REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 53 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The work of the year has also included the analysis of 185 samples for the Meat 

 Inspection Division, Department of Agriculture. These were collected at the various 

 packing houses in Canada and included lards, preserved meats, dye stuffs and colour- 

 ing matters, preservatives, pickling solutions, spices and condiments, etc., etc. This 

 examination is made with a view of determining their nature, purity and character 

 of adulteration, if present. 



Samples of water from Coquitlam lake, B.C., the source of the supply for the 

 city of New Westminster, and where a large dam is being constructed, have been 

 examined monthly for the Water Power Branch, Department of the Interior, for 

 which Branch, also, a number of mechanical analyses of ' fill ' used in dam construc- 

 tion in different parts of the Dominion have been made. 



For the Dominion Parks Branch, Department of the Interior, a report has been 

 made monthly on the water supply used at Banff, Alta. Analyses show this to be a 

 water of exceptional purity. 



Analyses of a number of natural waters have been made at the request of the 

 Department of Marine and Fisheries, with a view to determining if certain alleged 

 pollution might be such as to affect fish life or lessen their value in hatchery opera- 

 tions. Also, as for many years past, reports have been made on the composition of dog- 

 fish scrap produced at the Government Reduction Works in the Maritime Provinces. 



DIVISION OF FORAGE PLANTS. 



The desirability of a closer study of those plants useful as food for stock has 

 become more and more evident from year to year. Until 1909, experimental work 

 with forage plants constituted part of the work of the Division of Entomology and 

 Botany, under the late Dr. James Fletcher. After his death, separate Divisions of 

 Entomology and of Botany were formed. That part of forage plant investigation 

 dealing with the families of grasses and leguminous plants was taken over by the latter 

 Division, while the study of field roots and Indian corn was carried on by the Cereal 

 Division. 



In 1912, it was felt that the growing need of wider experimental work, looking 

 both to the testing of present varieties and to the originating of new and improved 

 sorts, demanded the creation of a Division of Forage Plants, under the charge of a 

 specialist in this line of work. Accordingly, all forage plant investigational work was 

 placed in the hands of Dr. M. O. Malte, a brief ' account of whose career appears else- 

 where in this report. 



The farm plants coming within the scope of the Work of this Division are: — 



1. Field roots. 



2. Indian corn. 



3. Leguminous plants. 

 •4. Grasses. 



In addition to these groups of forage plants, some experiments with broom corn 

 are also being conducted by the Division. 



FIELD ROOTS. 



The work with field roots, including turnips, mangels, carrots and sugar beets, was 

 continued along the lines followed in the immediately preceding years, i.e., it con- 

 sisted chiefly in the testing of different varieties as to yielding power. 



Of turnips (including swedes), nineteen varieties were tested, the highest yield- 

 ing variety being Best of All, with a crop of 40 tons 1,634 pounds per acre. 



