0

oaggauaaa 30.. -1952

a Except

ingly BusyYeai At

Tlieiiillxperimentai Station

By R. 0. Parent. " , rlnlendent.

The past year has been an ex- mdingiy rbusy one at the local gxper tel Station. All the ma- jor web projects were contin- ued. and a number of new ones undertaken. Among the newer ones whlcli are attracting considerable interest; is a. feeding experiment using ,. various combinations of gnusw silage and hay for dairy cows. At the Upton Form a num- ber of soil fertility experiments have been laid down, and this property is rapidly being trans- ;.,;mgd;from an abandon 1 farm to a well laid out research station.

Two members of the stat! retu- ed and two new appointments were made. Mr. D. C. Bcburman, Sen- ior Agrononiist. retired after thir- ty-three and a half years of ser- vice and Mr. F. A. Driscoll, Poul- tryman, after thirty-two years and eleven years of service. Mr. Keith Lcl..ac eur. B.6c.. Agriculture, was named to the stat! as Junior Ag- roiiomist, and',Mr. Reginald Kemp. as Clerk, Grade 3. '

During the year, a survey gwas made of the agricultural possibili- ties of the Magdalene Islands. and from January hit, 1953. the Ex- perimental Station, Charlottetown. will conduct a number of experi- mental , farm projects chlehy tiirough the medium of two Illust- ration Stations.

An area of land on the Mal- peque Road was turned over to the Science Service for the pur- pose of building a new laboratory. The new laboratory will provide needed facilities for projects deal- ing with plant diseases and insect control. Some of these projects areiconducted in co-operation. with the Experimental Farm Service.

Early in the-year the Soil Sur- vey Report of Prince Edward Is- land was released for distribution and has been very favourably re- ceived. 1

Prominent Visitor:

On August 28th, the Charlotte- town Station was honouied by a visit from His Excellency Vincent Massey, Governor General ofCan- ada. Like his predecessors, the Governor General planted a tree on the Station grounds to com- memorate his visit to the Province and to the Station. The Governor General met the majority of the staff and showed keen interest in

A the various lines of work under

study.

Other prominent visitors include: Mr. R. B. Bryce. secretary of the Treasury Board of the Federal Cabinet; Dr. J. G. Taggert. Dep- uty Minister of Agriculture for the Federal service; Mr. H. 5. Fry, National President of the -Agri- cultural Institute of Canada; Mr G. Huson, director of the United Kingdom Information Office, Ot- tawa, and many others.

On August 12th, a garden party was held at the Station, when the Provincial Ministers of Agriculture and their deputies, from all Pro- vinces, were present, as well as agricultural odicials from the va- rious Departments in the Province. A special feature of this day was the planting of a Norway Maple on the grounds by Dr. J.A. Clark who, for thirty-nine years, was superintendent of the Experimen- tal Station.

More than twenty organized groups visited the Station during the summer months and, in all, upwards of 6,500 visitors from all- psrts of Prince Edward Island, Canada, the United states, as well as from the United Kingdom, visited the Station.

Weather, 1052

With the exception of some de- lay in spring seeding, the farmers of Prince Edward Island have had an exceptionally satisfactory seas- on for all farm work. I-faymaking and harvesting were performed tinder very favourable weather conditions and fall work was cleaned up better than usual.

Lower precipitation was the only serious drawback of the season of

1952. Temperatures and hours of sunshine were both higher than in R

1951. The winter, while stormy. was mild, with the lowest temper- ature of P below. on January 3fst January was the only month when zero temperatures 'were recorded. Hours of sunshine during the spring months were below aver- age and the rainfall during this Period. while not excessive, was extended over more days and re- tarded spring work. The highest summer temperature was on July 8th when BM was recorded. Tem- mratureii; during the summer. were above average, with below average Dmclpitation. Altogether, the wee.- ther, conditions were such that potato yields were one third above those of 1951. Brain yields were Ellovlllkhtly higher, but hay and pasture crops were about average.

