7-8 EDWARD VIL SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1908 



REPORT OF THE HORTIOULTURIST. 



(W. T. Macoun.) 



March 31, 1907. 

 Dr. Wm. Saunders, C.M.G., 



Director Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the twentieth Annual Report of this 

 division^ in which will be found the results of some of the more important experi- 

 ments conducted during the year and information regarding other work of the 

 Horticultural Division. 



I have the honour to be, sir. 



Your obedient servant, 



W. T. MACOUN, 



EorticuUurist. 



CHARACTER OF SEASON AND EFFECT OF WINTER OF 1905-6 ON M^GETATION. 



Since the year 1898 a record has been kept of the character of each season from 

 a horticultural standpoint, and some facts regarding the weather have been published 

 in the Annual Report of the Horticulturist since that time. Owing to the Interim 

 Report being published last summer, which was somewhat different from the regular 

 annual report, no account of the previous winter was published, hence in order to 

 make the record complete it is necessary to go back to December, 1905. December of 

 that year was a mild month. There was no sleighing of any account until the first 

 week of the month. At no time during December could there have been more than a 

 foot of snow on the ground. The lowest temperature in December was on the 16th, 

 when it was 13-1° F. below zero. January was a mild month witli changeable weather 

 and very little snow on the ground, there being only about six inches on the 15th. On 

 February 14th, a month later, there were still only about six inches of snow on the 

 ground, and the fields were bare in some places. There were also fro2sen pools of 

 water here and there which threatened injury to trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. 

 By the 22nd of the month the sleighing was practically gone. February was a colder 

 month than January, but mild for the time of the year. The lowest temperature of 

 the winter was 21-8° F. below zero on February 2. 



On -March 1 the following record was made: 'It has been quite cold again this 

 week, the temperature falling to eight degrees below zero. Great injury is likely to 

 occur to strawberry plantations and to herbaceous plants generally as the ground is 

 for the most part bare of snow and where it is not bare it is covered with ice. There 

 is a great deal of ice on the lawns and in the orchard. The lower pnrt of the straw- 

 berry plantation is nearly covered with ice. The soaking of the few inches .of soil 

 which had thawed out by the rain on February 25, followed by the severe frost must 

 have been very hard on the roots of plants.' Thawing and freezing' continued and on 

 March 12 there were still large patches of ice in the orchard and part of the straw- 

 berry plantation was still covered with ice. While the weather was very changeable 

 with several thaws^ March was a cold month on the whole. 



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