50 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. I90l 

 MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



On leaving Scotland a visit was paid to Bradford, in Yorkshire, where the meeting 

 of the British Association was being held. On an invitation extended by the president 

 of the Section of Economic Science, I prepared the following paper on experimental 

 agriculture in Canada, which was read before the Association. 



RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTAL WORK IN AGRICULTURE IN CANADA, UNDER GOV- 

 ERNMENT ORGANIZATION, BY DR. WM. SAUNDERS, DIRECTOR CANADIAN 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



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

 the stores of fertility provided in the soil, or where the land has greater capacity for 

 the production of food for the human race than in Canada. While the resources of 

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

 in the soil that the greater wealth of the country lies. The immensity of the area of 

 good and fertile land in Canada is very imperfectly understood even by those who have 

 had the opportunity of visiting 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 everyT\'here for the production of the same crops. Very large areas, 

 however, particularly in the great plains of Manitoba and the North-west Territories, 

 are specially adapted for the production of cereals, particularly wheat of the highest 

 quality. In other and more limited districts conditions prevail which render them 

 very suitable for the growing of fruits. Nearly all the arable lands of the Dominion 

 ofi"er advantages for mixed farming, for the growing of different sorts of grain, grasses, 

 roots and other forage plants, and for the raising of cattle, swine, sheep and poultry, 

 and for the production of butter and cheese. More than half of the entire population 

 are engaged in agricultural pursuits, but the population is as yet sparse, and the area 

 of unoccupied land so very large that no adequate conception can be formed as to tho 

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

 all proportionate to its resources. 



With such conditions it is apparent that the developing and fostering of the 

 agricultural interests of Canada is a subject of pre-eminent importance to all classes 

 of her people, and is one which frequently engages the attention of both the federal 

 and provincial governments. 



In 1884, the House of Commons appointed a select committee to inquire into the 

 best means of developing and encouraging the agricultural interests of Canada. This 

 committee made a careful inquiry into the subject, also as to the disadvantages and 

 wants experienced by agriculturists in Canada, taking evidence from various persons, 

 who had made a special study of the different branches of industry included under 

 the general term Agriculture, and of others having a scientific knowledge bearing on 

 this subject. In the report subsequently submitted to the House of Commons, the 

 substance of the evidence accumulated is thus summarized : — 



* Notwithstanding the great progress made in recent years, it appears that there 

 is a large amount of defective farming in this country. In th'e cultivation of cereals, 

 roots and grasses there is want of periodical change of seed, selection of improved 

 varieties, a proper rotation of crops, with a lack of thorough tillage and a knowledge 

 of the value and suitability of manures. The value of manures is, in many cases, 

 unheeded, and much ferlili?ing power is lost through negligent exposure and the waste 

 of liquid manures. In stock-raising the chief deficiencies are the want of pure-bred 

 males, lack of knowledge of the adaptability of breeds to particular conditions through- 

 out the Dominion, the want of better pasture and more abundant tree shelter. In the 

 production of butter, the milk is frequently not properly cared for, nor is suitable 