Agronomy

In 1952. soil fertility studies. which were established at the Upton Farm during the past few years. were continued. A new pro- Ject was eitabllshedy namely, "Formulae and Rates of Applying Commercial Fertilizer to a Three

Year Rotation of Potatoes. Grain and Hay". Although some inter- citing

tends have been noted in date ob ined to date. no defin- ite conclusione cgn be made un- til two or-thrercyclea of the ro- tation have b on completed.

In, lure tudiu. the growing of sin, uncle: of grasses with hilin clover ,ie under investiga- tion," Pout species. Inamely. or- Chard gnu. brome. timothy and meadow fucue. ' are being com- pared to an old' established pne- luru which services a check. Dil- ficulty was one iencod in getting 0 good catch 0 - brome. but the

ther species 'cIl'l10i'thl'ough the

inlet of 1,051-1:82, in-v good can- Jtion; rimatiw rand meadow fes-

.0II0 vey, I-,1 pntm dur- V 0 fol- 'I7' I!!!-

f a fab

' lmulvo

I QQV1.

. A - g ..-.i,..',

leu-"wu- u,oed"'u4e fol- -l t ' - ii. i IW:

. ed.-om ; ..

Mr. dent of the Dominion Experimen- tal Station here.

R. C. Parent. Superinten-

observed and farmers would be well advised to consult the Ex- perimental Siation before using

these products extensively. Animal Husbandry

During 1952, the third and final year's test on the project entit- led "A Comparison of Turnlps and Potatoes for Dairy Cows" was completed. The conclusions from this experiment are that raw. sliced potatoes can be fed to dairy cows at the rate of 1 .'lx'4 poui.ds per 100 pound body weight without. injuring the health of the animals or affect- ing the flavour of the milk. Po- tatoes can be used to replace turnips in the ration, at the ap- proximate rnte of one pound of potatoes for two pounds of 'tur- nips. when fed at the above rate.

The project entitled "Perennial and Biennial Grasses and Leg- umes for Pasture". comparing

two pasture mixtures and an old sod. was carried on using Ayr- shire steers. This ls the second year these plots were pastured and results. so far. slightly favour the use of A special set-d mix- ture for pasture rather than using the mixture commonly grown for hay. ' ' '

Work was continued on Project A-2.434-1 "Progeny Testing of Purebred Ayrshire Sires by Means of Artificial Insemination". The results of this project are con-

siderably improved over former years, though the number of cows inseminated was down

somewhat.

A project was organized during the summer and work begun in fall. to investigate combinations and rules of feeding hay and grass silage to dairy cows.

Several methods of preserving and storing gross silage are be- ing investigated. These include storing in upright, horizontal and snow fence silos, the use of ground barley and molasses as preservatives, and storing silage chopped and unchopped.

The pole barn at Upton is now in its third Wear of .opcrntlon, and has proven entirely satisfac- tory. This method of winteriniz young stock should be consider- ed by all farmers because of its economy. The cost of construc-

'tion is low and labour is greatly reduced.

The Ayrshire herd at the Sin- tion numbered 53 at ping of 1952, and now '75.

the begin- numbers

In the above photograh, Dr.

cultural Officials August 18

years. .

corded at the Station since rod row plots were adopted. varieties averaged over 40 bush els per; acre and oats yields ex ceeded 100 bushels per acre. The season appeared early maturing

varieties, per

poor yields were secured. In some cases seeding was reasonably

aged the crop materially.

Barley jcintworm continues to be a serious problem in portions of Queen's and King's Counties. In an effort to locate resistant or tolerant varieties. an extensive variety test was grown at Char- lottetown this year. Some 318 ,varleiles and strains were includ- ed in the test and the results this season. are at least modera'tely en- cournging. A few strains showed very light infestation and others seemed to indicate a tolerance to the insect damage.

