i9>3] The Work of the Dominion Experimental Farms. s 



Scotia, for the Maritime Provinces; Brandon, Manitoba; Indian Head, 

 Saskatchewan,for the area then comprising the North-West Territories; 

 and at Agassiz, British Columbia, a point some 80 miles east of Van- 

 couver, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. These, with 

 the Central Farm, comprised the system until 1906, when the rapid 

 settlement of Alberta seemed to demand points of investigation in that 

 province. There was accordingly established in that year an Experi- 

 mental Station for Southern Alberta at Lethbridge, for the purpose of 

 studying problems in relation to the growth of crops under irrigation as 

 well as those involved in agriculture under the so-called Dry Farming 

 methods. In the year following (1907) a second Experimental Station for 

 Alberta was established. This was located at Lacombe, about 115 miles 

 north of Calgary, the climatic conditions and the nature of the soil in 

 this part of Alberta being markedly different from those in the southern 

 section of the province. 



In 1908 an Experimental Station for Central Saskatchewan was 

 located and equipped at Rosthern, within half a mile of the town of that 

 name on the Canadian Northern Railway, and in 1910, a similar station 

 for Northern Saskatchewan was established at Scott, on the line of the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 



An Experimental Station for Prince Edward Island was estab- 

 lished in 1909 at Charlottetown, occupying land on the outskirts of 

 that city. 



Still more recent (191 1) are the two Experimental Stations placed 

 in the Province of Quebec, the one at Cap Rouge, on the north shore of 

 the St. Lawrence, near the city of Quebec, the other at Ste. Anne de la 

 Pocati^re, on the south shore, for the easterly portion of Quebec. 



This year (1912) four more stations have been established, two in 

 the East, at Kentville, Nova Scotia, and Fredericton, New Brunswick, 

 and two in the West, at Sidney, on Vancouver Island, and the other at 

 Invermere, on the Columbia River, British Colubmia. 



The system, therefore, at the time of writing comprises sixteen 

 farms and stations, four of which are in their first year of operation. 

 The establishment of several more stations is now under consideration, 

 to meet the urgent demand by new settlers for special investigation in 

 hitherto unoccupied territory. The multiplication of stations is made 

 necessary by the varying climatic conditions prevailing in different parts 

 of the Dominion, for it must be borne in mind that climatic conditions, 

 rather than character of the soil, form the most potent factor in deter- 

 mining the nature and the possibilities of agriculture in any particular 

 district. 



The branch farms and stations are in charge of superintendents 



