74 DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM 



FOR 



NOVA SCOTIA 



NAPPAN, N.S. 



The Experimental Farm for Nova Scotia, formerly called 

 the Experimental Farm for the Maritime Provinces, is situated 

 at Nappan, in the County of Cumberland, Nova Scotia, about 

 eight miles from the border of New Brunswick. It is on the line 

 of the Intercolonial Railway, one half mile from Nappan Station 

 and five miles from the town of Amherst. 



The farm contains, in all, about three hundred acres, some 

 forty-five of which is dyke or marsh land, formed by the overflow 

 of the tides from the Bay of Fundy depositing a sediment which 

 makes quite valuable soil for the growth of hay in particular, 

 when dyked in as has been done on the Experimental Farm. 

 The upland, 120 acres of which is under cultivation, consists of 

 a great variety of soils; most of this is in a fairly good state 

 of fertility at present. The remainder of the farm area is in 

 woods and rough, uncultivated land. 



The soil of the farm is chiefly clay loam, with some parts 

 gravelly, and with a subsoil varying from clay to gravelly clay, 

 with more Umited areas of a light gravelly character. About 

 thirty acres of the part nearest the road was underdrained some 

 fifteen years ago with good results. Ten acres of marsh land 

 has also been underdrained; the results in this case, however, 

 have not been so good, up to the present time. 



In the general work of this farm, besides the carrying on of 

 experiments with all classes of cereals, roots, grasses, vegetables, 

 fruits, etc., the one object above all others has been to maintain, 

 and on some areas, to increase, the fertility of the soil, while at 

 the same time taking from it large crops continuously. To this 

 end, much attention has been paid to the keeping of live stock and 

 the rotation of crops, in which clover-growing has played an 

 important part. 



At present, three separate rotations are being carried on, 

 one of three, one of four, and a third of five years' duration, in 

 each of which is used one root or hoed crop with manure and at 

 least one clover crop, the aftermath of which is turned under 

 in most cases, in the belief that the great lack in the soils of 

 the Maritime Provinces is humus. 



Various experiments have been carried on with dairy and 

 with beef cattle, with swine, and to some extent with sheep, 

 although no comprehensive series with the latter has yet been 



