REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 55 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



way into this select list, and nine of the varieties under test have appeared among the 

 best twelve every year. 



Similar evidence has been furnished with spring wheat, thirty-one varieties of 

 which have been under trial for a like period. In this instance sixteen of the thirty- 

 one sorts have appeared among the best twelve during the five years' trial, and nine of 

 the varieties have appeared each year in that list. In the case of barley the evidence 

 furnished in this direction is still more striking. 



In spring wheat the difference in yield between the different sorts under unifoi'm 

 conditions as to treatment has ranged from 31 to 16 bushels per acre. Oats from 89 

 bushels to 42 bushels, barley from 58 to 33 bushels, and pease from 46 bushels to 20 

 bushels per acre. The importance of taking advantage of this variation in yield, and 

 of encouraging the growth of the more prolific sorts becomes more apparent when we 

 consider the large area under cultivation. As an example, the addition of a single 

 bushel of oats to the average crop of Canada adds to the profits of the Canadian 

 farmers more than £200,000 ov one million dollars. 



After careful and continued experiments have shown that any variety is specially 

 promising, such variety is cultivated on a larger scale, so as to admit of its free 

 distribution among the farmers of the Dominion. This grain is grown on the experi- 

 mental farms, and is distributed chiefly from the central farm at Ottawa, forwarded 

 in small bags through the mail. The samples are sent on personal application only 

 from 3 to 10 pounds being forwarded to each farmer. Only one variety is obtainable 

 by an applicant each year, and with this restriction, the quantity sent from the central 

 farm eveiy year for the past three years has averaged over 60 tons. The applications 

 received each season have averaged more than 30,000. Those farmers who take good 

 care of the samples received usually have at the end of the second season sufficient 

 seed for a considerable acreage, and henceforward have all they require for their 

 own seed and some surplus to sell to their less careful neighbours. By this method 

 these better varieties of grain are soon spread all over the country, and the average 

 yield of the more important crops is thus increased. 



In this way the farmer is directly benefited, and with the help of the reports 

 and bulletins published by the experimental farms, he is kept informed of the general 

 work in progress, and is brought into sympathy with it. 



Many varieties of grain have been brought to Canada for test from nearly all the 

 grain growing countries of the world. !N"ew sorts of wheat, barley, oats and pease have 

 also been produced at the experimental farms by cross-fertilizing with the object of 

 combining the good qualities of varieties, more especially with a view of obtaining 

 increased vigour, greater productiveness, and an early maturing habit. During the 

 past ten years more than seven hundred new sorts have thus been produced and tested, 

 and among these there are quite a number of promising varieties. Experiments have 

 also been conducted for a series of years to ascertain the quantity of seed grain most 

 profitable to sow per acre, the depth in the soil at which it is most advantageous to 

 place the seed in the diffei-ent climates in the Dominion, and the relative advantages 

 of sowing broadcast and witK different sorts of drills. 



The object lessons which have been given in the raising of fodder crops and the 

 converting of these into ensilage, thus providing succulent food for cattle, have greatly 

 stimulated the dairy industry, especially the manufacture of butter in winter ; also 

 the fattening of steers, thus affording profitable employment for farm labour during 

 the winter months. The experiments which have been conducted with reference to 

 the economical production of butter of the highest quality, and the best management 

 of milk to secure the most complete separation of the butter fat, have commanded 

 much attention from those engaged in this special industry. The experience gained 

 by the feeding of cattle, sheep and swine, and in the testing of those breeds especially 

 adapted to produce the highest quality of beef, mutton and pork, has stimulated and 

 aided the stock industries. The business in eggs and dressed fowls for the table, has 

 also been advanced by the publication of results obtained from experiments conducted 

 in the poultry branch. 



