136 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-6 EDWARD VII., A. 1906 



Rainfall during the season. — April was characterized by a very small rainfall 

 (1.-24 inches) not half that which fell in April of the two preceding years. May and 

 June had very fair and well distributed precipitations ; the totals were 3 '02 and 

 3 -30 inches, respectively. July and August were very dry, the total being only 1 -56 

 and 1 "53 inches, many of these rains being so slight that the moisture was evaporated 

 before it could penetrate the soil. September had a fair rainfall, 3 '38 inches, while 

 October was comparatively dry, with only 1 '29 inches. 



Plot 1. — The crop of oats, which had made good growth, though the seed had not 

 fllled out well, was harvested on September 3. The results show that the moisture 

 content of this plot was greatly and steadily reduced from the end of June till Sep- 

 tember 1, and again slightly reduced during October. From the middle of July to 

 the end of August the soil was exceedingly dry (in the neighbourhood of 5 per cent 

 moisture). The oats suffered much from drought during this period and there can 

 be no doubt that the moisture available for the orchard trees was altogether insuffi- 

 cient for their needs. Confirmatory evidence of a most emphatic nature is furnished 

 by the data from this plot of the great exhaustion of soil moisture by a grain crop. 



Plot 2. — This carried a crop of clover and timothy, having been seeded (with 

 cats) in the spring of 1904. It was cut on July 20, having made excellent growth, and 

 yielded about 2^ tons of hay to the acre. The moisture content data are very similar 

 to those of Plot 1, indicating a very large draught on the store of soil moisture by the 

 growth of clover. During the first two weeks of July the moisture was reduced from 

 19*06 per cent to 8*08 per cent and continued to fall until the end of August, when 

 the soil contained only 4*17 per cent. 



Plot 3. — This, like Plot 2, bore a crop of clover and timothy, but the growth was 

 cut from time to time and used as a mulch. The first cutting was on June 16, when 

 the crop was about 12 inches high; the second on July 8, with about the same amount 

 of growth. No further cutting was possible, as owing to the very dry period in July 

 and August no material growth was subsequently made. Mr, Blair reports that the 

 mulches rapidly dried out and quickly became valueless in conserving moisture. The 

 analytical data are very much the same as those for Plot 2, and, therefore, confirm the 

 conclusions regarding the great draught on the soil's moisture. They require no 

 special comment further than to say that the mulch seems to have been effective in 

 checking to a certain degree the loss of soil moisture during the first two weeks of 

 July — an important matter. After the middle of July the mulch evidently exercised 

 very little beneficial influence so far as soil moisture is concerned. 



Plot It- — The soil of this plot was cultivated until June 1.5, and then sown with 

 Crimson clover. The effect of this cultivation is very apparent; it postponed at least 

 two weelvs the severe drying out so noticeable on the plots already discussed. On 

 August 2, this soil contained considerably more moisture than those of Plots 2 and 3, 

 and nearly twice as much as that on Plot 1. 



Plol 5 and Plot 6. — Were cultivated until July 20, the former at that date being 

 sown with Crimson clover. Plot 5 maintained, practically, its initial moisture con- 

 tent all through the period of drought, the first decline — and that a slight one — being 

 recorded by the determination made on August 30, After the middle of September 

 a further, but not very large, falling off is observable, due to the growth of clover. 

 Plot 6, though showing some fluctuations, practically held its moisture content through- 

 out the growing season. 



* In this investigation the scheme was planned by Mr. W. S. Blair, Horticulturist, 

 Experimental Farm, Nappan, N.S., and myself. Mr. Blair undertook all the work in connec- 

 tion with the plots and also collected the fortnightly soil samples. In his report, full cul- 

 tural notes, made during the season, are to be found. 



