June, 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



251 



Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturists 



Ucporl of General Sccretanj fur Ihe Year Ending Maij 



31, 1921. Read at the First Annual Convention, 



Winnipeg, June, 15, 1921. 



'i Jus report, covering the first twelve moutiis during 

 whicb the C. S. T. A. nas existed as an organized body, 

 is prepaiijtl with a two-fold object in view : first, to out- 

 line bi'ieilj the work tiiat lias been done, and .secona to 

 clcfUiy indicate the three main periods nito which the 

 year has been divided. 



At the close of the Organizing Convention on June -1, 

 1920, the (Society had to immediately consider 

 enrolment of new members (2) the raising of money .,j ^......j u. t.^c v.. o. x. i^. anci at wlucli Mr Ilarpell sub 



an appeal to Charter Meml>ers and (3) the completion milted details of the propo.sed arran-'cment Tl 

 of local organization work. The first two were made were, briefly (1) that the itublisher.s' should own 'the 

 imperative by the financially crippled condition of the magazine; (2) that one section, of scientific articles 

 Society, and the last (provincial organization) was the should be prepared by the Hoeietv and that nr tl ^'• 



Shortly after the Orgauiznig Convention, negotiations 

 had commenced with Mr. liarpell, Managnig Director 

 of the Industrial and Educational Publishing Company 

 in regard to the i.ublication by that firm, of a technical 

 agricultural monthly magazine as the official organ of 



T . T ,^:, '^'■/^■, '^ "'^''^t^"°' ^^'^« I'^'fl at Ste. Amies on 



June 4, June fcth, at which were pre.sent the President, Second 



(1) the \ ice-I resident, Honorary Secretary ami General Se 



ouey by cretary of the C. S. T. A. and at which Mr Ilarpell sub 



The co-operation of the members of the Dominion These iurangements were based on the sui)pasition that 

 Executive was at once sought and an appeal made to the publishers would eno-ao-e an editor who was 



duwl^i''?' ''V'- ^- ^- ^- '^ "-^''l^i-'t-» '-^rZe 

 duuno ^^y^ ,,.hp„ jt ^^.^^ suggested by the publishers 



thai, wuh the approval of the Dominion Execut 



them to complete organization work in their respective 

 provinces. New difficulties at once presented them- 

 selves. In most provinces the members were widely 

 scattered, there was little hope of getting them together, 

 and, in some instances, interest in the Societj- was ra- 

 pidly waning, through ignorance concerning its objects, 

 and concerning the proceedings of the Organizing Con- 

 vention. , 



In order to relieve this condition to some extent, the 

 General Secretary prepared and published a small 

 booklet containing the constitution and by-laws as 

 adopted, a statement from President Klinck, informa- 

 tion regarding finances and other matters of interest, 

 personnel of committees, and extracts from convention 

 speeches. This booklet was printed gratis by the Indus- 

 trial and Educational Pub. Co., and was mailed to mem- 

 bers about July 2()tli; an appeal was at the same time 



made for financial assistance. Extra copies were mail- .w„„„. ivp,,^, „«« aiso completed and this was mailed 

 ed to prospective members in Ontario and to each mem- to member."? the latter part of December No charir 

 ber of the Dominion Executive to be u.sed for pro- made for the printing of either the booklet or the Co 

 paganda purposes in the various provinces, and it was vention report, 

 apparent that nothing could save the society from fin- On October 2St]i, the General Secretary commenced a 



incial disaster except more complete organization and Dominion wide tour for the purpose of eomnletinf 



vincial and local organization work, and bringing to'Xe 



/, , 1 L. " " — " " '"" ^-^<:>.;i-iiive, the 



General Secretary should also a.s.sume the duties of 

 Editor. Ihis^ arrangement was finally made, and on 

 October 1st, the General Secretary moved his head- 

 quarters from Ottawa to Gardenvale, P Q An effort 

 was? made to hold a meeting of the Dominion Executive 

 on September 23rd, in order to discu.ss finances, mag- 

 azine, and general matters of policy. There was not a 

 quorum j.resent, and the General Secretary was obliged 

 t(i transact all business and solicit all counsel bv mail 



October Lst, 1920 is the date on which the second per- 

 iod, or ])eriod of organization, commenced 



The French edition of the booklet was printed b\- the 

 pub ishers early in October and used to good advantage 

 m the Province of t^uebec. The printing of the Con- 

 vention^ report was also completed and this wa 



as 

 on- 



the enrolment of new members 



During the months of June, July and August branches 

 were organized at Macdonald College (local) and in 

 Prince Edward Island (provincial). The organization 

 of tiie Quebec City (local) and the British Columbia 

 (provincial) branches followed in September. On Oct- 

 ober 1st, only four branches were established, only 19 

 new members had joined .since the organizing conven- 

 tion, and the Society was in debt to the amount of nearly 

 eight hundred dollars. Few members realized the real 

 crisis thi-ough which their Society was jiassing at that 

 time. 



The ])ropaganda booklet was translated into French 

 by Mr. J. N. Ponton, Second Vice-President of the 

 Society, but could not be printed on account of funds. 

 The complete report of the Convention had been re- 

 vised and was available in manu.scri|)t form. No iirinted 

 report fii)peared jjossible. The first period, a jiei'idd of 

 despondencj', ended on September 30th, 1920. 



!l""*^'l.''- ?"*'"" °^ members, the puri)o.se and merits of 

 Its official organ. The exiien.se of this journev, as well 

 as of numerous .smaller and officiallv C. S t" A iour 

 neys, was comiiletely borne by the p'ublishers ' No' f,„. 

 ther reference will be ma.le to their generositv in this 

 report. 



Between October 28th and the close of the calend-ir 

 year the General Secretary attended sex-enteen meetiii-s 

 as follows: Fredericton. 0<-tober 30; Moneton Novem' 

 ber 2; CharIottel.,wn, November 4; Truro, November 9 ■ 

 Ivondon, November 17; Guelph. November 19- OttiwV 

 November 22 and 29; Quebec, Dc-ember 3; Winnine- 

 December 9; Regina, December 11; Vancouver De.'ein' 

 ber 20; Victoria, December 23; Edmonton, December -^7 

 and Saskatoon. December 31. 



During this period, in addition to the four branches 

 whK-li were organized in Jul v. August and Septeinlier 

 eight more branches were established. On Januar\- 1st' 



