FIELD CROPS, 535 



WhtMi marl is used us a bariiyard-nuuiuro preservative about 20 lbs. 

 per head per day is required for large stock, when the marl contains but 

 20 per cent of carbonate of calcium. If the marl contain 50 per cent of 

 carbonate of calcium, only about 12^ lbs. per head per day are required. 

 Marl is nuich more effective if used in connection with peat moss. 

 About 2 lbs. of peat moss should be kept in the gutter behind each 

 animal to absorb all liquid manure and should be changed about twice 

 each week. 



Field experiments -with farm crops, W. Saunders, J. H. Gris- 

 DALE, W. T. Macoun, R. Robertson, S. A. Bedford, A. Mackay, 

 and T. A. Sharpe {Oniada Exj^t. Farms RiJts. 1899, jy^x 5-33, 35-38, 

 65-72, 105-109, 113-117, 229-21^9, 283-310, 337-362, 389- J^IO, jigs. 6).— 

 As in previous years, variety, cultural, and fertilizer tests with cereals, 

 root, and forage crops have been carried on at the government experi- 

 mental farms in Ottawa, the Maritime Provinces, Manitolia, British 

 Columbia, and the Northwest Territories (E. S. R., 11, p. 831). The 

 results of the variety tests with the different farm crops in lst)9 have 

 been previously recorded (E. S. R., 12, p. ll^-l). The cultural experi- 

 ments consisted of early, medium, and late sowings of oats, barley, 

 spring wheat, peas, turnips, mangels, carrots, sugar beets, potatoes, 

 and ffax; distance experiments with corn, soy beans, horse beans, and 

 potatoes; early and late harvesting of root crops; rotation tests; thick 

 and thin seedings of grasses; spring and fall plowing and summer fal- 

 lowing; growing mixed grain crops together, etc. The fertilizer 

 experiments include tests of barnyard manure and different conmier- 

 cial fertilizers and of the relative value of clovers, rj^e, peas, tares, 

 alfalfa, rape, and brome grass as green manures. The results of these 

 experiments are tabulatiHl in detail and in some instances averaged for 

 preceding 3^ears. 



On the whole the crops obtained at the experimental stations in 1899 

 have l)een above the average for the country, due, it is thought, largely 

 to a more thorough preparation of the soil, greater care in the preser- 

 vation and use of barnyard manure, the careful selection of well- 

 matured and plump seed of the most productive sorts, and early sow- 

 ings. The relative earliness of ripening of the different cereals, which 

 is considered almost as important as productiveness, has been further 

 investigated and the result reached that, as a rule, "any great increase 

 in earliness and ripening of grain is accompanied bv a decrease in 

 yield." 



The results of experiments in earh% medium, and late sowings of 

 oats, barley, and wheat for 10 years, and of peas for 5 years at the 

 Ottawa farm are summarized and are shown to have been uniformly 

 in favor of the second sowing; that is, about 1 week after the ground 

 is in that condition where sowing is practicable. A further delay of 

 1 week has caused an average loss with oats of over 15, barle}' 23, 



