Of _wheat_ many varieties are grown. The methods of cultivation do not
involve the application of so much hand labour per acre as in Europe.
The average yield of wheat for the whole of Canada is nearly 20 bushels
per acre. In 1901 the total production of wheat in Canada was 55-1/2
million bushels. In 1906 the estimated total production was 136 million
bushels. The total wheat acreage, which at the census of 1901 was
4,224,000, was over 6,200,000 in 1906, an increase of nearly two million
acres in five years.
Up to the close of the 19th century, Ontario was the largest
wheat-growing province in Canada. In 1900 the wheat acreage in Ontario
was 1,487,633, producing 28,418,907 bushels, an average yield of 19.10
bushels per acre. Over three-quarters of this production was of fall or
winter wheat, the average yield of which in Ontario over a series of
years since 1883 had been about 20 bushels per acre. But the
predominance in wheat-growing has now shifted to the new prairie regions
of the west. A census taken in 1906 shows that the total acreage of
wheat in the North-West Provinces was 5,062,493, yielding 110,586,824
bushels, an average in a fairly normal season of 21.84 bushels per acre.
Of this total wheat acreage, 2,721,079 acres were in Manitoba, 2,117,484
acres in Saskatchewan, and 223,930 acres in Alberta, with average
yields per acre at the rates of 20.02 bushels in Manitoba, 23.70 in
Saskatchewan and 26.49 in Alberta. In these provinces spring wheat is
almost universally sown, except in Alberta where fall or winter wheat is
also sown to a considerable extent. Summer fallowing for wheat is a
practice that has gained ground in the North-West Provinces. Land
ploughed and otherwise tilled, but left unseeded during the summer, is
sown with wheat in the succeeding autumn or spring. Wheat on summer
fallow land yielded, according to the North-West census of 1906, from 2
to 8 bushels per acre more than that sown on other land. Summer
fallowing is, however, subject to one drawback: the strong growth which
it induces is apt to retard the ripening of the grain. Canada is clearly
destined to rank as one of the most important grain-producing countries
of the world. The northern limits of the wheat-growing areas have not
been definitely ascertained; but samples of good wheat were grown in
1907 at Fort Vermilion on the Peace river, nearly 600 m. north of
Winnipeg in lat. 58.34 and at Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie river in
lat. 61.52, more than 800 m. north of Winnipeg and about 1000 m. north
of the United States boundary. As a rule the weather during the
harvesting period permits the grain to be gathered safely without damage
from sprouting. Occasionally in certain localities in the north-west the
grain is liable to injury from frost in late summer; but as the
proportion of land under cultivation increases the climate becomes
modified and the danger from frost is appreciably less. The loss from
this cause is also less than formerly, because any grain unfit for
export is now readily purchased for the feeding of animals in Ontario
and other parts of eastern Canada.
Suitable machinery for cleaning the grain is everywhere in general use,
so that weed seeds are removed before the wheat is ground. This gives
Canadian wheat excellent milling properties, and enables the millers to
turn out flour uniform in quality and of high grade as to keeping
properties. Canadian flour has a high reputation in European markets. It
is known as flour from which bakers can make the best quality of bread,
and also the largest quantity per barrel, the quantity of albuminoids
being greater in Canadian flour than in the best brands of European.
Owing to its possession of this characteristic of what millers term
"strength," i.e. the relative capacity of flour to make large loaves of
good quality, Canadian flour is largely in demand for blending with the
flour of the softer English wheats. For this reason some of the strong
Canadian wheats have commanded in the home market 5s. and 6s. a quarter
more than English-grown wheat. At the general census of 1901 the number
of flouring and grist mill establishments, each employing five persons
and over, was returned at 400, the number of employes being 4251 and the
value of products $31,835,873. A special census of manufactures in 1906
shows that these figures had grown in 1905 to 832 establishments, 5619
employes and $56,703,269 value of the products. There is room for a
great extension in the cultivation of wheat and the manufacture and
exportation of flour.
