6 EXPERIMEIS^TAL FARMS 



- 3 GEORGE V, A. 1916 



Cl'adottetown, P.E.T.; Quebec, Que.; Three Rivers, Que.; Sherbrooke, Que.; London, 

 Omi.; Ottawa, Out.; Winnipeg, Man.; Brandon, Man; Regina, Sask.; Prince 

 Albert, Snsk.; Saskatoon, Sask.; Calgary, Alta. ; Lethbridge, Alta.; Medicine Hat, 

 Aita. ; Vancouver, B.C. 



With the Go-operation of the superintendents of the branch Farms and Stations 

 who, with their assistants," attended the exhibitions in their respective localities, we 

 were able in an attractive and practical manner to place before some hundreds of 

 thousands of visitors to the fairs some of the results of our work; while our super- 

 intcndiMits and their assistants furnished information regarding the exhibits tabled, 

 and hy tliscussious and answering questions gave much useful advice concerning all 

 lines of farm activity. As a direct result over four thousand applications were 

 received from persons desirous of having their names placed on our mailing list. 



At tlio close of the exhibition season we received many very satisfactory and com- 

 plimentary reports from exhibition managers and visitors to the fairs and from our own 

 superintendents and from special inquiries which wp made regarding the usefulness 

 of our exhibits. Those reports clearly indicated that, as was expected, attendance 

 at exhibitions is one of the very best means tov/ards the end of greater publicity 

 concerning our institutions and of translating the results we are obtaining in the 

 field and in the laboratory. We hope to continue this line of educational work on a 

 more extended scale next year, and to endeavour especially to make the Dominion 

 Experimental Farms exhibit one of the main features at a large number of the 

 smaller fairs throughout the Dominion, as by including the smaller fairs many thou- 

 sands of the farming community who do not visit the larger and principal exhibitions 

 ■would be given an opportunity of making use of the institutions equipped and opei^ated 

 for their express benefit. 



ILLUSTRATION STATIONS. 



In October, 1914, accompanied by Mr. Angus Mackay, of Indian Head, Sask., for 

 part of the time, and later by Mr. W. H. Fairfield, Lethbridge, Alta., I visited many 

 points in that tract of country extending from Herbert, Sask., on the east to Pincher 

 Creek, Alta., on the west, and from the international boundary on the south to 

 Empress. Alta., on the north. This examination by rail, automobile, and horse was 

 made with a view to the establishment of Illustration Stations at various points in 

 the area mentioned, which, it will be observed, includes those districts more seriously 

 affected by drought that year. 



It was decided, after this trip, to carry on illustration work at the following 

 points: Herbert, Cabri, Prelate, Gull Lake, Pambrun, Shaunavon, and Assiniboia in 

 Saskatchewan, and Whitla. Medicine Llat, Carmangay, McLeod, Manyberries, Bow 

 Island, Empress, Carlstadt, and Irvine in Alberta. Farms were selected at practically 

 all these places, and subsequently a scheme of illustration work was prepared and 

 submitted to the owners or operators of the land selected, with p-oposals as to the 

 conditions under which the Experimental Farms branch was ready to carry on illus- 

 tration work on their farms, or at least on certain definitely described jarts the eof. 



The object or purpose of this Illustration Station work p^-obably cannot bo better 

 explained than l\v quoting from a memorandum prepared by myself three years or 

 more ago and then only after the matter had been under consideration for several 

 years. The memorandum referred to bears date January, 1912, and in part reads as 

 follows : — 



" For twenty-five years the Dominion Experimental Farms have been inves- 

 tigating problems in soil cultivation and crop production, and making varietal 

 tests of forage crops and cereals. In that time a great deal of information of 

 value to the farming community in connection with rotations, methods of crop 

 cultivation, the relative values of crops to the average farmer, and the 

 importance of performing different cultural operations at the right time ha3 



