ANNUAL REPORT 



ON THE 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND ACTING AGRICULTURIST. 

 (WM. SAUNDERS, LL.D., F.B.S.C, F.L.S,) 



In tb« eleventh annual report of the Experimental Farms herewith submitted 

 there will be found much information on agricultural topics, also on subjects bearing on 

 agriciilture ; the results of a large number of experiments which have been conducted 

 during the season of 1897 at each of the Experimental Farms with all the more impor- 

 tant farm crops. These experiments have been planned to gain further information as 

 to the most productive varieties to sow, also to find out which are the earliest to ripen. 

 Additional information has also been sought as to the best time for sowing, the proper 

 depth to sow, and the quantity of seed that should be used to produce the best results. 



The advantages arising from the selection of plump, well matured seed of the best 

 sorts, have been frequently urged and the good results arising from such a course 

 demonstrated. New sorts are obtained by careful selection and cultivation, by the 

 preservation and culture of occasional sports ; also by cross-fertilizing. The farmer who 

 tries to make the best of his opportunities may do much to improve both the character 

 and quality of the grain he grows, and may with judicious care often raise crops of such 

 quality as will command high prices for seed from his less thoughtful neighbours. 



The judicious use of fertilizers to maintain the fertility of the land and to restore 

 in the most economical manner those important elements of plant food which have been 

 taken from the soil by frequent cropping, is a question of much importance ; so also is 

 that of the relative value of natural and artificial fertilizers for this purpose. Many 

 interesting facts are given in this connection in that part of the report where the results 

 obtained from the tests made with different fertilizers and combinations of fertilizers are 

 noted on the special trial plots which have been devoted to that purpose for the past 

 nine or ten years. Further information has been gained regarding the value of green 

 crops for ploughing under to enrich the land, especially such leguminous crops as clover. 

 The fact has been demonstrated that such crops can be put in with spring-sown grain 

 without reducing the yield of such cereals, and that after the grain has been harvested 

 the clover will grow vigorously during the summer, act as a catch crop all the season, by 

 appropriating the elements of fertility which are brought down by the rain, and at the 

 same time gather and lay up in its roots and leaves a large store of nitrogen for the use 

 of subsequent crops. The tests, which have now been continued for several years, have 

 shown such convincing results that during the last season nearly all the grain fields on 

 the Central Experimental Farm have been sown with clover in this way. The quantities 

 of fertilizing constituents which may thus be added to the soil at a small cost, are shown 

 by the analyses which have been made and reported on by the Chemist of the Experi- 

 mental Farms. 



