428 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2 GEORGE V., A. 1912 



is then that this work should be done. Usually seeding is over by the 1st of May and 

 to secure the best i*esults the land for fallow should be ploughed from 5 to 7 inches 

 deep as soon after this date as possible. Land ploughed after July is of no use 

 whatever unless the rains in August are much in excess of the average. A good 

 harrowing should succeed the ploughing and all weeds or volunteer grain be kept 

 down by successive cultivation. A good deal of uncertainty is felt with regard to a 

 second ploughing, some holding that it is useless; others maintaining that it is an 

 injury; while others again have found it to give from five to ten bushels per acre 

 more than one ploughing. So far the experiments on the Experimental Farm have 

 shown that by far the best returns have been received from two ploughings ; and more 

 noticeably was this the case when the first ploughing had been completed in May or 

 June. Without doubt, two ploughings cause a greater growth of straw and con- 

 sequently in a wet year the grain is several days later in maturing, causing greater 

 danger from frost; but taking the seasons so far passed, 1884 excepted, two ploughings 

 with as much surface cultivation as possible in between, may be safely recommended. 



' Above all it is of the greatest importance that the first ploughing be as deep as 

 possible, and that it be done in time to receive the June and July rains.' 



After seventeen years' further experience and observation, the following was written 

 on this subject in the Annual Report of the Experimental Farm for 190G. 



FROM REPORT OF 1906. 



Methods of Preparing Soil for Grain Crops. 



methods of preparing new ground. 



' In view of the fact that every year brings to the Northwest many new settlers 

 who are unacquainted with the methods of breaking up and preparing new land for 

 crop, a few suggestions with regard to this important work may not be amiss. 



' In all sections where the sod is thick and tough, breaking and backsetting 

 should be done; while in the districts where bluffs abound and the sod is thin, deep 

 breaking is all that is necessary. 



' The former is generally applicable to the southern and western portions, and 

 the latter to the northeastern part of Saskatchewan, where the land is more or less 

 covered with bluffs. 



BREAKING AND BACKSETTING. 



' The sod should be turned over as thin as possible, and for this purpose a walk- 

 ing plough with a 12 or 14-inch share, is the best. When the breaking is complete! 

 (which should not be later than the second week in July), rolling will hasten the 

 rotting process and permit backsetting to commence early in August. 



' Backsetting is merely turning the sod back to its original place, and at the 

 same time bringing up two or three inches of fresh soil to cover it. The ploughing 

 should be done in the same direction as the breaking and the same width of furrow 

 turned. Two inches below the breaking is considered deep enough but three to four 

 inches will give better results. 



' After backsetting, the soil cannot be made too fine, and the use of disc or Ran- 

 dall harrow to cut up every piece of un rotted sod, will complete the work.' 



DEEP BREAKING. 



'Deep breaking, which iu some sections of the country is the only practicable way 

 of preparing new land, and which i-. unfortunately, done in some instances where 

 breaking and backsetting world give much more satisfactory results, consists in the 



