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



EXPERIMENTAL STATION FOR 

 SOUTHERN ALBERTA. 



REPORT OF W. H. FAIRFIELD, M.S., SUPERINTENDENT. 



Letubkiix;e, Alta., March 31, 1911. 



Dr. William Saunders, C.M.G., 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa, Ont. 



Sir,— I have the honour to submit the fourth annual report of the operations on 

 the Experimental Station for Southern Alberta, at Lethbridge, for the year ending 

 March 31, 1911. Three seasons' crops have been grown, the first spring and summer 

 after the Station was established being devoted to the breaking and preparation of the 

 sod. 



The results obtained during the season of 1910 on the Farm here are of more than 

 usual interest, due to the fact of the season being so extremely dry. The necessity 

 of a farmer summer-fallowing at least a portion of his land every year, to insure 

 against a dry season, is clearly emphasized, for in reality the so-called ' new science of 

 dry farming' is merely intelligent summer-fallowing either once in two or once in 

 three years. By ploughing the land in the spring and not allowing any vegetation 

 whatsoever to grow all summer, the larger part of the moisture that falls at this time 

 is carried over in the soil for the use of the crop the next year. The past season has 

 the undesirable distinction of being the driest in southern Alberta since reliable 

 meteorological observations have been made, and, according to the statements of the 

 older residents, there has been no summer so dry since 1886. During the autumn of 

 1909 there were no rains worth mentioning. The autumn was followed by a winter 

 of practically no snow. The amount of the total precipitation during the following 

 months in 1910 speaks for itself, and no further explanation of the light yields is 

 required ■ — 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



17 

 28 

 79 

 53 



09 



Total 1.86 



Although it may scarcely be necessary to offer any further suggestions as to the 

 reason for the small yields reported in the following pages, still the fact that we 

 obtained the crops that we did is certainly extraordinary, considering the fact that 

 less than one and two-thirds inches of moisture fell on the grain from the time it was 

 sown in April till it was harvested in July. Not once during this whole four months 

 did we get a good rain; what little moisture there was came in small showers that did 

 net wet the surface of the soil deeper than two inches at any time. Crops sown on 

 land that had not been summer-fallowed in 1009 failed to produce a yield of any kind. 