In the twelve months of 1907 Canada exported 37,503,057 bushels of wheat
of the value of $34,132,759 and 1,858,485 barrels of flour of the value
of $7,626,408. The corresponding figures in 1900 were--wheat, 16,844,650
bushels, value, $11,995,488, and flour, 768,162 bushels, value,
$2,791,885.
Oats of fine quality are grown in large crops from Prince Edward Island
on the Atlantic coast to Vancouver Island on the Pacific coast. Over
large areas the Canadian soil and climate are admirably adapted for
producing oats of heavy weight per bushel. In all the provinces of
eastern Canada the acreage under oats greatly exceeds that under wheat.
The annual average oat crop in all Canada is estimated at about 248
million bushels. As the total annual export of oats is now less than
three million bushels the home consumption is large, and this is an
advantage in maintaining the fertility of the soil. In 1907 the area
under oats in Ontario was 2,932,509 acres and yielded 83,524,301
bushels, the area being almost as large as that of the acreage under hay
and larger than the combined total of the other principal cereals grown
in the province. Canadian oatmeal is equal in quality to the best. It is
prepared in different forms, and in various degrees of fineness.
Barley was formerly grown for export to the United States for malting
purposes. After the raising of the duty on barley under the McKinley and
Dingley tariffs that trade was practically destroyed and Canadian
farmers were obliged to find other uses for this crop. Owing to the
development of the trade with the mother-country in dairying and meat
products, barley as a home feeding material has become more
indispensable than ever. Before the adoption of the McKinley tariff
about nine million bushels of barley were exported annually, involving
the loss of immense stores of plant food. In 1907, with an annual
production of nearly fifty million bushels, only a trifling percentage
was exported, the rest being fed at home and exported in the form of
produce without loss from impoverishment of the soil. The preparation of
pearl or pot barley is an incidental industry.
Rye is cultivated successfully, but is seldom used for human food. Flour
from wheat, meal from oats, and meal from Indian corn are preferred.
Buckwheat flour is used in considerable quantities in some districts for
the making of buckwheat cakes, eaten with maple syrup. These two make an
excellent breakfast dish, characteristic of Canada and some of the New
England states. There are also numerous forms of preparations from
cereals, sold as breakfast foods, which, owing to the high quality of
the grains grown in Canada and the care exercised in their manufacture,
compare favourably with similar products in other countries.
Peas in large areas are grown free from serious trouble with insect
pests. Split peas for soup, green peas as vegetables and sweet peas for
canning are obtained of good quality.
Vegetables are grown everywhere, and form a large part of the diet of
the people. There is a comparatively small export, except in the case of
turnips and potatoes and of vegetables which have been canned or dried.
Besides potatoes, which thrive well and yield large quantities of
excellent quality, there are turnips, carrots, parsnips and beets. The
cultivation of sugar beets for the manufacture of sugar has been
established in Ontario and in southern Alberta, where in 1906 an acreage
under this crop of 3344 yielded 27,211 tons, an average of 8.13 tons per
acre. Among the common vegetables used in the green state are peas,
beans, cabbage, cauliflowers, asparagus, Indian corn, onions, leeks,
tomatoes, lettuce, radish, celery, parsley, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash
and rhubarb. Hay, of good quality of timothy (_Phleum pratense_), and
also of timothy and clover, is grown over extensive areas. For export it
is put up in bales of about 150 lb each. Since 1899 a new form of
pressing has been employed, whereby the hay is compressed to stow in
about 70 cub. ft. per ton. This has been a means of reducing the ocean
freight per ton. The compact condition permits the hay to be kept with
less deterioration of quality than under the old system of more loose
baling. Austrian brome grass (_Bromus inermis_) and western rye grass
(_Agropyrum tenerum_) are both extensively grown for hay in the
North-West Provinces.
Live stock.
