EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



Under the care of the Dominion Department of Agriculture, 

 experimental farms have been established in all the provinces of 

 Canada. They owe their inception to the report of a Select Com- 

 mittee appointed by the House of Commons in 1884 to inquire into 

 the best means of developing the agricultural interests of the country. 



The Committee reported that in Canadian agriculture at that 

 time very little attention was paid to the proper rotation of crops, 

 the selection of good seed, the best varieties of it, and the proper 

 cultivation of the soil. Farmers had little or no knowledge of the 

 value of manures and their use in keeping up the fertility, with the 

 result that valuable fertilizing material was frequently wasted and 

 the land in cultivation was becoming less productive. Very little 

 attention was paid to the improvement of stock, and the selection 

 and feeding of milch cows, while, owing to the want of skill and the 

 use of proper appliances, the quality of the dairy products, such as 

 butter and cheese, was inferior. 



In fact, in all branches of agricultural and horticultural work 

 there was a deplorable want of knowledge. To remedy this state 

 of affairs the Committee recommended that the Government 

 establish an experimental farm or farms where experiments might 

 be carried out in connection with all branches of agriculture and 

 horticulture, and that the results of the work conducted should be 

 published from time to time and fully disseminated among farmers 

 of the Dominion. 



The first definite step to establish the experimental farms was 

 taken in 1886. After full information had been gathered regarding 

 experimental stations, then in operation in Europe and America, 

 an Act was passed which provided for the establishment of a Central 

 Experimental Farm and four branch farms. The Central Farm 

 was to be located near the Capital, Ottawa, where it was to serve 

 the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The branch farms were 

 to be distributed over the Dominion, one for the Maritime 

 Provinces jointly, one for the Province of Manitoba, one for the 

 North-West Territories, and one for British Columbia. Within two 

 years the land for these farms was secured, officers appointed, 

 buildings erected and equipped. The Central Farm was located 

 just outside Ottawa ; the branch farm for the Maritime Provinces — 

 Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick — at Nappan 

 in Nova Scotia ; that for Manitoba at Brandon ; another at Indian 

 Head was assigned to what was then known as the North-West 

 Territories ; and one at Agassiz for British Columbia. Development 

 in the west, however, has speedily outgrown the arrangement there. 

 Four years ago the southern part of the North- West Territories 



