REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURIST 77 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



The variety of crops grown and the varying areas under each crop each year 

 make it quite difficult to make a comparison of the returns of the different years, so 

 to simplify matters I would suggest that a fixed valuation be put upon the products, 

 and the returns of each year valued accordingly. 



Fixing prices as follows : Grain, $1 per hundred lbs. ; roots and ensilage $2 per 

 ton; hay $7 per ton; summering cattle, $S per season; and an area used as pasture 

 for pigs, $15 per acre ; the returns from the ' 200-acre farm ' for the years mentioned 

 may be said to have been worth $2,776.GG in 1899; $i,110.21 in 1900; $4,434.72 in 

 1901; $4,787.14 in 1902; $4,148.19 in 1903; $4,741.09 in 1904; $5,714.32 in 1905. 



EOTATION EXPEEIMENT. 



The exporiment to determine the effects of different rotations is being followed 

 up and over tlie detailed report of the labour on each plot, and the returns therefrmn 

 will be found some brief notes on each field and on the rotation as a whole. 



The rotations are as follows: — 



Rotation A. — Five years, clover hay, Timothy hay, grain, corn, grain. 



Rotation B. — Five years, clover hay, grain, clover hay, corn, grain. 



Rotation E. — Three years, pasture, corn, grain. 



Rotation Z. — Three years, clover hay, corn, grain. 



Rotation S. — Four years, shallow ploughing, clover hay, timothy hay, roots, 

 grain. 



Rotation D. — Four years, deep ploughing, clover hay, timothy hay, roots, grain. 



Rotation H. — Threa years, hog pasture, roots, grain or soiling crop. 



Rotation T. — Four years, sheep pasture, roots and soiling crop, grain, clover hay. 



Rotation M. — Six years, grain, grain, clover hay, timothy hay for three years. 



Rotation N. — Six years, grain, grain, timothy hay for four years. 



Rotation 0.— Three years, grain, timothy hay, timothy hay. 



Rotation P. — Three 'years, grain, clover hay, timothy hay. 



In the descriptions of the rotations and fields that follow, an effort is made to 

 give as concisely as possible the location of each field, its size, tlie character of its 

 soil, its drainage and its general crop history. 



In the tables will be found all items of expenditure. The manure is applied in the 

 same ratio to each field in each rotation. To illustrate : if to the corn land in rotation 

 ' Z,' 15 tons of manure per acre are applied ; this equivalent to 5 tons per acre per 

 annum, as Z, is a tiiree-year rotation, 'i'hen in applying manure to M, 30 tons per 

 acre would be applied, as M is a six-year rotation. Since the manure must vary 

 slightly in quantity each year, $3 per annum per acre is charged in each rotation. 



COMPARATIVE VALUES OF ROTATION ON STOCK FARMS. 



Supposing the average animal of the bovine species to consume 2,000 lbs. liL^y, 

 1,500 lbs. meal, 16,000 lbs. roots and ensilage and 2,000 libs, of straw per annum, which 

 valued at prices given above would amount to $37, a rough idea of the relative value 

 of the different rotations for stockmen may be arrived at. 



