MArch 1855.] 



GENEKAL AGEICULTURAL NOTfiiS. 



327 



throughout Canada. In addition, there is a poultry manager, 

 who takes charge of the poultry department ; and a farm fore- 

 man, who directs the labour on the farm and takes general 

 charge of the field crops. The production of new varieties of 

 cereals and other crops, the ornamentation of the grounds, and 

 the-forestry plantations are departments in charge of the director 

 and his assistant, the foreman of forestry. During the past five 

 years, about 700 new varieties of cereals have been produced 

 at the experimental farms by cross-fertilising and hybridising. 

 Nearly 20 acres of land are occupied by forest-belts, composed 

 mainly of useful timber trees, to test their relative value for 

 timber purposes. About 600 varieties of trees and shrubs are 

 being tested in the ornamental clumps and groups in different 

 parts of the grounds. Experiments are also conducted in bee- 

 keeping. With the aid of a suitable clerical stafi*, a large corre- 

 spondence is carried on with farmers, who are encouraged to 

 write to the ofiicers of the farm for information and advice. 



At the branch farms, much of the work is so arranged as to 

 cover those questions which are of the most immediate im- 

 portance to the farmers residing in the several provinces. Each 

 farm is furnished with suitable buildings and supplied with the 

 best breeds of dairy cattle and fat cattle. Useful experiments 

 are conducted in feeding stock, also in raising swine and poultry. 

 Many tests are made with the most promising varieties of grain, 

 fodder-crops, roots, vegetables, forest trees, &;c. Experiments are 

 also conducted as to the best methods of preparing the soil for 

 crops of various sorts, in the draining of land, in determining 

 the best time for sowing, and the most practical methods of 

 maintaining the fertility of the soil. 



A large quantity of the best and the most productive varieties 

 of grain grown on the several farms is distributed by mail, in small 

 bags containing three pounds each, to farmers in all parts of the 

 Dominion. These sample bags of grain, when sown and properly 

 cared for, usually produce from one to three bushels, and at the 

 end of the second year the crop will generally furnish the farmer 

 with a sufiicient quantity of seed to sow a considerable acreage. 

 This distribution of seed is carried on at all the farms, but the 

 larger quantity is sent out from the central farm. In 1893, 

 21,377 samples were mailed to 11,831 applicants. The surplus 

 stock of promising varieties of grain grown at all the farmS; 

 beyond what is required for the sample bags, is sold to farmers 

 in quantities of from one to two bushels to each applicant. 



