® Ontario ontario institute of pedology - Agriculture and Agri-Food ...

SOIL MANAGEMENT*History and AgricultureThe area surrounding Haileybury was first promoted for agricultural settlement in 1891 byCharles Cobbald Farr . Some settlement did occur over the following 20 years . Land was sold at$0 .50 per acre with the conditions "one half of the amount must be paid in cash, the balance to bepaid in two yearly installments with interest, actual residence upon the land for four years from thedate of purchase, clearing and having under cultivation and crop at least 10 acres for every 100acres, and a habitable house at least sixteen by twenty feet, such conditions to be fulfilled beforeissue of patent" (8) .The agriculture of the `Little Clay Belt' grew rapidly from the home gardens of the minersand timbermen who came to extract the rich mineral resources near Cobalt and the coniferousforests immediately to the north . Isolation forced near self-sufficiency .Trends in agricultural growth followed much the same pattern as the rest of the province,with the profound variations in agricultural production resulting from the great depression and thetwo world wars (9) . The surrounding forests and rugged topography lessened the magnitude ofthese fluctuations by maintaining a near self-sufficient atmosphere . The isolation also offered analmost disease-free environment for the production of high quality timothy seed, which reachedEuropean markets in the 1940's, but it slowed development of the agricultural base of the area byincreasing transportation costs to and from markets .Rapid growth in the agricultural sector has occurred since the early 1960's. Farmingenterprises are primarily livestock-based (dairy and beef, with lesser amounts of sheep, swine,poultry), with associated feed-cropping programs . Barley, oats, alfalfa, clover, bird's-foot trefoil,timothy and brome grass are the most popular feed crops . Production of high quality oat, barley,bird's-foot trefoil and timothy seed continues to supplement the income of many farms . Cashcropping of hard red spring wheat, canola and field peas are also carried out when prices of thesecommodities are favourable.ClimateThe New Liskeard-Englehart area lies within plant hardiness Zones 3a and 2b with thewarmer areas associated with the northern end of Lake Timiskaming . On average, there arebetween 95 and 110 frost ftee days, 2250 and 2500 growing degree days (temperature greater than5 .6° C), and 1700' to 2200 corn heat units (average 1900) available for growing and ripening of crops(10, 11) . The years 1987, 1988 and 1989 all had heat unit accumulations above 2300 corn heat units .A total of 760 to 810 mm of precipitation falls on the area each year, with about 380 mmfalling between May and September. The rainfall distribution tends to be skewed to times of fieldoperations (plowing, seeding, harvesting, etc .) ; therefore, cropping systemswith minimal dependenceupon favourable weather should be adopted .The probability of spring and fall frosts are presented in Figures 6 and 7 .* By J.G . Rowsell, Lecturer, New Liskeard College of Agricultural Technology .24