REPORT OF MR. S. A. BEDFORD. 



299 



As a large proportion of the millet seed used in this country is imported, it was 

 deemed advisable to test the growing of it here. From the accompanying table it will 

 be seen that at the prevailing price of one dollar per bushel, it is a very profitable crop. 



Common Millet grown for Seed. 

 Soil, black sandy loam, after potatoes ; sown with a grain drill : 



Grasses and Fodder Plants. 



The very dry spring weather prevailing during the past two years has made it 

 almost impossible to get a catch of grass when the seed is sown with grain, and the only 

 successful plan here has been to sow grass seed in August on land prepared as for sum- 

 mer-fallow ; stubble land is ploughed early in June and cultivated on the surface until 

 about the 15th August, when the grass seed is sown on the bare fallow and harrowed 

 in, this plan has never failed to give a good stand of grass even in the driest season. 



If the grass seed is not sown earlier than the above date, the weeds which always 

 come up freely will be cut down by frost before they ripen, leaving the grass clean the 

 following season. 



Five varieties of grass were sown on bare fallow in 1893, size of the plots varied 

 from one-quarter acre to three acres ; owing to the very dry season and the light char- 

 acter of the soil the yields were not large. 



All the plots sown with native varieties were free from weeds, but for some reason 

 the Austrian Brome grass was somewhat weedy, and none of it could be kept for seed. 

 Ten pounds of seed per acre of each variety was used ; 15 pounds would have been better. 



As an indication of their comparative value for spring and fall pasture, the height 

 on 1st May and amount of aftermath is given : 



