33 



TEE DIRECTOR, EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



By J/r. Cochrane : 



Q. Are they troubled with the pea bug ? 



A. To some extent, but not very much in the eastern in-OTinees. 



Q. Are you referring now to the experimental plots at Ottawa or N"appan ? 



A. I have given the result at the other farms, and am speaking now of the crops 

 at Nappan. Corn grown for ensilage there has given 18 tons 245 pounds as the average 

 of the six best sorts. There is a great difference with respect to the success of grow- 

 ing corn in the maritime provinces, where the climate is so much cooler than it is in 

 the west that it is generally unfavourable for ensilage. As a matter of fact corn ensil- 

 age there for that reason is not so valuable to the farmers as it is in the west, and 

 most farmers rely more on turnips and inangels there for fodder, as they can almost 

 always grow large crops r.f these roots. The turnips there have averaged in plot cul- 

 ture 40 tons 1,262 pounds to the acre. That is the average of the best six sorts. Man- 

 gels have averaged 37 tons 113 pounds, carrots, 29 tons 850 pounds, and the average 

 crop of the four best sugar beets has been 29 tons 1,400 pounds to the acre. The aver- 

 age crop of the best twelve sorts of potatoes has been 378 bushels 24 pounds per acre. 

 This is the lowest average we have had at any of the experimental farms this year. 



THE GROWING OF SUGAR BEETS FOR MANUFACTURE OF SUG.AR. 



By Mr. Clancy : 



Q. I notice with regard to the sugar beets, which is now a sort of leading ques- 

 tion in Canada, that the reports regarding the plot experiments in nearly every case 

 have given double, if not more, than the best average results that have been obtained 

 in other countries from sugar beet. 



A. Yes, that is so, and there may be a greater difference between the plots of roots 

 and the fields than I have been led to believe. Of course I have formed nay opinion by 

 comparison of our own fields here, particularly of roots, with the plots, and also the re- 

 Eults at Xappan. At the western farms the roots are not grown to any great extent, and 

 outside of our plots on the experimental farms there is not much done out there in 

 growing roots. The question of labour there is a difficult one to get over, and the 

 roots cannot be grown satisfactorily without a good deal of labour. They must be 

 attended to at the proper time, and a farmer has a large area of grain to look after, and 

 much land to summer-fallow. Corn can be grown cheaper for ensilage purposes than 

 roots. On that point, I might just give you the average results of four or five years' 

 experiments with sugar beets, taking into account the crops obtained at all the experi- 

 mental farms. These have averaged 23 tons 1,075 pounds per acre. 



Q. That is for all the plot experiments ? 



A. Yes, for the plot experiments, averaging the poor crops with the good ones. 



Q. What was- the quantity grow)i on the plots at the Central Experimental Farm 

 in 1901 ? 



A. The average crop at Ottawa for the four best varieties was 33 tons 497 pounds. 



By Mr. Cochrane : 



Q, Would that he the same kind of svigar beets that we want to produce for sugar ? 



A. I will give you the names of them. 



Q. Xo. no ; I don't want that. What I want to know is, if this is the kind we 

 want to raise to produce sugar ? 



A. Permit me then a few words of explanation. The Bed Top Sugar, whieh stands 

 jit the head of the list at Ottawa in productiveness, is one of the newly developed sugar 

 beets which is being grown in some parts of the Dominion for the feeding of cattle 

 From the examination of our chemist it is found that these contain a very fair pro- 

 portion of sugar 



