AGRICULTURAL WORK IN ONTARIO 21 



SHORT COURSES : These courses have been of two or three days' 

 duration and were for the purpose of a practical study of live stock 

 and seeds. I have been favoured with the services of the professors 

 of the Ontario Agricultural College for this work. These courses 

 have been held at Ayr, Gait and Elmira. The average attendance at 

 each has been between 300 and 400 farmers. We have used the best 

 stock obtainable and have had as teachers the highest authorities, so 

 that these courses are easily recognized as of immense value in ad- 

 vancing agricultural education at home. And just here is an excel- 

 lent example of the value of the Farmers' Clubs. In the necessary 

 preparation work for these courses, such as obtaining stock, build- 

 ings, advertising, etc., the organized Clubs have been the main 

 feature and, in a large measure, to their efforts the success obtained 

 has been due. 



DEMONSTRATIONS: Practical demonstrations in caring for 

 orchards have been held. Parts of orchards in various sections of 

 the county were sprayed and results noted by the owners. At some 

 of these sprayings, the men of the neighbourhood were invited to be 

 present and explanations were given as to the methods and reasons 

 for the different sprayings. At some of these orchard meetings the 

 subject of farm weeds was also discussed, the actual weeds of the 

 district from the fields being used for illustration purposes. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS: We have had 

 about thirty experiments on farms in different parts of the county in 

 order to determine the value of the fertilizers for certain purposes. 

 These experiments consisted of applying the different fertilizers in 

 various combinations and with various crops both on muck soils and 

 on typical fields of the farm. The material has been prepared for 

 the experimenter and directions given, so that we have had very 

 little difficulty in getting good results from the men who have co- 

 operated with us in this work. All of these experiments were 

 visited some time during the season. 



RURAL SCHOOLS : During the last two years, we have had 

 three of the rural schools near Gait unite in a competition in growing 

 farm crops and in making nature collections. This year we have 

 had six of the schools near Ayr doing the same work. The results 

 were exhibited at what we called a Rural School Fall Fair. From 

 an educational standpoint I believe some of the best activities of 

 young boys and girls on the farm have resulted from this work. As 

 far as possible, the pupils' plots at their homes were visited during 

 the summer. In driving about the county I sometimes take the 

 opportunity of visiting the rural schools and of addressing the pupils. 

 I have also helped some of the teachers in connection with their 

 school gardens and nature study. 



