6 DE. WM. SAUNDERS. 



By Mr. Rogers : 



Q. How much grain do you sow to the acre ? 



A. Usually 2 bushels of oats or barley and 1| bushels of wheat ; sometimes, when 

 the oats are short and thick, If bushels is sufficient. We find that clover does very 

 well with either barley, oats or wheat. Of course the oats if their growth is very 

 strong are more likely to smother some of the clover plants, but we have not found 

 any practical difficulty in this respect on the Central Farm. 



By Mr. Cargill : 



Q. How much clover did you say you used to the acre ? 

 A. 10 lbs. of red clover. 



By Mr. Featherston : 



Q. You have never had a dry season here in Ottawa as we have in the west? 

 A, >To, we seldom suffer from very dry weather. 



By Senator Perley : 



Q. How would white clover do? 



A. The white clover would not give as good results ; the growth is not so heavy 

 and I think the seed is quite as expensive as the red. I believe the red clover 

 would be much the more economical of the two. In previous experiments which 

 we have tried with clover we have found that the roots penetrate very deep ; within 

 a year from the date of sowing we have found roots more than 4 feet below the 

 surface. 



By Mr. Rogers : 



Q. Will it not root deeper if it is not pastured ? 



A. It is quite probable that the roots would strike deeper into the soil if the 

 clover was allowed to reach its maximum growth without disturbance. 



I would next call the attention of the committee to some of the results we have 

 had during the past year with the use of special fertilizers on crops. 



Q. Do the deep roots of the clover add to its value ? 



A. The clover roots which go down very deep into the soil, bring up from 

 those depths quantities of plant food such as phosphoric acid and potash which are 

 stored in the upper portions of the plants and when ploughed under are left within 

 reach of such shallow-rooted crops as barley or wheat, so that clover may be 

 regarded as an enricher of the soil in these elements also, since it brings them up 

 from depths which other crops cannot reach. 



By Mr. Erb : 



Q. I have no reason to think but that clover will enrich the soil, but don't you 

 think that if followed for a number of years the farmer's land will become more 

 dirty with weeds ? 



A. No, I think not. We have found that after the grain harvest is over the 

 growth of the clover is made so quickly that it smothers out a large part of the 

 weeds that would otherwise grow, and we have found a smaller proportion of weeds 

 in the clover plots than we have found in the soil where the land is sown with grain 

 without clover. 



There is another point to which I had not referred and which is a very 

 important one, and that is the value of the clover as a catch crop during the latter 

 part of the season, when it takes up all the fertilizing material that comes down in 

 the rains a large part of which would otherwise be lost in the drainage waters. 



Q. In our soil as a rule clover does not make such a heavy growth as to 

 smother out the weeds, and if there are weeds such as the ragweed for instance, 

 it would be likely to go to seed ? 



