2 GEORGE V. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1912 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION FOR 

 CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN 



REPORT OF WM. A. MUNRO, B.A., B.S.A., SUPERINTENDENT. 



Rosthern, March 31, 1911. 



Dr. Wm. Saunders, C.M.G., 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa, Ont. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the second annual report of the 

 Experimental Station for Central Saskatchewan at Rosthern. 



The spring of 1911 opened the earliest of any in the experience of the oldest 

 settler, and seeding began in some instances as early as the last week in March, and 

 became quite general by the middle of April. Severe frosts occurred on May 1, 16 

 and 21, which cut back the barley to the ground, and did much damage to the peas, 

 oats and wheat. Almost no moisture fell between the melting of the snow in March 

 ind June 3, and high winds prevailed almost constantly. Three-quarters of the Farm 

 had been thoroughly summer-fallowed the year previous, and there was plenty of 

 moisture for the germination of grain crops, but the dry dust mulch drifted so much 

 that it was impossible to get small seeds to germinate and grow, and the drifting soil 

 did much damage to the grain. On June 3 moisture appeared in the form of a snow 

 storm which germinated many weeds, and the weeds attained such a vigorous start 

 over the weakened grain that the uniform trial plots of peas, oats and barley were 

 •Ploughed under and the wheat plots were not what they otherwise might have been. 



During August and September, there was an abundance of rainfall which did 

 much to bring on such crops as had made a fair start. The Indian corn, however, 

 n-as too late in starting and never came to tassel, and was therefore not harvested. 

 The seed of the root crops germinated slowly and unevenly, and the development of 

 the young plants was slow. In August, a second growth started on the carrot?, evi- 

 dently due to the abundance of moisture in the latter part of the season. 



SPRING WHEAT. 



Sixteen varieties of spring wheat were sown on one-twentieth acre plot-. 



The plot of Marquis wheat gave a poor stand but better success was obtained with 

 a half-acre plot which yielded at the rate of nearly 28 bushels per acre. 



Four plots of Red Fife were sown on successive dates one week apart, and were 

 cut on the same day, no difference appearing in their time of ripening. The difference 

 of yield is no doubt as much influenced by the difference of the effect of the drifting 

 soil as by the difference in the time of seeding. A correct conclusion can only be 

 arrived at in such a case by averaging a number of years of experiments. 



10—28$ 



