642 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 



VEGETABLE GAKDENING. 



(M. B. Davis, B.S.A., Assistant in Temporary Charge.) 



The past season has M-itnessed considerable expansion in the work of vegetable 

 gardening. Probably the greatest acquisition to the work has been the installation of 

 the Skinner system of irrigation, which is reported on in full in these pages. The 

 installation of this plant places the area devoted to vegetables on an up-to-date basis 

 and will enable a considerable increase in the experimental work, thus greatly enhanc- 

 ing its value. 



Another development of the past season is the extension of cultural experimental 

 work, which is gradually replacing a large part of the variety testing as sufficient 

 average results of the latter are obtained. By substituting this work for a certain 

 amount of variety work, it is hoped that some valuable points may be worked out 

 before the introduction of numerous new varieties will necessitate the return of much 

 land to variety testing again. 



A start was made this year in the production of vegetable seed, and although 

 this work is but in its infancy at this Farm and was consequently conducted on a very 

 small scale, it is expected to increase the area devoted to this work in the very near 

 future. 



On the whole, the past season may be termed a very favourable one for vegetable 

 gardeners. With an early spring, allowing of quick planting operations and a wet 

 summer, the market gardener was placed in a very favourable situation. Celery and 

 roots were exceptionally good crops, owing to excellent moist are conditions. Potatoes, 

 on the other hand, were a practical failure for the average grower, although the 

 man who sprayed thoroughly obtained exceedingly good yields. Owing to the wet 

 fall, such crops as dry peas and beans suffered heavily, consequently a large propor- 

 tion of poor seed of these two crops may be anticipated for the season of 1916. 



In the following pages, a brief report is given of the main features of the work. 

 As variety tests of most kinds of vegetables have been reported on from time to time, 

 much of this has been omitted in this report. 



Ottawa. 



