216 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 19, 
THE STORY OF A CANADIAN FARM. 
The Round of the Seasons. 
Part I. 
The Seasons. —The Spring of 1909 
was cold and wet on this part of the 
continent, at least, and according to re¬ 
ports from other sections of Eastern 
Canada and of the Eastern States, these 
conditions were not confined to Quebec. 
All through the latter part of April and 
long past the middle of May the rainy 
season continued. If a man were 
philosopher enough to ;sit on the fence 
and whistle (figuratively speaking) 
through it all, well and good; if not, 
his temper would be apt to assert itself 
under slight provocation. A friend of 
mine who has spent some time in Cali¬ 
fornia tells me that our seasons for the 
last two years remind him of the wet 
and dry seasons of that State. Certainly 
a superabundance of Spring rains fol¬ 
lowed by a long Summer drought has 
been the order of procedure for the las-t 
two growing seasons. This friend made 
the statement that if these conditions were 
to continue irrigation would be more 
necessary than drainage. I doubt, how¬ 
ever, if irrigation will ever be practiced, 
except on limited areas and for special 
crops in this Province. To my mind 
thorough drainage is of the utmost im¬ 
portance, in fact the foundation stone 
of success, if good crops are to be grown 
under average conditions, and especially 
under such conditions as we have ex¬ 
perienced for the last two years. If 
we are to have Summer droughts, it is 
of prime importance that our land be in 
condition for sowing or planting early, 
in order that our crops get a good start 
before the dry season comes on. Land 
which can be fitted for a crop early in 
the season is, by reason of this fitting 
and by reason of the capacity which 
well-drained soils possess for holding 
moisture, in the best of conditions for 
withstanding a drought. Our best crops 
for both of these dry seasons, including 
corn, potatoes, grass and grain, were on 
the gravelly ridges, for the reason that 
these ridges could be, and were sown 
and planted in season. In a few places 
on the low ground oats stood shoulder 
high, but this was where tiles were laid 
to tap some springy place. 
Mixed Grain.— Our first sowing this 
last season was on the first day of May. 
The highest and driest half of a six-acre 
field was seeded to a mixture of peas, 
oats, barley and wheat. Grass and 
clover seed were added in the following 
proportions per acre: Timothy, six 
pounds, Orchard grass, six pounds, com¬ 
mon Red clover, eight pounds, Alsike 
clover, two pounds. The Timothy and 
clover 'seeds were mixed together and 
sown from the grass seed box of 
the drill. The Orchard grass, being 
too large to sow with the others, was 
mixed with the grain and sown in the 
drills. I was afraid that it might be 
covered too deeply in this way, but it 
seems to have come through all right— 
at any rate there is a good stand of it. 
The grain mixture was approximately as 
follows per acre: Oats, six pecks, peas, 
one peck, barley, two pecks, wheat, one 
peck. White Banner oats were used, 
Canada field pears, Mensury barley and 
Wild Goose wheat, the latter so-called j 
from the fact that the variety originated 
from a few kernels found in the crop 
of a wild goose which had been 'shot. 
We had used the same mixture before 
with the exception of the wheat, which, 
although it ripened up fairly well from 
the first sowing, failed to mature with 
the other grain on that part of the 
field which was sown two weeks later. 
In this climate we have no trouble with 
peas ripening before oats, in fact, many 
pea pods will be quite green when oats 
are ready to cut. The barley always 
shoots up first and heads out above the 
oats, but in a few days the latter grain 
will be found 'shading the barley, and in 
this way retarding its ripening. A few 
heads of barley may become over-ripe 
and drop off in cutting, but most of 
these will be caught in the sheaf with 
the rest of the grain, especially where 
pea vines are present to help in binding 
the whole together. The lower half of 
this six-acre field was not in condition to 
sow until the middle of May. It was 
sown to exactly the same mixture of 
grains and grasses, with the exception 
that more of the Alsike and less of the 
Red clover was used. The field as a 
whole yielded 50 bushels of grain per 
acre, the heaviest part as stated before 
was the driest half which was sown in 
season. Just what was the difference in 
actual yield per acre between the two 
sowings I am unable to say, for the 
grain was all put into the same mow 
and thrashed out together. In throwing 
out the sheaves, however, we knew in a 
moment when we had come to the first 
sowing, the difference in the weight of 
the sheaves being very noticeable. The 
“catch” of grass and clover seed was 
good upon the whole field, but especially 
good upon the early sowing. This field 
was given a light dressing of manure 
with the spreader after the grain was 
cut, so we expect a big crop of hay 
there next year. It is now covered 
with about six inches, of snow, part of 
which came early in December and has 
remained ever since; consequently there 
is little frost in the ground to date 
(January 13) ; none at all, in fact, in the 
woods and in the low places of the 
fields. I forgot to mention that this 
piece of land was given a light dressing 
of wood ashes and basic slag (Thomas 
phosphate) in the Spring before sowing. 
Our chief object was to secure a good 
growth of clover. I think, however, 
that the grain was also benefited by 
the a=hes and slag. The bulk of our 
sowing this last season was done after 
the middle of May. Some years it is 
all done in April, but that is exceptional 
in this climate. c. s. moore. 
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