54 



REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 



(Jas. W. Robertson.) 



To Wm. Saunders, Esq., 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa. 



Dear Sir, — The Order in Council by which I was appointed Dairy Commissioner 

 for the Dominion of Canada, also designated me as "Agriculturist" of the Central 

 Experimental Farm. 



The time intervening between the date of my appointment, 1st February, 1890, 

 and the middle of October, was given almost entirely to the discharge of the duties 

 arising from and pertaining to my position as Dairy Commissioner, By your courtesy 

 I was relieved from much of the superintendence of the farm work, in order to enable 

 me to carry out the instructions of the Honourable the Minister of Agriculture, to the 

 effect that I should visit the several Provinces of the Dominion for the purpose of 

 delivering a series of lectures in each on "Dairy Farming" and kindred topics. My 

 journeys enabled me at the same time to inform the farmers in the various locali- 

 ties where the meetings were held, of the nature, variety and extent of the servii^e 

 which it is the object of the Dominion Expei'imental Farms to render. The veiy 

 full and generally correct reports of the meetings which the local newspapers inserted, 

 gave a wide pjiblicity to the facts which were mentioned in relation to them and 

 that through channels that could not be used as fully by the issue of bulletins and 

 correspondence. 



The visits to the several Provinces were times of reaping for me as Agri- 

 culturist as well as times of sowing as Dairy Commissioner. In all the sections 

 where I met the farmers and had opportunity for examining into their condition 

 and the methods of agriculture which they followed, no chance was missed wher« 

 suggestions could be gained or observations made that could assist further in the 

 effort to make the work of the Agriculturist as practically helpful to as many of the 

 farmers as possible, and that as speedily as is practicable. A brief yet fairly com- 

 plete record of these journeys, lectures, etc., will be found in the report of the Daiiy 

 Commissioner, a copy of which will be furnished to farmers or others who are 

 interested in agriculture upon their application to me at the Central Experimental 

 Farm. 



EXPERIMENTAL DAIRY BUILDING. 



To enable investigations to be carried on to completeness into the economical 

 methods for the production of milk, butter and cheese, an experimental dairy 

 building was erected on the farm It was planned to be suitable in size and con- 

 venie nee for the carrying on of such researches as may be undertaken. The nature 

 and direction of these may be outlined as follows: — 



I. Investigations will be carried on in the feeding of milking cows, to discover 

 what differences, in the marketable quantities and the commercial value per pound 

 of milk and butter, result from differences in (a) " breeds," (6) " feeds," (c) " care 

 and treatment of the animals." In this branch of work it is expected that service 

 will be given to the fai-mers, through illustrations of the best practices that may be 

 followed on any farm, rather than through the origination of new theories. 



II. The care and handlino: of milk, from the time it is drawn until the finished 

 product IS ready for the market, will receive attention, in order to reveal and demon- 

 strate the losses or the gains that result from treatments of milk, cream, buttei', 

 skim-milk and butter-milk. 



