LXXXVI THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
study, and a committee composed of Meteorologists and Agricul- 
turists was appointed to outline a general International plan of 
action. This Committee had not met, however, prior to the outbreak 
of the war, and it is now nearly certain that it will not meet for some 
years. In Canada, however, some progress has been made along 
the lines which would probably have been suggested by the Committee 
had it met. 
Early in 1914, Mr. R. W. Mills, B. Agr., was appointed to take 
charge of Agricultural Meteorology, in connexion with the Meteor- 
ological Service, and most satisfactory work has been done, adopting 
tentatively the Russian Bureau of Agricultural Meteorology as a model. 
The Service in Russia was organised in 1897. Its characteristic 
feature is a system of Agricultural Meteorological stations throughout 
the empire, which in addition to being equipped with the necessary 
Meteorological instruments, are provided with experimental plots 
on which various crops are grown for the purpose of definitely studying 
the effect of the Meteorological and climatological conditions on plant 
growth. | 
In Canada with the approval of the Director of the Dominion 
Experimental Farms and the hearty co-operation of Dr. F. Shutt, work 
was inaugurated by the carrying on of a field experiment on spring 
wheat in relation to the weather or Meteorological environment. 
A plot of Marquis variety was grown at each of fourteen stations, 
distributed throughout Canada from the east to the west coast. 
At every station regular daily records were, and indeed have been 
for a varying number of years, taken of precipitation, maximum 
and minimum temperatures, and bright sunshine. 
Observers recorded crop notes on a printed form, adapted from a 
model translated from Russian. Questions called for a good deal of 
information, including (1) General field conditions and the farming 
methods employed, (2) Dates of the important stages in the life of 
the wheat, from sowing to reaping, and the general condition of the 
plants at the time of these stages, (3) Average height of the plants on 
the plot every seven days, (4) The damaging effect of adverse weather 
phenomena on plants and soil at any time throughout the season, 
and losses due to Meteorological and to other factors, and (5) Final 
_ yield and quality. After threshing time, the completed forms were 
returned to the Central Office of the Meteorological Service, where the 
weather and crop data were correlated. 
But before an attempt at such correlation was made, every 
experimental station engaged in the co-operative work was visited 
and a knowledge of conditions, climatic and agricultural, obtained 
at first hand. 
