348 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 

 EXPERIMENT WITH SOIL-PACKING FOR OATS. 



Much discussion has been carried on of late in regard to the merits of the soil 

 packer. We have used the form known as the pulverizer and results would seem to 

 indicate the value of this machine. The soil on this farm is a heavy vegetable mold 

 in most places inclining to clay, but in certain limited areas inclining to sand. On 

 account of the large percentage of humus it contains, the soil is rather loose in texture. 

 The packer fills up the larger air spaces and leaves a surface mulch, preventing the 

 evaporation of moisture from the surface. The soil is pressed into contact with the 

 seed and the rise of moisture by capillarity to the seed is facilitated, hence germination 

 takes place more promptly and w-ith greater uniformity than when the soil is not so 

 packed. This test was made on fall-ploughed stubble land that was left as ploughed 

 till spring, then worked down, and, after seeding, the packer loaded with stone passed 

 once over the plots to be tested. Two varieties of oats were used and two different 

 quantities of seed sown. All were sown on May 7, and all ripened August 29. 



Soil Packing. 



Name. 



Banner, 2 bushels . . 

 li 2^ If . . 



tt 2 M . . 



ti 2i II 



ThousandDollar, 2bus 

 II II 2^ II 



II II 2^ II 



If II 2fi II 



Soil. 



Packed . . . 



•I . . 



Unpacked 



11 

 Packed . . . 



Unpacked 



Kind 

 of Head. 



Branching'. 



Weight 



of 

 Straw. 



Lbs. 



3,480 

 4,200 

 2,940 

 2,760 

 4,620 

 3,240 

 2,940 

 3,000 



Yield. 



2 Ji 



m '^ 



00 .. 



95 10 



61 26 



86 16 



67 2 



84 24 



54 24 



70 20 



FARM- YARD MANURE APPLIED TO THE LAND. 



Banner and Thousand Dollar oats were sown on April 22 on stubble land to which 

 well-rotted barn-yard manure was applied at the rate of 10 and 20 tons per acre. No 

 safe conclusions can be drawn on such questions from a single experiment. The 

 presence of manure may dry out the soil the first season after application, while its 

 effect may be beneficial to succeeding crops. 



Oats — Manure. 



Variety. 



Banner 



Thousand Dollar . 



Wright 

 Straw. 



4080 

 3750 

 3000 

 4770 

 6000 

 38 iO 



