8 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1S07 



The importar.ce of growing such varieties as will give the largest crops is manifest 

 vj\xen we consider the very large areas under crop in 'Canada. An increase of a single 

 bushel per acre in the oat crop alone would add to the annual profits of Canadian far- 

 mers nearly two millions of dollars, while a similar addition to the wheat crop would 

 amount to nearly double that sum. 



The question may be asked, how can farmers procure these prolific strains of seed? 

 The following is the method pursued at the experimental farms. After careful and 

 continued experiments have shown that any variety is especially productive and promis- 

 ing, this is cultivated in large fields so as to admit of the free disitribution of samples 

 among the farmers of the Dominion. The grain for this purpose is grown chiefly at 

 the branch experimental farms in the Northwest provinces and forwarded to the Central 

 Experimental Farm at Ottawa, where most of the samples are distributed and where 

 they can be sent free through the mail. They are sent out in strong cotton bags con- 

 taining in the case of wheat and barley five pounds, and of oats four pounds, suflicient 

 in each case to sow one-twentieth of an acre. These samples are sent only on personal 

 application, and only one variety can be had by an applicant each year. The interest 

 felt in this distribution is steadily increasing and the general introduction of these high- 

 class farm products into all parts of the country has resulted in improved quality and 

 increased quantity of the crops grown both for export and home consumption. 



The grain sent out is not only of high quality but is thoroughly clean, and if a far- 

 mer takes reasonable care of the sample he receives, he can soon have suflicient seed to 

 sow a large area for himself, and have a surplus to sell to his neighbours. As examples 

 of reports received from farmers on this point regarding oats, the following will serve 

 as illustrations : — 



' The sample bag of 4 potmds of oats sent me two years ago gave me the first year 

 5 bushels. This year we sowed these on two acres and we got 217 bushels.' ' We got a 

 sample of oats from you six years ago, and they gave us great satisfaction. The people 

 about here think very highly of them and there are thousands of bushels of them grown. 

 The farmers are coming here for seed for twenty miles around.' 



' The oats I got from the experimental farm some years ago have been worth a great 

 deal of money to me in increased yield and increased price, as I have sold quite a quan- 

 tity for seed.' 



' The oats of which a sample was received three ye«rs ago, proved an excellent var- 

 iety. I had 420 bushels last year. They yielded 74 bushels to the acre.' 



Many similar appreciative letters might be quoted in regard to samples of wheat, 

 oats, barley, &c. 



It is thus apparent that with attention and care any farmer may in a very few 

 years provide himself under this liberal arrangement with the best and most productive 

 strains of seed, in sufficient quantities for a large area at no cost to himself beyond that 

 of his own labour. 



It is remarkable how rapidly a supply of grain may be built up from a single four 

 or five-pound sample. Take, for example, a four-pound sample of oats. This with 

 ordinary care will usually produce on the average about four bushels. This sown the 

 next season on two acres of land will, at a very moderate estimate, give a hundred and 

 sometimes upwards of 200 bushels. Taking the lower figure as the basis for this cal- 

 culation the crop at the end of the second year would be sufficient to sow fifty acres, 

 which at the same, moderate computation w^ould furnish 2,500 bushels as available for 

 seed or sale at the end of the third year. 



The critical point in these tests is the threshing of the (j'ain at the end of the 

 first season, and it is here that many fail to get the full advantage open to them. The 

 product of the one-twentieth of an acre plot which the 4-pound sample has produced 

 is frequently threshed with a large machine which it is difficult to get thoroughly 

 clean, and in this way the grain becomes mixed with other varieties and is practically 

 ruined. At the experimental farms we thresh the product from many of the small 

 plots of grain, by cutting off the heads, placing them in a sack and repeatedly beating 



