DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY 



221 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. 



FRANK T. SHUTT, M.A., F.I.C.. F.R.S.C, 

 Dominion Chemist. 



Ottawa, March 31. 1913. 

 J. H. Grlsdale, Esq., B. Agr., 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 



Ottawa, Ont. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the twenty-sixth Annual Report of the 

 Division of Chemistry of the Dominion Experimental Farms. 



As heretofore, the work of the Chemical Division has been carried forward with 

 a two-fold purpose — the prosecution of research which might lead to the solution of 

 problems in Canadian agriculture, general and specialized, and the more immediate 

 and direct education and assistance of the individual farmer in matters pertaining to 

 his everyday work. Though spoken of here, for the sake of clearness and convenience, 

 as distinct classes of work, there is, at times, no sharp line of demarkation to be drawn 

 between them. One frequently prompts or assists the other and thus it is that many 

 of our investigations of wide importance have been taken in hand as the result of 

 information or suggestion contained in a correspondent's appeal for help. Much of our 

 most fruitful and timely work, yielding results of an essentially practical and 

 widely useful character, has been the outcome of our efforts to obtain the data neces- 

 sary to enable us judiciously to advise the farmer in his difficulty. 



Naturally, no detailed account can be given, in a report of the year's activities, 

 of this branch of our work which seeks directly to advise and inform the farmer. It 

 must, therefore, suffice to say that we have endeavoured to make the Division a bureau 

 of information in matters relating to the chemistry of agriculture to which all may 

 apply, and that there is a steadily increasing number of those who are sending in 

 questions having reference to economical maintenance and increase of soil fertility, 

 the nature and amounts of plant food constituents in manures and fertilizers, the 

 special requirements of crops and farm animals, the relative nutritive values of forage 

 crops and feeding stuffs, the composition of dairy products, the constitution and pre- 

 paration of insecticides and fungicides and a host of allied subjects in general and 

 specialized farming that call for chemical aid. Our experience of twenty-five years 

 has shown this work of answering inquiries and reporting on samples sent in by 

 farmers to be most useful, giving help when and where it was wanted to those who 

 will benefit by it. It has proved very popular and, we think, successful in dissemi- 

 nating knowledge to those on the farm and, further, has won for our reports and 

 bulletins many interested and earnest readers. This educational work necessarily 

 occupies a considerable portion of the time of the chief of the Division 



A classified list of samples received for examination from farmers, and those in 

 connection with the various investigations that have been carried on during the year 

 is presented in the following table. The total number, 2,821, exceeds that of the pre- 

 vious year by nearly 500, and of 1911 by over 1,000, a fair indication of the increasing 

 appreciation on the part of farmers of this branch of our work. 



