FARM CROPS OF CXXADA /.V 1901 15 



part. That sample of Preston wheat you gave us a description of, if you had it sown 

 in Saskatchewan and a sample of the result returned to you, you would know whether 

 it was good for use in that district or not. It might be a good wheat in Assiniboia, 

 and useless in Saskatchewan or Northern or Southern Alberta ? 



A. We have, however, sent a good many samples of Preston and other good sorts 

 of grain to farmers in Saskatchewan and Northern Alberta district, but there has not 

 been very much grain as yet grown in Southern Alberta. 



Q. I say the officers at the experimental farms should pay a little more attention 



to the outlying districts and not so much to those closer around home, because they 



have been having the benefit of the farms in their neighbourhood for very many years ? 



A. I shall- be glad to say something as to what we have been doing in Saskatchewan 



and Alberta. 



Q. We have certainly seen very little of the officials in Saskatchewan ? 

 A. We have had the superintendent of the experimental farm for the Terri- 

 tories, Mr, A. Mackay, and our entomologist, Dr. J. Fletcher, held a series of meetings 

 each summer for the past two years in different parts of Saskatchewan, and last win- 

 ter our agriculturist, Mr. Grisdale, held a number of meetings with ilr. Mackay in 

 Southern Alberta. I have visited parts of these districts myself five times within the 

 past few years, but the country is so large that it is not possible to get over it very 

 often. I am sure we have given as much attention, and more, to Saskatchewan in 

 the way of visits of our officers, than we have to many other parts of the country. 



By Mr. Bdhinson (Elgin) : 



Q. The people out at Saskatchewan can get their reports from the department 

 the same as anybody else, can they not ? 



A. Yes, certainly, and they do get them in large numbers. 



I hope the member for Saskatchewan will consider it his duty if he finds that 

 any part of his constituency is lacking in information regarding the work of the ex- 

 perimental farms to see that the farmers there receive the reports and bulletins. Every- 

 one who applies for copies can get them. 



I beg to call your attention to Senator Perley's sample of oats. He has grown 

 last year on twenty-five acres, 2,250 bushels, an average of ninety bushels to the acre. 



Q. What variety is that ? 



A. The ' Banner.' A number of other people have also had good crops of oats. 

 Mr. CuUum, of Eegina, had 1,870 bushels from seventeen acres, an average of 110 

 bushels to the acre. 



Mr. Thos. Wilkie, of Pense, had 5,025 bushels from fifty acres, an average of a 

 little over 100 bushels per acre. 



K. Alexander, of Hegina, had 4,080 bushels from forty acres, an average of 102 

 bushels to the acre, and John Ranatt, of Moosejaw, had 1,800 bushels from eighteen 

 acres, an average of 100 bushels per acre. 



By. Mr. Clancy : 



Q. Has not this year been an exception, rather, in respect to crops ? 



A. Yes, it has been so; the crops have been unusually large, but what I was try- 

 ing to make clear was, also, that while we have had unusual crops at Indian Head, 

 the farmers throughout this part of the country have participated in this general in- 

 crease wherever they have been farming after the manner our Superintendent at In- 

 dian Head has advised them to follow. 



Q. Well, it is quite possible, with the best methods of farming, if the season is 

 against them, the result may be bad? 



A. Yes, the season has probably more to do with the crop in the west than any- 

 thing else. 



