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In Canada also some progress has boon made In the upbuilding of agriculture. 
Twenty years ago agriculture was In ;i very depressed condition In Canada and 
mucb concern thereby awakened. The Importance of ;i prosperous condition of 
agriculture there is difficult to overestimate when we consider thai aboul one 
hair of the population are engaged In agricultural pursuits and that agriculture 
is iiic mainstay of :ill other Industries, in 1884 the Bouse of Commons 
appointed a select committee to inquire Into the best means of developing ;ni<l 
encouraging the agricultural interests of Canada. This committee made a ease- 
ful inquiry into the subject, also as to the disadvantages and wants experienced 
by fanners, taking evidence from various persons who had made a special study 
of the different branches of industry included under the general term agricul- 
ture, and of others having a scientific knowledge bearing on this subject. In 
the report subsequently submitted to the House of Commons the substance of 
the evidence accumulated is thus summarized : 
•• Notwithstanding the great progress made in recent years, it appears that 
there is a large amount of defective farming in this country. In the cultivation 
Of cereals, roots, and grasses there is want of periodical change of seed, selec- 
tion of improved varieties, a proper rotation of crops, with a lack of thorough 
tillage and a knowledge of the value and suitability of manures. The value 
of manures is in many cases unheeded, and much fertilizing power is lost 
through negligent exposure and the waste of liquid manures. In stoek raising 
the chief deficiencies are the want of pure-bred males, lack of knowledge of the 
adaptability of breeds to particular conditions throughout the Dominion, the 
want of better pasture and more abundant tree shelter. In the production of 
butter the milk is frequently not properly cared for, nor is suitable attention 
paid to the selection of milch cows, and the food given is often deficient in nutri- 
ment and in milk-producing qualities. 
" Low grades of butter are attributable to want of skill in its manufacture 
and want of improved apparatus. In cheese making the need of greater skill 
and want of scientific knowledge is also felt. In the cultivation of fruit a great 
want is experienced in many sections of hardier varieties and of varieties with 
Improved keeping qualities. There is also a deplorable want of knowledge regard- 
ing the insects and diseases injurious to fruit trees." 
Careful investigation led to the conclusion that the lack of success was not 
due to any fault in the soil or climate of this country nor to a want of industry 
among the farmers, but to defective farming, to want of skill and knowledge 
in all departments which the farmer of himself was scarcely able to remedy. 
The committee recommended that the Government establish an experimental 
farm or farms where experiments might be carried on in connection with all 
branches of agriculture and horticulture, and that the results of the work con- 
ducted should be published from time to time and distributed freely among the 
farmers of the Dominion. 
The recommendations of this committee were acted on. Information was 
first obtained regarding experimental stations then in operation in Europe and 
America and the methods pursued by them in their efforts to gain information 
valuable to the farmer and early in 1886 an act was introduced and passed 
almost unanimously, authorizing the Government to establish a central experi- 
mental farm and four branch farms. The central farm was to be located at or 
near the capital. Ottawa, where it was to serve the purposes of the two larger 
provinces, Ontario and Quebec. The branch farms were to be distributed as 
follows: 
One for the three maritime provinces jointly. Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, 
and Prince Edward Island: one for the province of Manitoba; one for the 
Northwest Territories, and one for British Columbia. The work to be under- 
taken at these several experimental farms was set forth in the act and covered 
all lines of experiments relating to agriculture, horticulture, and arboriculture. 
Within two years the land for the several farms was secured, the necessary 
officers appointed, most of the buildings erected, and the farms put in practical 
operation. The central farm was located near Ottawa, the branch farm for the 
three eastern provinces at Nappan. Nova Scotia : that for Manitoba at Brandon: 
the farm for the Northwest Territories at Indian Head, in Assinniboia. and 
that for British Columbia at Agassiz, in the coast climate of that province. 
In the choosing of these sites the purpose in view was to have them fairly 
representative of the larger settled areas in the provinces or territories in which 
they were placed both as to soil and climate. In the arrangement of the work 
such experiments as were most likely to be beneficial to the larger number of 
