156 DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM 



BRITISH COLUMBIA, 



AGASSIZ, B.C. 



The Farm at Agassiz was purchased by the Dominion 

 Government in 1888 and possession was obtained in September, 

 1889. It is situated at the station of the same name on the 

 main line of the C. P. R., seventy miles east of Vancouver. 

 The Farm lies under the shadow of Mount Cheam, about one 

 and one-half miles from the Fraser River and five miles from 

 Harrison Lake. 



The property consists of some 1,400 acres, 300 of which 

 have been, or can be, brought under cultivation. The 

 remainder is mountain or ''bench" land, which was purchased 

 to preserve the fine growth of t mber trees on it and also to test 

 the possibility of setting out orchards on the mountain slopes, 

 where the situation m^de it otherwise impossible to make use 

 of the land. 



The soil is a loam, of varying quality, underlaid with 

 gravel. Near the mountain it is more peaty in nature, but 

 fertile when cleared and drained. Of the 300 acres of bottom 

 land, 200 have been cleared so far. 



Water for the stock and for domestic use is supplied from 

 a concrete and stone reservoir on the mountain side, from which 

 it is piped to the various farm buildings. 



Although work along all the main lines of agriculture has 

 been carried on here sinca the establishment of the Farm, a 

 specialty was made of the testing of varieties of fruits, and of 

 forest, nut and ornamental trees. This work was carried on 

 for twenty-two years, and a very complete collection of data 

 gathered as to the suitability of varieties for this part of B.C. 



With the development of agricultural work in other parts 

 of the Province from time to time, it was found that many 

 sections were much better suited for fruit-growing, both from 

 their climatic and soil conditions, than was the Agassiz district, 

 where the winter weather is very changeable, ice-storms occa- 

 sionally causing great damage by breaking down the trees, and 

 severe frosts, occurring when the soil is saturated with moisture, 

 leading to extensive winter-killing. The weather is frequently 



