REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



been gaiued. The dissemination of this information amongst our farmers has 

 always been a difiicult problem. Many thousands of reports and bulletins are 

 sent out every year, and farmers have been invited to correspond with us and 

 attend agric-ultural meetings. Still, much remains to be done — in fact, com- 

 paratively little has been done so far as reaching the average farmer is ''con- 

 cerned, since the average farmer, to a certain extent, and the poor farmer very 

 lio&itively, does not take any interest in publications, and seldom attends agri- 

 cultural meetings, and so remains in ignorance of the progress that is being 

 made in agricultural science and investigation. 



" These conditions have been attracting my attention for some years, and 

 I have been devoting attention to the matter of evolving a plan whereby our 

 poor farmers as well as our good farmers would have an opportunity, and in a 

 certain measure even be compelled to take advantage of or at least to observe 

 the benefits resulting from the introduction of more advanced methods of rotation, 

 cultivation, and crop production generally. With this end in view, I have, 

 during the last year or two, been considering the advisability of proposing and 

 advocating the establishment of a number of Demonstration Farms at certain 

 points in the different provinces of the Dominion, and I now have to propose 

 the following scheme. 



" In my opinion, it would be advisable to- secure the co-operation of certain 

 farmers at or near the points named below to carry on certain work in crop 

 rotation, soil cultivation, and S'oil improvement along lines to be laid down 

 by some officer under our direction. At each of these points, I would suggest 

 securing the co-operation of a farmer whose land should be located on some 

 leading or well travelled road within easy walking distance of a central town 

 or village. The farmer chosen should be one of good repute in^he neighbour- 

 hood, being already recognized as a good farmer, although not necessarily the 

 possessor of a good farm. We would ask this farmer to hand over to us, or at 

 least to handle according to our instructions, from 15 to 30 acres of his laixl ; 

 that is, as many 5-acre fields as there would be years in the rotation we thought 

 it advisable to introduce or follow in the district where the farm was situated." 



As indicated above, it is planned by these Illustration Stations to arouse interest 

 in two ways: First by giving ocular demonstrations that (1) the use of good seed, 

 (2) following a suitable rotation, and (3) practising good cultivation, pay; and, second, 

 by working up a feeling of friendly rivalry. By these means it is hoped that many 

 farmers of the locality may be induced to go and do likewise. 



The rapid increase in the number of our Experimental Farms and Stations during 

 1912 and 1913, however, and the many new lines of experiment being got under way 

 on each, presented such an array of administrative and technical problems, and called 

 for such heavy outlay that it was thought unwise to take up the Illustration Station, 

 work until our several Jiew Experimental Stations were in fair running order. 



It was finally decided to amplify the work suggested in the above memorandum 

 to the extent of including illustration work with a few of the best varieties of grain 

 and some grasses, clovers, alfalfas, corn, and roots, as Avell as in crop rotation and 

 cultural methods as first intended. It will be observed, too, that the original memo- 

 randum spoke of these Illustration Stations as "Demonstration Farms." Whrn it 

 was finally possible to begin the work it was found that certain Provincial Govern- 

 ments had already made a start along somewhat similar lines and were calliiig the 

 land whereon they were doing their work " Demonstration Farms," hence, to avoid 

 confusion, it was thought advisable to designate the areas under the Dominion 

 Experimental Farms as " Dominion Illustration Stations," and as such are they now 

 known. 



