CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES— III. 



Fig. 1705. — Variety Test of Celery at Central Experimental Farm, 1899, 

 with offices, chemical laboratory, and buildings in background. 



^H r^HE weather has been very 

 changeable during the past 

 month — at one time bright, 

 then overcast, and quite fre- 

 quently wet. While occasionally there 

 was frost at night, it was not until the 

 1 2th of November that the temperature 

 sank low enough to interfere materially 

 with outside work. On the nights of 

 the 1 2th and 13th, there were 15 and 

 18 degrees of frost, respectively. It 

 may, however, be some days before the 

 final " freeze up." It is when severe 

 frosts begin to occur that one realizes 

 the importance of having a good cover 

 crop in the orchard. At the experi- 

 mental farm a fine covering of common 

 Red Clover may be seen in most of the 

 orchards. Experiments were tried in 

 sowing the clover seed weekly in dif- 

 ferent parts of the orchard, beginning 



on 10th May, and continuing until 31st 

 May. There was a good catch from the 

 first three sowings, but that sown on the 

 31st did not do well. Sowing was then 

 discontinued until July 4th, and from 

 that time until the 16th August clover 

 was sown at intervals. There is a good 

 cover crop of common Red clover from 

 seed sown as late as 25th July, except 

 on sandy loam, where it did not make 

 sufficient growth. There was a very dry 

 time after that, lasting about a month, 

 the result being that the seed sown later 

 than 25th July did not germinate until 

 September and then only a small pro- 

 portion grew. This land has been given 

 a top dressing of manure which will af- 

 ford somewhat the same protection as 

 the clover would have done. To be 

 certain of a good cover crop, clover 

 should not be sown later than the mid- 



479 



