SOIL CULTURE, CEREALS AND FRUITS. 15 



EARLY, MEDIUM AND LATE SOWING OF GRAIN. 



With your permission I will now refer to the subject of the early, medium and 

 late sowing of garin. 



We have been carrying on, as most of you know, for the last ten 3-ears experi- 

 ments along this line. A piece of land has been set aside for the purpose, consisting 

 of forty eight plots of one-tenth of an acre each. Eight of these have been sown as 

 follows : two with barley, two with wheat, two with oats and two with pease, and 

 these have been sown at the very earliest time seed could be put in the ground. 

 Another series was sown at the end of a week, a third at the end of another week and 

 so on for six sowings. These plots have all been harvested and threshed separately 

 every year, and, as this work has now been continued for ten years with the grain 

 and five witb the pease, the average of the results may be taken as fairly reliable. 



The results show as follows : with oats the second sowing has given the 

 best results. Beyond this, delay in sowing involves losses in crop as follows : You 

 will understand that the second sowing would be a week after it was just possible to 

 get on the land to put the grain in. The first sown plots have always been at a 

 disadvantage because the land was not quite fit; and another reason is that we are 

 subject in Ottawa to wind storms at that period, which blow a good deal of sand 

 about which injures the very early crop. A week of delay beyond the time named 

 gives an average loss in the case of oats of 15 per cent, a delay of two weeks 22 per 

 cent, three weeks, more than 32 per cent, and a delay of four weeks involves a loss 

 of 48 per cent. 



By Mr. Cargill : 



Q. The second sowing would be an increase ? 

 A. The second sowing has given the best results. 



By Mr. Feather ston : 



Q. What is the comparison of the first and second week ? 



A. In the case of the oats the first sowing has given an average crop for ten 

 years of 53 bushels 9 pounds, the second sowing 59 bushels 18 pounds. Barley, first 

 sowing 38 bushels 21 pounds, second sowing, 44 bushels 9 pounds. Wheat, first sow- 

 ing 17 bushels 59 pounds, second sowing 20 bushels 30 pounds ; and pease, first 

 sowing 30 bushels 26 pounds, second sowing, 33 bushels 57 pounds. 



By Mr. Cargill : 



Q. I understood you to say that the second sowing had given you an increase of 

 15 per cent over the first. 



A. I fear you have misunderstood me. I was not giving the figures of difference 

 between ,the results from the first and second sowing but the results of delaying a 

 week beyond the second sowing. The second sowing is made a week after it is 

 possible to get on the land, and the practice I am advocating is that as far as it is 

 possible, all grain crops should be sown within ten days from the time when you 

 can get on the land. In barley, a delay of one week beyond the second sowing 

 causes a loss of 23 per cent, two weeks a loss of 27 per cent, a delay of three 

 weeks a loss of 40 per cent, and a delay of four weeks a loss of 46 per cent. 

 If the season opens early, it is not uncommon to find farmers sowing grain until a 

 very late period. In spring wheat the loss is still greater, a delay of one week 

 beyond the time named involves a loss of over 30 per cent, of two weeks a loss of 40 

 per cent, three weeks a loss of 50 per cent, and four weeks a loss of 56 per cent. 



By Mr. Rogers : 



Q. These experiments are only for the farm here? 



A. These results have been had at the Central Farm in Ottawa and may be taken 

 as a guide by the farmers of Ontario and Quebec. On the experimental farms in the 



