REPORT OF MR. S. A. BEDFORD 377 



SESSIONAL PAPER No, 16 



PREVENTIVES OF SMUT IN WHEAT. 



Bluestone and formalin were both used in the tests this year. 

 The plots were one-twentieth acre each, and the soil a very light sandy loam. The 

 wheat was harvested from Au^st 26 to September 1. 



DEEP .\^■D SHALLOW SOWING. 



Two one-twentieth acre plots of Red Fife were sown on May 18, with a shoe drill. 

 In one case the seed was sown 2 inches deep and the other 3^ inches. As each pro- 

 duced at the rate of Slg bushels per acre. the depth of sowing made no appreciable 

 difference in the yield. 



OATS. 



Early sown oats in this part of Manitoba were generally a good crop, and on the 

 e.Tperimental farm the uniform plots gave the best returns ever obtained here. 



The land used for this purpose was sown with pease in May, 1903. These were 

 ploughed down when in blossom, and the land cultivated on the surface for the bal- 

 ance of the season. This spring the land was harrowed and the oats sown at once. 

 The growth was very rapid, but the straw remained stiff all summer, and there was 

 no lodged grain at any time. 



Many complaints are received each year of serious losses from rust in oats and 

 requests for a remedy are numerous; while none of the varieties of oats tested on this 

 farm are entirely free from rust. Banner is as little affected as any of them. As a 

 preventive for rust, early sowing should be practiced. In every instance where late 

 sowing has been done on this farm, rust has considerably injured a large proportion 

 of the crop, while early sown oats on adjoining fields seldom, if ever, suffer much from 

 this cause. 



Four plots of oats were serioiosly injured by blackbirds. The plots were near 

 water, and in spite of the free use of a gun, the birds destroyed a large proportion of 

 the crop. 



The test was made with forty-two varieties, on plots of one-twentieth acre each. 

 The soil was a clay loam, the previous crop, pease, ploughed down, two bushels of 

 BCied per acre was used. All were sown on May 5. 



