i@TEi Anp conniiTJ 



Science and Practice will be more closely 

 related during the 20th Century in conse- 

 quence of the labors of such men as Lawes 

 and Gilbert, whose names have become famil- 

 iar to all careful students. Their work has 

 made the 19th Centuryfamous for exceeding- 

 ly useful agricultural experiments, and has set 

 in operation experiment station work in 

 many countries. Hitherto the great mass 

 of the people, and especially the farmers 

 and fruit growers, have known little of the 

 underlying principles of their practice, be- 

 cause such knowledge has been locked up in 

 books and largely confined to the halls of 

 the great Universities for the benefit of stu- 

 dents of the liberal Arts. Education had 

 been monopolized by the professions ; and 

 the lords of the soil, kept in ignorance, lacked 

 that self respect that was due to their noble 

 occupation, and did not attain that success 

 which was due to their industry. 



Now all is changed. The professor goes 

 to meet the farmers, and submits himself to 

 their cross questioning : he puts his chem- 

 istry, physiology and botany into common 

 terms and applies the principles to the 

 every day duties of the farm. As a result 

 we shall have intelligent cultivation of the 

 soil, and failure and discouragement will be 

 the exception in our fair Dominion. 



Night Shelter would appear to have an influ- 

 ence on vegetable production, if we may 

 judge from results attained by A. Petit, of 

 France, in 1901. Various mats and screens 

 were stretched a certain distance above the 

 plants at night, and a record kept as com- 

 pared with certain other plants not so treat- 

 ed. In case of cabbage and lettuce shelt- 

 ered from March to May a very considerable 

 increase in yield was noted ; while straw" 



berries with night shelter from October 15th, 

 grew more vigorously, were about eight 

 days earlier, and the crop was sensibly heav- 

 ier than where not sheltered. 



To make plants bloom in the window gar- 

 den Mr. Barton advises using small pots. 

 Most people, he told the farmers at Grange 

 Hall, Grantham, used pots too large and in 

 consequence the plants produced stalks and 

 leaves instead of flowers. Another mistake, 

 often made, was in getting the black soil 

 from the woods for flowering plants. This 

 is not the best potting soil. Better get a 

 strong clay loam, such as you would sow to 

 wheat ; take a turf from that and let it rot 

 in a pile for one year. Then, if necessary, it 

 could be enriched with cow manure, and 

 made porous with sharp sand. 



Trees for home and school grounds, accord- 

 ing to Mr. W. C. McCalla at the same meet- 

 ing, may be well selected from the native 

 varieties. He had collected a herbarium of 

 these trees, and found at least twenty species 

 which grew in the Niagara district, that could 

 not be found elsewhere. Mr. L. Wool- 

 verton advocated the cultivation of taste 

 in tree planting about the farmer's house. 

 Trees and shrubs should be grouped about 

 the entrance to give an air of mystery to the 

 approach, and in front of fences, barns and 

 other objectionable features, so as to hide 

 them from view. He advocated an open 

 lawn in front of the house as the very best 

 setting for it. 



Boys and girls who live in the country 

 should study those things that will bestvfit 

 them for their life work. "The professions," 

 said Mr. Duncan Anderson, "are over- 

 crowded, but there is plenty of room on the 



