256 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTUEE. 



April, 1922. 



keting, operating and living costs have all 

 fallen a little, none are reall}^ back to be- 

 fore-the-T\'ar figures. 



In the economic re-adjustment, the farm- 

 er has had his fingers badly pinched. 

 "Worst of all, the drop in the prices of 

 agricultural products has been so sudden 

 that the farmer has lauded at the bottom 

 with much the same feeling you have 

 when the elevator boy shoots you swiftly 

 from the tenth floor to the basement — 

 stomach upside down, head dizzy, and 

 generally groggy. 



Tlie adverse ecojiomic conditions which 

 have hit farming generalh^ so lieavily 

 might well appear to be almost a calamity 

 to the soldier settler, and a near catas- 

 trophe to the whole scheme. The bulk of 

 the men w-ere settled in 1919, or early in 

 1920. Land had to be purchased when 

 .$2.00 wheat miraged the whole landscape. 

 Horses and cattle, seed and feed, and all 

 essentials to start with had to be bought 

 at the then market prices, which, in many 

 cases, were double those of today. No 

 settler had accumulated a money reserve 

 during boom prices. Fcav had any personal 

 assets, and practically all of them were, 



and are, operating solely on borrowed, 

 interest-bearing capital. 



The pessimist is with us. . In these times 

 he is the special, self-appointed friend of 

 the soldier settler. For nearly a year he 

 lias l)een driving it home daily that success 

 is impossible and conditions liopeless, to 

 the soldier settler anyway. Nevertheless, 

 of all our failure cases, less than one- 

 third have arisen during the past trying 

 year. The future is not without promise. 

 Already very large benefits to the nation 

 have accrued, and no substantial losses 

 of public money have been made. The 

 first crash in grain prices was in 1920. 

 A year and a half has passed since then. 

 It is almost a year since the elevator boy 

 slammed his throttle and left the farmer 

 gasping in the basement. Other men and 

 other businesses are following him down 

 — some of them crashing too — and al- 

 ready there are indications that the farm- 

 er is l)eginning to recover. 



In any event, Canada still must have 

 more people — and she must have them 

 on the land — if she is to live and thrive 

 and pay her debts, and that is the real 

 justification for Soldier Land Settlement. 



SCIENCE & EDUCATION EQUIPMEiNT 



This catalogue, issued by the McKay 

 School Equipment, Ltd., Toronto, had a 

 special mission ahead of it which in a way 

 decided the design it should follow. There 

 had been no catalogue in Canada attempt- 

 ing to cover Science Apparatus in a gen- 

 eral and comprehensive way. 



TheJ'e was nothing to cater to the needs 

 of the universities, agricultural colleges 

 and other highly specialized teaching in- 

 stitutions. Any special subjects tliat were 

 dealt with when put in catalogue form ^ad 

 only reference to the very simplest appar- 

 atus and material. This catalogue, ' ' Scien- 

 ce and Education" now covers the ord- 

 inary needs of practically every type of 

 laboratory in the country including the 

 industrial laboratories. A number of re- 

 ference and comparison tables at the be- 

 ginning of tlie volume make a useful ready 

 reference. The catalogue proper is divid- 

 ed into sections so that each section can be 

 issued separately if necessary, such as Bac- 

 teriology, Analysis Apjjaratus, General 

 Chemistry, Agricultural & allied subjects, 



Pliysical Apparatus, Projection Appara- 

 tus, Assay and Mining Chemicals, Stains 

 and Reagents. Tlie numbering system is 

 so designed as to take care not only of im- 

 mediate needs, as manifested in the items 

 actually listed, but leaves room for the 

 probable and possible additions that may 

 be included for a great many years to 

 come. The numbers themselves are ar- 

 ranged so far as possible so that very fre- 

 quently called fcr items have an easily 

 remembered number, for instance 1050 

 commences beakers, 1500 commences com- 

 bustion apparatus, 1800 commences filter 

 papers, 1900 commences flasks, 2000 fun- 

 nels and so on. The index forms a cross 

 reference. The chemical list, which is an 

 extensive one, includes formulas. Consider- 

 able thought was given to the type select- 

 ed, the arrangement of illustrations and 

 the paper and press work generally in 

 order to make the book readable and as at- 

 tractive as such a prosaic piece of work 

 could be expected to be. 