Acadia wheat. grown for the first 'time' under field conditions. gave good yields .nnd promises to be a valuable variety for Prince Edward Island.

Foragc Crops

In the Forage Divisicn. variety tests were carried out on the following crops during 1952: Cam,

Alfalfa, Clover and Timothy. These tests consisted of growing several varieties of the same

crop on land areas that were as nearly identical as possible in fertility, drainage. etc, and com- paring data on some characteris- tics. such as, yield and date of maturity. to find the most suit- able variety for this nren. An out- standing result of these tests was that the hybrid corn. Algon- quin, and the open-pollinated va- riety, Longfellow, proved to be the two best silage varieties here at Charlottetown. They excelled in green weight. and in dry mat- ter per ncre. Algonqui.. is grown as the silage crop at the Station, as it matures a little more rap- idly.

A new variety test involving six varieties of red sclover was also established in 1952, but has pro- duced no data as yet.

Various experiments with pas- ture mixtures were carried on. in an attempt to find the best mix- ture, both in production of green weight. and in hardiness. Similar experiments were conducted with hay mixtures and mixtures for turf grasses. -

A spray program. using MD as is weed killer. was carried on against wild mustard in grain. When applied at the rate of one- half to three-quarters of a pound per acre. when the wild mustard was just beginning to bloom. 2, 4-D gave nearly 1009? kill. It- is harmful to clover at this rate. however. and considerable damage must be expected if the grain is

seeded out. The grain itself show- ed no visible damn,-re except a slight setback at tire time of spraying.

strain of Bnngholm cluhroot rc- sisinnt swcrlcs was maintained in 1952. Selection -is being done for desirable roots with purple tops, as well as clubroot resistance, and some progress has been made. Over 60176 of this year's root crop crop were of the smooth purple top type, nnd showed good club- root resistance as well.

Horticulture

The Experimental Station. at Charlottetown, lsvnow grouped with a number of- other Stations and Colleges in in test of new vegetable varieties which are sup-

8. Norway Maple on the grounds of the Experimental Sta- tion in the presence of a distinguished gathering of Agri-

Siiperlntendent of the local Experimental Station for 39

plicd by plant breeders in Can- ado, United States and 'certain

J. A. Clark is shown planting

of this year. Dr. Clark 'was

Apiary

Sixty. two pound packages of bees were used in an experiment to determine the effect on pro- duction of honey when queens were removed at different dates. Twenty colonies were made oueenless on July 8th. twenty on July 29th. and twenty on August 14th. one year's results from this project would indicate that, un-

er Prince Edward Island condi- ionl. August ldth was the most -satisfactory date. This is the ap- proximate date when the honey flow from clover ceases.

A preliminary estimate of the -1902 honey crop for Prince Ed- ward Island has been placcdVit 90,000 pounds. This is s new re- cord for the Province. v

The Islnnd beckeepers import package-ibecs for the iproduetioii of honey. None of the colonies are overwintered. Production of honey by this method has been satisfac- torywith .avei-age colony yields among the highest-in Canada. ”

Cereals

Rod row. yield mu were local- a very-foetus; area and

European countries. From these 'trlals the originators can deter- mine the value of the varieties submitted for the dlfferenthreas in Canada. A report of these trials cglled "Varieties of Merit ln.Canadlani Vegetable Trials" is published annually by the Div- islon of Horticulture. Ottawa. Extensive work has been. car- ried on with cucumbers during the past five years, particularly in fertility studies and spacing trials. It is now evident that man- ure ls important in obtaining sat- isfactory yields and -that manure applied in the furrow will give consistently higher yields than the same amount broadcast. There appears to he only slight differ- ence between manure and fer- tilizer. and fertilizer alone. How- ever. cucumbers appea very Isn- sltive to large ahiouifts of fer- tilizer near the young feeding roots and when amounts in ex- cell of 1000 lbs. are applied it should be broadcast rather than Ildo-dressed. IMO lbs. of 5-10-10 seems to be quite satisfactory for average soils. I Close planting within certain limits would also seem to. pro- duce the but crops. or the var-

Wheat T

to favor i

hope because the weather in mid-

August,ripened the grain rapidly and later maturing va rietles did not have time to fill out as well as they would in more favourable weather.

