REPORT OF MR. ANGUS MACKAY 427 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Summer-fallowing undoubtedly has some disadvantages, but so long as the grow- 

 ing of grain, and more particularly wheat, remains the principal industry of the prov- 

 ince, it will be necessary to store up moisture against a possible dry season, to re- 

 strain the weeds from over-running the land and on account of the short seasons, to 

 prepare at least a portion of the land to be cropped in the year previous to seeding 

 and a well-made summer-fallow is the best means to this end. Among the disadvan- 

 tages are : — The liability of the soil to drift, the over-production of straw in a wet 

 season, causing late maturity and consequent danger of damage by frost, and, it is 

 claimed, the partial exhaustion of the soil. The two former may, to a great extent, 

 be overcome by different methods of cultivation, and if the soil can be prevented from 

 drifting, I am satisfied that one of the reasons for the latter contention will dis- 

 appear. 



Various methods are practised in the preparation of fallow, and where the aim 

 has been to take advantage of the June and July rains and to prevent the growth of 

 weeds, success is almost assured. Where the object has been to spend as little time 

 as possible on the work, failure is equally certain. 



In my annual report for the year 1889, the following was submitted for the con- 

 sideration of the settlers. Since then many experiments have been conducted on the 

 Experimental Farm with different systems and again I submit what, on the whole, 

 have been found to be the most successful methods for the cultivation of the soil in 

 Saskatchewan :— 



FROM REPORT OF 18S9. 



• The year just past has been one of extremes. Last winter was one of the 

 mildest on record and March was so very fine that thousands of acres of grain were 

 seeded from the 15th to the 31st, and at no time in the history of the country has the 

 ground been in better condition for the reception of the seed. Immediately after 

 seeding, however, exceptionally high winds set in, followed by extreme drought during 

 the entire growing season. In many places the crops were injured by the winds and 

 finally almost ruined by the succeeding dry weather. In some localities, however, 

 where the farming has been done in accordance with the requirements of the country, 

 the crops did fairly, and considering the excessively dry weather, remarkably well. 



■ The Experimental Farm suffered in company with every other farm in the 

 country. Perhaps very few suffered as much from winds, but the dry weather, 

 though reducing the yields, did not prove so disastrous as to many others. In this 

 portion of the Territories at least, every settler knows the importance of properly 

 preparing his land. For several years after the country became open for settlement 

 every one imagined that grain would grew, no matter how put in, but now the man 

 is devoid of reason who thinks he is sure of a crop without any exertion on hig part. 

 It is true that since 1882 we have had one year in which the land required little or 

 no preparation for the production of an abundant crop but only too many realize the 

 loss in the remaining years from poor cultivation. 



' Our seasons point to only one method of cultivation by which we may in all 

 years expect to reap something. 



' It is quite within the bounds of possibilities that some other and perhaps more 

 successful method may be found, but at present I submit that ' fallowing ' the land 

 is the best preparation to ensure a crop. Fallowing land in this country is not re- 

 quired for the purpose of renovating it, as is the case with worn-out lands in the 

 East; and it is a question as yet unsettled how much or how little the fallows should 

 be worked, but as we have only one wet season during the year, it has been proved 

 beyond doubt that the land must be ploughed the first time before this wet season is 

 over, if we expect to reap a crop in the following year. The wet season comes during 

 June and July, at a time when every farmer has little or nothing else to do, and it 



