100  State  Aid  to  Agriculture  in  Canada. 
Government  intervention  for  the  granting  of  facilities  for 
cold  storage  is  of  quite  recent  origin  ; it  is  justified  on  the 
ground  that  such  facilities  benefit  both  producers  and  con- 
sumers, the  former  by  preventing  forced  sales  during  periods 
of  glut  and  the  latter  by  equalising  prices  and  preventing 
exorbitant  and  prohibitive  charges.  Under  the  Cold  Storage 
Act  of  1907  subsidies,  not  exceeding  30  per  cent,  of  the  total 
cost  of  building  and  equipping  public  cold  storage  warehouses, 
are  paid  by  the  Government  under  contracts,  of  which  six  have 
already  been  made.  The  Department  exercises  control  over 
the  temperatures  maintained  and  regulates  the  rates  and  tolls 
chargeable  for  storage. 
Since  1897  bonuses  of  20 1.  each  have  been  offered  to  owners 
of  creameries  for  the  installation  therein  of  cold  storage  plants. 
Up  to  the  present  398  creameries  have  complied  with  the 
conditions  required  and  285  have  done  so  partially,  receiving 
therefore  a proportion  of  the  bonus  offered.  A total  of  11,851Z. 
has  been  expended  in  this  way. 
Another  direction  in  which  the  Government  aids  dairy 
producers  is  by  the  provision  of  weekly  iced  car  services  on 
the  routes  to  Montreal  and  Quebec.  The  Department  guaran- 
tees two-thirds  of  the  earnings  of  a full  car-load  in  addition  to 
the  cost  of  icing  the  car,  which  is  about  lfis.  for  butter  and  20s. 
for  cheese.  Without  this  arrangement  small  producers  would 
either  have  to  pay  the  full  car-load  rate  on  a small  quantity  or 
hold  their  produce  until  they  had  got  a car-load.  The 
amount  paid  under  this  head  in  1909  was  2,fi98Z.  A similar 
arrangement  is  applied  to  the  steamships  by  the  reservation  of 
a small  chamber  in  vessels  sailing  on  specified  dates.  All 
steamships  now  provide  cold  storage  facilities  ; but  prior  to 
1903  the  Department  shared  the  expense  under  agreements 
sanctioned  by  legislation. 
Plans  for  dairy  buildings  and  refrigerating  plants  are 
supplied  free,  and  a large  general  correspondence  is  conducted 
on  technical  matters  connected  with  the  dairying  and  fruit 
industries. 
Agricultural  Seeds. — Another  result  of  recent  gradual  yet 
rapid  developments  was  the  establishment  in  1905  of  the  Seed 
Branch  under  a Commissioner  (Mr.  G.  H.  Clark).  The  Branch 
undertakes  free  of  cost  and  with  no  charge  for  postage  the 
analysis  and  germination  of  seed  samples  for  farmers  and 
seed  merchants — a work  that  occasionally  may  be  of  special 
importance  owing  to  the  risk  of  sowing  frosted  and  therefore 
valueless  grain.  The  chief  Seed  Laboratory  is  at  Ottawa,  but  a 
Branch  Laboratory  at  Calgary,  in  southern  Alberta,  meets  the 
convenience  of  western  farmers.  During  the  year  ended 
March  31,  1910,  the  samples  tested  for  purity  and  germination, 