Much of the grain crop throughout the province was

seeded late, and, in many cases,

early, but excessive rainfall dam- .

i

The stock of the CllflrlDl.f9lOWll.

o

Tl-IF. GIJARDTAN. CHARLOTTETOWN .

to produce the highest yields re- 1

mental Station.

stand 1 foot ,npart in the rows gave the highest yields. As an example. plants spaced 1 foot by 6 feet yielded, on the average. 8324 lbs. of all grades of fruit per acre while the widest spacings, 3

feet by 8 feet, yielded only 3557 lbs. The Station co-operated in in-

troducing two new scab resistant cucumbers. Maine No. 2 and S. R. G which did much to increase yield and profits in 1952.

Late Blight Strains

Potato varieties resistant, to late blight. scab and virus lizive been tested cxtcnsivel,i'.- Unfortunately all of the varieties. both Can- adian and American, went down with late blight in 1952. This is assumed in be the result of new late blight strains which have developed and to which the new varieties appear to be susceptible.

A very comprchcnsi e experi- ment cnti ed "Distance of Plant- ing and Type of Set Trials with Potatoes" has been under. study for three years. The results "to date indicate that the largest yield of mcrchantoble tubers are obtained from the 6 inch spac- ings and that the yields are pro- gressively lower as the spacings incrnnscrl. It is also nppzirenit that whole and halved tubers are sup- erior to regular sets in this re- gard.

The new bean. called Pure Gold. has been the most productive under test at the Charlottetown Station in recent years. It is a yellow, round - podded variety Round Pod It is considerably

somewhat similar to Kidney Wax.

later than any of the existing varieties and should prove to be of interest to market gardeners and others.

In tomatoes the variety Early Chatham continued to be the most productive of early, ripe fruit, although the'-total yield for this variety is not as high as for some others.

The new apple variety of some note is Spartan. This apple is slightly later than McIntosh and is considered by many to be of better quality. It is a deep red colour with crisp. juicy flesh. An- other apple, Mantet. is ready at this Station about September 5th and is somewhat reminiscent of the Gravenstein. It has possibili- ties for the early market. Other promising sorts in the early seas- on are Ottawa-2'12, Ottawa-276, Ottawa. 271, and Ottawa-244.

The Senator Dunlc-p and Pre- mier Strawberries continue to be the most adaptable and high yielding of all the varieties test- ed. Valcntine is a useful extra early and Louise a productive late variety.

Trent continues to be the out- standing raspberry variety

The Dahlia collection at the Charlottetown Station was aug- mented by some 200 new varieties in the spring of 1952. These in- clude many outstanding sorts. Our total collection new numbers ap- proximately 350 varieties. Very good bloom was obtained in 1952 nnd this was achieved by weekly dustlngs or sprayings with DDT and two liquid fertilizer applica- tions, one as the first plants be- gan to bloom and aonther three weeks later. For the liquid appli- cation 8 lbs. of a 5-10-l0 fertil- izer was dissolved in 200 gallons of water. Each plant received two gallons of mixture.

Illustration Station Activities

Experiments of a fact-finding nature. involving 910 experimental plots and comprising upwards of 200 acres, were under study on seven Illustration stations repre- sentative of various soil types in the province. These field experi- ments are so designed that in- formation, acquired may supple- ment research work now conduct- ed by the braneh experimental farms and. in turn, benent the individual farmer.

