REPORT OF MR. ANGUS MACKA7 333 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



The piincipal objection to breaking and backsetting is urged with regard to the 

 backsetting, which is, no doubt, heavy work for the teams, but, if the disking required 

 to reduce deep breaking, and afterwards the ploughing or other cultivation that must 

 be done in an effort to obtain a second crop be taken into consideration, it must be 

 conceded that in the end ' breaking and backsetting ' is the better method. 



When two crops have been taken from new land it should be summer-fallowed. 



SUMMER-FALLOWS AND SUMMER-FALLOWING. 



Among the many advantages to the credit of the practice of summer-fallowing 

 may be mentioned : the conservation of moisture, the eradication of weeds, the prepara- 

 tion of land for grain crops when no other work is pressing, the availability of summer- 

 fallowed land for seeding at the earliest possible date in the spring, and the minor 

 advantages of having suitable land for the growing of pure seed, potatoes, roots and 

 vegetables at the least cost and with the greatest chance for success, and that of being 

 able to secure two crops of grain with little or no further cultivation. 



Summer-fallowing has undoubtedly some disadvantages, but so long as the growing 

 of grain, and more particularly wheat, remains the principal industry of the province, 

 it will be necessary to store up moisture against a possible dry season, to restrain the 

 weeds from over-running the land, and, on account of the short seasons, to prepare at 

 least a portion of the land to be cropped, in the year previous to seeding, A well- 

 made summer-fallow is the best means to this end. Among the disadvantages are : 

 the liability of the soil to drift, the over-production of straw in a wet season (causing 

 late maturity and consequent danger of damage by frost), and, it is claimed, the 

 exhaustion of the soil. The two former may, to a great extent, be overcome by 

 different methods of cultivation, and, if the soil can be prevented from drifting, I 

 am satisfied that one of the reasons for the latter contention will disappear. 



Various methods are practised in the preparation of fallow, and where the aim 

 has been to take advantage of the June and July rains and to prevent the growth of 

 weeds, success is almost assured. Where the object has been to spend as little time 

 as possible on the work, failure is equally certain. 



In my annual report for 1889, the following was submitted for the consideration 

 of the settlers. Since then many experiments have been conducted on the Experimental 

 Farm with different systems, and again- 1 submit what, on the whole, have been found 

 to be the most successful methods for the cultivation of the soil in Saskatchewan. 



From Report of 1889 (December 29). 



* The year just past has been one of extremes, last winter was one of the mildest 

 on record, and March was so very fine that thousands of acres of grain were seeded 

 from 15th to 31st, and at no time in the history of the country has the ground been 

 in better condition for the reception of the seed. Immediately after seeding, however, 

 exceptionally high winds set in, followed by extreme drought during the entire 

 growing season. In many places the crops were injured by the winds, and finally 

 almost ruined by the succeeding dry weather. In some localities, however, where the 

 farming had been done in accordance with the requirements of the country, the crops 

 did fairly, and considering the excessively dry weather, remarkably well. 



' The Experimental Farm suffered in company with every other farm in the 

 country. Perhaps very few suffered as much from winds, but the dry weather, 

 though reducing the yields, did not prove as disastrous as to many others. In this 

 portion of the Territories at least, every settler knows the importance of properly 

 preparing his land. For several years after the country became open for settlement, 

 every one imagined that grain would grow, no matter how put in, but now the man is 

 devoid of reason who thinks he is sure of a crop without any exertion on his part. It 



