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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA

Gift of
Professor Meur

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from

University of British Columbia Library

http://www.archive.org/details/canadiansocietyoOOcana

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The

Canadian Society of
Technical Agriculturists

ADDRESSES and DISCUSSIONS

(SfflfflHfflfflHfflfflBHIffi AT THE fflBfflfflHfflfflfflffifflfflH

ORGANIZING CONVENTION
OTTAWA, Ont, JUNE 2, 3 and 4, 1920

ssgissgsanisnesssasBsnssiisiiiffisaffisss
EDITED AND ARRANGED BY THE
GENERAL SECRETARY-TREASURER

PUBLISHED THROUGH THE COURTESY OF
THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

GARDENVALE, P.Q.

151

\-

CONTENTS

Page

Elected Officers 5

Foreword 6

Report of Chairman of Organizing Committee — M. B. Davis • • • • 7

Report of Secretary-Treasurer of Organizing Committee — F. H.

Grindley 8

Reports of Provincial Organizing Committees 12

Governor-General's Address 14

Address of Welcome — Hon. S. F. Tolmie • • • • 16

Address of Welcome — Dr. J. H. Grisdale 20

Address of Welcome — Mayor Fisher 22

Technical Agriculturists in Relation to Agricultural Problems —

Dr. James W. Robertson 23

A Vision of Agriculture — President J. B. Reynolds 29

Study Courses at Our Agricultural Colleges — Dr. F. C. Harrison • ■ 33

Agricultural Extension Work in Canada — Geo. A. Putnam 40

Basic Principles of the Society — Professor H. Barton 44

Fields of Effort for Local Organizations — Dean E. A. Howes ■ • • • 48

Basic Industry as Seen Through Urban Eyes — Tom Moore 52

Federal and Provincial Agricultural Policies — Pres. L. S. Klinck- • 57

Scientific Research in Relation to Agricultural Problems — Dr. W.

P. Thompson 64

Aims of the Research Council in Relation to Agricultural Problems

—Dr. A. B. Macallum 73

Canadian Post-Graduate School in Agriculture — Dr. M. Gumming 76

Relation of Agricultural College to Farmers' Movement. —

Professor J. W. Crow 85

ELECTED OFFICERS :

President :
L. S. Kl.lNClv. liuvrisity of B.C. Vaueouver.

First Vice-President :
H. BARTON, :\Iaedonald Colleg:e, P. g.

Second Vice-President :
J. N. PONTON, 63 William Stivet, .Moiitival. P. Q.

Honorary Secretary-Treasurer :
L. II. NEW:\IAX. Ottawa, Out.

The above-named officers, together with one member of each pro
vineial executive, form the Dominion Executive of the Society. Pen
ding the organization of provincial Branches, the following have been
elected :— ^

Alberta :
G. H. CUTLER, University of All)erta. Edmonton.

British Columbia :
A. F. BARSS, I'niversity of Bi'itish Columbia. Vancouver.

Manitoba :
T. J. HARRISON. Agricultural College. Winnipeg.

New Brunswick :
E. P. BRADT. Seei-etai-y for Agriculture. Krederieton.

Nova Scotia :
G. E. SANDERS, Annapolis Koyal.

Ontario :
G. J. SPENCER, O.A.C.. Guelpli.

Prince Edward Island :
J. A. CLARK. Experimental Station. Charlol'tetown.

Quebec :
JULES SIMARD, Post Office Building, Quebec.

Saskatchewan :

W. P. Thompson, t^niver.sity of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.

General Secretary- Treasurer :
FRED. H. GRINDLEV, Gardenvale. P. Q.

FOREWORD

II. is now Dvci- six moiitlis siiief the ()r<^aiiizing Convention of
(he ('jinadiaii Society of Trcliiiical Aprriculturists was held in Ottawa.
The delay in j)rintiii^' a report of tlif proeeodinps has been a neeessary
one. The comph'te manuscript did not reach thp General Secretary
unl'il July loth ; the material was then forward-d to the various speak-
ers for revision, and on account of delays of one kind and another, was
not all returned until September 15th. At that date the finances of
the Society would not permit publication. Negotiatioiis had, however,
been completed Avith the Industrial and Educational Publishing Com-
pany in regard to the publication of an "official organ" of the Society,
and the publishers agreed recently tio proceed with the printing of th<j
Convention report without charge.

The report is not a complete one. Considerable discussion, particu-
lai-Iy in regard to the Constitution and By-Laws, has been' omitted as
being unimportanti or of little interest at this date. The constitution
and by-laws, personnel of committees and resolutions, are also omitted.
This information has already been printed in booklet form and mailed
to members. Additional copies will be furnished upon request.

The first issue of "Scientific Agriculture," which it is hoped will
continue indefinitely to be the official organ of the Canadian Society
of Technical Agriculturists, will be published in January next, and
monthly thereafter. Its first Editor is the General Secretary of the
Society, so that the connection between the C.S.T.A. and the publishers
is a very close one. It should be possible to so adjust the two lines
of work that the Editor — as Secretary — can -obtain full co-operation
from the members ot the Society, and the Secretary — as Editor — can
give to the Society the benefit of publicity channels which are already
established.

Steps are now being taken to appoint an Editorial Board, the per-
sonnel of which will be made up of two experts in each of the following
divisions of agriculture — animal husbandry, bacteriology, botany,
cereal husbandry, chemistry, dairying, entomology, genetics, horticul-
ture and veterinary science. Possibly the divisions of rural economics,
rural engineering and rural sociology will also be added. The Editorial
Board will be a con.sultative body to whom technical material received
for publication can be referred.

