CANADIAN EXPERIMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2884, 30 June 1909, Page 20

CANADIAN EXPERIMENTS.

The value of experimental farming on | proper lines is proved by the report, just ! to hand, of the lasv year's experiments I carried on throughout the Dominion by ] the "Canadian Government. With regard i -to fertilisers, the important conclusion is j arrived at that in the case of the economi- j cal farmyard manure it is when' fresh equal toil for ton in crop-producing power to rotted manure. Moreover, other experiments have shown r losse? during the proj cess of lotting of abbul 60 per cent, of its j weight. Experiments with untreated i mineral phosphate show that it has no fertilising 1 value. Sulphate of iron, usually recommended as a means of producing increased crops, is also proved to be of i little value for this purpose. Common salt, I long- regarded with much favour for its I value a3 a fertiliser for barley, is prove! 1 to bo a valuable agent for this purpose, ibut it is of less \aluc when applied lo j ! crops of spring wheat oi oats. The ■efficacy 'i of land plantar, or gypsum, is a!eo con- f firmed as a fertiliser foi barlej', whilst it is shown to be of little value for wheat or oats. The problem of producing milk cheaply has bean exceedingly difficult oT solution. A profitable dairy cow -must give 50001b of milk each year, and farmers are advised to keep daily records of the yields, so that they caii without delay weed out the "boarders.'" or unprofitable cows. ,In' some beef-production experiments a feed of uncommon occurrence (frozen wheat) i was used, it being proved of considerable value. Experiments with swine established tlie. possibility of producing pork at a profit when the most (successful methods of feeding were adopted. An experiment in sending tomatoes to Glasgow in cold storage was a failure. Tho consignment arrived in poor condition, whilst the experiment proves it is not possible to send tomatoes to Great Britain on a remunerative basi«. An interesting paragraph is that relating to the value of snow aa a fertilising 'agent. The report expresses dissent from the frenerallv-acc^pted view that enow 16 a direct fertilisar. The experiments prove that the value of anon as a fertiliser has been greatly exaggerated by many farmers. The conclusions on the subject of the storage of wheat and flour are interesting, as well as most important. It. is well ! known that some increase in baking strength usually takes place when wheat or flour is stored for some months, but present knowledge on this important subject is very slight. Some very striking i facts upon this matter hare been men- i tionsd. and milling and baking tests have 1 added more observations of considerable value. Some of the early, wheats, which i are of rather low strength when tested a « few months after harvest, have 6hown a i most remarkable degree" of improvement. 1 when kept over as flour for a year. It ( appears that the gain is more rapid, when 1 the material is stored as flour than when s stored as wheats but the change takes < place in both cases, and s&eme to reach ] the saino limit in the end. The report > adds that it is to be honed beforfc long- i that the increased value of wheat which < lias been stored for a considerable period \ will be more fully recognised, and that 1 such wheat will be sold at the enhanc&d j price warranted by. the increased strength '

' and improved colour of the flour which it ' will yield. Amongst othei things, the report demonstrates the importance of ' early sowing to ensure large cereal yields, and breeding from selected birds with good egg-laying records in order to secure prolific egg- | laying strains of fowls.