Dirisioy: of cereals 817 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL FARAI, LACOMBE, ALTA. 



G. H. HUTTON, B.S.A., SUPERINTENDENT. 



The seeding season of 1913 opened at tlie Lacombe Station on April 10 when the 

 first wheat plots were sown. The weather during April, and for the first ten days of 

 May, was both cool and dry, keeping growth in cheek, but after May 10 conditions 

 Avere so favourable for growth that by June 1.5 all crops on well-prepai-ed land were 

 as far forward as on any previous season since this Station was established. Favour- 

 able weather continued throughout the summer and mitil harvest and threshing were 

 concluded. The precipitation for May, June, and July was 6-89 inches, and while the 

 mean temperature varied little from that of previous years, no low temperatures were 

 experienced. Taken altogether, therefore, the season of 1913 in Central Alberta was 

 quite favourable for the production of fair yields ox grain of more than average quality. 



EXPEEIMENTS WITH WIXTER WHEAT. 



For the second successive season all varieties of w'inter wheat sown on summer- 

 fallow were spring-killed. As was pointed out in the report of this Station for the 

 year ending March 31, 1912, winter wheat sown on summer-fallow suffers more from 

 '^'pring-killing than when sown on breaking — either new land or land ploughed out of 

 cultivated grasses. 



A small field of winter wheat was seeded on rotation " L." This land was ploughed 

 out of timothy, alsike, and clover sod in July of 1912, and seeded to Kharkof winter 

 wheat in August. This field yielded at the rate of 20 bushels 20 pounds of wheat and 

 30 pounds of timothy seed per acre, both of which were of good quality. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SPRIXG WHEAT. 



Sixteen varieties of spring wheat were sown on April 10 on land which was sum- 

 mer-fallowed in 1912. Exijeriments conducted in previous years in which varying 

 quantities of seed were sown per acre have indicated that heavy seeding for black clay 

 loam soil 'will hasten maturity and increase yields. In sowing these varieties, there- 

 fore, seed was used at the rate of from 2| bushel^ to 3^ bushels per acre, depending on 

 the size of the berry and the vitality test previously made. Seeding at the rate of from 

 24 to 3 bushels per acre is recommended for heavy, black loam soil when the seed-bed 

 is in good condition and the moisture supply at seed time plentiful, particularly in 

 those districts where early maturity is an important factor. The season and location 

 of plots this year conduced to the high standing of Red Fife, which is quite unusual 

 for this variety at this Station, and this result should not be taken to indicate the 

 general suitability of this variety for this district. Only the named varieties arc- 

 mentioned in the following table. 



