1030 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION, KENTVILLE, N.S. 



W. SAXBY BLAIR, SUPERINTENDENT. 

 THE SEASON. 



The temperature during April remained fairly uniform; in fact, the mean aver- 

 age temperature dviring the latter half was the same as during the first half, and 

 there were none of the warm drying days that usually occur during the last of April. 

 The first half of May remained cool also, and as a result the ground did not dry out 

 for early seeding. Seeding became quite general after the middle of May on light 

 well-drained soils, but heavier soils were not fit for seeding until well into June. 

 Considerable showery weather during the latter part of May and after the first week 

 in June kept the naturally damp soil really too wet to work and much grain was put 

 in without the soil having been thoroughly prepared, and as a consequence much of 

 the grain came up thin. 



The mean average temperature during May was 64-14° as compared with 50-72° 

 for the same month in 1914. The temperature after the first of June was about the 

 same as previous years. The rain was pretty evenly distributed during the shimmer, 

 although the total precipitation was not as great as either 1913 or 1914. Crops did 

 not at any time suffer for want of moisture, and, in fact, on naturally wet land there 

 was evidence of much injury from excessive moisture. * 



The sunshine during the summer was not as great as in former years and this, 

 jvith quite a noticeable absence of drying winds, together with a fairly even distri- 

 bution of rain, accounts for the land remaining so moist during the season. The total 

 rainfall for the' six months commencing April 1 was 12-84 inches as compared with 

 15-67 in 1914 and 16-66 for the same period in 1913. The total hours of bright sun 

 for the same period was 1026-5 as compared with 1159-7 in 1914 and 1232-5 in 1913. 



The grain crops on the whole were lighter than one would expect from the 

 apparently favourable season. This was in part due to the grain being thin as a result 

 of conditions following the seeding, and in part to the general tendency of grain not to 

 stool as much as usual. The heads although well filled were not long, and the results 

 at threshing time were generally disappointing. 



GEAIN. 



The land given to cereal work this season was much more uniform than that 

 used in previous tests, and the crop was fairly even. The soil is a light loam, and 

 was in corn in 1914. The ground was ploughed after the corn was harvested in the 

 fall of 1914, and the following spring was limed with 2,000 pounds ground limestone 

 per acre which was well worked into the soil with the disc harrow and twelve-tooth 

 two-horse cultivator. Acid phosphate at the rate of 400 pounds per acre was then 

 applied and harrowed in. The grain was then seeded with the disc drill, and the 

 area rolled. Soon after the grain came through, nitrate of soda at the rate of 100 

 pounds per acre was scattered broadcast. It will be noticed that duplicate areas of 

 wheat were seeded at the rate of li bushel and 3 bushels per acre. The object in doing 

 this was to produce wheat for poultry rather than for seed or milling. The quality 

 of the seed from the thick seeding was decidedly inferior to the thin seeding ; it, how- 



