REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 27 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



proportion of the humus and at the same time gain further information as to the value of 

 clover as a collector of plant food. In the spring of that year ten pounds of red clover 

 .seed per acre was sown with the grain on all the plots of wheat, barley and oats. The 

 clover seed germinated well, and after the grain was cut the young clover plants made 

 I'ai^id growth, and by the middle of October there was a thick mat of foliage varying 

 ill height and density on the different plots, which was ploughed under. The growing 

 of carrots and potatoes on one half of the cereal plots has been discontinued since 1898, 

 and each plot of the wheat, barley and oats have occupied the full tenth of an acre. 



Til 1900, 1901 and 1902 clover was again sown on all the grain plots, and was 

 ploughed under in October. In 1900 and 1901 a good growth of clover was obtained, 

 but in 1902 a severe frost in the spring destroyed a large proportion of the young plants 

 so that the crop available for plougiiing under in the autumn was veiy light. 



APPLICATION OF FERTILIZERS DISCONTINUED. 



Another direction in whicli information was sought was in reference to the length 

 of time which a liberal application of barn-yard manure would continue to affect subse- 

 quent crops, and in 1899 on plots 1, 2 and 6 the barn-yard manure, which had been 

 used for ten or eleven years in succession, was discontinued. The phosphate fertilizer was 

 also omitted on plot 6 in each series. 



In 1900 all the fertilizers on all the plots were discontinued, and it is proposed to 

 continue to grow the same crops on all these plots from year to year witliout fertilizers 

 for some years, sowing clover with the grain each season. In this way it is expected 

 that much information will be gained as to the value of clover as a collector of plant 

 food, and also as to the unexhausted values of the different fertilizers which have been 

 used on these plots since the experiments were begun. 



SPECIAL TREATMENT OF PLOTS OF INDIAN CORN AND ROOTS. 



As it was not practicable to sow clover to advantage on the Indian corn and root 

 plots, the sowing of these latter crops was discontinued in the spring of 1900 and 

 clover sown in their place in the proportion of 12 pounds per acre, and no fertilizers 

 were applied. The clover on these plots made strong growth, so strong as to necessitate 

 twice cutting during the season, the cut clover being left on the ground in each case to 

 decay and add to the fertility of the soil, and the clover left over for further growth in the 

 spring of 1901, and ploughed under for the roots about May 10, and for corn about the 

 middle of that month. Then roots and Indian corn wei'e again sown. This course will 

 be continued for some years, growing Indian corn and roots every second year alterna- 

 ting these crops with clover. No fertilizers -were applied in 1900 or 1901, and it is 

 proposed to discontinue their use entirely for some years, so that the effect on these crops 

 of the ploughing under of clover may be carefully studied under the varying conditions 

 presented by these more or less exhausted plots. 



WHEAT PLOTS. 



The seed sown on each of these plots from the beginning has been in the propor- 

 tion of 1-^ bushels per acre, excepting in 1894 ; and the varieties used were as follows : — 

 In 1888-89-90 and 1891, White Russian, and in 1892-3, Campbell's White Chaff. In 

 1894, the Rio Grande wheat was used, when, owing to lack of germinating power in the 

 seed, a larger quantity was required. In 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901 and 

 1902 Red Fife wheat was used in the usual quantity of 1^ bushels per acre. In 1902, 

 the Red Fife was sown April 30, came up May 8, and was ripe from August 10 to 12. 



The season of 1902 has been favourable for the growing of spring wheat at Ottawa, 

 and all the plots have increased in yield notwithstanding that the fertilizers have been 

 discontinued for the past three years. This shows that the ploughing under of the 

 wreen clover is having a beneficial effect. On the check plots which have been unmanured 

 from the beginning the increase both in grain and straw is remarkable. 



