REPORT OF ilR. THOMAS A. SHARPE. 437 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



and thirteen head of cattle bought for feeding, making eighteen head of cattle at 

 present on the Experimental Farm. 



SHEEP. 



The four Dorset horned ewes and one ewe lamb wintered have produced six lambs 

 this year; two buck lambs have been sold and one buck and three ewe lambs on hand. 

 One buck lamb and the old ram wintered last year have been sold, which leaves nine 

 head of sheep on the farm at present. 



PIGS. 



The stock at present consists of one Berkshire boar, and one sow, one Tamworth 

 boar, one Tamworth sow, aged, one young Tamworth sow, and eight Tamworth pigs ; 

 eight young cross-bred pigs, making twenty-two pigs of all sorts at present on the 

 farm. The Tamworth pig appears to gain in popularity the better it is known, 



BEES. 



Three swarms of bees wintered, and were ready for work in the spring. Only 

 one swarm has been saved this year, but all these, judging by their weight, are well 

 supplied with honey for the winter. 



POULTRY. 



At present there ar« four breeds of poultry here : Brahmas, White Wyandottes, 

 Barred Plymouth Rocks, and Black Minorcas. 



The White Leghorns were sold this year, as they had been tested for a number 

 of years, and were seldom inquired for. 



The Barred Plymouth Kocks were procured this fall, to put in place of the White 

 Leghorns. 



The Brahmas, as in previous years, have been good layers, and the chickens can 

 easily be made to weigh nine pounds, live weight, per pair, at four months old. 



The White Wyandottes are good layers, and the chickens, if well cared for, will 

 weigh about eight and a-half pounds, live weight, per pair, at four months old. The 

 White Wyandotte is a round-bodied, short-legged, close-feathered fowl, and their 

 feathers will probably shed the rain better than the Brahmas, as these are rather open- 

 feathered. Their bare legs also may make the White Wyandotte, when full grown, 

 a little better suited to this climate, than the Brahma. 



Chickens of all breeds require to be warmly and carefully housed, sheltered from 

 cold spring rains. 



The Black Minorcas are the best layers here, and their eggs are large, but the 

 chickens do not make satisfactory broilers. 



All the fowls are comfortably housed and regularly fed, but they are never forced 

 either for eggs or for fattening. They are all allowed to run at large except when 

 put into pens for breeding purposes — from January to July. 



The cocks of each breed are changed every year, to prevent inbreeding, and with 

 ordinaiy good care the chickens are strong and healthy. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SPRIXG WHEAT. 



Forty-nine varieties of wheat were tested this year. They were on sandy loam, 

 all sown on April 10, on plots of one-fortieth of an acre each. The seed for this test 

 was from heads selected last year. Eight plots were sown with seed taken from the 

 produce of the test plot, when threshed, without selecting. All were sown on soil of 

 similar character and treatment. The results do not in every case show better results 

 from the selected seed, but it should be borne in mind that the seed for all the plots 



