12 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2 GEORGE V.,. A. 1912 



deep, single-disced and double-harrowed. As all team work was done by contract, it is 

 easy to get at the cost per acre: — 



Breaking $3 75 



Packing 25 



Backsetting 3 75 



Single discing 50 



Double harrowing 50 



Total cost $8 75 



'The backsetting will require some cultivation in the spring to work up a good 

 seed bed. 



Deep Breaking. 



' Thirty-two acres were broken, about four and a half inches deep, packed, and 

 left until the middle of July, when it was double-disced and double-harrowed. Again 

 in October it was double-disced and double-harrowed, and cost as follows, per acre :— 



Breaking $3 75 



Packing. 25 



July — Double-disced 1 00 



Double-harrowed 50 



October — Double-disced 1 00 



Double-harrowed 50 



$7 or 



'The surf ace- worked, deep breaking is in fine tilth and in good condition for the 

 6eed. 



' In both deep breaking and backsetting, the sod was thoroughly decayed, showing 

 the beneficial results of breaking and packing early in the season. 



Fencing. 



1 In the month of August, the farm was enclosed with a substantial wire fence. 

 Cedar posts not less than six inches at the small end were set twenty feet apart and 

 three feet in the ground. All corner and anchor posts were planted four feet deep and 

 firmly braced and on these was stretched woven wire four feet high and securely stapled 

 to the posts. A strand of barbed wire was extended six inches above the woven wire 

 (and all the posts sawn off two inches above the barbed wire, with the woven wire raised 

 three to four inches from the ground. This makes the fence about five feet high. A 

 double gate sixteen feet wide gives access to the barn and stable and a single ten-foot 

 gate and a small four-foot gate give entrance to the house. 



' To ensure a straight line of posts, the following method was adopted — 

 ' A stout wooden peg was driven every two hundred .yards on a surveyed line. A 

 wire was tightly stretched along these so as not to blow with the wind, and every twenty 

 Ifeet along it a small wooden pin was driven to mark the place for a post. These pins 

 were driven close to the wire. A piece of tin, nine inches in diameter, cut round, with 

 a hole in the centre, was prepared. The pin marking the place for a post was pulled 

 out, the tin placed over the hole thus made and a small iron pin was driven into the 

 ground through the hole in the tin into the same place that the wooden pin was in. 

 With a sharp spade, the sod was cut three inches deep around the tin; when this round 

 piece of sod was lifted out, it marked the exact place where a post was to be set. Care 

 was exercised in placing the posts, to have the straightest side turned to the wire. 

 Thia easy method of laying out post holes gives an exactly straight fence-line. 



