i94 EXPKRniEMAL FARMS 



2 GEORGE V., A. 1912 



ROTATION ' V.' 



1. Alfalfa, continuously. Located south of rotation ' N ' and in same block. 



ROTATION ' A.' 



1. Grain, continuously. Oats will be grown on this plot without rest or manure, 

 and the plot will be located in the triangle east of the railway and will be numbered 

 ■ A ' in the check plots as below. 



CHECK PLOTS. 



Numbering A, K, L. X. O, C, from southeast corner of Station in triangle east of 

 Canadian Pacific Railway from which Mr. Frank T. Shutt, Dominion Chemist, will 

 make chemical determinations. All these plots will be in wheat in 1011. 



COST OF PRODUCTION OF GRAIN CROPS. 



The average yield per acre of all grain crops in Alberta is far below what should 

 be produced on comparatively new land. A large amount of breaking is being done 

 each year. In 1910 there was an increased area of 310,500 acres under crop. This 

 area of new land bearing its first crop constituted almost one-fifth of the total acreage 

 sown. The average yield of the three leading grain crops in Alberta in 1910 is given 

 in the ' Census and Statistics Monthly ' for December as follows : — 



Per Acre. 



Wheat (winter and spring) 12-4 bushels. 



Oats ■ 24-27 " 



Barley 20-32 " 



Though the season of 1910 was unusually dry, much larger yields would have 

 been secured if a good system of cultivation had been followed on every farm. The 

 ligures give no indication of the possibilities of the soil, but reveal the fact that many 

 farmers give little thought to how they do their work or the cost of poor work'. 



As a means of increasing yield and at the same time reducing the cost of produc- 

 tion, it is suggested that more attention should be given by farmers to determining that 

 cost. The work necessary to determine the cost of producing crops would reveal the 

 weak spots in the system being practised and make it possible to curtail losses and 

 extend the business along the lines proving most profitable. To illustrate: — 



As a result of our experimental work with the soil packer, we have found that by 

 packing the land after the seed drill, at an additional expense per acre of twenty-five 

 cents, we have been able to reduce the cost of producing oats by as much as two centa 

 per bushel; in other words to fail to spend twenty-five cents per acre on certain 

 cultivation, would mean a loss of three dollars and ninety-seven cents per acre. The 

 very fact that a farmer sets about to know what it cost him to produce a bushel oi 

 grain would have a strong influence in preventing him from being an average farmer. 

 It does not pay to be an average farmer. As is pointed out above, the average yield 

 of oats in Alberta iu 1910 was 24.27 bushels per acre. Our cost of producing oats on 

 stubble land, figuring a man and a four-horse outfit at $6 per day, which is considered 

 sufficiently liberal to cover depreciation in machinery, is as follows: — 



