RECORD OF INDIAN HEAD EXPERIMENTAL FARM AND MOTHERWELL’S FARM, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA

Year   Annual    Bushels of Wheat  Bushels of Wheat  Bushels of Wheat
Rainfall   per Acre          per Acre          per Acre
(Inches)+  Experimental      Experimental      Motherwell’s Farm
Farm—­Fallow      Farm—­Stubble
1891  14.03      35                32                30
1892   6.92      28                21                28
1893  10.11      35                22                34
1894   3.90      17                 9                24
1895  12.28      41                22                26
1896  10.59      39                29                31
1897  14.62      33                26                35
1898  18.03      32                —–­               27
1899   9.44      33                —–­               33
1900  11.74      17                 5                25
1901  20.22      49                38                51
1902  10.73      38                22                28
1903  15.55      35                15                31
1904  11.96      40                29                35
1905  19.17      42                18                36
1906  13.21      26                13                38
1907  15.03      18                18                15
1908  13.17      29                14                16
1909  13.96      28                15                23

+Snowfall not included.  This has varied from 2.3 to 1.3 inches of water.

The annual rainfall shown in the second column does not include the water which fell in the form of snow.  According to the records at hand, the annual snow fall varied from 2.3 to 1.3 inches of water, which should be added to the rainfall given in the table.  Even with this addition the rainfall shows the district to be of a distinctly semiarid character.  It will be observed that the precipitation varied from 3.9 to 20.22 inches, and that during the early ’90’s several rather dry years occurred.  In spite of this large variation good crops have been obtained during the whole period of nineteen years.  Not one failure is recorded.  The lowest yield of 17 bushels per acre came during the very dry year of 1894 and during the somewhat dry year of 1900.  Some of the largest yields were obtained in seasons when the rainfall was only near the average.  As a record showing that the year of drouth need not be feared when dry-farming is done right, this table is of very high interest.  It may be noted, incidentally, that throughout the whole period wheat following a fallow always yielded higher than wheat following the stubble.  For the nineteen years, the difference was as 32.4 bushels is to 20.5 bushels.

The Mother well farm