280 



SCIENTIFIC AGEICULTUEE. 



AprU, 1922. 



LETTERS TO THE SECRETARY. 



Ottawa, Ontario, 

 March 22, 1922. 

 The General Secretary, 



C.S.T.A., 



Garclenvale, P. Q. 

 Sir,— 



In response to your request contained 

 in the latast issue of Scientific Agricul- 

 ture, I beg to submit the folloA^ing, re- 

 lative to plans for the coming convention. 



Heretofore, Provincial and Federal De- 

 l^artments of Agriculture have been the 

 largest employers of Graduate Agricul- 

 turists. In view of recent public state- 

 ments made by the Federal Minister and 

 Deputy Minister of Agriculture, it would 

 appear that, for the present at least 

 there is not likely to be much demand 

 for the services of this year's agricultural 

 graduates by the Dominion department. 

 It may be assumed, with a fair degree of 

 certainty, that a similar situation will pre- 

 vail with respect to provincial depart- 

 ments. We have in prospect therefore a 

 glut of a commodity for the relief of 

 which it has been suggested that hence- 

 forth university graduates in agriculture 

 might very well return to tlie farm. 



Having in mind the principal objects 

 of a degree course in agriculture, from 

 the standpoint -of the country or the in- 

 dividual, Ido not consider it practical or 

 economical to conclude that ordinary in- 

 dividual farming enterprises should, wall 

 or can attract as a life work the majorit.y 

 of young men who should be graduated 

 in agriculture. If this laisscz faire atti- 

 tude in respect of the worthy employment 

 of agricidtural graduates is allowed to 

 prevail I lielieve it reasonable to suppose 

 that agriculture will soon lose to the other 

 professions the class of talent which has 

 heretofore been associating itself with the 

 degree course. 



In an endeavour to promote some in- 

 vestigation of existing conditions and with 

 the object of leading up to my sugges- 

 tion for preliminary action, permit me to 

 ask two questions, — 



1. Is Government service the most 

 desirable or only available medium 

 through which to advance the profession 

 of agriculture? 



2. Will tlie ambitious class of farm 

 boy who has been choosing agriculture 



as his profession continue to patronize 

 the agricultural college if his only hope 

 after graduation is to return to the 

 farm and in many cases do as he is told, 

 accept Avhat remuneration he receives 

 and practically forget what he has learn- 

 ed ? 



We have precedent enough, I think, 

 for assuming that a university training in 

 agriculture can be successfully capitalized 

 in the interests of private enterprises other 

 than farming. I venture to suppose, how- 

 ever, that a study of your membership 

 lists Avill reveal the names of but few 

 members who are not fully engaged in 

 government Avork. I believe this condi- 

 -tion results, to a great extent, from a 

 want of understanding between profes- 

 sional agriculture and the individuals or 

 institutions carrying on agricultural or 

 allied enterprises other than actual farm- 

 ing. 



Here then appears to exist the oppor- 

 tunity for timely liason work by the 

 C.S.T.A. The obligation is to initiate ac- 

 tion leading towards a wider market for 

 the product of agricultural colleges in 

 order to improve the demand for, there- 

 by facilitating profitable disposal of 

 trained agricultural services and incident- 

 ally raising the profession's standard. 



I would suofgest that in compiling a 

 programme for the convention an appro- 

 priate period be reserved for presentation 

 of our case to people representative of the 

 commerce concerned and vice versa. The 

 advisability of having all branches of 

 agricultural commerce and finance repre- 

 sented at our convention goes without 



saying. 



Yours very truly. 



P. Stewart. 



BRITISH COLUMBIA BRANCH. 



For the information of C.S.T.A. mem- 

 bers and particularly those who are re- 

 sponsible for the activity of local 

 branches, we have reproduced on pages 281 

 and 282 the programme which has been ar- 

 ranged for the Annual Convention of the 

 British Columbia Branch. The local ex- 

 ecutive is to be congratulated for the work 

 they have done in draA\'ing up such an 

 excellent series of addresses and discus^ 

 sions. 



