REPORT OF THE CHEMIST 139 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



This is a most instructive series of results. The data are well worthy the careful 

 perusal of every orchardist. 



These two soils started out with practically the same moisture content (.see April 

 19), but as the season advanced and the grass grew, the demand on the soil moisture 

 of plot 2 became greater and greater. This began to be evident soon after May 1. By 

 May 15 there was 50 per cent more moisture in the soil (to a depth of 14 inches) of the 

 cultivated plot than in the soil covered with sod. At the end of May this diiference 

 had increased to almost 100 per cent ; in other words, there was nearly twice as much 

 moisture in the cultivated soil as in that under sod, due partly to the conserving 

 action of cultivation on the one plot (No. 1), and partly to loss of moi.sture from trans- 

 piration of the foliage and greater loss due to capillary action in ths soil on the other 

 (No. 2) plot. 



Throughout the whole growing season most marked differences in the moisture-con- 

 tent of the soils of these two plots are to be observed — and always in the same direction. 

 If during the two weeks previous to the collection of the samples there had been an 

 ample rainfall — as, for instance, for the periods ending June 14 and 28, and July 26 — 

 the moisture-content of the plots did not differ to the same extent that they did after 

 periods of comparative drought. The last column of Table II furnishes data in this 

 connection of a most decisive character, pointing especially to the heavy call on the 

 moisture of the orchard soil by sod at a time when the trees are most in need of it. 

 Towards the close of the season, when vegetative growth has ceased, and there is a 

 liberal rainfall, the soils approximated more and more in their moisture content, and 

 the experiment closed as it had begun, with soils equally moist or practically so. 



In concluding this brief discussion, we may say that although the past season's 

 work did not yield results as regards the effect of cover crops (clover) on soil moisture, 

 of such an emphatic character as those of the previous season (the chief reason for which 

 undoubtedly was the poor growth of clover on the plots this year), the data for the 

 most part corroborate our conclusions given in the report for 1901 on this subject. 



The plan or system of orchard management that includes cover cropping and culti- 

 vation will vary somewhat according to the district (see pages 149, 150, 151, Report for 

 1901), but its effectiveness generally in regulating the soil's moisture, in enriching the 

 soil with humus and nitrogen, in arresting the loss of nitrates in the autumn and in 

 furnishing protection during the winter to the trees' roots cannot be doubted. 



Perhaps the most valuable lessons from this year's investigation are to be drawn 

 from the experiments of the second series. We learn, in the first place, that a very 

 great distinction must be drawn between .sod and cover crops as regards effect upon soil 

 moisture. The former dries out the soil to a much greater degree and consequently 

 cannot be advised, save in exceptionally well watei*ed districts or where the water level 

 is high. As already stated, the system of orchard soil management must be worked 

 out after a careful consideration of the soil and climatic conditions, but it does seem to 

 the writer that the instances in which it would be advantageous to keep the orchard in 

 permanent sod must be exceptional, and especially so when the trees are young. 



FODDERS AND FEEDING STUFFS. 



COUN AND CLOVER ENSILAGE. 



Though corn is, and probably will ever remain, in Canada the most important 

 ensilage crop, the desirability of a succulent roughage richer in protein is often felt and 

 expressed. Naturally, clover, or some other of the legumes, such as horsebeans, occurs 

 to the mind as probably suitable for making such an ensilage, and many experiments 

 have been made to learn with what degree of certainty good ensilage from such crops 

 can be made. As pointed out in our report for 1901 (p. 177-8), certain difficulties are 

 met with in ensiling succulent crops rich in nitrogen, but that with careful attention to 

 one or two details these difficulties may ba in a very large measure overcome. Thus, in 