Communications in reference to the Canadian Society of Technical
Agriculturists or its official organ, should be addressed "Fred H.
Grindley, Garden vale, P. Q."

Canadian
Society of Technical Agriculturists

ORGANIZING CONVENTION

Held at
CHATEAU LAURIER, OTTAWA
2nd. 3rd and 4th June, 1920

REPORT OF CHAIRMAN OF ORGANIZING COMMITTEE,
MR. M. E. DAVIS.

It is, perhaps, not out of place
to advance a few reasons justify-
ing the formation of this society.
When one begins to ponder over
agricultural conditions in this
country and compare them, es-
pecially the conditions obtaining
in what is known as scientific
agriculture, with conditions in like
fields of effort in other countries,
one is struck Avith the lack of
something in our midst. We have
our institutions of agriculture, of
which no one need be ashamed ;
we have our different Government
Departments, and a number of
scientific workers, as is evidenced
by the good work these institutions
and these men have given us in
the past. There is certainly no
lack of ability, but despite the
numerous individual examples
which might be cited here and
there, the student is aware of a
certain absence of co-operation of
purpose, a lack of definitenesa of
endeavour, and a need for greater
democratic co-operation. These
among other things seemed to sug-
gest the need for encouraging the
technical branch of our calling to
consider and rectify' such condi-
tions, if possible.

What has been aimed at in the

organization of this society is a
far reaching representative or-
ganization of democratic tenden-
cies for the purpose of bringing
agricultural scientists of this
country into closer touch with
each other and with their prob-
lems, a society which shall stand
for advancement and efficiency, a
society which shall be a medium
for clarifying our various theories
and ideas. We have in our free
country the right of public opin-
ion, which may bring moral press-
ure to bear, without assuming any
direct action. It is hoped that this
society- will be a body not seeking
powers of jurisdiction but a body
with such a reputation that ideas
originating Avithin its folds will
carry such force and weight that
the}' will be seriously considered
by those Avho guide our agricul-
tural destinies.

On behalf of the organizing
committee I Avish to tliank you one
and all for the support you have
given from the very outset. With-
out the constructive criticism of
many, and Avithout the moral and
financial suppt)rt of all of you, it
Avould have been impossible for us
to get this gathering together this
moi'ning.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER OF THE ORGAN-
IZING COMMITTEE, FRED. H. GRINDLEY.

At a rc-uiiinii (>[' MacdoTiald Col-
lege ^'vaduales in August, 1919,
cotisideralile disfussiou look place
regarding I lie advisal)ilil.v of or-
ganizing a Society wliidi would
include in its nienihersliii) all those
who were engaged in scientific and
adniinistrative agricullural work
in Canada, or whose duties were
along lines of agricultural re-
search, extensi(ni work, experi-
mental prohlenis, etc. No definite
policy or aims were oiil lined in
detail at that time, hul it was
plaiidy fell lliat llicrc should he
in Canada some organized liody
which would represent the tech-
nically trained agriculturist in
just tiu' same way that other scien-
tists are represented in various
institutions and societies.

A committee of five was there-
fore apjjointcd and asked to i)ro-
ceetl with organization work. In
order to facilitate the holding of
meetings and to centralize the
work of organization, the mem-
hers appointed were all residents
of Ottawa. They were F. E. Buck,
M. B. Davis, F. L. Drayton, F. H.
(irindley and G. LeLacheur.

This Organizing Committee held
its first meeting at 110 (lloueester
Street, Ottawa, on the evening of
Friday, Octoher 10th, 1919. A
tentative name for the Society —
The Canadian Society of Technical
Agriculturists — was adopted. Mr.
M. B'. Davis was ai)i)ointed Chair-
man of the Committee, and Mr.
Fred. 11. (Ji-indlcy, Secretary-
Treasurer.

Active organization ^^•')I•k com-
menced at once. The C(nnmittee
obtained the Constitution, by-laws,
history, etc., of as many similar
societies as possible, and i^rocted-
ed to prepare a complete list, or
as eomjilete a list as possible, of
eligible members in Canada. The
latter was compiled from the
various lists of agricultural gradu-

ating classes, the staffs of all
agricultural colleges, and the em-
ployees of the Federal and Provin-
cial Departments of Agriculture.
Ap|)roximately nine hundred
names were obtained in this way
during the next six weeks, and a
card index system was adopted to
indicate the duties, titles, degrees,
office an /I home addresses of these
eligibles. During this time con-
siderable ])ublicity was given to
the work of organization through
the agricultural press, in orrler
that prospective members might
be prepared to receive propaganda
material. Preliminary work in
prei)aring a tentative Constitu-
tion and by-laws, aims and objec<-s,
et(!., was also completed, and ex-
pressions of opinion regarding the
general need for such an organiza-
tion, were obtained from leading
agriculturists in various parts of
Canada.

On January 9, 1920 — nearlj- five
months ago — a campaign for mem-
bers was launched, and the first
circular was sent out to the com-
plete list of eligible.s. With this
circular was included a member-
ship application form. It should
be stated that the Committee, in
order that it might not assume
too great responsibility in the
matter of accepting applications,
had so worded the eligibility re-
(|uirements that any who were not
graduates of a University or Agri-
cultural College, could only be ac-
cepted provisionally and their ap-
l)lications referred to the per-
manent Dominion Executive when
such was appointed. It was clear-
ly pointed out, too, that the oh-"
jeets. aims, constitution, etc., as
published, were entirely tentative
and subject to subsecjuent amend-
ment and revision.

