable varieties to grow. 



L'xperiments have been conducted with dairy cows to determine their relative 

 capacity to produce milk with a high percentage of butter fat, also in the fattening of 

 steers on such sorts of feed as are most abundant in the different localities where these 

 farms are situated. Their comparative gains on different rations have been shown and 

 the cost per pound of increase in weight. Many tests have also been made with swine 

 to find out how they may be most readily and economically prepared for market. 



Experiments in the rotation of crops have also been carried on and the results 

 published in the annual reports of the farms. The relative usefulness of many of the 

 native and foreign grasses for hay and pasture has been studied. Clovers also of dif- 

 ferent sorts have been the subjects of many experiments. Many trials have also been 

 made with flax, millet, buckwheat, rye and other crops. 



Experiments have also been conducted with poultry and with bees. 



In the testing of fruits the experiments have covered a large field, all the varieties 

 likely to be useful of both large and small fruits have been tried and their suitability 

 or lack of suitability to each particular climate ascertained. In the eastern provinces 

 and in British Columbia there are large areas of land eminently .suitable for the grow- 

 ing of large fruits and many of the small fruits can be successfully cultivated in 

 nearly all the localities where settlements have been made throughout the Dominion. 

 After trials have been made lists of the best and most productive sorts have been pub- 

 lished and much information of practical value has been given. 



In most parts of the Canadian JSTorthwest, the efforts made to grow the varieties 

 of apples cultivated elsewhere have failed owing to an unfavourable climate. To meet 

 this contingency, new and hardier varieties have been produced by crossing a small, 

 but very hardy Siberian crab known as Pyrus baccata with some of the best sorts of 

 apples grown in Ontario. This work was begun in 1894 and since then more than 1,000 

 crosses have been produced. A large proportion of those which have fruited have 

 proved inferior ; but among them there are twenty varieties which, from their superior 

 size and quality, may be regarded as useful for domestic purposes and deserving of 

 general cultivation in those districts where the standard apples will not grow. These 

 cross-bred apples are now being tested at more than three hundred different points in 

 the Xorthwest, at altitudes varying from 750 to 4.200 feet, and from accounts received 

 they seem to be quite hardy. The success thus achieved is most encouraging. 



THE cnOWING OF VEGETABLES, ORNAMENTAL TREES AND FLOWERS. 



Many experiments have been conducted with nearly, all sorts of garden vegetables, 

 many varieties of the same sort being grown side by side to determine their relative 

 liardiness, earliness in maturing and productiveness. A large number of ornamental 

 t^-ees and shrubs have been tested on each farm and their hardiness and suitability to 

 ihe different climates of the Dominion ascetained. A number of varieties of flowers 



