INTRODUCTION. 



^ It is only a comparatively few years since the vast 

 ^ plains which now comprise the prairie provinces of 

 i\ A Canada were inhabited by Indians and buffalo. Within 

 the past generation this country has been settled by over 

 200,000 farmers. With the exception of those who came 

 >) from adjoining districts immediately south of the inter- 

 ^ national boundary these farmers have had to face con- 

 ditions that were entirely new to them. The farm prac- 

 tices to which they were accustomed were altogether 

 j different from those required by the soil and climate of 

 ^ the western plains. There has been, -therefore, a strong 

 V demand for information as to the best kinds of grain 

 R and other crops to grow and the best system of cultiva- 

 | tion under which to grow them. 



Among the experimenters and teachers who have done 

 such splendid work in discovering and making known the 

 x best farm practices for the Canadian west Professor 

 ? Bracken has taken a place in the front rank. For ten 

 years before his appointment to the position of President 

 of the Manitoba Agricultural College he was Professor 

 of Field Husbandry at the College of Agriculture, Uni- 

 versity of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. The plan of the 

 experimental farm at that institution, one of the most 

 comprehensive and scientific on the continent, was 

 devised by him. The results obtained from his own 

 experiments, and the experiments at other stations both 

 in Canada and the United States, together with the 



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