42 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



BROMUS INERMIS. 



AWNLESS BROME GRASS. 



One acre of this grass was sown in the spring of 1896 with Odessa barley. This 

 was reported on in the annual report of the Experimental Farms for 1896, page 40. 

 This grass wintered well and made a rapid and early growth in the spring, the field 

 being quite green before timothy had made a start. The plants, however, were too thin 

 to entirely cover the ground. The quantity of seed sown per acre was 18 pounds, which 

 is usually sufficient to make a thick mat of growth the second year. Possibly in this 

 instance the seed did not all germinate, some of it may have been too deeply covered. 

 A crop of hay was cut on the 6th of July when the brome grass measured on an average 

 three feet high and yielded 1 ton 1,210 pounds of cured hay to the acre. Timothy 

 gave about 1^ ton per acre. Had this grass been thicker on the ground, the crop 

 would no doubt liave been considerably heavier. Later in the season a good aftermath 

 was produced, and the grass thickened up and covered the ground better. The farm 

 animals eat the hay made from this grass very readily. It seems altogether probable that 

 Awnless Brome grass in the eastern parts of Canada wUl prove valuable, as it has 

 already done in the North-west, both for hay and pasture. 



TESTS OP THE ACTION OF FERTILIZERS ON SOME CROPS. 



In the annual report of the Experimental Farms for 1893, details were given on 

 pages 8 to 24 of the results of a series of tests which were carried on during the pre- 

 vious five or six years with the object of gaining information regarding the effects 

 which follow the application of certain fertilizers and combinations of fertilizers on the 

 more important crops. The particulars there given covered the results of six years' 

 experience with crops of wheat and Indian corn, and five years' experience with crops 

 of oats, barley, turnips and mangels. The results of similar tests conducted for three 

 years with carrots and one year with sugar beets were also given. 



These experiments have been continued ; and as explanatory regarding the prepar- 

 ations made and the general plan, together with the way in which they have been 

 carried on, the following paragraphs are quoted from the report of 1893 : 



*' A piece of sandy loam, more or less mixed with clay, which was originally covered 

 with heavy timber, chiefly white pine, was chosen for these tests. The timber was cut 

 many years ago, and among the stumps still remaining when the land was purchased, 

 there had sprung up a thick second growth of trees, chiefly poplar, birch and maple, 

 few of which exceeded six inches in diameter at the base. Early in 1887, this land 

 was cleared by rooting up the young trees and stumps and burning them in piles, on 

 the ground from which they were taken, the ashes being afterwards distributed over 

 the soil as evenly as possible, and the land ploughed and thoroughly harrowed. Later 

 in the season it was again ploughed and harrowed, and most of it got into fair condition 

 for cropping." 



" The plots laid out for the experimental work with fertilizers were one- tenth of 

 an acre each, 21 of which were devoted to experiments with wheat, 21 to barley, 21 to 

 oats, 21 to Indian corn or maize, and 21 to experiments with turnips and mangels. 

 Owing to the difficulty and unavoidable delay attending the draining of some wet places, 

 it was not practicable to undertake work on all the plots the first season. The tests 

 were begun in 1888 with 20 plots of wheat and 16 of Indian corn ; and in 1889 all the 

 series were completed excepting six plots of roots, Nos. 16 to 21 inclusive, which were 

 available for the work in 1890." In all cases the plots in each series have been sown on 

 the same day. 



