State  Aid  to  Agriculture  in  Canada.  107 
Department  of  Agriculture  appoints  the  same  men  as  district 
representatives.  The  cost  of  their  maintenance  is  borne 
jointly  by  the  Departments  of  Agriculture  and  Education  and 
the  county  councils.  These  representatives,  who  must  be 
graduates  from  Guelph,  give  agricultural  instruction  at  the 
collegiate  institutes  (or  secondary  schools)  and,  for  the  use 
of  farmers,  open  local  bureaus  of  agricultural  information 
more  or  less  specialised  according  to  the  needs  of  the  district. 
At  present  about  sixteen  counties  in  Ontario  have  taken  advan- 
tage of  this  arrangement. 
The  Fruit  Branch  conducts  a large  experimental  station  in 
the  Niagara  peninsula  and  also  smaller  stations  throughout  the 
province.  Last  year  demonstration  orchards  were  taken  over 
to  be  conducted  by  the  Branch  in  order  to  prove  to  farmers 
that  old  orchards  hitherto  considered  valueless  could  be  profit- 
ably reclaimed.  Nursery  stock  is  inspected  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  Branch  and,  except  evergreens,  is  fumigated  with 
hydrocyanic  gas.  A series  of  orchard  surveys  recording  the 
number  of  trees,  varieties,  age,  methods  of  culture,  pruning, 
spraying,  fertilising  crops,  sales,  &c.,  is  also  being  carried  out, 
with  particulars  in  each  case  of  methods  that  have  given  the 
best  results.  The  province  is  divided  into  sixteen  districts  for 
the  inspection  of  apiaries  for  disease,  and  experimental  work 
in  bee-keeping  is  also  undertaken. 
Dairying  interests  are  promoted  by  a Branch  under  an 
officer  called  the  Director  of  Dairy  Instruction.  The  two 
principal  dairymen’s  associations,  one  for  eastern  and  the 
other  for  western  Ontario,  receive  annual  grants  of  $2,500 
(514Z.)  and  $2,000  (411Z.)  respectively  ; they  hold  conventions 
and  local  dairy  meetings.  After  experience  of  arrangements 
under  acts  passed  in  1904  and  1906,  the  Department  in  1907 
assumed  complete  responsibility  for  free  instruction  to  cheese 
factories  and  creameries,  while  power  was  given  to  the 
instructors  to  enforce  compliance  with  sanitary  requirements. 
The  two  dairymen’s  associations  mentioned  have  since  1907 
and  1908  undertaken  the  institution  of  prosecutions  for  milk 
adulteration,  and  the  fines  imposed  upon  conviction  have 
secured  a marked  decrease  in  the  percentage  of  adulterated 
samples. 
An  active  Corn-growers’  Association  receives  a small  grant 
of  100Z.  ; over  500,000  acres  are  devoted  to  corn  (or  maize)  in 
the  province.  The  Ontario  Veterinary  College,  established  in 
1862,  became  a government  institution  in  1908,  the  net  annual 
cost  of  its  maintenance  being  about  6.000Z.  The  Bureau  of 
Industries,  also  a Branch  of  the  Department,  was  established 
in  1882,  chiefly  for  the  collection  and  publication  of  agri- 
cultural statistics  throughout  the  province.  For  all  the  principal 
