ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 81 



Dominion. The year after the farms were organised the number 

 of letters received was about 8000. Within five years they increased 

 to over 25,000, and during the past ten years, 1898 to 1907, the 

 average number received annually was 72,619. In addition to this 

 correspondence over 300,000 copies of reports, bulletins, and circulars 

 are sent out every year. There is thus a constant flow of informa- 

 tion going to Canadian farmers from all the experimental farms. 



All the work is under the direction of Dr William Saunders, 

 C.M.Gr., who is responsible to the Minister of Agriculture. He is 

 ably supported by a staff of officers which embraces a Botanist and 

 Entomologist — the late Dr James Fletcher occupied this post at the 

 time of our visit ; an Agriculturist, Mr J. H. Grisdale, B.Agr. ; a 

 Chemist, Mr F. T. Shutt ; a Horticulturist, Mr W. T. Macoun ; a 

 Cerealist, Dr C. E. Saunders ; and a Poultry Manager, Mr A. G. 

 Gilbert. Each branch farm is managed by a Superintendent who is 

 directed from headquarters. The Central Farm at Ottawa, which is 

 splendidly equipped with buildings, extends to 466 acres, of which 

 250 acres are devoted to experiments and crops in charge of the 

 agriculturist. The cerealist gets 33 acres ; 10 has been set aside 

 for horticultural experiments with fertilisers, while orchards and 

 vegetable grounds claim 45. The Arboretum and Botanic Gardens 

 which contain two specimens each of 3000 different kinds of trees and 

 shrubs, and an equal number of perennial plants, extend to 65 acres ; 

 forest belts take 21 ; grass and fodder testing plots 2 ; and the 

 remaining 40 acres are taken up with roads, building sites, lawns, etc. 

 To carry on this large establishment thirty staff officials and about 

 seventy labourers are required ; and for maintenance 80,000 dollars. 

 Little, except in a general way, can be said here of the work. It will 

 be apparent that it falls to be divided into departments which are 

 reported on by the respective officers, and a brief review of some 

 of it may be interesting and will suffice to give some idea of its 

 nature and scope. 



Agriculturists' Department 



The chief work in this Department falls under field work and the 

 management of live stock. The former extends to cultivation and 

 manuring of soil, and the growing of all kinds of farm crops ; while 

 the latter embraces breeding, housing, and feeding of all kinds of 

 farm animals. 



In the sphere of field work experiments have been conducted 

 to determine the best methods of growing various crops, and the 

 cost of producing them per acre and per ton of feed. When it is 

 remembered that this work is carried on for settlers who, in many 

 cases with little or no knowledge of any kind of agriculture, are 

 grappling with the problems of growing the crops best suited to the 

 unknown condition of a new country, no one can doubt the far 

 reaching effect of even this series of investigations alone, as a means 

 of enriching both the individual and the community. Another 

 series of experiments closely allied with these is an attempt to 

 determine how many cattle can be kept on a given area of land, 



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