Section IV., 1905 [ SS ] Trans. R. S C. 



V. — Increased Production of Farm Crops from Eariy Sowing. 



By Wm. Sacnders, LL.D., F.L.S., etc., 



Director of Dominion Experimental Farms. 

 (Read May 24th, 1905.) 



Among the chief factors which influence the volume of agricultural 

 crops from year to year are, the proper preparation of the soil, a suffi- 

 cient supply of plant food, favourable weather for the growth and ripen- 

 ing of the crop, the selection of plump and well matured seed of the 

 best and most productive sorts, and early sowing. It is to the influence 

 of the last named factor which is to a large extent controllable by the 

 farmer that I wish to call attention at this time. 



It is generally conceded that the farmer who makes a practice of 

 sowing his seed at the earliest opportunity in the spring, after the land 

 is in suitable condition, realizes as a rule the best returns, but the extent 

 to which the crop is influenced b}' this practice has seldom been fully 

 realized. 



A series of experiments was began in 1890 and continued for ten 

 years with plots of wheat, barley and oats for the purpose of ascertain- 

 ing the proportion of loss which occurs when sowing is unnecessarily 

 delayed. The land chosen for these tests was as uniform in character 

 as could be found, a sandy loam in a fair state of fertility. For the 

 first five years thirty-six plots of one-tenth acre each were used which 

 were so laid out as to have a space between them of three feet each, 13 

 of these were devoted to wheat, 12 to oats and 12 to barley. Two 

 varieties of each sort of grain was used and there were six sowings of 

 each. For the second five years an additional 12 plots were devoted to 

 peas, making the number 48 in all. The first sowing in each case was 

 made as early as practicable, as soon as the land was in fit condition to 

 receive the seed, and the subsequent sowings, until six sowings had been 

 made, were a week apart. The arrangement of the plots was changed each 

 year so as to avoid growing the same kind of grain on the same land 

 for two years in succession. Careful notes have been taken each year 

 and the grain from all the plots has been harvested and threshed separ- 

 ately. The very earliest sowing has not averaged quite as large a yield 

 as the second so"«àng but beyond this, delay has resulted in loss, the loss 

 becoming more serious as the delay has been greater. The average of 

 the experiments with wheat, oats and barley for ten years are sho^nl in 

 the statements which follow. 



