2 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



agricultural pursuits, but the people as yet are comparatively few and the area of unoc- 

 cupied land is so large that no adequate conception can yet be formed as to the vast 

 quantities of food products which Canada could produce were its inhabitants at all 

 proportionate to its resources. 



Under such conditions, the fostering and developing of the agricultural interests 

 of the country are of pre-eminent importance to all classes of the people. 



mo\t:ment looking to the improvement of agriculture. 



The subject of the improvement of agriculture was brought prominently before 

 the people of Canada in 1884 when the House of Commons appointed a Select Com- 

 mittee to inquire into the best means of developing and encouraging the agricultural 

 interests of this country. This committee made a careful inquiry into the subject, 

 also as to the disadvantages and wants experienced by farmers in Canada, taking evi- 

 dence from many persons having experience or scientific knowledge bearing on this 

 subject. From the report of this committee subsequently submitted we learn that in* 

 the cultivation in Canada at that time of cereals, grasses and roots, there was very 

 little attention paid to the proper rotation of crops, to the selection of improved varie- 

 ties, or to the thorough tillage of the soil. There was very little knowledge among 

 farmers as to the value and snitability of manures, and their usefulness in supply- 

 ing fertility to the land was unheeded and much fertlizing power was lost from negli- 

 gent exposure of the material. 



Very little attention was paid to the improvement of stock, to the selection of 

 milch cows or to the character and condition of pastures. In the making of butter 

 and cheese the quality of these products was inferior, due to want of skill in their 

 manufacture and the lack of improved appliances. In all the branches of agricul- 

 tural and horticultural work there was a deplorable want of knowledge. 



The committee recommended that the government establish an expeiimental farm 

 or farms where experiments might be carried on in connection with ?-ll branches of 

 agriculture and horticulture, and that the results of the work conducted should be pub- 

 lished from time to time and disseminated fully among the farmers of the Dominion 

 for their information. No action was taken on this matter until November, 1885, 

 when on the accession of the Honourable (now Sir) John Carling to the position of 

 Minister of Agriculture for the Dominion, he instituted measures for the gathering 

 of further information regarding experimental stations then in operation in Europe 

 and America, and the methods pursued by them in their efforts to obtain information 

 valuable and helpful to the farmers, so that the fullest data might be available and the 

 experimental farms so much needed established on the most approved plans without 

 further delay. 



establishment of experimental farms. 



The Act already referred to as passed in February, 1886, provided for the estab- 

 lishment of a Central Experimental Farm and four branch farms. The central farm 

 was to be located at or near the capital, Ottawa, where it was to serve the purposes of 

 the two larger provinces, Ontario and Quebec. The branch farms were to be distri- 

 buted as follows, one for the maritime provinces jointly, one for the province of Mani- 

 toba, one for the Northwest Territories and one for British Columbia. The work to 

 be undertaken at these several experimental farms was duly set forth in the Act, and 

 covered many of the most important lines of experiments in agriculture, horticulture 

 and arboriculture. 



Within two years the land for the several farms was secured, the necessary officers 

 appointed, most of the buildings erected and the farms put in practical operation. 

 The central farm was located near Ottawa, the branch farm for the three eastern 

 provinces at Nappan, Nova Scotia, that for Manitoba at Brandon, the farm for the 