The response to this circular
was, on the whole, very gratifying.
Seventy-seven members had join-

ed on January 31st, or within
three weeks after the campaign
was launched. In a report of this
nature, which is to be of per-
manent record, it should be noted
that the first application for mem-
bership accepted by the Organiz-
ing Committee, was that of the
late Dr. Gordon Hewitt, dated
January 14, 1920. Dr. Hewitt
showed the keenest interest in the
organization of this society from
the beginning, and his death on
February 29, was not only an
irreparable loss to Canadian agri-
culture in its present stage of
development, but also deprived
many of his personal friends of his
valued counsel and advice.

At this stage of the organization
work it became obvious that best
results could be obtained by the
appointment of Provincial or Dis-
trict committees which could ap-'
proach the eligible members at
closer range. Particular acknow-
ledgment is due to those in the
various Provinces who gave to the
Organizing Committee such splen-
did co-operation and support at
that time and since. Without
these committees the organization
work could not have been com-
pleted as rapidly and as thorough-
ly as it has been. The Provincial
and District Committees, as ap-
pointed in February last have re-
mained practically unchanged, and
are as follows : —

British Columbia — Chairman : L.
S. Klinck ; Representative : R. C.
Treherne.

Prairie Provinces — Chairman :
E. A. Howes ; Representatives : 6.
H. Cutler, for Alberta; A. M.
Shaw, for Saskatchewan; F. W.
Broderick and T. J. Harrison, for
Manitoba.

Ontario — Chairman: G. A. Put-
nam ; Representatives : G. J. Spen-
cer, R. S. Duncan, L. H. Newman.

Quebec. — Chairman, H. Barton;
Representatives : L. C. Raymond,
Jules Simard.

Nova Scotia. — Representative :
C. A. Good.

New Brunswick. — Represent-
ative: E. P. Bradt.

Prince Edward Island. — Repre-
sentative : J A. Clark.

During the month of February
only forty-three applications were
received, bringing the total to one
hundred and twenty on February
29th. During that month, how-
ever, the Committee had given
much thought to Provincial or-
ganization work and publicity,
and was prepared to launch, with
the assistance of its committees,
an energetic campaign which
would be continuous until the time
of the Convention.

Circular No. 2 was mailed to
eligibles early in March and Cir-
cular No. 3 on April 7th. In the
former a plebiscite was taken on
the name of the Society and the
date and place of the Convention.
The returns indicated a strong
preference for the present name
of the Society, and for holding the
first Convention in Ottawa during
the month of June. In Circular
No. 3 the Committee asked for
nominations for the offices of
President, Vice-President and
Honorary Secretary-Treasurer.

As a result of these two cir-
culars, fiftj'-four new applications
were received during March and
one hundred and thirty-seven dur-
ing April, raising the total mem-
bership to one hundred and seven-
ty-four on March 31st and to three
hundred and eleven on April 30th.

A tentative programme for the
Convention was arranged during
March and was submitted to the
district committees for criticism.
This resulted in some revision and
it was not until the middle of April
that in\'itations were sent to the
various suggested speakers. The
manner in which these men, almost
without exception, expressed their
willingness to attend the Conven-
tion, and the interest which they

have shown, are particularly to
be commended.

It was at this time— the middle
of April — that the Committee de-
cided to approach the Minister of
Agriculture and ask for financial
assistance to cover part of the or-
ganization and convention ex-
penses. Mr. Putnam and Mr. New-
man, of the Ontario Committee,
Mr. L. C. Raymond, of the Quebec
Committee, Dr. J. II. Grisdale, and
three members of the Central Or-
ganizing Committee, interviewed
the Hon. Dr. Tolmie on April 20th,
and asked for a Government
grant of two thousand five
hundred dollars. The deputation
was most favourably received and
at the request of the Minister, a
memorandum was subsequently
submitted which outlined in some
detail the main purposes of the
Society, the needs for same and
the reasons for seeking Govern-
ment assistance. At the time of
writing this report, no statement
has been received from the Gov-
ernment in regard to the request.

Following the receipt of nomina-
tions for the principal offices and
after obtaining from the nominees
an expression of their willingness
to stand for election, the co-opera-
tion of the Proportional Repre-
sentation Society of Canada was
obtained and Mr. Ronald Hooper,
Honorary Secretary of that So-
ciety, agreed to receive, open and
super\Tlse the counting of the elec-
tion ballots. These were mailed
to members with our Circular No. 4
on April 27 and the returns count-
ed on the evening of May 13th.
The elected officers, as announced
through the Associated Press and
in Circular No. 5 of the Committee,
were as follows : —

President : — L. S. Klinck.

Vice-President : — H. Barton.

Hon. Secretary-Treasurer : — L.
H. Newman.

Concurrent with the election,
official delegates to the Conven-

tion were being appointed by the
members in the various Provinces,
through the District Committees.
It was decided that one delegate
should be elected for every ten
members in each Province, that
full voting privileges .should be
vested in these men at the Conven-
tion, and that their travelling ex-
penses to and from Ottawa should
be refunded. Those appointed were
as follows : —

Alberta : E. A. Howes and T. 0.
Clark.

British Columbia: A. F. Barss,
P. A. Boviug, H. M. King and G.
G. Moe.

Manitoba : T. J. Harrison and
J. B. Reynolds.

New Brunswick: E. P. Bradt
and A. C. McCulloch.

Nova Scotia: L. A. De Wolfe
and Geo. E. Sanders.

Ontario : F. E. Buck, J. A. Car-
roll, G. H. Clark, J. W. Crow, R.
S. Duncan, F. H. Grindley, J. E.
Howdtt, R. Innes, W. R. Leslie, A.
P. MacVannel, J. R. Miller, L. H.
Newman, E. F. Palmer, W. R. Reek
and J. M. Swaine.

