REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 51 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL ORCHARDS. 



Experimental orchard -work has been conducted at Falmouth, Hants county; 

 Berwick, Kings county; and Bridgetown, Annapolis county. ^ The object is to deter- 

 mine what materials are best for the control of orcliard insects and diseases, and 

 the most profitable for the fruit grower. The time and method of application and 

 problems relating to cultivation and fertilization are being studied at these 

 stations. The work of Berwick and Falmouth has, during the past sea-on, been in 

 the charge of Mr. J. M. Robinson. B.S.A., assistant at the Kentville Station, and at 

 Bridgetown, Mr. M. B. Davis, B.S.A. has had charge. The work so far 

 proves conclusively that even in seasons favourable for scab development, such as 

 the one just past, thorough applications in season of lime sulphur or Bordeaux 

 will give practically clean fruit. Experiments in thinning of fruit have also been 

 conducted and much data of value secured. 



FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 



A series of fertilizer experiments combining orchard trees and agricultural crops 

 between the trees in the young orchards was started. The crop during the past 

 season was potatoes, which will be followed with grain seeded to clover. 



EXPERIMENTS IN GREENHOL'SE. 



The greenhouse was used during the winter to conduct soil tests with various 

 fertilizers, and tomatoes, lettuce and spinach were the principal crops grown. 



CEREAL PLOTS. 



Two plots, each of one-quarter acre, of Daubeney and Banner oats, Canadian 

 Thorpe and Maiichurian barley, Red Fife and Marquis wheat were sown. These 

 made fair growth, but the ground came up thick Math buckwheat from a crop turned 

 down late the fail previous, and, as a result, the returns were not of a reliable 

 nature. One bushel of each of these has been hand-picked for seeding in the spring. 



FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES. 



Tests were made of fifty varieties of potatoes, and 200 varieties of vegetables. 

 All of the principal annual flowering plants were grown in many varieties, and seeds 

 of fifty-five perennial flowering plants were started in shaded frames and will be per- 

 manently set in the perennial border next spring. 



MEETINGS ATTENDED. 



Addresses were given by the Superintendent at a series of meetings in Kings 

 and Annapolis counties early in April, 1913, and in February and March, 1914. 

 On August 27 and 28, lawns and flowers were judged for the Prince Edward Island 

 Floral Exhibition, Charlottetown, P.E.I. Fruit was judged at the Nova Scotia 

 Provincial Exhibition, Halifax, N.S., September 3 and 4; Hants, Kings and Anna- 

 polis Exhibition, Windsor, N.S., October 8 and 9; Cumberland County Exhibition, 

 Parrsboro, N.S., October 16; and Maritime Winter Fair, December 9. 



Meetings of the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers, Kentville, N.S., January 20 and 

 25; Maritime Winter Fair, Amherst, N.S., December 10; Nova Scotia Farmers' 

 Association, Bridgewater, January 29; Dartmouth Agricultural Society, February 

 13, were also addressed. A series of five lectures in fruit culture was delivered to 

 the students in attendance at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, N.S., 

 during February and March. 



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