30 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-6 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



Common salt, which has long had a reputation with many farmers for its value as 

 a fertilizer for barley, while others disbelieved in its efficacy, has been shown to b© a 

 valuable agent for producing an increased crop of that grain, while it is of much 

 less use when applied to crops of spring wheat or oats. Land plaster or gypsum has 

 also proven to be of some value as a fertilizer for barley, while of very little service for 

 wheat or oats. Some light has also been thrown on the relative usefulness of single 

 and combined fertilizers. ^ 



CHANGES MADE IN THE EXPERIMENTS. 



After ten years' experience had demonstrated that finely-ground, untreated mineral 

 phosphate was of no value as a fertilizer, its use was discontinued in 1898. Prior to 

 this it had been used in each set of plots in Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, in all the different 

 series of plots, excepting roots. In 1898 and 1899, similar weights of the Thomas' 

 phosphate were used in place of the mineral phosphate, excepting in plot 6 in each 

 series. In this plot the Thomas' phosphate was used in 1898 only. 



After constant cropping for ten or eleven years, it was found that the soil on those 

 plots to which no barn-yard manure had been applied was much depleted of humus, 

 and hence its power of holding moisture had been lessened, and the conditions for plant 

 growth, apart from the question of plant food, had on this account become less favour- 

 able. In 1899 the experiments were modified and an effort made to restore some pro- 

 portion 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 young clover plants made rapid growth, and by the middle of October there was 

 a thick mat of foliage varying in height and density on the different plots, which was 

 ploughed under. No barn-yard manure waS' applied on plots 1 and 2 in each series 

 since 1898. 



In 1900 all the fertilizers on all the plots were discontinued, and since then to 1905 

 the same crops havo been grown on all th^e plots from year to year without fertilizers, 

 sowing clover with the grain each season. In this way some information has been 

 gained as to the value of clover as a collector of plant food, and also as to the unex- 

 hausted values of the different fertilizers which have been used on these plots since 

 the experiments were begun. In 1905 all the fertilizers were again used as at the 

 beginning. 



SPECIAL TREATMENT OF PLOTS OP INDIAN CORN AND ROOTS. 



As it was not practicable to sow clover with the Indian corn and root crops, 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. The clover on these plots made 

 strong growth, so strong a.S' 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. 

 The clover was 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 were again sown. In 1902 crops of Indian corn and roots were grown 

 on these plots, in 1903 the land was again devoted to clover and was in Indian corn 

 and roots again in 1904 and in 1905. 



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 to 1891, White Russian, and in 1892-3, Campbell's White Chaff. In 1894, Rio 

 Grande was used, and from 1895 to 1905, inclusive, Red Fife. In 1905 the Red Fifa 

 was sown May 4, and was ripe August 12. 



