FABU CROPS OF CANADX /.V 1901 19 



A. I do not, and the returns are not all entered yet. 



Q. I was at one threshing of oats, which were grown from a sample you had sent 

 out and they yielded eight and a half bushels from the eight pounds of seed. 

 A. That would be eighty-five bushels to the acre. 

 Q. Yes, about that. 



A. Some of them would run over that. I know of some that have run nearly un 

 to 100 bushels. 



Q. The oat I refer to was a very stiif and straight sort ; what was the name of 

 the variety ? 



A. That would likely be the Tartar King, which has a very stiif straw. Some 

 very good reports have come in from parties who have been growing that variety from 

 diiferent parts. 



Q. That was not bad what I told you of— eighty-five bushels ? 

 A. No. I think it was very good considering that the season was not very favour- 

 able for oats. 



The Witness. — With this large correspondence to look after, in addition to the 

 work of the annual report, all the members of the staff are kept very busy. 



By Mr. Wilson : 



Q. Tou must want a large staff of men to reply to these inquiries ? 



A. We have not a very large staff, but the work is pushed along as rapidly as pos- 

 sible. The work in connection with the correspondence is very much facilitated by 

 having printed circulars ready covering different subjects so that a few words is all 

 that needs to be written, and in that way one man can get out easily about 150 replies 

 a day. 



By Hon. Mr. Fisher : 



Q. Mr. Wilson was just asking me about how many men were employed looking 

 after the letters and sending grain at the present time ? 



A. At the present time we have one French correspondent who manages the whole 

 of the French letters, but he is generally a few hundred letters behind. He will catch 

 up that in a few days when the mails become lighter. We have another clerk engaged 

 all the time in opening the English letters, and it is more than he can do to open 

 them and classify them. The letters that require special answers go into my office. 



Q. But particularly the seed grain applications ? 



A. The clerk who opens the letters reads them, add if they are applications for 

 samples, he sees what the party in each case asks for, and puts a red pencil line beneath 

 the name of the variety of grain desired. These pass next through the hands of 

 aiiother of our officers who writes the name of the variety to be sent where this is not 

 specified by the applicant, and these go at once to the distribution office, where we 

 are sending out 500 samples per day, so that about 500 letters are answered daily by 

 sending promptly to the parties the samples asked. Applications for potatoes and 

 corn which cannot be sent until later on, involve a reply, and in each case a letter is 

 written to the applicant stating that his application has been received and will be 

 attended to as soon as weather conditions will permit. 



By Mr. Wilsoii : 



Q. That greatly lessens the work, of course ? 



A. Yes, it does. I have one man who is working all the time attending to the 

 potato and corn applications in English, and the French correspondent attends to 

 those in French. The requests are answered just as promptly as possible and this is 

 done without materially adding to our staff. 



