198 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
63 VICTORIA, A. 1900 
On the evening of the 15th a meeting was held at Deloraine, which was wel 
attended by farmers from the surrounding country, and addresses were delivered similar 
to those given at the Boissevain meeting, except that we were now able to speak 
strongly and definitely as to what steps it was advisable for the farmers to adopt with- 
out delay. At this meeting Mr. D. 8. McLeod brought specimens of locusts from 
Lennox, only a few miles south-west of the Deloraine occurrence ; these were apparently 
a week or more older than any we had seen in the fields we visited. At this meeting 
Prof. Lugger gave the chief address of the evening, describing in detail the best means 
to adopt under the present conditions to prevent the spread of the swarms now hatch- 
ing ; he also showed plans and explained thoroughly the construction of hopper-dozers, in 
case these implements should be required later in the season. From what we had seen, 
however, we were able to encourage the farmers to hope that, if all would plough down 
the stubbles left for summer-fallowing at once, the locusts might be prevented from 
spreading and causing serious loss. é 
After the Deloraine meeting we left for Napinka and took the early morning train 
to Brandon, where a profitable morning was spent examining the magnificent crops on 
the Brandon Experimental Farm. The Awnless or Smooth Brome Grass, the introduc- 
tion of which by the Experimental Farms has been such an immense boon to the 
farmers of the West, was at that time (June 16) just spearing, and the meadows were a 
thick mat of grass, over two feet in height. In the afternoon a good opportunity of 
meeting many of the best farmers of the province was afforded at the ploughing match 
of the Blythe Farmers’ Institute, held near the Brandon Hills Post Office. Here we 
were again invited to deliver addresses on our grasshopper investigations, a subject 
which proved of much interest to the hundreds of farmers present. We returned to 
Brandon in the evening, and on the morning of the 17th I separated from my very 
pleasant companions. 
Owing to the excellent arrangements made by Mr. McKellar and by the generosity 
of the Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific Railways who had given the whole party 
free transportation over their lines, we had been able in a very short time to travel a 
long distance and also to meet the farmers most keenly interested in the locust occur- 
rences. That the farmers of southern Manitoba appreciated the efforts of the govern- 
ments to help them, is attested by the following letter received from Mr. McKellar at 
the end of the season :— 
‘There is no doubt but that your visits to Manitoba in 1898 and June 1899, 
examining the Deloraine district, invaded by grasshoppers, did much good. Farmers 
were interested in the definite information given by you regarding the habits of the grass- 
hoppers and the best methods for fighting them. Instructions im re fall ploughing or 
early spring ploughing and early summer-fallowing have been followed. A few farmers 
have used hopper-dozers this season, and if necessary, more will be used the coming 
year. The injury done in 1899 was not appreciable. The crops were of very heavy 
growth, and the harm done, therefore, not so evident. There has been more fall plough- 
ing in the Deloraine, Whitewater and Boissevain districts last fall than in any previous 
year. This was partly on account of the very favoufable fall, but farmers were no doubt 
stirred up to the work by the knowledge that they were taking the best means possible 
for destroying the eggs of grasshoppers that might have been deposited during the 
summer,’ 
Norru-Westr TERRITORIES. 
June 18 was spent in answering correspondence which had been forwarded to me 
from my office at Ottawa, and on the afternoon of the 19th I left for the West, reaching 
Moosomin at 4 o’clock, in time to join the Honourable G. H. V. Bulyea, the Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture for the North-west Territories, and hold an afternoon meeting of 
farmers ; this was the first of a series of seventeen meetings held in the southeast of As- 
siniboia. These meetings were arranged by the Commissioner to be held at the points 
where it was considered good work could be done by explaining to farmers living in that 
magnificent and fertile section: (1) the exact meaning of the North-west Noxious Weed 
