82 , EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



The cost of labour for growing 2 acres of horse beans was as follows : — 



Eent of land, @ $3 per acre $ 6 00 



Ploughing, @ $2 per acre 4 00 



Harrowing 3 times, rolling once 1 60 



Seed, \\ bushels 2 00 



Sowing, 3 hours of team 75 



Cultivating, single horse, 2 days @ $U50..., 3 00 



Hoeing, 10 days 12 50 



Cutting with scythe, 2 days 2 50 



Loading, 3 days v 3 75 



Drawing to silo, 1^^ days of team 3 00 



Proportion of time of farm foreman .*. 4 00 



Total $ 43 10 



Those figures do not include any allowance for the use of farm machinery, nor 

 do they include any amount as an equivalent for the exhaustion of soil. The cost 

 for labour was $21.55 per acre. The average yield of the horse beans was 8 tons 

 927 lbs. per acre, which gives an average cost of $2.55 per ton for labour of growing, 

 including cost of seed and rent of land. 



The season in point of weather was a most unusual one over the western part 

 of the province of Quebec and over nearly the whole of the province of Ontario. 

 While many sections were parched with drought fi-om June until August, the rains 

 on the Experimental Farm here were frequent and unusually heavy. Two very severe 

 storms swept over the farm, breaking down the cornstalks and levelling to the 

 ground four-fifths of the sunflower stalks on the different areas on wbich they were 

 planted. For that reason, the results in our trial of sunflowers during the past season 

 cannot be taken as what might be expected in the average of years. The sunflowers 

 in 1892 were such an average crop, as might be obtained where it was not injured 

 by any unusual occurrence. The yield in 1892 was 7^ tons of sunflower heads per 

 acre. 



As yet, reports have been received from only some 60 farmers, who gave the 

 mixture a trial during the last summer. On account of the unusual weather, the 

 bean crop appears to have been a total or almost total failure in most places in the 

 province of Ontario. In the Maritime Provinces, where the rainfall and temperature 

 were nearer the normal, the reports are favourable and indicate what might be 

 expected in other parts of Canada, when regard is had to the time of planting which 

 is most suitable for the different localities. I quote the following from reports 

 received from some farmers in the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec : — 



In all these cases, the mixture was planted according to the directions in the cir- 

 cular which accompanied the seeds, with the corn and beans mixed in the same rows, 

 and the sunflowers grown in rows by themselves. 



From Mr. Z. E. Estey, Lower French Village, York Co., N.B. 



" Q. Beans : Were the pods formed, filled or ripened ? — A. Mostly filled 



and ripened, and shelling considerably. 

 Average height of plants ? Four feet. 



Yield per acre? Eleven tons of corn with four tons of beans. 

 Yield per acre of sunflower heads ? Five or six tons. 

 G-eneral Eemarks: — The beans I am convinced should be planted later than 



the Longfellow corn." 



Prom Mr. Abram Alward, Butternut Eidge, Westmoreland Co., N. B. 



" Q. Beans : Were the pods formed, filled or ripened ? — A. Some stalks 



contained a large number of pods, some ripened at bottom, other stalks 



contained no pods, blossoms seemed to be blighted. 

 Average height of plants ? Three feet six inches. 

 Yield per acre ? Of sunflower heads, about 200 bushels ; of corn and 



beans, about eight tons, green weight, of which there were five tons of 



corn and three tons of beans. 



