6-7 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1S07 



INTERIM REPORT 



OF THE 



EXPERIMENTAL EARMS 



COVERING THE PERIOD EROM DECEMBER 1, 1905, TO MARCH 31, 1906. 



REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



WM. SAUNDERS, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S.C, F.L.S. 



In presenting this interim report covering a period of four months only, — render- 

 ed necessary on account of the altering by parliament of the date of closing of the 

 financial year from June 30 to March 31, — it has been thought best to briefly review 

 the condition of agriculture in Canada at the time the experimental farms were estab- 

 lished and devote the space available chiefly to those portions of the work which have 

 engaged the attention of the officers of the farms, during the past twenty years and 

 which seem to have more immediate and practical bearing on farm life. 



The system of experimental farms established by the Dominion Government for 

 the benefit of Canadian farmers was organized during the later months of 1886. The 

 Act giving the government the authority for the establishment of these farms was 

 passed almost unanimously in February of that year. The general popularity of this 

 measure was no doubt largely due to the strong feeling pervading the community 

 that such institutions were absolutely necessary to the prosperity of agriculture in 

 Canada. 



There is probably no country in the world where nature has been more lavish in 

 the st-ores of fertility provided in the soil, or where the land has greater capacity for 

 the production of food for mankind than Canada. While the resources of the 

 Dominion in its minerals, its forests and its fisheries are very great, it is in the soil 

 that the greater wealth of the country lies. The immensity of the area of fertile land 

 in Canada is very imperfectly understood, even by those who have travelled through 

 the country, and but a very small proportion of the arable land has yet been brought 

 under cultivation. 



The climatic conditions in Canada are very dissimilar in different parts and are 

 not favourable everywhere to the production of the same crops. Very large areas, par- 

 ticularly in the great plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, are well adapted 

 for the production of cereals, especially of wheat of the highest quality. In other and 

 more limited districts conditions prevail which are very suitable for the growing of 

 fruits. Nearly all the arable lands of the Dominion offer advantages for mixed 

 farming, for the growing of different sorts of grain, grasses, roots and other forage 

 crops and for the raising of cattle, horses, swine, sheep and poultry, and for the pro- 

 duction of butter and cheese. About one-half of the entire population is engaged in 



