October, 1910.], 



358 



Miscellaneous, 



thus seem to be, perhaps, the great driv- 

 ing factor of all in agricultural progress. 



Whilst the settlement of European 

 planters has thus, in one sense, revolu- 

 tionized tropical agriculture, in another 

 it has left it but little affected, though 

 many native capitalists have followed 

 the example of the white men and have 

 opened estates with hired lablour. The 

 old peasant agriculture goes on much as 

 before, and grows to a large extent 

 different crops to those of the estates. 

 This fact is sometimes used as an argu- 

 ment that the white man is not after 

 all so much better, or he would be able 

 to make the native crops pay. But very 

 commonly there is no big market for 

 these. When there is, as in the case of 

 pepper, the white man has very common- 

 ly been able to drive the native out of 

 the field. 



Thus there exist at present two agri- 

 cultures side by side in the tropics, an 

 almost unprogressive peasant industry, 

 and a progressive capitalist industry, and 

 there are comparatively few intermedi- 

 ate stages. 



(To be Continued.) 



ONTARIO PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 By J. O. Laird, 



(From 31st, Annual Report Ontario 

 Agricultural and Experimental 

 Union, 1909). 



Another year has passed beyond our 

 recall, and again we have come together 

 to hear and discuss the results of the 

 work of the Ontario Agricultural and 

 Experimental Union, and try to learn 

 some thing that will be of value to us 

 as agriculturists in the years that are 

 still before us. 



On behalf of myself and the other 

 members of the Union executive, I ex- 

 tend, to the visitors, officers, ex- 

 students, and students of the College 

 a most hearty welcome to this, the 

 Thirty-first Annual Meeting of the 

 Experimental Union, and I hope that 

 everyone will feel free to ask any 

 questions that may occur to him as the 

 meeting proceeds, and that we will not 

 only have addresses on the various 

 subjects upon the programme, which 

 will be instructive, but that the dis- 

 cussions upon these subjects will teach 

 us much, and broaden our ideas along 

 agricultural lines. 



During the past year experiments 

 have been conducted throughout Ontario 

 in the departments of Agriculture, 

 Horticulture, Forestry, Poultry-raising, 

 Bee-keeping and Agricultural Chemistry. 

 45 



In Agriculture alone, experiments have 

 been conducted upon over 4,850 farms. 

 These figures show us the extent of the 

 Union's work, and although not nearly 

 all of the experiments may have sent in 

 reports in every detail, there are a great 

 many of these who will be greatly bene- 

 fited by what they have done. As a result 

 of the material sent out by the Union, 

 many a farmer has worked himself into 

 a different variety of oats, wheat, corn, 

 peas, or whatever che material may have 

 been, which has meant a direct increase 

 in the income of the farm. Not only the 

 experimenter has benefited, but his 

 results have encouraged others to try to 

 increase the yield of their crops also. 

 We do not hesitate to say that the work 

 of the Experimental department of the 

 College, through the experiments con- 

 ducted by the members of the Union, 

 has meant million of dollars to the Pro- 

 vince of Outaiio; and this influence is 

 also felt in the other Provinces of the 

 Dominion. The growth of the Experi- 

 mental Union, since it was first formed 

 in 1880, has perhaps not been phenomen- 

 ally rapid, but it has been steadily grow- 

 ing year by year, and we have every 

 reason to believe it will continue to do so. 



No better movement has ever been set 

 on foot in this or any other country than 

 that method by which the counties of 

 this Province may be supplied with 

 trained agriculturists, to teach the subject 

 in High Schools, and most of all to 

 provide an "Agricultural Doctor" to 

 whom the farmers may take their 

 troubles and get the latest treatmeut 

 for these troubles. These men, who have 

 been placed in several counties of the 

 Province of Ontario, are now looked 

 upon by the people as one of the greatest 

 assets of the couuty. Could not some 

 experiments be conducted under the 

 direction of these county represent- 

 atives, and then the reports be given 

 by the representatives at the annual 

 meeting of the Experimental Union? 

 Take for an example, an experiment iu 

 the use of commercial fertilisers. The 

 results from the Province as a whole 

 might not be just satisfactory, whereas, 

 if the experiments were conducted in 

 each couuty, more care could be taken 

 that the soil and conditions on the 

 several farms were more uniform, thus 

 producing more valuable results. 



The beneficial results of the Union 

 have been brought about by the co-oper- 

 ation among its members. And so will 

 beneficial results appear in every line of 

 farming when co-operation is practised to 

 a greater extent. The idea that a good 

 many farmers and others have, that it 

 would be impossible for farmers to 



