12 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
To what extent other agricultural institutions in the Dominion 
participate in this work I cannot say. No doubt they all have their 
share, but the fact that farmers may forward their letters free of post- 
age to the Central Experimental Farm would naturally, when taken 
in conjunction with our widely advertised offer of help, result in the 
sending of the major part of the agricultural correspondence of this 
country for the attention of the specialists at Ottawa. 
Reference must also be made to the valuable educational work 
accomplished by the widespread dissemination of agricultural informa- 
tion through the distribution of bulletins, reports, circulars, etc., 
from the various agricultural institutions of Canada. The number of 
publications so issued and sent post free on application is very large. 
The demand for this literature is yearly increasing, indicating not only 
that it is acceptable, interesting and useful, but that our farmers are 
readers and therefore inclined to make their heads help their hands in 
their everyday work. Speaking of this literature as a whole—and I 
can do so from the fact that the greater part has emanated from the 
Experimental Farm system—it has been written in plain language 
with the intention of imparting its information clearly and con- 
cisely and in a way understandable by the non-technical reader. 
Demonstrational work is closely related to the foregoing means 
of disseminating information and, indeed may be regarded as a sub- 
division or phase of educational work proper. It is the bringing home 
to the farmer in a very practical way modern and approved methods 
in farming operations. It is the showing how, and is comparable in 
its object to the value and influence of the lantern slides of the lecture 
and the illustrations of the text book. Since their institution 
the farms and stations of the Dominion Experimental system and the 
farms connected with our agricultural colleges have in a large measure 
been demonstrational—that is, as regards farming methods, farm 
buildings, etc.—but their influence in this direction by reason of their 
necessarily limited number, could not be widely and intimately felt 
throughout all the agricultural areas of the vast Dominion. This 
has led in recent years to the establishment of a number of small 
stations here and there in the districts most needing them—demon- 
stration stations—upon which methods of soil management in respect 
to the conservation of moisture, the upkeep of fertility through crop 
rotation and many other important phases are exemplified. These 
demonstration or illustration stations, although but recently established, 
have already exerted a marked influence on the agriculture of the 
districts in which they are situated. It is quite evident that in these 
stations we have found an additional and very valuable means of 
improving farming methods, and the probability is that their number 
