EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. 1. MAY, 1890. No. 5. 



EDITOPvIAL NOTES. 



The following facts concerning agricultural investigations in Can- 

 ada are taken in part from the fifteenth annual report of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College and Experimental Farm for 1889 : 



" In the year 188G an act of Parliament was passed by the Dominion 

 Government, making provision for the establishment of five experi- 

 mental farms throughout Canada, the principal one to be at Ottawa, 

 and to serve for both r)ntario and Quebec; the other four being 

 located as follows: One in the Maritime Provinces, one in Manitoba, 

 one in the Northwest Territories, and one in British Columbia. The 

 farms have been purchased and a superintendent engaged for each. 

 Experimental work was commenced on the Central Farm in 1886, and 

 upon the others about two years later. No pains are being spared in 

 making these experimental centers an honor to Canada." 



The Central Farm, situated in the suburbs of Ottawa, comprises 

 466 acres. The land is fi-om 40 to 80 feet above the adjacent rivers, 

 and is so located that part of it drains into the liideau River and part 

 into the Ottawa River. The soil varies from heavy clay to light, 

 sandy loam. l)ut a darlc. sandy loam of good quality and a friable clay 

 loam predominate. 



The exi)erimental faiiii for the Maritime Provinces is at Nappan, 

 Nova Scotia. It comprises about 300 acres, including woodland, 

 marsh or dyke land, and lower and higher upland. The soil is chiefly 

 clay loam with a subsoil varying from clay to gravelly clay. In 

 Manitoba the farm is near P)randon, 132 miles west of Winnipeg, and 

 contains 640 acres of meadow land sloping up from the Assiniboine 

 River and inchiding a portion of the bluffs which form the boundary 

 of the river valley. The soil varies from the rich, dark, clay loam of 

 the bottom-land to a sandy loam along the bluffs. '' It has a large 

 area of soil which fairly represents the great grain-growing districts 

 of Manitoba.'- The farm for the Northwest Territories is near 

 Indian Head, itbout 100 miles north of the United States and the same 

 distance west of the Manitoba boundary. It contains 640 acres, 

 including a variety of clay and sandy soils, and when the experiment- 

 ing began wa< all open prairie Avithout trees or shrubs. There is a 

 good supply of water (m the farm. In T'>rilisli Coliinibia the farm is 



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