REPORT OF MR. W. H. FAIRFIELD 45] 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



it may be flattened down by a weighted float. The earlier the breaking after the grass 

 has started growth, the better will be the results. In the latter part of July or early 

 in August, if winter wheat is to be sown, the land is again ploughed (with stubble 

 bottom ploughs) about two or three inches deeper than it was broken. The depth of 

 this second ploughing should be governed by the depth of rotting that has taken place 

 in the subsoil. In ordinary years, where the land has been broken in May or early in 

 June, the grass roots for about two inches down in the subsoil have become rotted. 

 If spring grain is to be sown, this second ploughing or ' backsetting' may be done any 

 time in August or. if desired, in September when the sods and grass roots are better 

 rotted, but, on the other hand, the land is apt to be a little drier at that time 

 and consequently the soil is inclined to be too loose, which tends to make it 

 dry out. This condition can be largely overcome by the use of a subsurface packer 

 used at noon and at night before leaving the field. The packer should be imme- 

 diately followed by a harrow. After backsetting, a seed bed can often be prepared by 

 the use of a harrow only, but a disc should be used if the conditions of the ground 

 require it. Special attention should be called to the importance of harrowing each 

 day's ploughing at night before leaving the field. If an engine is used, the harrow 

 should be attached to the plough, or, if horses are used on a sulky or a gang plough, 

 one section of a harrow should be attached so that the land is harrowed as fast as it 

 is turned. This practice of harrowing land immediately after it is ploughed should 

 always be followed ; too much stress cannot be laid on this point. 



It might be well to state here that backsetting is the only feasible way of preparing 

 land that is to be used for a garden or for trees and shrubs the second season after 

 a settler goes on raw land. 



SUMMER-FALLOWING. 



In speaking of this subject, Mr. Angus Mackay, Superintendent, Experimental 

 Farm, Indian Head, puts in a concise way some of the advantages of summer-fallow, 

 with special reference to its application to conditions in southern Saskatchewan, which 

 are in so many ways similar to those found in southern Alberta, the one notable 

 exception being that, so far, winter wheat has not been very successful there. He 

 says : — 



' Among the many advantages to the credit of the practice of summer-fallow- 

 ing may be mentioned : The conservation of moisture, the eradication of weeds, 

 the preparation of the land for grain crops at a time when no other work is press- 

 ing, the availability of summer-fallowed land for seeding at the earliest possible 

 date in the spring and the minor advantages of having suitable land for the grow- 

 ing of pure seed, potatoes, roots and vegetables at the least cost and with the great- 

 est chance for success, and that of being able to secure two good crops of grain 

 with little or no further cultivation. 



Mr. Mackay adds, however: — 



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

 growing of grain, and more particularly wheat, remains the principal industry of 

 the province, it will be necessary to store up moisture against a possible dry 

 season, to restrain the weeds from over-running the land and, on account of the 

 short season, 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 disadvantages 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 disappear.' 

 16— 2H 



