REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 193 
SESSIONAL PAPER No. 8a 
There has been considerable inquiry during the past year or two as to the treat- 
ment of grain crops infested with mustard, with solutions of sulphate of iron and 
sulphate of copper. There is no doubt whatever, as I have proved by experiments 
here and the Rev. W. A. Burman has shown in Manitoba (1898), that the annual 
mustards can be killed and even Stink Weed, when young, seriously injured by solutions 
of sulphate of copper, as weak as 2} pounds to 10 gallons of water. On this subject I 
would merely point out that, at the very lowest estimate, and using the most economical 
effective solution yet recommended (2 per cent sulphate of copper*), $1 per acre would 
be the very lowest estimate at which the cost of this operation could be calculated. In 
the West where a good many of the farmers work several hundred acres, which they 
frequently never visit again after the spring work is done, until they turn in the reapers 
at harvest time, this extra expense including the purchase of spraying pumps and 
sulphate of copper, and the extra work of drawing water, and mixing and applying the 
solution, would be far less advantageous or likely to be practised, than the use of weeders 
or light harrows, which most certainly is better farming; for this operation, besides 
doing better work in destroying the seedlings of all kinds of weeds, has been proved 
to be most beneficial to the growing crops by reason of the extra cultivation thus given 
to the land at the very time when it requires it, and the fields so treated yield much 
heavier crops. 
Mr. Charles Braithwaite, who has had greater opportunities of forming an opinion 
on this matter than any other man in Manitoba, replies as follows to an inquiry as to 
the utility of surface cultivation of growing grain crops :— 
‘PorTAGE LA Prairig, Oct. 9, 1899.—I may say that, from my own observations, 
in ordinary years I certainly agree with your opinion. Working growing grain with 
light harrows or weeders has a twofold advantage: it destroys weeds and also 
creates a mulch which prevents moisture from evaporating. Of course, this year 
being a moist year, the work could not be done as effectually as in drier years. 
During the season of 1898, Mr. Henry Nichol, of Brandon, had two weeders 
and kept them going until the grain was 5 and 6 inches high. His crop’ averaged 
30 bushels per acre, while his neighbour’s did not average over 15 bushels, and some 
within 5 miles of him had to plough up their crop on account of weeds and 
drought. I had this from Mr. Nichol himself, and he is, as: you know, a thoroughly 
reliable man. I could tell you of scores of others who have saved their crops by this 
method. Of course, as I tell the farmers, this surface cultivation of grain with any 
kind of implement must be done with common sense, not too deep nor too shallow, and, 
when the land is in proper condition for harrowing, not too wet and not too dry.’ 
THe Waeat Crop In Manitrora In 1899 
The wheat crop in Manitoba in 1899 has been estimated at 27,000,000 bushels, 
almost all of excellent quality and exceptionally free from weed seeds. This satisfactory 
result is due chiefly to the season. “The late date at which severe frosts occurred 
allowed almost the whole crop to be got in without injury, and the freedom from weeds 
was due largely to abundant moisture last spring and the previousautumn. On account 
of cool wet weather last spring, seeding of wheat was much delayed, but the seeds of 
many weeds being in the ground germinated quickly ‘and came up in the first warm 
days. Enormous numbers of these seedlings were destroyed at the time the grain was 
sown ; thus the land was clean of all the weeds that had germinated, and the wheat 
being put in under the most favourable circumstances, germinated promptly and got 
ahead of the weeds. In addition to the benefit due to the wet spring of 1899, the 
exceptionally wet autumn of 1898 was also very beneficial by causing many of the seeds 
of annual weeds to germinate before winter set in, so that they were destroyed by frost 
These, under the usual climatic conditions which prev: . in ordinary years in Manitoba 
and the West, do not, for lack of moisture, germinate before the following spring. Asa 
* See article by Mr. Shutt, page 194. 
8a—13 
