78 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION FOR EASTERN QUEBEC. 



Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere, Que. 

 the farm : situation, area and nature. 



The Experimental Station for Eastern Quebec has been described as follows in 

 the Experimental Farms Report for 1911: — 



' This farm is composed of two holdings, one of eighty-four arpents, occupied 

 by Mr. Antonio Gendron, and a part of that occupied by Mr. Georges Hudon, about 

 sixty arpents, making 144 arpents, or about 120 acres, in all. 



' These properties lie immediately west of Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere station on 

 the Intercolonial railway. They are traversed from east to west by the main 

 travelled road of the counties of Kamouraska and LTslet. A much-used road to the 

 southward starts on the west side of the Gendron property. 



' These farms consist each of a stretch of level land extending south from the 

 Intercolonial railway for about 1,100 yards to the foot of a hill, from which point 

 they rise for another 1,000 yards, or thereabouts. The level part of the land consists 

 of heavy clay soil, possible of drainage, which would be needed. The upper, or rising 

 land, consists of porous gravelly soil, in some parts covered, to a greater or lesser 

 extent, with boulders. The hill land is, in part, arable, or capable of being made so. 

 The lots are each about 120 yards wide. The land would be very suitable for experi- 

 mental work, as it is quite typical, in character and situation, of the land of this 

 district.' 



To complete this description, it may be stated that the farm is situated seventy- 

 five miles from the city of Quebec, in latitude 47-22 north and longitude 70-02 west, 

 on the south shore of the St. Lawrence. The average altitude from the St. Lawrence 

 river is 47 feet for the low part of the land and 334 feet for the southern limit. As 

 the farm rises from the railway like an amphitheatre, a good view of it may he 

 obtained from the Intercolonial trains. 



A creek runs obliquely through the farm, at the foot of the hill; the water in 

 this creek is of excellent quality. It is the surplus of the springs on the hill, which 

 have been piped. The water pipe, which belongs to the Ste. Anne de la Pocatiere 

 college, passes along the western boundary, and supplies the farm with water. 



THE SEASON. 



The season was extremely damp and cold, most unfavourable for field work and 

 the ripening of crops. More than 80 per cent of the farmers of this district will have 

 to import seed grain for next year. The hay crop, which looked very promising at 

 the beginning of the season, only gave an average yield, of poor quality. 



It rained for twelve consecutive days, from the 1st to the 17th of June. During 

 ^ lie night of the 15th the creeks overflowed their banks and the low land was sub- 

 merged. The grain which had been sown during the first week of May was damaged 

 to some extent. However, only the grain sown at that time gave satisfactory yield.-, 

 for from the 14th May to the 20th June, very little seed could be sown in this district. 



The land on the Experimental Station had been so carefully prepared during the 

 fall of 1911 that the average yield of oats, in spite of the unfavourable season, was 

 32 bushels to the acre. 



The Indian corn was sown on June 24 and 25; it came up well and made a good 

 >wth during the first half of July, which was dry and rather hot. 



The latter part of July and August was very damp, cold and cloudy. Haying 

 was slow and difficult. A splendid second growth was obtained on clover meadows 



