xlii Department of Soil Technology 



Number 

 during 



Topic . the year 

 Demonstration schools 



Number attended 22 



Half daj's instruction given 138 



Number of schools receiving full week instruction 7 



Special lectures — Number 44 



Attendance 2 , 850 



Special visits to farms 51 



Farm bureau counties visited 17 



Correspondence — Letters written 4 , 006 



Form letters 13 



Circulation i ,008 



Samples of soil examined 67 



Soil acidity outfits sent out 44 



Fertilizer outfits sent out 10 



Of the field demonstrations tlie drainage work is now the most active, 

 and shows the cumulative effect of the attention that has been given to 

 the subject by the departmental extension staff over a period of several 

 years. The most significant development is the introduction of the engine 

 power trenching machines, which are being financed by the State Food 

 Commission. Three machines were purchased by that organization in 

 191 7 and were set at work in the counties of Tompkins, Ontario, and 

 Orleans. They began work on September i and closed the season on 

 December 6. They are operated under the general administrative direction 

 of the farm bureau in each county, working in cooperation with this 

 Department and with the Department of Rural Engineering. The success 

 of the first three machines led the Food Commission to purchase ten 

 additional machines. A conservative estimate of the number of rods of 

 trench such a machine may construct in a field season is 8000. On this 

 basis the thirteen state-operated machines should construct about 300 

 miles of drainage trench in a season. Results indicate that the increase 

 in crops will be from 50 to 75 per cent over a large part of the area so 

 drained. In many cases it will make the difference between no crop 

 and a good crop. Consequently, this work is a large contribution to 

 the food supply of the State, and it comes with such promptness and 

 surety as to contribute to the current season's supply of food. 



The practice of using lime is growing rapidly and the main problem 

 now is to provide adequate means of distribution and local storage against 

 the time when the farmer can haul and apply the material. In the southern 

 tier of counties the field demonstrations show increase in the yield of 

 hay, from the use of one ton of limestone, ranging from 1000 to 3599 

 pounds per acre. This increase is carried through the rotation. 



Fertilizer demonstrations have been largely confined to the use of 

 acid phosphate, with other methods of soil improvement. The shortage 

 in fertilizer materials has intensified interest in substitutes for the standard 

 fertilizer materials of normal times. 



