liEPORT OF TEE AGRICULTURIST 83 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



plant food should be near the surface of our fields and that our surface soil should be in 

 particularly good physical condition or tilth. 



How to secure these two requirements of rapid, rank and desirable plant growth 

 must, therefore, be the first consideration of every would-be successful farmer. Experi- 

 ment and long practice seem to prove that shallow cultivation and some rotation, more 

 especially the three year or the four year in dry districts, and the five year in rainy 

 di8ti-icts are most serviceable in increasing the humus in the surface soil, and so ' im- 

 proving the physical condition ' which means ' increasing the productivity ' of our fields 



ESTIMATING COST OF PRODUCTION". 



The importance of determining cost of production of our grain an J forage crops 

 is scarcely questionable. The climatic, and soil factors must, however, always be of 

 primary importance, and on that account all estimates must be more or less particular 

 in their bearing rather than general. 



In the estimates which are included in the following reports on the different crops, 

 rent, manure, labour, material (seed, twine, itc), and wear and tear are considered. The 

 item of supervision, of considerable moment on such farms as this, has been omitted, 

 since most farmers in Canada do much of their own work, as well as direct the labour of 

 such men as they employ. 



The digestibility of a feed is another factor w^hich must enter materially into any 

 consideration of its economy of production, since, as is well known, the digestibility of 

 our feeding stufis ranges from about 25 per cent of the dry matter to practically 100 

 per cent of the whole thing. 



In dividing the cost of production of a grain crop between the straw and grain, 

 however, where the digestible dry matter of the one part is so difierent in composition 

 and value from that of the other, some additional standard is necessary. Since protein 

 is that part of any ration the most expensive to supply, it was decided to make the 

 digestible protein the basis of value. It is, of course, well understood that protein is not 

 the only important constituent of straw. Frequently it is of very minor consideration 

 indeed, as when used for litter, since about 29-30 of the whole dry matter is of equal 

 or even greater value as absorbent material. 



CROP ON THE 200 ACRE FARM 



OATS. 



Five varieties of oats were grown. They were Banner, Improved Ligowo, Tartar 

 Kinf^, Waverley and Goldfinder. They were sown on land that had been in roots or 

 corn the preceding year. As the land was not of uniform character, the results will not 

 indicate the producti\aty of the different varieties. 



The particulars of the lots sown are as follows : — 



Banner. — 40 acres, sown April 16, 2 bushels per acre; matured in 119 days, 

 August 13. Yielded 2,239 bushels, 55 bush. 33 lbs. per acre. Measured bushels 

 weighed 41^ pounds. A second field of Banner of 5| acres yielded at the rate of 47 

 bushels 24 lbs. per acre. 



Improved Ligowo. — 2 acres, sown April 24, 1| bushels per acre; matured in 110 

 days, August 12. Yielded 122 bushels 9 pounds 61 bush. 4 lbs. per acre. Measured 

 bushel weighed 40^ pounds. 



Tartar King. — 2| acres, sown April 24, 2 bushels per acre; matured in 109 days, 

 August 11. Yielded 140 bushels 4 pounds, 56 bush. 2 lb. per acre. Measured bushel 

 weighed 39i pounds. 

 16-6^ 



