REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 29 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Three thousand feet of ditch was dug to take off surface water and drain swampy 

 land, 4,346 feet of tile of diameters ranging from 3 inches to 24 inches was laid and 

 seventy 24-inch square cedar culverts put in. Two drop wells, 6 feet x 3 feet x 29 

 feet concreted, were dug to receive laterals. Two wells 7 feet deep x 3 feet diameter 

 lined with brick furnish an abundance of good water for domestic and horticultural 

 requirements. 



AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



The land on the station is slightly rolling, with a loamy soil, varying in depth 

 from one to several feet. The subsoil is a brick and tile clay, containing 12 to 24 per 

 cent of iron oxide and aluminium oxide. 



Fifty acres have been stoned, cleared, levelled, ploughed, harrowed and rolled, 

 ready for crop. It is proposed to devote twenty acres of this to shrubbery, small 

 fruits and vegetables, and the other thirty will be sown to oats, clover and roots. Hot 

 and cold frames are now (March 31) in operation, forcing the seeds for an early 

 planting-out in 200-foot plots. 



Plane and dogwood trees will be set out along the 150-foct avenue which extends 

 to the water-front from the East Saanich road, a distance of some 2,810 feet. The 

 clearing, draining, levelling and grading of this road is now well under way. 



LIVE STOCK. 



Five general-purpose horses have been bought for the farm work. These are all 

 in good condition and working well. 



BUILDINGS. 



When work on the Station was started in October, 1912, there were some build- 

 ings on the property, which have been temporarily adapted for stabling, storing feed 

 and implements, workshop, office, etc. 



The commanding location of the Station, the magnificent view of mount Baker, 

 Bazan bay and the straits of Georgia, the uniform elevation running from the water- 

 front to the west boundary with a fairly even seven per cent gradfe, the variety of 

 soils, the plentiful supply of pure water from natural springs, the even climatic con- 

 ditions the year round, all make for a future ideal farm. 



THE DIVISION OE FIELD HUSBANDRY. 



Field crop experimentation which, in the past, has formed a part of the work of 

 a larger Division having to do with both the culture of field crops and the raising of 

 live stock, now constitutes a Division in itself. 



Its work is being directed along very practical lines and, as relating to all 

 Experimental Farms and Stations, briefly includes: — 



1. Investigations of the relative merits of different crop rotations, includ- 

 ing special rotations for ' dry farming ' conditions. 



2. Studies in the methods of culture of, and curing, field crops. A series 

 of cultural experiments adapted to prairie conditions has now been under way 

 two years on each of the six prairie Farms. These tests involve approximately 

 five hundred plots on each Farm, and include twelve different lines of investiga- 

 tion. 



3. Determinations of the costs of growing field crops under regular farm 

 conditions. 



4. Experiments to show the value of under-drainage and irrigation. 



