416 
Canadian Agriculture. 
The experimental department of the farm provides for nume- 
rous cattle-feeding trials, investigations into the influence of 
food on dairy products, and a considerable variety of experi- 
mental field work, embracing the testing of different kinds of 
wheat, trials of fertilisers, thick and thin seeding, deep and 
shallow seeding, selection of grasses and clovers, establishment 
of permanent pasture, and rotations in cropping. The experi- 
mental plots are to be seen in a field of 24 acres divided into 
180 plots of one-tenth acre each, and amongst the appliances 
are a rain gauge of one-thousandth of an acre area, six lysimeters, 
eight ground thermometers, the usual meteorological instru- 
ments, and a well-equipped analytical laboratory in the field. 
The plots are disposed in nine ranges. In the first the cropping 
is made up of cereals newly imported from England ; the second 
is appropriated to testing nitrogen in three forms of combina- 
tion, and in three ratios ; the third, similarly testing phosphoric 
acid ; the fourth, permanent pasture and turnips under three 
forms of manure ; the fifth, green fodder crops and twenty 
varieties of grasses and clovers ; the sixth, varieties of mangold 
with special fertilisers ; the seventh is left blank ; the eighth 
is devoted to trying peas from England ; and the ninth to 
testing varieties of winter wheat and the suitability of trees. 
Amongst so many inquiries, ensilage has not been overlooked. 
A common root cellar was, at an outlay of bl. 10s., properly 
cemented and converted into an air-tight silo in which green 
oats were stored. The silo was opened ninety days after its 
completion, and the fodder was found to be " one body of sweet, 
well-coloured, oat-stalks, leaves, and heads," possessing a tem- 
perature of about 70° Fahr. Twenty-eight tons of green oats 
were put in the silo, filling it to a depth of 10 feet ; it was at 
once covered with 2-inch boards, 9 inches wide, and loaded 
with earth that gave a pressure of 1000 lbs. per square » yard. 
The results of feeding this silage have not yet been published, 
but the following figures, which represent the full cost of filling 
the silo, may prove of interest ; mowing, hauling, cutting, 
and packing were all accomplished within the space of three 
days : — 
£ s. d. 
Wear and tear of engine 0 12 0 
Engine driver 0 18 0 
Two teams hauling from field (t niile) 2 10 0 
Mower and team, one day 0 12 0 
Field loaders 18 0 
Feeding straw-cutter, two men 14 0 
Men in silo, four 2 0 0 
Carpenter 080 
Total .. .. £9 12 0 
