REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 73 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION FOR THE ANNAPOLIS VALLEY. 



Kentville, N.S. 



The Superintendent, Mr. W. S. Blair, assumed his duties on the loth of June. 

 Active work at this Station was started in the spring. During the summer, several 

 buildings were erected, grading was done, and necessary roads were made. As 

 the greater portion of the farm was in woods when taken over, the labour on the 

 land has been principally stumping, clearing and breaking. An orchard of eighteen 

 and one-half acres was set out in May, on land which had been cleared the pre- 

 vious season. 



LOCATION. 



This Station is located partly within the limits of the town of Kentville, about 

 one mile from the centre of the town. It extends from the Cornwallis river in a 

 southwestern direction for about one and one-third miles. The width of the farm is 

 variable, running from 1,200 feet frontage on the main road leading from Kentville 

 to Wolfville, to 2,400 feet at the widest point farther south. The Dominion Atlantic 

 railway runs through the northern section of the farm. 



FARM AREAS. 



The farm at present comprises an area of 294 acres. The first purchase from 

 Kenneth Sharp was for an area of 250 acres. During this year, 44 acres were pur- 

 chased from Eugene Roy. An option is held on 7 acres, which it is proposed to add 

 to the above area, making in all 301 acres. The marsh land survey is 11£ acres of 

 which 9 acres are within the dyke. About 18 acres on the northern portion of the 

 farm, on which the buildings are located, which is more or less broken with abrupt 

 hills and will not be fit for agricultural purposes, has been graded ready for seeding 

 to grass, and will be given over largely to ornamental planting. Some scattered 

 apple trees around the hillside on this area produce annually about one hundred 

 barrels of apples, principally Ribston and King. Above this, there is 55 acres which 

 has recently been cleared from woods, of which 18£ acres have been planted to 

 orchard. The most of this 55-acre field is now in fairly good condition for cropping. 

 It is all sloping toward the north, and the soil is of a sandy loam, thin and poor. 

 Above this, extending to the southern boundary, the land is fairly level, not quite so 

 sandy and apparently more fertile. Sixty acres of this is ready for stumping and 

 ploughing, and another forty to fifty acres no win woods will be cleared later. About 

 100 acres is taken up by a deep ravine, some one and one-quarter miles long, which is 

 heavily wooded. This area will not be cleared but will be preserved as a natural park. 



BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTED. 



During the summer, eight buildings were constructed. The Superintendents 

 house, 43 by 40 feet, with a kitchen 2S by 18 feet; foreman's house, 30 by 30 feet, 

 with a kitchen 24 by 12 feet; double tenement house for herdsman and gardener, 

 40 by 32 feet, with kitchen 30 by 25 feet; barn, 78 by 47 feet, to accommodate 

 horses and twenty-five head of other stock, with a root house, 38 by 18 feet and 10 

 feet deep, to hold 100 tons roots, and a silo, 30 feet high and 15 feet in diameter, 

 125 tons corn; attached carriage house, 30 by 18 feet; dairy building, 20 by 15 feet; 

 poultry building, 26 by 18 feet, and a greenhouse, 50 by 20 feet, with potting and 



