ation may be classified as follows : (i) The officers and students, past and 

 present, of the Ontario Agricultural College, who pay an annual fee of 

 50 cents, and have control of the executive work of the Experimental 

 Union ; (2) the experimenters of former years who have done satisfactory 

 work; (3) leading farmers, gardeners, and others, whose names have 

 been suggested by secretaries of Farmers' Institutes, secretaries of Agri- 

 cultural Societies, principals of Collegiate Institutes, inspectors of Pub- 

 lic Schools, and others; and (4) various persons who have seen the ex- 

 periments of other people, or have in some way heard of the work and 

 wish to assist in the movement by conducting experiments on their own 

 farms. The circulars are distributed in the order here given, starting 

 first by sending to those who have been connected with the College and 

 are therefore trained for the work, and finishing the distribution by send- 

 ing to those engaged in some branch of practical agriculture who have 

 not conducted experiments previously but who wish to undertake the 

 work. 



"From the beginning, the co-operative experimental work of the 

 Union has been directed and controlled by circulars and letters, printed 

 and written, which have been transmitted through the mails. When per- 

 sonal visits have been made to the experimenters, the object has been 

 to enable the director to study the difficulties of those actually engaged 

 in the work, and thus to be in a better position to know the best methods 

 to adopt in the printed instructions, rather than to take any part in the 

 immediate control of the practical operations of the experiments. 



"Every man is made responsible for his own experiment, and is 

 urged to do the very best he can for himself, for his neighbors, and for 

 the Union. Many persons who at first took but little interest in the ex- 

 periments, have afterwards proven themselves to be most valuable ex- 

 perimenters, and have shown great care and accuracy in the details of 

 their work. The names of those who conduct the experiments with the 

 proper amount of care aid accuracy are placed on the list of successful 

 experimenters, and these individuals are carefully looked after in the fu- 

 ture. It will, therefore, be seen that the Experimental Union makes a 

 study of the men themselves as well as of the products of their labor. 

 The education of the men in the development of accurate methods, care- 

 ful observation, and a deeper interest in the occupation of farming is one 

 of the objects of the co-operative experimental work in Ontario. I have 

 no hesitation in saying that the results which have been obtained along 

 this line alone are of far greater value than the entire cost of the co-op- 

 erative work of the past seventeen years. 



"No direct financial help is offered any person to undertake and 

 carry through the co-operative work. It is purely a volunteer movement 

 from the start to the finish. The materials for the experiments, the in- 

 structions for making the tests, and the blank forms for reporting the 

 results are furnished free of cost to those who ask to join in the work 

 and who sign the agreement furnished by the Union. Experimenters in 

 crop production use the soil on their own farms, conduct the experiments 

 themselves, and report the results to the director of that particular branch 

 of co-operative work in which they have enlisted. In those experiments 



