REPORT OF ME. G. H. HUTTON 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



BARLEY— TEST OF VARIETIES IN FIELD LOTS. 



491 



Three varieties of barley were sown in field lots on April 20 on land ploughed out 

 of timothy sod in the summer of 1909. 



TEST OF THE SOIL PACKER. 



The surface soil packer was tried this year with wheat, oats and barley, the packer 

 following the drill. This land was ploughed out of sod in 1909, all packed, disced and 

 <horoughly worked. The cultivation given the plots was exactly the same, except for 

 the once going over with the packer after the grain was sown. This is the fourth 

 season during which the soil packer has been tested, and each year the results have 

 been strongly in favour of its use. An average of the results would show an increased 

 yield sufficient, on 100 acres of crop, to pay for the packer in one season with grain at 

 average market prices. The large proportion of the land in Central Alberta is rich in 

 humus and, when freshly turned by the plough, lies loosely with numerous relatively 

 large spaces. The packer closes the majority of these air spaces by compressing the 

 soil, thus preventing the too free circulation of air which would carry away with it 

 large quantities of moisture. The advantage of using the packer immediately after 

 the breaker or the plough (whether in fall or spring) is thus made apparent. The 

 advantage of the use of the packer after the grain drill lies in the fact that the seed 

 and soil are brought into close contact, that moisture promptly rises to the seed, that 

 germination is more uniform and rapid, and that the young rootlets readily establish 

 themselves in the firm soil. According to the ' Census and Statistics Monthly ' for 

 December, 1910, we had in the province of Alberta 1,722,000 acres under wheat, oats, 

 barley, rye and flax. It is probably safe to say that not more than one-third of the area 

 sown to these different crops was packed. If the use of the soil packer will increase 

 the yields on this area by five bushels per acre (which, judging by results here, is a 

 moderate estimate) the increased money return to the farmers of the province who do 

 not pack their land, valuing wheat at 80 cents per bushel, barley at 40 cents and oats at 

 25 cents per bushel would be $2,492,867. 