Improvement of permanent pn- tures by the use of chemical fer- tilizers has been an active project on Illustration stations in Prince Edward Island for a number of years. Experiments conducted dur- inng the past. year illustrate the beneficial effect of a complete for- tilizer when applied annually. Pasture plots treated with 61 pounds Ammoruum Nitrate. 600 pounds Bupei-phosphate and 100 pounds Muriate of Potash annual- ly, gave an average yield of 2150 tons compared with 13.31 tons harvested frome the unit-rtlllz: check plots. Benefits derived from, light fall surface applications ct well rotted manure can n:i :-

.. wurhden ;Ilim1r. IM ", as of llay.. The early W-cw it is". . i"."'i'”'l

loin e a tried, row: 3 feet

, I .

- er-emphasised. At the Montlesllo. i i .'l. celv-

Shown in the above photograph silage in the process of construction at the

Shown above is ”Evana Wait and See", p shire of the herd at the Experimental Station here.

.

is a trench silo for grass local Experi-

ing ii tons of manure per acre in the fall of 1949 produced 613 tons of green herbage per acre in 1050

Pasture pigcduction on this plob

increased to 14.16 tons in 1951 and an all-time high of 6.03 'tons of forage per store was produced in 1952.

It is tclbe pointed out, how- ever, that climatic conditions have been ideal during the past, two years for pasture production. Pas- ture experiments at four Illustra- tion Stations have shown that top dressings of manure even in com- paratively smail quantities, have not only encouraged the establish- ment of Wild White clover, but have served to prolong the graz-

ing period carrying the pasture through prolonged dry periods Hand in hand with mariurial

treatments and the application of commercial fertilizers is the prop- er management of permanent or rotational pmtures. Close grazing has been found very essential for the establishment and production of Wild White Clover. During the past two years, periodical mowing of pastures has been practised at all stations. Operators of Illust- ration Stations have found this practice very beneficial from the standpoint of keeping pasture grasses and clovers growing vigor- ously as well as discouraging tiic development and spread of nox- ious weeds. Experience has proved that, where pastures are under- grazed and where grasses are al- lowed to shoot into head, produc- tion of herbage is sbmeivliat re- duced and the resultant pasture forage is not relished by livestock. Periodical mowing of pastures which have developed a rank

outstanding Ayr-

growth also facilitates the estab- lishment and production of Wild White clover so highly relished by cattle.

Field Days Six Illustration Station Field Days held during the year at-

tracted a total attendance of 945 farmers. A special feature at these Field Days was an address by Mr. G. B. Whltesldc, Soil Special- ist, Experimental Station. Char- lottetown, on the subject ”Soi'. Survey in Prince Edward Island Agriculture". Mr. Whiteside re- viewed in some det ll his recent publication entitled 'Soil of Prince Edward Island".

The appreciation of the Division is extended to the Provincial De- partment of Agriculture, the Pro- vincial Department of Health and Welfare. the Provincial Depart- ment of Industry and Natural Resources and the National Film Board for their co-operatioiip in making these farniei's' meetings interesting, and of value to all at- tending.

The interest taken in Illustra- tion Statioii Field Days in Prince Edward Island is evidenced by the fact that. during the past 15 years, 121 Field Days have at- tracted a total of 15,479 farmers.

The ensillhg of grasses and clov- ers was continued for the second successive your at stations operat- ed by Mr. Robert Wocdside I and son, 0'I.reai'.y, and Mr. T. Albert l-fickcn, Alliston. At the 0'I.eaiy Station, excellent quality ciisllagc has been made in both the upright type of silo as well as in the tem- porary snow fence silo. At the Al- liston station, grass and clover cnsilage has been stored very sat- isfactorily in a pit silo' formerly utilized as storage quarters for roots! under the barn floor. Atom- porary upright silo, constructed with waterproof paper and srioiv fencing material, also proyed very satisfactory for storing grass en- silage at the Alllston station. Wil- liam E. Johnstone and Son. Illust- ration Station operators at New London, made use of the trench type ,silo for the first time this year. Upwards of '10 tons of