The almost universal adoption of electrical traction in towns has not
led to the abandonment of the breeding of horses to the extent that was
at one time anticipated. Heavy draught horses are reared in Ontario, and
to a less but increasing extent in the North-West Provinces, the breeds
being mainly the Clydesdale and the Shire. Percherons are also bred in
different parts of Canada, and a few Belgian draught horses have been
introduced. Good horses suitable for general work on farms and for cabs,
omnibuses, and grocery and delivery wagons, are plentiful for local
markets and for export. Thoroughbred and pure bred hackney stallions are
maintained in private studs and by agricultural associations throughout
the Dominion, and animals for cavalry and mounted infantry remounts are
produced in all the provinces including those of the North-West. Useful
carriage horses and saddle horses are bred in many localities. Horse
ranching is practised largely in Alberta. There are no government stud
farms. The total number of horses in the Dominion was estimated on the
basis of census returns at 2,019,824 for the year 1907, an increase of
609,309 since 1901.
Cattle, sheep, swine and poultry are reared in abundance. The bracing
weather of Canadian winters is followed by the warmth and humidity of
genial summers, under which crops grow in almost tropical luxuriance,
while the cool evenings and nights give the plants a robustness of
quality which is not to be found in tropical regions, and also make life
for the various domestic animals wholesome and comfortable. In the
North-West Provinces there are vast areas of prairie land, over which
cattle pasture, and from which thousands of fat bullocks are shipped
annually. Throughout other parts bullocks are fed on pasture land, and
also in stables on nourishing and succulent feed such as hay, Indian
corn fodder, Indian corn silage, turnips, carrots, mangels, ground oats,
barley, peas, Indian corn, rye, bran and linseed oil cake. The breeding
of cattle, adapted for the production of prime beef and of dairy cows
for the production of milk, butter and cheese, has received much
attention. There is government control of the spaces on the steamships
in which the cattle are carried, and veterinary inspection prevents the
exportation of diseased animals.
A considerable trade has been established in the exportation of dressed
beef in cold storage, and also in the exportation of meat and other
foods in hermetically sealed receptacles. By the Meat and Canned Foods
Act of 1907 of the Dominion parliament and regulations thereunder, the
trade is carried on under the strictest government supervision, and no
canned articles of food may be exported unless passed as absolutely
wholesome and officially marked as such by government inspectors. There
is a considerable trade in "lunch tongues."
The cattle breeds are principally those of British origin. For beef,
shorthorns, Herefords, Galloways and Aberdeen-Angus cattle are bred
largely, whilst for dairying purposes, shorthorns, Ayrshires, Jerseys,
Guernseys and Holstein-Friesians prevail. The French-Canadian cattle are
highly esteemed in eastern Canada, especially by the farmers of the
French provinces. They are a distinct breed of Jersey and Brittany type,
and are stated to be descended from animals imported from France by the
early settlers. The estimated number of cattle in Canada in 1907 was
7,439,051, an increase of 2,066,547 over the figures of the census of
1901.
All parts of the Dominion are well adapted for sheep; but various
causes, amongst which must be reckoned the prosperity of other branches
of agriculture, including wheat-growing and dairying, have in several of
the provinces contributed to prevent that attention to this branch which
its importance deserves, though there are large areas of rolling, rugged
yet nutritious pastures well suited to sheep-farming. In the maritime
provinces and in Prince Edward Island sheep and lambs are reared in
large numbers. In Ontario sheep breeding has reached a high degree of
perfection, and other parts of the American continent draw their
supplies of pure bred stock largely from this province. All the leading
British varieties are reared, the Shropshire, Oxford Down, Leicester and
Cotswold breeds being most numerous. There are also excellent flocks of
Lincolns and Southdowns. The number of sheep and lambs in Canada was
estimated for the year 1907 at 2,830,785, as compared with 2,465,565 in
1901.