Prince Edward Island : Frank
Tinney.

Quebec : H. Barton, F. Letour-
neau, J. N. Ponton, A. Raymond,
L. C. Raymond, A. Savage, F. N.
Savoie, Jules Simard and R. Sum-
merby.

Saskatchewan : J. T. Bridge and
A. M. Shaw.

Circular No. 5, including the
results of the election and the re-
vised programme, was mailed to
members on May 15th. It was
also sent to non-members with a
covering letter urging them to
send in their applications for
membership before the Conven-
tion was held.

During the latter part of May
the Committee completed the pre-
paration of Circular No. 6, includ-
ing the tentative Constitution and
List of Members to be distributed
on the opening day of the Conven-
tion ; a tentative set of by-laws

10

was also prepared, to be used as a
basis for discussion od the second
day of the Convention, It was
also necessary, during the latter
part of May, to give much atten-
tion to the arrangement of Con-
vention details.

Reviewing the work of the past
eight months, the Committee feels
that the results obtained have been
eminently satisfactory. Some dif-
ficulties had to be met, but these
proved to be minor and temporary.
Keen interest and encouragement
by the members convinced the
Committee that the need for such
a Society was widely felt, and the
frank expressions of opinion and
many constructive criticisms which
have been submitted, have been
of the greatest possible help.

During the month of May one
hundred and sixteen applications
were received, and the total mem-
bership on May 31st had reached
four hundred and twenty-seven,
which is approximately fifty per
cent of those eligible in Canada.
Of the total membership 403 are
graduates of Universities or Agri-
cultural Colleges and twenty-four
are not graduates ; the applica-
tions of the latter have yet to be
considered by the elected Execu-
tive Committee. The distribution
of the members by Provinces is
as follows : Alberta, 22 ; British
Columbia, 42 ; Manitoba, 25 ; New
Brunswick, 19 ; Nova Scotia, 18 ;
Ontario, 164; Prince Edward Is-
land, 15 ; Quebec. 98 ; Saskatche-
wan, 19 ; and the United States, 5.

A Financial Statement showing
the receipts and expenditures of
the Organizing Committee up to
May 31st, is appended to this re-
port.

There have been thirty-one
meetings of the Organizing Com-
mittee since its first meeting on
October 10th last. Minutes of
these meetings, files of correspond-
ence, ballots from plebiscite and
election, cash books, accounts ren-
dered, applications for member-

ship and all other material of in-
terest, are in the hands of the Or-
ganizing Secretary-Treasurer.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Covering" period from Nov. 1st,
1919 to May 31, 1920.

RECEIPTS :

Loan from Macdonald

College Alumjii Assn. $ 50.00

Paid membership fees —

427 at $5.00 2,135.00

Donation from Dr. Jas.

Mills 5.00

Membership fees out-
standing (1) 5.00

Total receipts. . . . $2,195.00

EXPENDITURES :

Addressing envelopes , . $ 28.00

Exchange on cheques . 3.35

Office Supplies .... 13.40

Postage 90.00

Printing to May 31st. . . 432.07

Stenography 20.00

Telephones 5,75

Telegrams 52.88

Travelling expenses

(Members of Com.) . . 17.65

$663.10
Convention incidentals,
cash retained by Or-
ganizing Committee —
dispasal to be sub-
mitted after Conven-
tion $ 100.00

Due from members . . 5.00

Balance in bank .... 1,426.90

$2,195.00

Upon motion by Mr. Grindley^
seconded by Mr. G. H. Clark, the
foregoing report was adopted.

The Chairman :* By the adop-
tion of this report your provi-
sionally elected representatives
for the positions of President, Vice-

*President L. S. Klinck presided
at all meetings unless it is other-
wise indicated.

11

President ami lloiioraiy Scere-
tary-Trea.surer, automatically be-
come elected to the positions re-
ferred to in the Report just pre-
sented.

Permit me to express my deep
appreciation of the very great
honor you have conferred upon
me in electing me president of
the Canadian Society of Techni-
cal Agriculturists. The respons-
ibility devolving upon the first
incumbent of this position is very
great ; but when one considers the
pei'sonnel of the other elected
members of the Executive, and the
excellent preliminary work which
has been done by the Organizing
Committee, you will agree that
everything has been done to make
the task of your president as light
as possible.

While all this is very gratify-
ing I am still at a loss to know
why you have done me this honor.
The only explanation I have been
able to give is based on the old
saying, that "far away hills look
green." Having mistaken appear-
ances for realities, and having
assumed that if hills are green,
mountains must be greener you
have taken a sporting chance and
selected as your chief executive
officer, a man who resides where
the base of the most westerly
Coast Range is washed by the
tides of the Pacific.

Technical agriculturists in Can-
ada have been slow to organize.
As professor Barton has said:

"The technical men in agriculture
have been so busy organizing
others that they have not had
time to organize themselves." Un-
questionably there is need for the
creation of a society such as that
just outlined by the Chairman and
Secretary of the organizing com-
mittee. The far-reaching forward
movements now taking place in
agriculture have had no little in-
fluence in hastening the formation
of this Society.

In agriculture, as in other in-
dustries, some organizations are
perfected for offensive move-
ments, others for defensive move-
ments; some exist primarily for
the benefit of members of the
Association, others have regard
only for the advancement of the
industry as a whole. The course
which this Society is to pursue
will not always be easily deter-
mined, but if it attracts and holds
in its membership men actuated
by but one controlling motive —
the advancement of agriculture in
the broadest acceptation of that
term, — it will perform a publio
service which will early justify
its existence, and which with the
passing of the years, will conti-
nue to grow in influence and
power.

