DITISIOy OF CEREALS 779 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION, CAP ROUGE, QUEBEC. 



GUS. A. LANGELIER, SUPERINTENDENT. 



CIIAEACTER OF SEASON. 



The p^ason of 1913 was one of the best for cereals, in this district, that we have 

 Iiad for many years. The spring was very early and all trial plots were sown during 

 the last two days of April, whilst the main crop was put in before the middle of May. 

 This is about ten days sooner than seeding can be done in an average season. The 

 grain which was sown from the 7th to the 15th of May made a splendid growth, as 

 there was plenty of heat and enough precipitation to hasten germination and force 

 all vegetation. FariTters who delayed seeding operations until the end of May saw 

 their grain at a standstill during the drought which lasted all through August, and 

 thereby no doubt lost at lea.=;t 25 per cent of their crop. The early-sown grain was too 

 far advanced to suifer and the yield was heavy throughout the district. 



VAEIETY TESTS. 



The trial plots are now permanently located on a piece of ground where a three- 

 year rotation is used. The first year, roots and Indian corn plots are grown; the 

 second, the plots of cereals come; and the third, we have plots of clover to find with 

 what kind of cereal it grows best. 



Fourteen varieties of spring wheat, four of two-row barley, seven of six-row 

 barley, ten of oats, and six of peas, were sown on one^sixtieth acre plots. 



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^ SPRING WHEAT. 



Fourteen varieties of spring wheat were tried on a uniform piece of sandy loam, 

 naturally drained, where Indian corn was grown last year. The subsoil is shale, at 

 from 15 to 24 inches from the surface. The land was ploughed during October, 1912 ; 

 it was well disced, harrowed, rolled, and sown with the drill on the 29th and 30th of 

 April, at the rate of IJ bushels per acre. The high temperature of the beginning of 

 May, 79° F., on the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 85° on the 7th, with a total precipitation of 0-26 

 inches on the 3rd, 9th, and 10th hastened germination, and the grain was up when on 

 the 15th the thermometer went down to 25-2°, and to 27-2° on the 16th. This, in my 

 opinion, was the cause of the failure to grow of Alpha Selected, Bishop, Bobs, Marquis, 

 Red Fife and White Fife wheat. Even if this was not the ca.use, it is nevertheless true 

 that the varieties which gave no crop are not so resistant to adverse conditions as those 

 which yielded even a light one. 



The most promising wheats for this district, according to our experiments, seem to 

 be Preston and Huron. The latter always looks so well that I am inclined to favour it. 