Pigs, mostly of the Yorkshire, Berkshire and Tamworth breeds, are reared
and fattened in large numbers, and there is a valuable export trade in
bacon. Canadian hogs are fed, as a rule, on feeds suited for the
production of what are known as "fleshy sides." Bacon with an excess of
fat is not wanted, except in the lumber camps; consequently the farmers
of Canada have cultivated a class of swine for bacon having plenty of
lean and firm flesh. The great extension of the dairy business has
fitted in with the rearing of large numbers of swine. Experimental work
has shown that swine fattened with a ration partly of skim-milk were
lustier and of a more healthy appearance than swine fattened wholly on
grains. Slaughtering and curing are carried on chiefly at large packing
houses. The use of mechanical refrigerating plants for chilling the pork
has made it practicable to cure the bacon with the use of a small
percentage of salt, leaving it mild in flavour when delivered in
European markets. Regular supplies are exported during every week of the
year. Large quantities of lard, brawn and pigs' feet are exported. In
1907 the number of pigs in Canada was estimated at 3,530,060, an
increase of 1,237,385 over the census record of 1901. Turkeys thrive
well, grow to a fine size and have flesh of tender quality. Chickens are
raised in large numbers, and poultry-keeping has developed greatly since
the opening of the 20th century. Canadian eggs are usually packed in
cases containing thirty dozens each. Cardboard fillers are used which
provide a separate compartment for each egg. There are cold storage
warehouses at various points in Canada, at which the eggs are collected,
sorted and packed before shipment. These permit the eggs to be landed in
Europe in a practically fresh condition as to flavour, with the shells
quite full.
Dairy products.
Canada has been called the land of milk and honey. Milk is plentiful,
and enters largely into the diet of the people. With a climate which
produces healthy, vigorous animals, notably free from epizootic
diseases, with a fertile soil for the growth of fodder crops and
pasture, with abundance of pure air and water, and with a plentiful
supply of ice, the conditions in Canada are ideal for the dairying
industry. Large quantities of condensed milk, put up in hermetically
sealed tins, are sold for use in mining camps and on board steamships.
The cheese is chiefly of the variety known as "Canadian Cheddar." It is
essentially a food cheese rather than a mere condiment, and 1 lb of it
will furnish as much nourishing material as 2-1/4 lb of the best beefsteak.
The industry is largely carried on by co-operative associations of
farmers. The dairy factory system was introduced into Canada in 1864,
and from that time the production and exportation of cheese grew
rapidly. Legislation was passed to protect Canadian dairy produce from
dishonest manipulation, and soon Canadian cheese obtained a deservedly
high reputation in the British markets. In 1891 cheese factories and
creameries numbered 1733, and in 1899 there were 3649. In 1908 there
were 4355 of these factories, of which 1284 were in Ontario, 2806 in
Quebec, and 265 in the remaining seven provinces of Canada. Those in
Ontario are the largest in size. Amongst the British imports of cheese
the Canadian product ranks first in quality, whilst in quantity it
represents about 72% of the total value of the cheese imports, and 84%
of the total value of the imports of that kind of cheese which is
classed as Cheddar. In 1906 the total exports of cheese to all countries
from Canada reached 215,834,543 lb of the value of $24,433,169.
Butter for export is made in creameries, where the milk, cream and
butter are handled by skilled makers. The creameries are provided with
special cold storage rooms, into which the butter is placed on the same
day in which it is made. From them it is carried in refrigerator railway
cars and in cold storage chambers on steamships to its ultimate
destination. For the export trade it is packed in square boxes made of
spruce or some other odourless wood. These are lined with parchment
paper, and contain each 56 lb net of butter. The total export of butter
from Canada in 1906 was 34,031,525 lb., of the value of $7,075,539.
According to a census of manufactures taken in 1906, the total value of
factory cheese and butter made in Canada during that year was
$32,402,265.
Fruits.
There are large districts lying eastward of the Great Lakes and westward
of the Rocky Mountains, where apples of fine quality can be grown; and
there are other smaller areas in which pears, peaches and grapes are
grown in quantities in the open air. The climate is favourable to the
growth of plums, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants,
gooseberries, etc. There are many localities in which cranberries are
successfully grown, and in which blueberries also grow wild in great
profusion.