Again I thank you for the honor
you have done me, and assure
you that I shall do my utmost,
whether in office or in the ranks,
to advance the best interests of
the Society.

REPORTS OF PROVINCIAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEES.

ALBERTA, by Dean Howes.—
Upon receipt of a request from
the Secretary of the Central Or-
ganizing Committee that I act as
Chairman for the Prairie Provin-
ces during the period of organiza-
tion, I thought it best to consult
with representatives of each of
the Provinces. Professor Cutler of

our own institution had been
named as Alberta's representative
so that consultation with him was
comparatively easy. I went to
Saskatoon where I had the op-
portunity of discussing the ques-
tion of organization with Dean
Rutherford, Professor Shaw and
Professor Tisdale. From there I

12

went to Winnipeg where I met
President Reynolds and Professor
Brodrick. Professor Harrison at
that time had not been named as
Manitoba representative on the
Committee. I found all of the
men I met sympathetic toward
this movement for organization
among technical agriculturists.

We were all a little anxious to
know just what the attitude of
some of the older and more ex-
perienced men in the agricultural
field would be toward this work.
To clear the matter up we wrote
to the Secretary of the Organizing
Committee, to the Dominion Seed
Commissioner, the Dominion Hor-
ticulturist and the Dominion Ce-
realist, asking in plain English
for a verdict in connection with
this new movement. The response
was very cordial indeed and gave
us encouragement to go ahead. I
might mention that I also had the
privilege of two conversations
with the Deputy Minister of Agri-
culture and I need hardly say that
his opinion and encouragement
went a long way with us.

It will be noticed that the mem-
ber.ship in the Prairie Provinces
is comparatively light. I might
offer as an explanation that
unless you have lived or travelled
much in these Provinces j'ou can-
not realize the difficulty of get-
ting in personal touch with many
men in a reasonable amount of
time. The other explanation is
that we deemed it best to go slow
and wait until after the first
Organizing Convention before
making a direct drive to secure
members. Many of these men in
the West have been for sometime
out of touch with work such as
we propose, many of them have
started work of their own in a
new country- and presumably will
be reluctant to become merely a
part of a bigger institution, but if
we take our time there is no
doubt that we will get almost all
of those eligible for enrolment.

We have in the West, as I pre-
sume you have in the East, a fair
number of those who rather keep
on the fence at the inception of
any work like this, who — to use
a homeh' familiar expression —
"will watch to see which way the
cat will jump". That is why we
are postponing any attempt to
urge these people but rather hope
to see them come in of their own
free will.

I may conclude by saying that
we in the West welcome this
movement if for only one reason,
that it will tend to unify and
standardize effort and to gua-
rantee the integrity of research
work, which latter is no small
matter of anxiety in a compara-
tively new country of such wide
area.

BRITISH COLUMBIA. By Mr.
G. G. MOE : In British Columbia,
we have been very fortunate in se-
curing support from men in the
Province. At the present time
our membership is 42 ; the number
of eligible men according to the
requirements is 73, so you see that
most of the men have joined up
with the Society, and I can speak
with assurance that with very few
exceptions, they will all become
members.

ONTARIO, By Mr. G. A. PUT-
NAM : We feel that the Organizing
Committee being in Ontario and
doing such good work, there has
been no necessity for our Com-
mittee to take any definite ag-
gressive action. We have in On-
tario organized in the east, west
and centre, and I know from in-
quiry that you will have a very
good representation from Ontario.
Personally I was not in a very
strong position to make a real
effective appeal to some men who
will, I am sure, later on join this
organization. After this meeting
we will be in a position to go back
home and make a very effective
appeal. I believe we will get the

13

agricultural collepc fjraduates and
others who should belong to this
organization to join up.

QUEBEC, By Prof. H. BARTON :
The duties of the committee in
Quebec are very .simple indeed. In
fact a good part of the work was
done before the committee was

formed. A special committee was
formed with the specific idea of or-
ganizing a French speaking branch
and I want to pay special tribute
to the work of that committee.
Our Province is easy to work.
There are 1)8 members from Que-
bec, and 55 of the members are
French speaking.

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S ADDERSS

The Chairman : —

Rarely indeed is a Society
honored as is the Canadian Soci-
ety of Technical Agriculturists
this evening in having as their
guest His Excellency The Gov-
ernor General of Canada. Into
the many aspects of the Society's
activities His Excellency has en-
tered with keen, sympathetic in-
terest. With an extended experi-
ence in practical agriculture in
the Motherland^, a compre^ien-
sive knowledge of the scientific
principles underlying the indus-
try, and a matured judgment
with respect to the larger mat-
ters pertaining to agricultural
education, our guest is peculiarly
qualified to address this Society
which has just been organized to
promote the practical, scientific
and educational efficiency of
Canada's basic industry.

In the proceedings of the Royal
Society of Canada our guest
has always manifested the deep-
est interest; and in the larger
field of education Jhe continues
to render signal service, not only
in this country but in the Old
Land, where as Chancellor of the
University of Leeds, he gives
generously of his time and of his
ripe experience to furthering the
cause of higher education. It
affords me the greatest pleasure,
therefore, to ask His Excellency
to address the members of the
Dominion's youngest Technical
Society.

