REPORT OF TEE DIRECTOR 101 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



A large number of varieties of oats, barley, peas and spring and winter wheats 

 were tested. Experiments in rates of seed, and also dates of seeding with wheat, 

 oats and barley were carried out. Flax was also put in at different dates, and our 

 results would indicate tbat it would be profitable for farmers to sow this crop from 

 one to three weeks earlier than they usually do. Tests were made with different 

 varieties of turnips, mangels, carrots, sugar beets and corn. With forage plants, 

 over 100 plots of grasses and mixtures of grasses and clovers were sown on both tbe 

 irrigated and dry land to endeavour to obtain some data in regard to the best pasture 

 grass or mixture of grasses. 



In the horticultural department the usual number of varieties of vegetables and 

 flowers were tested. The strawberries were injured by the frost of June 6, and the 

 crop was a practical failure, from a commercial standpoint. Raspberries and cur- 

 rants yielded well; of the latter, the red and white bore quite satisfactorily, but the 

 crop of fruit on the blacks was rather light. An apple, the first since the farm was 

 started, was produced on a. tree of Florence crab. 



CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS. 



The various experiments in cultural methods included under ' Prairie Breaking/ 

 ' Depth of Ploughing,' ' Summer-fallow Treatment,' ' Stubble Treatment,' ' Seeding to 

 Grass and Clover,' ' Breaking Sod from Cultivated Grasses,' ' Applying Barnyard 

 Manure.' ' Green Manuring,' ' Seed Bed Preparation,' ' Soil Packers,' ' Depth of 

 Seeding,' ' Commercial Fertilizer,' and ' Underdraining ' were carried along success- 

 fully. Careful examination of the results reveals the fact that there is a much greater 

 uniformity in the yields than might be expected, considering the diversity of treat- 

 ment given the different plots in the various experiments, as to methods of cultiva- 

 tion. It is rather difficult to suggest a satisfactory explanation for this, unless it 

 can be attributed to the rather unusual climatic conditions prevailing during the 

 season, for the crops on all the plots began to show the lack of sufficient moisture 

 soon after they were well up. As indicated in the table at the end of this report, 

 the precipitation during April and May was very light, and during June only 0-71 

 inches fell up to the 27th of the month. This was not sufficient to maintain maxi- 

 mum growth even on land in which a good supply of moisture had been stored during 

 the previous season by careful cultivation with this special object in view, conse- 

 quently, the crops on all the plots suffered acutely up to the time the rains came. 

 With the oats, a second growth started, which in most cases ripened, so that they 

 yielded relatively better than did the wheat and barley. 



The experiment in depth of seeding was interesting in that it seemed to throw 

 some light on a rather controversial question, which is, whether it is advisable to 

 sow grain deep or shallow in the early spring. As would be expected, the shallow- 

 seeded grain came up first, but beyond this it did not seem to have any advantage 

 over that sown three or four inches deep. It is often maintained, when the seed 

 is planted deep, that an added strain ifi put on the plant by having to establish a 

 secondary set of roots near the surface. So far as this year's results are concerned, 

 there was nothing to indicate that such was the case. Under the conditions prevail- 

 ing here, where we are subject to so much windy weather during April which dries 

 the land out and drifts the surface soil, it is important to seed deep to obtain an 

 even stand, if we can do so without detrimental results. 



ROTATIONS. 



In one or two cases, extra large yields were obtained from fields in the regular 

 rotations. The field of turnips on the dry land rotation ' T,' sown on summer- 

 fallow, yielded 25 tons per acre, giving a net profit, with turnips valued at $3 per 