Apples and pears are the chief sorts of fruit exported. The high
flavour, the crisp, juicy flesh and the long-keeping qualities of the
Canadian apples are their chief merits. Apples are exported in barrels
and also in boxes containing about one bushel each. Large quantities are
also evaporated and exported. Establishments for evaporating fruit are
now found in most of the larger apple-growing districts, and canning
factories and jam factories have been established in many parts of
Canada, and are conducted with advantage and profit.
The chief fruit-growing districts have long been in southern and western
Ontario and in Nova Scotia; but recently much attention has been devoted
to fruit-growing in British Columbia, where large areas of suitable land
are available for the cultivation of apples, pears and other fruits. In
some parts of the semi-arid districts in the interior of the province
irrigation is being successfully practised for the purpose of bringing
land under profitable cultivation for fruit. Collections of fruit grown
in British Columbia have received premier honours at the competitive
exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural Society in London, where their
high quality and fine colour have been greatly appreciated.
Wine is made in considerable quantities in the principal vine-growing
districts, and in several localities large vineyards have been planted
for this purpose. An abundance of cider is also made in all the large
apple-growing districts.
Honey is one of the minor food-products of Canada, and in many
localities bees have abundance of pasturage. Canadian honey for colour,
flavour and substance is unsurpassed. Maple sugar and syrup are made in
those areas of the country where the sugar-maple tree flourishes. The
syrup is used chiefly as a substitute for jam or preserved fruits, and
the sugar is used in country homes for sweetening, for cooking purposes
and for the making of confectionery. The processes of manufacture have
been improved by the introduction of specially constructed evaporators,
and quantities of maple sugar and syrup are annually exported.
Tobacco is a new crop which has been grown in Canada since 1904. Its
cultivation promises to be successful in parts of Ontario, Quebec and
British Columbia.
State aid.
The department of agriculture of the Dominion government renders aid to
agriculture in many ways, maintaining the experimental farms and various
effective organizations for assisting the live-stock, dairying and
fruit-growing industries, for testing the germination and purity of
agricultural seeds, and for developing the export trade in agricultural
and dairy produce. The health of animals branch, through which are
administered the laws relating to the contagious diseases of animals,
and the control of quarantine and inspection stations for imported
animals, undertakes also valuable experiments on the diseases of farm
livestock, including glanders in horses, tuberculosis in cattle, &c. The
policy of slaughtering horses reacting to the mallein test has been
successfully initiated by Canada, the returns for 1908 from all parts of
the country indicating a considerable decrease from the previous year in
the number of horses destroyed and the amount of compensation paid. A
disease of cattle in Nova Scotia, known as the Pictou cattle disease,
long treated as contagious, has now been demonstrated by the veterinary
officers of the department to be due to the ingestion of a weed, the
ragwort, _Senecio Jacobea_. Hog cholera or swine fever has been almost
eradicated. A laboratory is maintained for bacteriological and
pathological researches and for the preparation of preventive vaccines.
Canada is entirely free from rinderpest, pleuro-pneumonia and
foot-and-mouth disease.