His Excellency, The Duke of
Devonshire, Governor-General of
Canada.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:

You, Sir, remind me that I
have taken considerable interest
in the work of agriculture, and
you also remind this audience
that I take considerable interest
in the work of the Royal Soci-
ety of Canada. I think it is a
happy omen that only a few
weeks ago, in this very room,
I had t^e pleasure of addressing
a number of gentlemen connected
with the Royal Society in Can-
ada, and it is extremely satis-
factory to not.e the keenness and
wholehearted desire which there
is throughout the whole Domin-
ion of Canada to make the very
best use we can of the practical
application of science to the needs
and requirements of t^e coun-
try as we know it.

You are indeed to be congratu-
lated on the very successful in-
auguration of this movement of
which we see the efforts today.
The work you are doing, I
know, will be of very material
assistance not only in the solu-
tion of those problems which may
confront us from daj' to day,
but it will also open up those
avenues which future generations
will he able to still further de-
velop. It may be of interest
to know that in tjhe Old Country,
from which I returned about
three weeks ago, conditions are

U

distinctly favorable, and great
and keen as the interest has been
in agriculture, it is safe to say-
that it never was on a sounder
basis than it is in that country
today. The forthcoming meet-
ing of the Koyal Agricultural
Society whick is to be held at
Darlington in a few weeks' time,
promises to be one of the most
successful in tjhe annals of that
society, both in the quality and
the quantity of interest ; they
expect to have almost a record
show. I am quite well assured
that in spite of the many dif-
ficulties and drawbacks which
we had to contend with in con-
sequence of war conditions, that
never has British stock been in
such condition as it is today. It
reflects t;ie greatest credit on all
concerned, that even in these
very difficult and trying times,
although possibly the numbers
may have diminished, the quality
has not.

It might be iLseful for us to re-
member that in connection with
an organization such as you are
engaged in here today, the motto
of the Royal Agricultural Soci-
ety is "Practice of Science",
and t)ie foundation which they
laid between 70 and 80 years
ago has been followed, and that
society is doing more extensive
work every year than it did
before.

"We have in this Dominion vast
opportunities, and we have seen
by practical results what has
been achieved by the application
of scientific methods and the
study of scientific processes, to
the natural qualities of the soil
and the climate, and we have
seen t^e very remarkable re-
sults which have been attained
in a comparatively short time.
It is a great satisfaction to all
of us who are engaged in agri-

culture that there will always be
necessarily the need and desire
for what we are capable of
producing. After all, agriculture
is the first necef>sity of human
existence, either in food or in
clothing, and it is for us to see
that the very best wjiich we can
produce shall be produced.

Today we are confronted with
a problem of an infinitely more
varied and far-reaching character
than ever confronted us before.
In the very interesting agenda
paper which I read, I see you
are going to discuss a vast num-
ber of very varied subjects. The
work which you are doing will,
I know, be of great benefit.
We have to remember at this
moment that in consequence of
tA^ war, a considerable area of
the world which used to produce
food products is incapable of do-
ing so, and it is bound to be a
good many years before that
production can be raised to any-
thing like pre-war standards. "We
in Canada, I believe, are in a
position to take the fullest advan-
tage of that world-wide condition
and by steadily keeping the
great object in view, and by
keeping science and practice
closely hand-in-hand, I am quite
confident the Dominion will a-
chieve greater results than ever
before.

I can assure you it is a very
great pleasure for me to be able
to say a few words tonight and
to congratulate you most sin-
cerely on the formation of tjhis
organization. I wish it every
succe.ss. I know you will contri-
bute not only to the sum of
knowledge in the immediate fut-
ure, but many generations will
be grateful for the work you
are doing. I again congratu-
late you on the work you have
achieved.

15

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY HON. S. F. TOLMIE, MINISTER
OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :
I can assure you that I am very
glad to be with you on this very
important occasion. It is important
because I look for this Associa-
tion to render very valuable ser-
vice to the agriculture of Canada.
This is distinctly a new and pro-
gressive move for higher and
better farm in cr.

I Avant to congratulate the or-
ganizing Committee for the splen-
did work that they have done in
getting 3-ou together, and I want
to congratulate you on the very
excellent turnout.

This Society should throw new
vim and zest into your work on
account of its distinctiveness from
anything that has been done in
the past. It will afford you an
excellent opportunity of getting
better agricultural organizations,
bringing the best men in agricul-
ture close together so that you
can exchange ideas, and in that
way benefit each other in the
great work in which you are en-
gaged. I think there is no ques-
tion at all that agriculture todar*,^
even under ordinary conditions
and more particularly under the
conditions in w^hich we find our-
selves after the war, is the most
important industry that we have
in the Dominion of Canada.

There is a tremendous need for
agricultural education thoughout

our country; education is neces-
sary to the farmer if we are
going to obtain good results,
and the necessity for educa-
tion does not end wnth the farm-
er. There is a great lack of
understanding between the city
man and the country man. If the
man in the city hears of a man in
the country getting 75c a dozen
for eggs, he immediately begins to
think about profiteering, and on
the other hand if the farmer
hears of someone in the city doing
well, he thinks he is a profiteer.
There is great room for a better
understanding between the city
man and the country man and for
better co-operation.

We find in our travels among
the farmers that they are not ob-
taining the best results in carry-
ing on their daily w^ork. In many
cases this is due to lack of edu-
cation and to the fact that they do
not take advantage of the very
excellent opportunities that they
have for making progress. What
we need in this country is briefly,
better farming, better farming
methods, better live stock, the
use of better seeds and better
cultivation.

