REPORT OF MR. G. E. BUTTON 



495 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Land rental $1 60 



Ploughing 1 20 



Packing 25 



Dragging twice 25 



Seed, 3 bushels ' 105 



Seeding 30 



Packing 25 



Harrowing after grain is up 12| 



Cutting 50 



Twine 25 



Shocking 25 



Threshing, 5 cents per bushel, yield 70 bushels 3 50 



Delivery 'l 40 



$10 021 



Cost to grow and sell yield of 70 bushels per acre is (per bushel) 15.6 cents. 

 Cost to grow and sell yield of 24-27 bushels per acre, threshing cost being $1.21 

 and delivery cost being 48 cents is (per bushel) 31.8 cents. 



PEAS AND OATS AS A MIXTURE FOR GREEN FEED OR FOR CURING 



FOR HAY. 



A plot of peas and oats was sown on April 21 at the rate of two bushels each of 

 seed per acre. This was sown on land ploughed out of brome sod in 1909 after the 

 hay crop was harvested. The growth of the crop was remarkable and illustrates what 

 may be done in the way of supplying soiling crops throughout the summer for dairy 

 cattle or other farm stock. The crop was cut on July 30 while still quite green, though 

 far enough advanced to cure into hay of the best quality. The yield was at the rate 

 of 25,440 pounds green which cured into hay of good quality at the rate of 12.300 

 pounds per acre. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ALFALFA. 



In the spring of 1909, the following varieties of alfalfa were received from the 

 Central Experimental Farm and sown on small plots side by side. After the ground 

 had frozen in the fall of that year one hundred plants in each plot were counted out 

 and surrounded by a cord so that the exact location of the plants counted could readily 

 be determined the following spring. After growth commenced in the spring of 1910, 

 the plants still living were again counted and a comparison of hardiness thus 

 arrived at. 



Hardiness of Different Strains of Alfalfa. 



Name. 



Medicago falcata 



Grimm Alfalfa, from A. B. 



Turkestan 



Old Frankish Lucerne 



Grimm Alfalfa 



Canadian Alfalfa 



Montana Alfalfa 



Sand Lucerne 



Lyman, Excelsior, Minn. 



Number. 



24,452 



25,022 

 25,102 

 24,836 

 23,454 

 23,394 



1'er Cent. 

 Living. 



100 

 95 

 92 

 69 

 52 

 36 

 24 

 20 



