atone for any injury the harrow may do the young plants. With roots 



- ". . - - :•:: -:' ::.. - . ... : : :;;: . _^;> 



out the whole season. TheoreticaUv, thev should be scuffled or cuhi- 



- 



e d after every heavy rain. This frequent working may not be al' 

 possible, but it should be followed as closely as practicable. 



In humid sections, where the autumn rain is usually sufficien: 

 saturate the soil, after-har - rion of moisture is not essential, 



and the austomary ganging serves to sprout the weed seeds and also, 

 together with the fall plowing, to put the soil in condition to retain enough 

 water for the ensuing crop. But in sub-humid or semi-arid regions the 

 tillage right after har. Est is ssential for the purpose of conserving 

 moisture, as well as for the reasons alrea. g n. 



Before leaving the question of soil moisture, I should lib efer 



briefly to the work in drainage that is being done by the department of 



-ics. Throughout the Province there are thousands of acres non- 

 productive, or under-productive, at leasl ich, if drained, would he 

 the st of land. People . g this more and more, and 

 drainage operations are being more generally undertaken than he: 

 fore. But in mai ses men ar - rating because they are not sure 

 as to the best methods of going about it, whether they have fall eno ug 

 the best course foe The department of Phy- 5 - en- 

 deavoring to help these men. A: having such difficulties may 

 the assistance of a man from our department to take the levels of his 

 land, determine the falls, locate the drains, give him a working plan of 



- farm or field, and advise him genera. jst method- 



operation. The condition upon which this service - dered is that 

 those v 5 g done pay the railway fare, etc, of the p. - sent 



by us. When the applies: - nsiderable di- '-ph, 



he sometimes I gether with one or two of his neighbors who fa 



-k to be done, each paying -hare of the exp-_ - - 



We have done a gi it deal of this work c. § si seas 



and the men for whom we have done it ex] ss themselves very stro: ig 



he benefits derived. I mention it here bee. - ts conm 



the subject in hand, ar - in the hope of g the s erne r 



widely known. For the initiation of the plan, I wish to give due credit 

 to Professor Reynolds, my predt — in the department. 



Another important soil factor is proper temperature. There is a 

 certain temperature at which each kind of s terminates best. Of 



the more common cereals, wheat has the lowest germinating temperature 

 at about 70 , barley, oats and peas probably in the order named, at about 

 8o°. This may throw some light upon a result obtained by the Experi- 

 mental department. By several years' 5ts they have shown that the 

 order in which these grains should be sowed is St wheat, second bar- 

 ley, third oats, and lastly peas. And in testing - \ different date- 

 seeding at intervals of one week, thev have shown that for wheat and 

 barley the first sowing is the best, but for oats and peas the second. 

 Temperature is undoubtedly one of the f s producing this result. 



This question and that of soil moisture are very intimately related. A 

 wet soil is a cold soil, but a dry one is a warm one. The seed bed of a 