In an address I made the other
day in the House of Commons in
connection with bringing down
the estimates of the Department,
I stated that, calculating on very
conservative lines, and after con-
sulting some of our best experts
in the Department, it was esti-
mated that by better methods ctf
farming and by keeping better
live stock, and figuring only on
the live stock which w^e have on
hand now and the land that is
under cultivation at the present
time, and without turning over a
single acre of new- land, we could
increa.se our income from agricul-
ture by a sum something like
$511,000,000.00 a year, or more
than one quarter of our present

16

public debt. I ask the question, is
it worth while to worry about
trying to attain these results? We
are very much impressed with the
appalling loss that we suffer in
this country as a result of poor
methods and poor livestock. We
have for years and years been tell-
ing the people about the good re-
sults that can be obtained by using
only pure bred sires. The agri-
cultural press has been doing ex-
cellent work along the same line,
our Agricultural Colleges have
been sending out young men try-
ing to educate the farmers in this
regard, and our Experimental
Farms have been trying to de-
monstrate the benefit of improved
stock. After all this work, we
still have in some of our older
Provinces a very large percentage
of scrub sires. This is verj' as-
tonishing to a man coming from
British Columbia.

I remember when we had our
first herd of pure bred Shorthorn
cattle in British Columbia away
back in the seventies. The first
pure bred bull we ever got came
from the East, and it had to be
shipped all the way over the Union
Pacific Railway to San Francisco,
and then 800 miles by boat to get
into our country. After a while
things began to open up, and we
began to get a number of good
progressive people from the East.
In this way we gradually began
to look on the East as a great
source of improvement and pro-
gress. After all that, it is asto-
nishing to come here and find out,
after all these years from 1870 up
to the present time, that there is
still a very large percentage of
scrub bulls in this advanced Pro-
vince of Ontario, which is cer-
tainly one of the best Provinces
in the whole Dominion of Canada.

Last December after returning
from the big Exhibition in Chi-
cago, I had an opportunity of
going through one of the Toronto
packing houses. They were put-

ting through on that particular
day something like 700 head of
cattle. The carcasses were in very
thin condition, and I found that
they were only weighing from 250
to 350 pounds apiece, just the
frame, not very much meat, and
what meat there was, of a very
poor quality. I asked to see some
of these cattle, and I went to the
stockyard. I did not find old
dairy cows that were going down
the last trail, but I found scrub
cattle in very poor condition.
There is no doubt that, in some
measure, this was due to lack of
feed and to the agricultural con-
ditions existing last summer, but
a great many of these animals
could have been turned off two
months earlier when they were in
better condition, and instead of
selling for 5i4e-, they would have
sold for 8c. and 10c. This was
only in one abbatoir. In passing
through the coolers, we found the
beef was hung up according to its
grade, and it showed the great op-
portunity there was for improve-
ment in this regard.

What wonderful opportunities
there are for the use of better
seed ! Hundreds and thousands of
farmers in this country are per-
fectly willing to plant poor sam-
ples of seed rather than take the
trouble to secure good seed. There
is too much land in this country
planted with poor seed. Then in
the matter of cultivation, how
many hired men do you have to
watch to see that your land is
properly harrowed, and how
many times do you have to
send them back to give it another
harrowing ! I do not know what
your experience is in Ontario, but
if it is anything like our experien-
ce in British Columbia, you can-
not afford to keep your eye off
the gun for one minute.

Education is accomplishing great
things for agriculture in this
country. Take the case of the
bacon hog. When we first began

17

to pet interested in the British
market, we had hoprs of a non-
descript variety; tlicre was no
uniformity about them. A cani-
paiprn was commenced for the pro-
duction of the bacon hog, and we
have among us today a number
of men who took a very active
part in that campaign and wlio
rendered very valuable service
to this country. We find today
that no less than 85 per cent of
the hogs passing through the pack-
ing houses of this ><?ountry are of
the bacon type. That is worth
millions of dollars because it puts
us in a position where we are able
to compete with the best bacon
countries in the world, such as
Denmark and Ireland.

We had in British Columbia
last year a cow that completed
her yearly record of 32,000 pounds
of milk, and the average cow of
Canada produces a little less than
4,000 pounds. This cow produced
just as much as eight scrub cows
would produce ; she required only
one-eighth of the room in the
stable, just about one-eighth of
the care, she would eat perhaps a
little more than one-eighth of
what the scrub cows would eat,
but she yielded her owner a very
large profit, not onlj^ in the milk
she produced but also in the calf
that sold for $1,000. At ten years
of age she was sold to a gentle-
man in Pennsj'lvania for $15,000,
along Avith her heifer calf.

I was asked in the House the
other day if I proposed that every
man should have a cow like that,
and I gave my opinion that he
should. He wanted to know if
there would be a market for them,
and I said, "Certainly; any time
a man comes all the way from
Pennsylvania to British Colum-
bia to pay $15,000 for a ten year
old cow and a little heifer calf,
there is certainly a great de-
mand for them.'' Some one might
say, "This is a rich man's cow".
It was bred by Powell of Syracuse,

N. Y., ami was .sold for $150 and
came to Canada. If an ordinary
farmer had bought that cow, one
of the kind that would not visit
the experinu-ntal farm or attend
a Farmers' Institute meeting or
take any interest in the Agricul-
tural Colleges, he would probably
have thought, on account of her
pedigree, that she ought to be
able to get along with less feed
than the ordinary cow; he would
probably have tried to winter her
on the sunny side of a straw
stack; he would give her a ba-
lanced ration largely composed of
straw and oxygen, and he would
try to keep her on a sheep pas-
ture in the summer time. If that
had been the care given, she would
still have been a $150 cow, but
fortunately she fell into the hands
of progressive people who took
the best out of her, and I think
you will agree with me that that
knowledge and that education
and that great factor of knowing
how to take care of this parti-
cular cow w'as worth $14,000 to
this country.

