ILLUSTRAflOX FARMS OF THE COMMITTEE ON LANDS 3 



APPENDIX No. 3 



ou Lands, at best can give only a limited amount of time to its work. We are not 

 paid officers. We give what time is necessary and give it cheerfully, but we cannot 

 devote week after week or day after day to this work By Mr. Xuunick"s activity, a 

 more complete co-operation was brought about between the Commission and the 

 various agricultural colleges. Six districts were chosen in Ontario, six in Quebec 

 and three in each of the other provinces. Where practicable, the same districts 

 •were continued that had been surveyed in 1910. In thirty-three districts, 1,212 farms 

 were examined. Our collectors of information visited (in round figures) 100 farms in 

 each province, plus 200 additional in the large Province of Ontario, plus 100 additional 

 in the Province of Quebec. The farms in each district were practically in a block, 

 touching each other. The information from each farm was put on a schedule for 

 that farm. The printed schedules were used to enable the collector and the farmfer 

 to record their opinions in compact form for comparisons and for compilation. It 

 provided records of information under four groups of headings, viz: — 



I. Potation of crops, seed, manure; 

 II. Weeds, insects, diseases; 



III. Fuel, power^ water; and 



IV. Instances of good farming. 



FUEL AXD WATER SUPPLY. 



I find that I will not have time to deal with the information obtained on the 

 fuel and water supply, at any length this morning, so I will make one or two remarks 

 regarding them now. 



It is most important in a country like Canada, depending in a large measure for 

 its fuel upon foreign sources of supply, that at least the rural population should have 

 its fuel from land under its own control. It would be a great safeguard against any 

 possible event which might occur The care of the farmers' wood lots for fuel pur- 

 poses is beginning to receive attention. The planting of suitable areas to ensure a 

 supply of fuel in future years is not being undertaken. Does this condition reveal 

 any need for co-operation between the individual farmiers and municipal or pro- 

 vincial or Dominion authorities? Is it desirable and practicable that the initial 

 expense should be shared and the resulting revenue also shared? It takes a great 

 many years for trees to grow. The life of the individual is comparatively short; 

 and the life and needs of the community are very long. In this matter we need the 

 long vision and the willingness to incur a long investment of a comparatively small 

 sum. 



From Mr. F. T. Shutt, Dominion Chemist at the Central Experimental Farm, 

 we learn that out of several thousand farm waters examined by him, only about 

 thirty per cent of those waters are first-class waters, fit to contribute to the enjoy- 

 ment of good health. That state of things in a new, well-watered country like 

 Canada, warns us to be careful and to make thorough investigations. Since we have 

 an abundant water supply, pure water that is fit to drink without risk, should be used 

 on every farm. Our survey had to do with the location of wells in relation to the 

 house, the privy and the barnyard. It seems quite natural that a man locating on a 

 new farm should put the well where it is most convenient. Sometimes, in order to 

 ensure a supply of water without digging deep, the well was sunk where the ground 

 is rather hollow, and in the course of years the ground there became impregnated 

 with slops thrown from the house and with seepage from the privy and barnyard. 

 This is not a particularly agreeable theme to dwell upon, but it is a necessary part of 

 the investigation into the conservation of health on the farms. Occasionally I find 

 myself pitched into by some ardent champion of real estate values because I persist 

 in speaking of some of the features of Canadian conditions that do not reflect much 