The work of the live-stock branch is directed towards the improvement of
the stock-raising industry, and is carried on through the agencies of
expert teachers and stock judges, the systematic distribution of
pure-bred breeding stock, the yearly testing of pure-bred dairy herds,
the supervision of the accuracy of the registration of pure-bred animals
and the nationalization of live-stock records. The last two objects are
secured by act of the Dominion parliament passed in 1905. Under this act
a record committee, appointed annually by the pedigree stud, herd and
flock book associations of Canada, perform the duties of accepting the
entries of pure-bred animals for the respective pedigree registers, and
are provided with an office and with stationery and franking privileges
by the government. Pedigree certificates are certified as correct by an
officer of the department of agriculture, so that in Canada there exist
national registration and government authority for the accuracy of
pedigree livestock certificates. The government promotes the extension
of markets for farm products; it maintains officers in the United
Kingdom who make reports from time to time on the condition in which
Canadian goods are delivered from the steamships, and also on what they
can learn from importing and distributing merchants regarding the
preferences of the market for different qualities of farm goods and
different sorts of packages. Through this branch of the public service a
complete chain of cold-storage accommodation between various points in
Canada and markets in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, has been
arranged. The government offered a bonus to those owners of creameries
who would provide cold-storage accommodation at them and keep the room
in use for a period of three years. It also arranged with the various
railway companies to run refrigerator cars weekly on the main lines
leading to Montreal and other export points. The food-products from any
shippers are received into these cars at the various railway stations at
the usual rates, without extra charge for icing or cold-storage service.
The government offered subventions to those who would provide
cold-storage warehouses at various points where these were necessary,
and also arranged with the owners of ocean steamships to provide
cold-storage chambers on them by means of mechanical refrigerators. The
policy of encouraging the provision of ample cold-storage accommodation
has been developed still further by the Cold Storage Act of the Dominion
parliament passed in 1907, under which subsidies are granted in part
payment of the cost of erecting and equipping cold-storage warehouses in
Canada for the preservation of perishable food-products.
Besides furnishing technical and general information as to the carrying
on of dairying operations, the government has established and maintained
illustration cheese factories and creameries in different places for the
purpose of introducing the best methods of co-operative dairying in both
the manufacturing and shipping of butter and cheese. Inspectors are
employed to give information regarding the packing of fruit, and also to
see to the enforcement of the Fruit Marks Acts, which prohibit the
marking of fruit with wrong brands and packing in any fraudulent manner.
The seed branch of the department of agriculture was established in 1900
for the purpose of encouraging the production and use of seeds of
superior quality, thereby improving all kinds of field and garden crops
grown in Canada. Seeds are tested in the laboratory for purity and
germination on behalf of farmers and seed merchants, and scientific
investigations relating to seeds are conducted and reported upon. In the
year 1906-1907 6676 samples of seeds were tested. Encouragement to
seed-growing is given by the holding of seed fairs, and bulletins are
issued on weeds, the methods of treating seed-wheat against smut and on
other subjects. Collections of weed seeds are issued to merchants and
others to enable them readily to identify noxious weed seeds. The Seed
Control Act of 1905 brings under strict regulations the trade in
agricultural seeds, prohibiting the sale for seeding of cereals,
grasses, clovers or forage plants unless free from weeds specified, and
imposing severe penalties for infringements.
The census and statistics office, reorganized as a branch of the
department of agriculture in 1905, undertakes a complete census of
population, of agriculture, of manufactures and of all the natural
products of the Dominion every ten years, a census of the population and
agriculture of the three North-West Provinces every five years, and
various supplemental statistical inquiries at shorter intervals.
Experimental farms.
Experimental farms were established in 1887 in different parts of the
Dominion, and were so located as to render efficient help to the
farmers in the more thickly settled districts, and at the same time to
cover the varied climatic and other conditions which influence
agriculture in Canada. The central experimental farm is situated at
Ottawa, near the boundary line between Quebec and Ontario, where it
serves as an aid to agriculture in these two important provinces. One of
the four branch farms then established is at Nappan, Nova Scotia, near
the boundary between that province and New Brunswick, where it serves
the farmers of the three maritime provinces. A second branch
experimental farm is at Brandon in Manitoba, a third is at Indian Head
in Saskatchewan and the fourth is at Agassiz in the coast climate of
British Columbia. In 1906-1907 two new branch farms were established.
