1-2 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1902 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



REPORT OF THOMAS A. SHAKPE, SUPERINTENDENT. 



Agassiz, B.C., Nov. 30, 1901. 

 To Dr. Wm. Saunders, 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa. 



Sir, — I have the honour herewith to submit my report of the experiments carried 

 on and progress of the general work of the Experimental Farm for the year 1901. 



The season has been. on the whole a favourable one for hay, grain and root crops, 

 but unfavourable for fruits. January was ratber stormy, alternating between snow, 

 and rain, the year opening with snow on the ground, and there were several falls agre- 

 gating nineteen inches, which lay until the 11th, when it began to rain. From then to 

 the end of the month there was a little over five inches, but it was never very cold, the 

 lowest temperature being on the 9th, when it reached 11 degrees above zero. February 

 was milder, and fairer, the rainfall being only 2£ inches, and the snowfall 7 inches, 

 the lowest temperature was on the fifth when it registered 16 above zero. March was 

 milder, 6 degrees of frost on the 21th being the lowest point reached, but there were 

 seventeen rainy days, and the rains were cold, and very disagreeable. Peach, apricot, 

 nectarine, almond, and early blossoming plums were in bloom in the last few days of 

 the month, and the last 8 days of the month were storrny, which was injurious to the 

 fruit blossoms. 



April opened with a fall of two inches of snow, followed by rain storms up to the 

 5th when there was another snowfall of two inches, and the month continued cold and 

 wet, there being fourteen rainy days with the prevailing winds from the north, north- 

 east and north-west, with light frosts on a number of mornings. On the 13th the tem- 

 perature fell to 28 which was disastrous to the fruit crop generally. May continued 

 cool, and rather wet with rain storms on thirteen days and the wind mostly from the 

 north. June began with rain on the first nine days, and cool westerly, and north- 

 westerly winds, rain fell on 21 days, there were only 80 hours of sunshine in this month. 

 Under these conditions, it was almost impossible to cure clover hay, and growth up to 

 the end of this month was backward. 



July was fine, clear and bright, there being only seven showery days with a rain- 

 fall for the month of 1£ inches. August was dry and warm throughout, it being tbe 

 first month since the meteorological records have been kept at this station, that there 

 was no rain to record, and only a few cloudy days. September was another beautiful 

 month, with about l£ inches of rain, and the lowest temperature recorded was 35 on 

 the 28th. There were a few light showers on the 10, 11, 12, and 13th of October, and 

 bright warm days up to the latter part of the month when it began to rain and rained 

 pretty steadily up to the close of the month. 



The first frost of the season came on November 11, up to which time it had rained 

 very frequently from the first. 



The rainfall as a whole has been much the lightest for some years, but the number 

 of rainy days in the winter and spring months has been greater than usual, especially 

 in the months of April, May and June, and as the prevailing winds in those montbs 

 were from a northerly direction, the}- were usually cool months, and unfavourable 

 for tbe crovrth of fruits. 



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