REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 203 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Innisfail, July 16.— Mr. F. M. Oldham in the chair. A well attended meeting. 

 Awnless Brome Grass was a subject much discussed. Mr. Mackay referred to the 

 fact that this grass was not so highly esteemed at Calgary and Pincher Creek as at 

 other places in the Territories. He had found it excellent in every way at Indian 

 Head and considered the hay the best he had grown for horses. The seed could be 

 gown at any time, but he preferred sowing directly after seeding spring grain without 

 a nurse-crop, as there is not enough soil-moisture at Indian Head to support both 

 crops to the best advantage. He attributed some of the failures in the Calgary dis- 

 trict to too heavy seeding ; 8 or 10 lbs. of seed per acre was the proper quantity to sow. 

 There was no difficulty in eradicating Brome Grass if the work was done properly. 

 The sod should be broken 2 or 21 inches deep during hot weather in June and back-set 

 in August. To prevent the blowing away of surface soil, which was a trouble in some 

 parts of the North-west, Brome Grass and Western Rye-grass were of great value. 

 In his experiments he had found that wheat did best on Western Rye-grass sod, and 

 oats and barley on Brome sod. One crop of Brome Grass would provide fibre in the 

 soil for three or four crops of wheat or other grain. An animated discussion was held 

 on the weed question, and Mr. Mackay paid a high tribute to the good farming of 

 Mr. Henry Briggs, whose farm he had visited the previous day and had found to be 

 one of the cleanest farms he had seen in the Territories ; this farm showed what could 

 be done by good work. A large collection of weeds was examined and the characters 

 of each were explained. The value of summer-fallowing for the purpose of clearing 

 land of weeds was pointed out. This should be done early and followed by not more 

 than three or four cultivations so as to allow seedlings time to germinate. It wa3 

 quite possible to cultivate land so frequently in hot weather that the germination of 

 seeds could not take place, and the land would be left almost as dirty as when the 

 work was begun. 



Mr. Gregson compared the condition of farms in the Innisfail district this year 

 and last. He also showed examples of Stink Weed and Canada Thistle collected in 

 the locality and warned farmers against allowing these troublesome pests to spread. 



Bed Deer, July 17 — Mr. A. Cole in the chair. The meeting was small, owing 

 to another important meeting on school matters being held at the same time. Among 

 weeds brought to the meeting by Mr. Gregson were samples of Canada Thistle, four 

 feet high ; Stink Weed, two feet ; Shepherd's Purse, 18 inches ; Larkspur, five feet ; 

 Wormseed Mustard, three feet, and Gray Tansy Mustard, four feet. Red Deer is an 

 older settled district than some others in northern Alberta ; the settlers from Innis- 

 fail and Red Deer to Lacombe are chiefly from Ontario. 



Strathcona. — This thriving town, formerly known as South Edmonton, was 

 reached on the evening of July 18, which was marked by an unusual phenomenon 

 for the locality, a furious hail storm, which, together with two preceding storms at 

 recent date, had worked great havoc on the crops and all other vegetation. A meeting 

 was held at 2 o'c, of 19th, Mr. McLean in the chair. Mr. Mclntyre, the secretary, 

 had worked up the meeting well, but other interests prevented a very large attendance. 

 Mr. Mackay spoke of summer-fallowing, and much interest was evinced in weeds. 

 Farmers were warned against Ball Mustard (Neslia panicalata, Desv.), which was the 

 most prevalent weed noticed in grain fields from Calgary to this point. Mr. T. N. 

 Willing spoke of the necessity of farmers in the Edmonton district taking more pains 

 to clear weeds from their crops, particularly from oats. Mr. George Batho exhibited 

 samples of Russian Pig-weed (Axyris amarantoides, L.), which was spreading rapidly 

 through the Territories, particularly along lines of railway. It is a bad weed of 

 vigorous growth, with hard wiry stems, which are difficult to cut. In the winter it be- 

 comes a tumble weed. 



Clover Bar, July 20. — Mr. Daly in the chair. Leaving Strathcona at 10 o'clock, 

 we drove over roads, bad, owing to late rains, to Clover Bar, a very thriving district 