One is situated at Lethbridge, southern Alberta, where problems will be
investigated concerning agriculture upon irrigated land and dry farming
under conditions of a scanty rainfall. The other is at Lacombe, northern
Alberta, about 70 m. south of Edmonton, in the centre of a good
agricultural district on the Canadian Pacific railway. Additional branch
farms in different parts of the Dominion are in process of
establishment. At all these farms experiments are conducted to gain
information as to the best methods of preparing the land for crop and of
maintaining its fertility, the most useful and profitable crops to grow,
and how the various crops grown can be disposed of to the greatest
advantage. To this end experiments are conducted in the feeding of
cattle, sheep and swine for flesh, the feeding of cows for the
production of milk, and Of poultry both for flesh and eggs. Experiments
are also conducted to test the merits of new or untried varieties of
cereals and other field crops, of grasses, forage plants, fruits,
vegetables, plants and trees; and samples, particularly of the most
promising cereals, are distributed freely among farmers for trial, so
that those which promise to be most profitable may be rapidly brought
into general cultivation. Annual reports and occasional bulletins are
published and widely distributed, giving the results of this work.
Farmers are invited to visit these experimental farms, and a large
correspondence is conducted with those interested in agriculture in all
parts of the Dominion, who are encouraged to ask advice and information
from the officers of the farms.
Agricultural organizations and education.
The governments of the several provinces each have a department of
agriculture. Among other provincial agencies for imparting information
there are farmers' institutes, travelling dairies, live-stock
associations, farmers', dairymen's, seed-growers', and fruit-growers'
associations, and agricultural and horticultural societies. These are
all maintained or assisted by the several provinces. Parts of the
proceedings and many of the addresses and papers presented at the more
important meetings of these associations are published by the provincial
governments, and distributed free to farmers who desire to have them.
There are also annual agricultural exhibitions of a highly important
character, where improvements in connexion with agricultural and
horticultural products, live-stock, implements, &c., are shown in
competition. The Dominion government makes in turn to one of the chief
local agricultural exhibition societies a grant of $50,000 for the
purposes of the national representation of agriculture and live-stock.
The exhibition receiving the grant loses its local character, and thus
becomes the Dominion exhibition or fair for that year.
There are several important agricultural colleges for the practical
education of young men in farming, foremost amongst them being the
Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph. Agricultural colleges are also
maintained at Truro, Nova Scotia, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. In most of the
provinces are dairy schools where practical instruction and training are
given. Since the beginning of the 20th century agricultural education
and rural training in Canada have been greatly stimulated by the
munificence of Sir William C. Macdonald of Montreal. A donation by him
of $10,000, distributed to boys and girls on Canadian farms for prizes
in a competition for the selection of seed grain, as recommended by
Professor J.W. Robertson, led to the Macdonald-Robertson Seed Growers'
Association. This soon assumed national proportions in the Canadian
Seed Growers' Association, which, with the seed branch of the department
of agriculture mentioned above, has done much to raise to a uniform
standard of excellence the grain grown over large areas of the Canadian
wheat-fields. The Macdonald Institute at Guelph, Ontario, the buildings
and equipment of which Sir William provided at a cost of $182,500, and
the Macdonald College at Ste Anne de Bellevue, 20 m. west of Montreal,
have been established to promote the cause of rural education upon the
lines of nature study, with school gardens, manual training domestic
science, &c., which on both sides of the Atlantic are now being found so
effective in the hands of properly trained and enthusiastic teachers.
The property of the Macdonald College at Ste Anne de Bellevue comprises
561 acres, of which 74 acres are devoted to campus and field-research
plots, 100 acres to a _petite culture_ farm and 387 acres to a
live-stock and grain farm. The college includes a school for teachers, a
school of theoretical and practical agriculture and a school of
household science for the training of young women. The land, buildings
and equipment of the college, which cost over $2,500,000, were presented
by Sir William Macdonald, who in addition has provided for the future
maintenance of the work by a trust fund of over $2,000,000. In connexion
with the public elementary schools throughout Canada, where the
principles of agriculture are taught to some extent, manual training
centres, provided out of funds supplied by the same public-spirited
donor, are now maintained by local and provincial public school
authorities. (E. H. G.)