214 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. XI 
insistent call issued by the British Government for food and still more 
food; indeed, it is a matter of daily wonderment how the food require- 
ments of the immense number of those engaged in actual warfare, in 
the making of ammunition, are met—certainly they must far exceed 
those that had hitherto satisfied the needs of the Old Country. 
Our Federal Government and our several Provincial Governments 
took up the call promptly and enthusiastically in the autumn of 1914. 
Throughout the length and breadth of the land it went out that every 
farmer, if from patriotic motives only, must make an honest effort to 
increase his crop yields, his live stock, his dairy produce. Every farmer 
must seriously consider the gravity of the occasion and after a careful 
survey of his conditions and circumstances see wherein he can do his 
bit for king and country towards meeting the demands for a larger 
and still larger output from his farm. 
A dominion-wide campaign of education and inspiration was at once 
inaugurated by the several departments of agriculture and carried 
forward with earnestness and enthusiasm in every province from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific.— Meetings of farmers were addressed, special’ 
bulletins of an educational character were written and widely distributed, 
articles on timely subjects appeared in the press, correspondence on 
matters pertaining to better farming was invited. This outlines the 
principal features of the campaign, in which the officers of the several 
departments of agriculture took a prominent part. This campaign 
in certain of its features is still being prosecuted. It has done and is 
still doing a great deal of effective work and the results are to be seen, 
I believe, in every province of the Dominion. 
The harvest of I915 was unprecedented in Canadian history. In 
its truly magnificent abundance it was a record-breaker. This we know 
was largely due to the exceptionally favourable seasonal conditions 
that prevailed in that year over the larger part of the Dominion and 
especially in the great grain-growing areas of the North-Western provinces. 
Unfavourabie weather conditions prevailed in 1916 over large areas 
in Canada both in the East and in the West, very materially reducing 
the agricultural output. It was a very trying year for the farmer in 
almost every part of the Dominion. In the East, continued and heavy 
rains prevented the getting in of the crops in good time—and it is seldom 
that late sown crops give even fair yields no matter how rich the soil 
may be, though we safely say that crops in a properly prepared and 
fertile soil will go far towards offsetting the disastrous influence of an 
untoward season. In certain sections of the prairie provinces, weather 
conditions induced an outbreak of rust—the most severe since 1904—and 
_ this most materially reduced the wheat output. 
