REPORT OF MR. W. 8. BLAIR 309 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



oblong, conic. Skin light red ground, but nearly covered with a dark red, striped 

 somewhat. Quality good. Season, September, An excellent dessert market sort, and 

 very attractive on account of its fine colour. 



Yorh Imperial. — One tree was set in 1S97. It has made fair growth and fruited 

 first in 1902. Fruited in 1904, 2| pecks ; 1905, 12 pecks. The fruit is medium, oblate, 

 oblique. Skin yellow, shaded with crimson, and indistinctly striped with red. Quality 

 fair. Season, February to April. Somewhat inclined to be undersized. 



Yellow Transparent. — A well known early variety. A valuable cooking apple, use- 

 ful only for local markets and home use. A good eating apple when fully ripe. Five 

 trees set in 1890 have made fairj^rowth. They have fruited well. The average yield 

 from these trees is as follows : — 190S, 2^ pecks ; 1904, 5 -6 pecks ; and 1905, 13 -7 pecks. 

 These set their first fruit in 1893. Trees hardy. Season, last of August. 



SOIL MOISTURE EXPERIMENTS. 



Experiments to determine the moisture contents of soils when cultivated, as com- 

 pared with those cropped were again conducted this season. The experiment included 

 six different plots, each 25 feet wide and 400 feet long. Samples of the soil from these 

 plots were taken at intervals of two weeks during the season to a depth of 14 inches 

 by using round galvanized iron canisters which were driven into the ground to that 

 depth and the column of soil removed. These samples were sent to Ottawa, where they 

 were examined in the chemical laboratory of the Experimental Farms, and their 

 moisture contents determined. The plots were alongside each other and the soil was 

 of a fairly uniform character. 



Plot No. 1. — The soil of this plot was in strawberries in 1903-04. The ground was 

 ploughed early in the fall of 1904. It was thoroughly worked up on May 16 with the 

 disc and springtooth harrows, and again once worked with the springtooth harrow be- 

 fore seeding to oats on May 23. The grain was sown with the seed drill at the rate of 

 3 bushels per acre. The growth of straw was good, averaging 36 inclies. The crop 

 suffered greatly for want of rain during the latter part of its growth and as a conse- 

 quence the seed did not fill out well. The crop was harvested September 2. The 

 ground had been seeded to timothy and clover with the oats. The grass and clover 

 seed started fairly well, but owing to the dry weather at this date, October 30, there 

 is not sufficient growth to cover the ground. 



Plot No. 2. — The ground of this plot was in oats during 1904, having been seeded 

 to clover and timothy with the oats in the spring of that year. The growth of clover 

 this season was good, and the crop was cut for hay July 20, having made a growth of 

 from 34 to 38 inches, averaging 2|- tons per acre. 



Plot No. 3. — This plot was also in oats in 1904, having been seeded to timothy and 

 clover in the spring of that year. The growth of clover was similar to that on plot No. 

 2, which it adjoined. This plot was cut with the mower when the crop was about 13 

 inches high on June 16, and the crop allowed to remain as a mulch. The clover was 

 fairly thick. The plot was cut a second time July 8, when about the same growth 

 had been made. The clover was again left as a mulch, which was fairly thick. The 

 intention was to cut again in two or three weeks; but owing to extremely dry weather 

 very little more growth was made during the season, and the crop was not again cut. 

 The material left as a mulch soon dried out and was of very little use in conserving 

 moisture. 



