392 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



Nearly two-thirds of all our oats and pease and all the barley jjlots were killed by 

 winds and had to to be resown, in consequence of which, many of the plots had not 

 matured when frost came and were only fit for fodder. The crop, however, was a 

 heavy one and having a considerable quantity of partially matured grain in it, the 

 loss is not serious, except from an experimental point of view, as the returns cannot 

 be given. 



The hay crop (Brome, Native and Western Rye-grass) was a complete failure. 



Potatoes and corn were the best ever grown on the farm ; turnips and mangels 

 were a fair crop and carrots a complete failure. 



Trees and shrubs made little progress until the rains came in July, when they 

 made a fresh start, but the season was too short and only about one-half the usual 

 growth was made. 



Small fruits promised an abundant crop until June 21, when the excessive heat 

 of that and the two succeeding days cooked almost the entire crop. 



The Siberian Crab (Pyrus haccaia), as well as the Seedling Native and improved 

 varieties of plums produced a very satisfactory crop of fruit. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SPRING WHEAT. 



Forty-nine varieties were tested on one-twentieth acre plots ; seven of the same 

 Tarieties on plots ranging from one-half to ten acres, and Red Fife was used in test of 

 fertilizers, rotation test, and test of blue-stone, as a preventive of smut. 



The test of early, medium, and late seeding, sowing seed at different depths, 

 sowing different quantities of seed per acre, and of hoe versus press-drill, were dis- 

 continued, as it was considered that during the previous eight years, sufficient reliable 

 data had been secured to settle the points imder observation without further trials. 



TEST OF VARIETIES IN UNIFORM PLOTS. 



Forty-nine varieties were sown on April 30, by hoe-drill, at the rate of 1^ bushels 

 p«r acre, on one-twentieth acre plots of clay-loam, summer-fallowed in 1899. 



All the varieties germinated well, and were from 2 to 4 inches high when winds 

 and hot, dry weather set in and damaged many of the sorts to such an extent that 

 it was deemed advisable to re-seed the injured plots with barley, which was done on 

 June 13. Those left were very thin, and owing to the rains in August, causing a 

 late, rank growth, the greater nmnber of the plots were caught by frost on September 

 13. 



The varieties were all sown in one row of plots across a 20-acre field, and those 

 that withstood the winds and dry weather were well scattered over the whole row, 

 clearly demonstrating that some varieties are much more susceptible to winds and 

 drought than others sown and growing under similar conditions. The results given 

 cannot, however, be regarded as of any value in indicating the relative productiveness 

 of the different sorts under trial. 



