56 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



.6 GEORGE V, A. 1916 

 EXPERIMENTAL STATION, CAP ROUGE, QUE. 



CHARACTER OF SEASON. 



Sprina; was about an average one for earliness. ' " last frost occurred on May 

 17, when 29- 2^ F. was registered. A drought which histed all through July until 

 August 11 cut down the yield of hay and the stock-cari-ying capacity of pastures very 

 much; it also hurt carrots, mangels, sugar beets, vegetables, all herbaceous flowering 

 plants, raspberries and strawberries, whilst com for silage, swedes, fniit trees, goose- 

 berries, currants, ornamental trees and shrubs did not suffer. Early sown grain pulled 

 through very well. The first frost was on September 29, when the thermometer went 

 down to 27-2° F., ; this was fourteen days later than in 1913. The lowest temperature 

 was on Febnuiry 11,— 30-7° F., and the highest, exactly six months later, on August 

 11, 92° F. 



UVE STOCK. 



All the live stock kept in good condition during the year. 



HORSES. 



At the beginning of the year, there were nineteeji horses : lourteen regisrerea 

 French Canadians — nine mares, two 2-ycar-old fillies, one yearling stallion, two wean- 

 lings — also two teams of from 2.600 to 2,900 pounds and one driver. These horses are 

 kept for work, experimental feeding, experimental housing, and to sell high-class 

 breeders at a reasonable figure. 



Work. — During the twelve months each horse averaged over 200 full days' work of 

 ten hours. 



Experimental feeding — Wintering an idle horse at low cost — By feeding 1 pound 

 each of rough hay, oat straw, and roots per hundred pounds live weight, an 11-year- 

 old mare, weighing 1,055 pounds on November 1, 1914, was kept for $13.64 until 

 March 31, 1915, when she tipped the scales at 1,100 pounds. This experiment has now 

 been made four years in succession, and the average cost, for 151 days, has been $14.33, 

 with a gain in weight of 37 pounds for each horse. 



Cost of raising horses. — All the feed given to a young stallion, from the time he 

 was weaned until he was 22 months old was weighed and amounted to $90.69, at the 

 following valuations : hay, $7 per ton ; oats, 1^ cent per pound ; bran, 1 cent per pound ; 

 pasture $1 per month. The average weight of the sire and dam of this colt is 1,075. 

 and this is exactly what the youngster weighed at 22 months, which shows that, when 

 matured, he will probably tip the scales at 150 to 200 pounds more than his parents. 

 Two weanlings were kept until the March S-l following their birth for 18 cents each 

 per day. 



Experimental housing.— During the last three winters, five different colts have 

 baen kept outside, with only a single-board sihed for a shelter, and the temperature 

 went down as low as — 31° F. They never even shivered, and though it may have 

 taken more food to keep up the necessiary warmth, they have kept in splendid health. 



CATTLE. 



The herd now comprises twenty-nine head of pure-bred and ten grade French 

 Canadians: four bulls aged 8 months to 6 years, eighteen cows, thirteen heifers, four 

 heifer calves. These cattle are kept for milk production, experimental feeding, experi- 

 mental breeding, and to sell stock at reasonable prices. 



Milk production. — Thirteen cows, aged 3 to 11 years, averaged 7,316 pounds of milk 

 and 350 pounds of butter, which is 1,810 pounds of milk and 59 pounds of butter more 



