212 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



March, 1922. 



is necessary, and the qualifications re- 

 •luired of every employee must be set down 

 in black and white, then the salary rating 

 should, in the public interest, be in exact 

 ratio to the importance of the position and 

 to the duties to be performed. Further 

 than that, special provision should be made 

 in some way so that a man or woman of 

 exceptional merit can be retained in the 

 Service on tlie representation of the Deputy 

 Minister. It would seem only logical, too, 

 that the Deputy Minister should be fully 

 consulted in all cases of appointment since 

 he is more familiar with the type of work 

 to be performed than are the members of 

 the Civil Service Commission. Surely in 

 the administration of the public service 

 there is room for logic and co-operation 

 and common sense. 



With the present issue Scientific Agri- 

 culture takes another step forward. The 

 size of the magazine has been increased by 

 eight pages, and this improvement has been 

 possible in spite of continued depression 

 in the publishing business. When most 

 agricultural magazines are appearing less 

 frequently or in a modified form, it is 

 very gratifying to make progress in the 

 opposite direction. It speaks well for the 

 organized body of professional men who 

 are behind the publication. 

 - Up to the present time we have never 

 been able to publish long articles because 

 of the amount of space they occupied. When 

 a long article was submitted, it was usually 

 split into two parts and published in two 

 consecutive issues. That was a disadvant- 

 age and detracted from the reading value. 

 In the present issue Ave have published our 

 first long article in complete form. The 

 article on "The Spoiling of Milk" by Pro- 

 fessor Sadler and Miss Mounce contains 

 approximately ten thousand words but we 

 have been able to ])rint it in one issue and 

 still publish a number of other interesting 

 papers. We hope that our progress in tliis 

 respect will be continuous and tliat fur- 

 ther improvements can be made from time 

 to time. 



In this connection, it is peiliaps timely 

 to again remind our readers that frank cri- 

 ticisms and suggestions are always wel- 

 come. 



ally is devoted to industrial and engineer- 

 ing chemistry, and in which the agricultural 

 industry plays a comparatively small part, 

 has given, in its issue of January 28th, con- 

 siderable prominence to our industr\\ 

 There is editorial reference to the relation 

 of chemistry to agriculture and several 

 articles are published dealing with artifi- 

 cial fertilizers "from the point of view 

 mainly' of supplies and manufacture." 



That agriculture and science are closely 

 bound together is receiving more frequent 

 demonstration in recent years than ever 

 before. 



It is interesting to note that a magazine 

 such as "The Chemical Age", which norm- 



An inquiry as to Government aid to car- 

 bonate of calcium production in the in- 

 terests of agriculture is the purpose of a 

 trip to Europe being undertaken by Mr. J, 

 Emile Vanier, civil engineer, secretary- 

 treasurer of the Montreal Crushed Stone 

 Company, Limited and president of the 

 Province of Quebec Association of Archi- 

 tects. 



Mr. Vanier will visit the most important 

 industries producing carbonate of calcium 

 in England, France and Belgium. He will 

 also, if time permits, go into Germany 

 where these industries receive from the 

 German Government special c^onsideration, 

 so that the material they are producing for 

 agricultural purposes can be delivered to 

 farmers in the most economical way and 

 at the lowest cost, a factor to which is at- 

 tributed much of the credit for the remark- 

 able results secured by Germany in agri- 

 culture. 



Mr. Vanier will seek to learn what ad- 

 vantages foreign Governments are giving 

 to the industries similar to his, in the form 

 of bonuses or subsidies to companies, or to 

 associations formed by farmers or indivi- 

 duals to promote the general interest of 

 agriculture by encouraging the use of lime- 

 stone on the lands, and what methods are 

 taken to assure economical and convenient 

 distribution such as the provision of ware- 

 houses or bins for the storage of ground 

 limestone at railway stations, where it 

 would be liandy for the farmers and the 

 public in general. The result of Mr. Va- 

 nier 's observations will be embodied in a 

 report to be laid before the agricultural 

 bodies of the province, with a. view to mak- 

 ing representations to the Government re- 

 garding the desirability of encouraging the 

 use of crushed limestone on the land. 



(Montreal Gazette.) 



