2 



which were carried on for five years previous to 1904, the reader is 

 referred to former reports. The results of some of the experiments 

 which have yet been conducted for only one or two years are held back 

 until the tests can be carried through at least another summer. As 

 different seasons vary so much in temperature, amount of rainfall, etc.^ 

 the average results of experiments continued for several years are of 

 much greater value than those secured from only one year's work. 

 We submit the results with much confidence in their reliability and in 

 their real, practical value. The writer has had good reason to believe 

 that the work of the Experimental Department is being appreciated 

 by the farmers of the Province, and that the results are being studied 

 more and more each succeeding year. I shall limit my remarks on 

 each separate experiment, the results of which are here presented, to a 

 few of the points which seem to be of the greatest value to the agri- 

 culture of Ontario. 



Conditions of the Weather During the Past Summer. 



In studying the results in the bulletin here presented, we should 

 keep in view the conditions of the weather during the growing season. 

 The past summer has been comparatively cool and wet. According to 

 the report of the Bureau of Industries, the mean temperature for April 

 was only 37.6 degrees as compared with 43.3 degrees in 1903, and 41.9 

 degrees above zero for the period extending from 1882 to 1903. The 

 average temperature for each of the months of May, June, July, August, 

 and September, for 1904, was lower than that for each of the corres- 

 ponding months in the average of the past twenty-three years. 



The total precipitation for the six months, starting with April, was 

 19.96 inches, according to the report of the Bureau of Industries for 

 Ontario, and 19.87 inches according to the report of the Physical De- 

 partment of the College at Guelph. This amount of rainfall is greater 

 than for several years at the College, even including 1902, in which 

 year the precipitation was also very large. According to the report of 

 the Bureau of Industries, the average rainfall for Ontario from the 

 year 1882 to 1903 was 15.7 inches for the six months commencing with 

 April in each year. It will therefore be seen that the rainfall for 1904 

 was about 27 per cent, greater than for the average of the past twenty- 

 three years. The rainfall at the College in July was exceedingly heavy, 

 there being practically five inches during the month . 



The first seeding which took place in the experimental plots in 1904 

 was on the 22nd of April. This was twenty days later than the first 

 seeding in 1903. The grains were mostly sown during the last week 

 in Aprtl and the early part of May. The mangels, sugar beets, carrots, 

 and potatoes were mostly planted in May, and the corn, sorghum,, tur- 

 nips, rape, millet, beans, and part of the potatoes in June. 



