ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 69 



through the lower grades, and they will be more or less familiar 

 with the elements of nature knowledge. 



The provision of agricultural education is the function of each 

 provincial government, and the first provincial government to apply 

 public funds to the foundation of an agricultural college was that of 

 Ontario, at present the greatest agricultural province of the 

 Dominion. 



Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph 



This College was established in 1874 with a twofold object. 

 First, to train young men in the science and art of improved 

 husbandry ; and second, to conduct experiments and publish the 

 results. In both lines of work the College has been remarkably 

 successful. Its students have increased year by year until in 1908 

 they numbered 920. Its experimental work combined with the 

 influence of its students, who have returned to the farm, has greatly 

 affected the agriculture of the province. In twenty years the pro- 

 duce of Ontario land has practically doubled without any appreciable 

 increase of the acreage, and much of this improvement must be 

 credited to the teachers and experimenters of the Guelph College. 

 This institution of world wide fame is situated a mile and a half 

 from the small city of Guelph in a pleasant undulating country of 

 high class arable land. Its buildings are numerous and are magnifi- 

 cently equipped with apparatus, specimens, and teaching materials. 

 Separate buildings have been erected for separate subjects or groups 

 of subjects, and thus the agricultural building, the chemistry 

 building, the biology building, etc., stand alone but adjacent, in a 

 park like "campus" of lawns, shrubberies, and trees,mosb impressive 

 to the visitor by reason of its extent, its beauty, and its utility. 

 One of the finest buildings of the campus is that of the Massey Hall 

 and Library, a gift of the late Mr Hart Massey. The Hall, which 

 has seating accommodation for 450, is used for roll call, Sunday 

 services and society meetings. The Library, which is housed above 

 the hall, consists of reading rooms and accommodation for 80,000 

 volumes. A short distance from the main buildings are the barns, 

 stables, and sheds of the farm of 400 to 500 acres, which is attached 

 to the College. The stock- judging pavilion is conveniently situated 

 for the farm and for the teaching staff and students. That side of 

 the College work embodied in the Macdonald Institute has already 

 been touched upon. The purely agricultural curriculum remains 

 to be described. 



Two of the requirements for admission are worth noting. One 

 is that every candidate for admission must produce satisfactory 

 evidence that he intends to follo^P^ as an occupation either agri- 

 culture, dairying, horticulture or some line of practical or pro- 

 fessional work connected with these pursuits. A second requires 

 him to produce certificates of having spent at least one year at work 

 on a farm, and of having a practical knowledge of ordinary farm 

 operations, such as harnessing and driving horses, plowing, harrow- 

 ing, drilling, etc. When it is thought necessary his knowledge will 



