42 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



made of the greatest value to the people of Canada. Curing the past year, much has 

 been done in the directions above mentioned. Material, consisting of plants, seeds, 

 labels, record books and other things have been furnished the branch Farms and 

 Stations through the Horticultural Division, as in previous years. In order to learn 

 what plants and seeds are needed, and to keep the Government in touch with the 

 results of experimental work throughout Canada, the record books of the branch 

 Farms and Stations are sent to the Central Farm each year and what information 

 is needed is copied on cards representing a Central Card Index System, making it 

 easy to learn what is growing at each of the Farms. The Superintendents furnish 

 reports to the Dominion Horticulturist, each week, of the work which has been done 

 so that he may be in a position to answer any questions which may be asked at any 

 time of the year in regard to what is being done in horticulture at the branch Farms. 

 In 1912, the Dominion Horticulturist visited all the branch Experimental Farms 

 and Stations, some of them more than once, and made plans with the Superintendents 

 for the development of the horticultural work. 



Seedling Apples at Prairie Farms. 



In the effort to obtain hardy varieties of apples for the prairie provinces, seed- 

 ling trees of the hardiest Russian apples in addition to the hybrids originated by 

 Dr. Wm. Saunders are now being grown in large numbers, and tested at the six: 

 Prairie Farms. The plan is to plant yearlings in nursery rows three feet apart and 

 the plants one foot apart in the row and leave them in these rows until they have 

 gone through two or three winters, when these proving hardy will be transplanted to 

 orchards. In 1912, there were 18,000 of these sent from Ottawa and planted, about 

 3,000 at each of the six Prairie Farms. Seed of apples fruited in Manitoba has been 

 planted to compare the trees grown from these with those grown at Ottawa of the 

 .same varieties. A large quantity of seed was sown in the autumn of 1912, as it is 

 desired to test this method on a large scale. 



PLACES VISITED AND MEETINGS ATTENDED. 



The Dominion Horticulturist, who was appointed a delegate to the Royal Inter- 

 national Horticultural Exhibition held in London, England on May 22-30, 1912, 

 attended this great exhibition, the largest horticultural show ever held in any country. 

 While in England, he visited a number of places to obtain information useful to him 

 in his work. While making his visits to the branch Farms in Canada he took the 

 opportunity of studying conditions in several places and districts in different parts 

 of the West. He made a special inspection of the nurseries in British Columbia. 



Some of the more important meetings which the Dominion Horticulturist attended 

 were: The Annual Meeting of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, Toronto, Ont. ; 

 Annual Meeting of Ontario Horticultural Association, Toronto, Ont.; Annual Meet- 

 ing of the Niagara Peninsula Fruit Growers' Association, Grimsby, Ont., and St. 

 Catharines, Ont. The Annual Meeting of the Quebec Pomoloo:ical Society was 

 attended at Ma ed on aid College, Que. At all of these meetings addresses were given. 

 As President of the Society for Horticultural Science, he delivered the Presidential 

 address at the Annual Meeting held at Cleveland, Ohio, on December 31, 1012. The 

 Assistants in the Horticultural Division also attended meetings, delivered addresses, 

 and helped judge at various exhibitions. 



