State  Aid  to  Agriculture  in  Canada. 
99 
fifteen  years  ago  cheese,  over-heated  in  transit  and  otherwise 
damaged,  would  on  arrival  be  worth  many  shillings  per  cwt. 
less  than  when  shipped. 
Since  1900  thermographs  for  the  automatic  registration  of 
temperature  have  proved  of  great  assistance  in  connection  with 
the  carriage  of  produce,  and  the  Canadian  Government  is  now 
the  largest  user  of  these  instruments.  They  cost,  for  11-day 
records,  about  61.  12s.  each,  including  ink  and  charts.  Carried 
in  locked  wooden  boxes,  perforated  to  admit  the  air,  they  are 
stowed  with  the  cargoes,  in  the  refrigerator  chambers,  and  in 
the  ordinary  holds  of  ships.  The  records  indicate  daily  every 
variation  of  temperature  and  are  afterwards  furnished,  to  the 
refrigerating  engineers,  who  are  thus  enabled  to  discover 
unusual  fluctuations  and  prevent  their  recurrence.  Thermo- 
graphs are  used  also  on  the  Canadian  railways,  and,  if  firmly 
braced,  good  records  may  be  obtained  in  the  ordinary  freight 
trains,  though  the  conditions  are  not  very  favourable  owing  to 
jolting  and  vibration.  In  some  cases  responsibility  for  railway 
delays  has  been  fixed  by  their  use,  for  when  a train  is  motion- 
less the  line  traced  is  firm  and  distinct  whereas  in  motion  it  is 
more  or  less  blurred. 
Canadian  laws  are  strict  in  their  repression  of  practices  affect- 
ing the  reputation  of  the  export  trade,  and  Parts  VIII.  and  IX.  of 
the  Inspection  and  Sale  Act  relating  to  dairy  products  and  fruit 
are  enforced  through  this  Branch.  All  creameries  and  cheese 
factories  are  registered,  cheese  and  butler  for  export  must  be 
branded  as  “ Canadian,”  skim-milk  cheese  must  be  so  marked, 
and  no  fat  other  than  that  natural  to  milk  may  be  used  in 
cheese-making.  The  manufacture,  importation,  and  sale  of 
margarine  or  other  butter  substitutes  is  absolutely  prohibited 
throughout  Canada. 
Enforcement  of  the  provisions  of  Part  IX.  of  the  Act,  which 
relate  to  the  grading  and  marking  of  fruit,  especially  apples,  is 
one  of  the  duties  of  the  Fruit  Division,  and  fines  are  imposed 
for  improper  grading  and  marking.  In  seasons  of  large  pro- 
duction many  dealers  are  detected  in  trying  to  pass  low-grade 
fruit  as  “ No.  1.”  In  the  year  1909-10  the  Division  secured 
216  convictions,  and  the  fines  aggregated  612Z.  These  fines 
exercise  a salutary  influence,  as  does  also  even  more  the 
practice  adopted  by  the  Department  of  publishing  the  names 
and  addresses  of  offenders.  From  May  to  September  the 
Division  issues  a Monthly  Crop  Report  on  the  progress  and 
prospects  of  the  fruit-growing  industry,  based  on  replies 
received  from  some  3,000  correspondents.  The  inspectors, 
when  not  otherwise  employed,  visit  the  orchards  and  impart 
practical  instruction  in  the  best  methods  of  cultivation  and 
spraying  and  in  the  packing  and  marking  of  fruit. 
