SOIL CULTURE, CEREALS AND FRUITS. 7 



A. In such case the farmer should cut such strong growing weeds and thus 

 prevent them going to seed. I am not urging clover as a remedy for weeds. The 

 question was asked if the land so treated would not get covered with weeds, and in 

 our experience we have found such land to be less weedy than it would have been 

 if allowed to stand without a crop after the grain harvest in the autumn. The 

 average growth of clover with us has been from ten to twelve inches, and it usually 

 grows strong enough to smother out most other weeds. It would not probably affect 

 the ragweed materially, as that is so strongly rooted as to flourish under difficulties. 



By Mr. Featherston : 



Q. The idea of Mr. Erb, I think, is that if it was not seeded down you would 

 cultivate the land after the harvest, and that would keep down the weeds. 



A. In all these cases we must leave the intelligent farmer to use his best judg- 

 ment. It would be better, if it was necessary to kill the weeds first, to defer the 

 seeding of clover until the following year and cultivate the ground in the meantime. 



By Mr. Sproule ; 



Q. Did you ever try sowing clover on land you intended to sow turnips in and 

 allow it to remain until the following spring, and then plough it under as manure? 



A. We have not tried that yet, but experiments have been planned along that 

 line for next year. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH BARN-YARD MANURE, ROTTED AND FRESH. 



Last year I mentioned to the committee that we had carried on experiments 

 with barn-yard manure, rotted and fresh, applying it to crops every year for ten and 

 eleven years. It has been thought wise to change that experiment and endeavour 

 now to get some information as to how long the effects of these ten applications of 

 manure will last in the soil, and that is the point I wish to refer to next. The plots 

 which have received the ten or eleven applications of barn-yard manure were left 

 last year without manure; otherwise, they have been treated the same as the other 

 plots. The wheat plots on which rotted manure has been used averaged for the 

 eleven years 20 bushels and 56 pounds, while those to which fresh manure has been 

 applied have given 20 bushels 52 pounds per acre. That does not, however, include 

 the results of last year. 



By Mr. Featherston : 



Q. You are now comparing the rotted manure with the fresh ? 

 A. Yes. 



By the Chairman: 



Q. What were the quantities used ? 

 A. Twelve tons to the acre. 



By Mr. Perley : 



Q. How do you measure that ? 



A. We weighed it. The plots are one-tenth part of an acre, and we weighed 

 and applied 2,400 pounds, which is the one-tenth part of 12 tons. 



By Mr. Erb : 



Q. Twelve tons each year ? 



A. Yes, for eleven years. In L899 the manure was discontinued, and the crop 

 was 23 bushels 40 pounds from rotted manure and 27 bushels 40 pounds from fresh 

 manure. 



