10 Oct., 191S.] Agricultural Education in Canada. 



587 



The framers of the Act were of the opinion that education and 

 instruction for the farming community might best be classified under 

 four heads : — 



(1) The teaching in the public school of the first principles of 

 the sciences related to agriculture. 



(2) The teaching of more advanced agriculture in the agricul- 

 tural colleges and universities designed more particularly to train 

 teacher investigators and community leaders. 



(3) The carrying on of extension work involving the instruction 

 of farmers by making them familiar with the results of scientific 

 investigation and research. 



(4) The amelioration of the conditions of rural life, particularly 

 so far as women and children are concerned. 



The effects of the Act are already manifest. In some provinces no 

 agricultural instruction worthy of the name was carried out prior to the 

 passing of the Act. Now agricultural investigation, teaching, and 

 extension work in every province has been given new life. 



View of Dairy Buildings and Silos — Dominion Experiment Farm, Ottawa, 



Canada. 



Dominion Experiment Farms. 



The most important branch of the Federal Department of Agricul- 

 ture is the system of Dominion experiment farms. 



These were established under the Experiment Stations Act 1886. At 

 the present time there is a central experiment station at Ottawa, on which 

 the greater part of the investigational work is done, and 22 branch 

 stations in the various provinces of the Dominion. 



The vote for the Dominion experiment farms, for maintenance (ex- 

 clusive of salaries, &c., on the civil list) is over £200,000 for the fiscal 

 year of 1918. 



The function of these stations is twofold : — - 



(1) Investigational and experimental work — the discovery of new 

 facts and new knowledge in the field of agriculture, horticulture, and 

 animal husbandry. (2) The dessemination of agricultural informa- 

 tion amongst the farming community by bulletins, press notices, 

 demonstrations, and by co-operation with the various provincial 

 departments. 



