PEOCEEDINGS FOE 1894. LXI 



One of these is the origination of new crosses or hybrids of cereals, fruits, and other useful plants 

 to meet the lequircments of the varied climates and conditions of different parts of Canada. Special 

 attention is drawn to the importance of these experiments by the director of the farms, who states 

 that a large number of such new forms are aii-ead}' under cultivation and observation. Their 

 importance will be obvious to any one who considers, in view of the great area over which any crop 

 may be grown, how great a financial benefit must accrue to the farmer if he is jilaced in possession of 

 a variety of grain capable of producing any substantial increase of yield to the acre. Even in the 

 case of fodder plants, the introduction of a new varietj' capable of producing a larger yield of hay or 

 ensilage to a given area, means, in concrete form, that the farmer may be able to keep and to market 

 a proportionally greater number of cattle than may before have been possible. 



Other branches of the work involving much original research are : the investigation, by chemical 

 analysis of soils, in their relation to fertilizers, and of grains, grasses, fodder plants and other products 

 of the farm, by which a fundamental knowledge of their respective value and of the best and most 

 profitable methods of their treatment may be arrived at and the study of insects and parasitic plants 

 injurious or beneficial to vegetation and to stock, such as to enable the pests of the agriculturist to be 

 com batted either by methods which may be classed as direct or by means which are indirect. The latter 

 implies a study of the lifc-histoiy of the forms to be dealt with, including not only those which are 

 native to the country, but those also which may be from time to time introduced, such as the 

 Coloi'ado Potato Beetle, the Horn Fly and many others. It includes also the study of the best 

 means of counteracting the attacks by all those lower forms of vegetation, known as rust, smut, 

 mould or mildew, which prey upon the plants which are the special care of the farmer. 



Even in connection with the familiar and almost world old operations of butter and cheese 

 making, the I'esults of purely scientific investigations are now being proved to have a great 

 importance. I do not refer merely to the best mechanical methods of dealing with the milk from 

 which these are made, but particularly to the fact that the nature of the vegetable ferments which act 

 upon this milk and upon the cheese, after it has been produced, ara now known to give character to 

 the product. That is to saj', the effect of inoculation of the mass with some particular species of 

 ferments is favourable, while the presence of others is deleterious. Thus the results obtained in the 

 whole field of baeteriologj- are being made contributory to the success of the dairy. Already in 

 Denmark "pure cultures" of certain kinds of ferments are beginning to be regarded as necessary to 

 the success of the butter maker, and essays of a similar kind are actually in progress here. 



It is not possible to refer in detail to the innumerable experiments and tests being made or which 

 may be made of varieties of plants and animals which may be already well known, but of which it is 

 desirable to ascertain those best suited to the actual circumstances of the country. Nor is it possible 

 to enter into questions such as the tests of fertilizers, the testing of the vitality of seeds, or the 

 propagation of trees suited for planting on the plains of the Northwest. Though a part of the useful 

 work of the farms, these do not imply oi'iginal research in the same measure with those subjects 

 already alluded to. Neither can I at this time refer to the methods adopted of making the information 

 gained available to the public, such as the publication of special bulletins and reports of progress, the 

 distribution of samples of seed grain (which in 1892 reached the number of .30,000) and of young trees 

 for plantations. All these are obviously the necessary outcome of the work done on the farms. It 

 is in addition most important by such means to make known throughout Canada the results which 

 have already, or may from time to time be reached by experiments conducted by similar institutions 

 in the United States or elsewhere, many of which are equally applicable here. 



In his report for 1892, the Secretary of Agriculture of the United .States writes with reference to 

 the similar work carried on liy his department : " The National Government has taken, as it were, a 

 contract with the farmers, and to carry it out efficiently' this department must be prepared to answer 

 all reasonable ex))eetations in bringing into the service of agriculture all that science, whether in this 

 country or in any other country ui)on the globe, has been able to evolve for its benefit." 