It is only a short time ago that
many of our pure bred stock
breeders lost cows year in and
year out, and we have lost them
on our own farm in the West on
account of sterility. We could not
do anything for them. A discovery
has, however, recenth' been made,
largely due to ' Dr. Williams of
Cornell University, with the re-
sult that these animals can now
be made useful animals. One ve-
terinary- surgeon, who took his
original lessons from Dr. Williams,
treated 146 head of pure bred
cows, and saved something like
76 per cent. The estimated value
of these animals was $75,000, and
that is the result of three or four
months' work. If that knowledge
had not been possessed, these ani-
mals would have passed on to the
abbatoir, and many of them were
highly bred animals.

Our Agricultural Colleges have

18

been rendering splendid services
throughout this country, and our
Experimental Farms have been
doing wonderful work, but still
we have been severely criticized,
and a great many people have
gone so far as to expect that the
Experimental Farms should yield
a nice profit at the end of the
year. If they Avould look into the
question for a moment, they would
find that that was a very unrea-
sonable request, because it is often
necessary on these farms to do the
work on only one-fortieth of an
acre, and that kind of work can-
not be done by machinery. When
an experiment has been tried out
one year, the results are not given
to the public, but it is tried for
several years until it is proven
satisfactory and then the results
are given to the public.

Take the discovery of Marquis
Wheat ; if we had only done that
and then stopped, I claim the Ex-
perimental Farms of Canada have
yielded a splendid profit. I do
not say they are perfect; there is
plenty of room for improvement,
and I think there is room for im-
provement in some other depart-
ments as well. We estimate that
the value of the Experimental
Farms to this countrv annually is
no less than $60,000,000. Take a
man settling in Alberta or British
Columbia who comes from Prince
Edward Island or Nova Scotia or
Ontario or Quebec. He can visit
one of our Experimental Farms or
write to them and he can get im-
mediately the very best kind of
information as to the best seed to
use in his particular district, the
best method of cultivation, the
proper time to sow, and many
other things that will be of tre-
mendous advantage to him. Con-
trast that with the man who goes
out and has to depend on his own
resources, and who wastes several
years of his life trying to find out
for himself. It would be just as
unreasonable to ask a man who

wished to study medicine, to go
out and find out for himself in-
stead of going to a medical col-
lege. Our Agricultural Colleges
have turned out a number of very
brilliant men who are rendering
great service, but there are a lot
of young men in this society who
will be glad to take the places of
the old men when they have to
retire, and I consider that this
new Society will render very valu-
able services to the country.

I am very pleased indeed to
hear you are satisfied to stay
where you are, and that you are
anxious to introduce a post-gra-
duate course at some one college.
I think this is a distinctly pro-
gressive move on your part, and
a move that will have very excel-
lent results. I am sure this post-
graduate course will freshen up
many of you in the work you have
been carrying on, will give you a
new start and will have a large
place in the agricultural progress
of this country.

I- think you are particularly
fortunate in the selection of offi-
cers, particularly in that of your
President. I have known Presi-
dent Klinck for a number o£
years. I know you all join me in
extending to President Klinck our
best wishes for great success in
his new position. It was a great
pleasure to me to notice that he
had been selected, and I am quite
satisfied that he. will guide this
Society in a very satisfactory way.

I notice you have also selected
Prof. Barton of Macdonald Coll-
ege, as Vice-President. Prof. Bar-
ton is a man of high standing and
recognized ability in this country
and one of our leaders, and also
Mr. Newman as Secretary-Treasu-
rer. I think that as far as the fu-
ture of the Society is concerned,
you have certainly placed it in
very good hands.

A number of you are no doubt
listening to what I am saying and
you are saying to yourselves,

19

"That is all right, but how much
iiion 'V arc you going to give us?""
I am pleased to say that I will
make an effort to include in the
sup{)lementary estimates a satis-
factory sum to assist your asso-
ciation on its way. I think money
could not be better expended than
in this way. It is absolute foolish-
ness to expect that every dollar
expended will bring back an-
other dollar. Our experimental
farms and associations of this
kind are doing a very valuable
service to the eountrv, but vou

cannot put your hand on the dol-
lars that they return; neverthe-
less the service is there.

I am pleased to welcome you to
the City of Ottawa. You will find
a number of very nice people here,
and I am sure your stay will be
made very pleasant. I have much
pleasure in extending a most royal
and hearty welcome to you on
behalf of the Department of Agri-
culture, and if we can be of any
assistance to j'ou, I am sure we
will be delighted to do so.

ADDRESS BY DR. J. H. GRISDALE, DEPUTY MINISTER
OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Chairman, Hon. Dr. Tolmie,
and Fellow Members of the
C. S. T. A. :

I am delighted to be with you
on this occasion. We have at this
meeting representatives of very
nearly every class that has gone
through Guelph since I can re-
member, and some representatives
of classes who went through be-
fore I was at the 0. A. C.

1 do not know why I have been
called upon to take part in this
meeting. After the eloquent
address of welcome from Dr. Tol-
mie, whom I suppose w-e can call
the- principal agriculturist in Can-
ada, any remarks on my part
would seem out of place.

We are met here today for or-
ganization purposes particularly.
It has always been noticeable
among graduates of universities
that they have a fellow' feeling, a
feeling which expresses itself
usually in university associations
and in other associations of the
different branches in w^hich they
work, and which might be said to
have its apex in the Royal Society
of Canada. I felt when this society
was mooted that it would lift our
graduates to a higher status and
give to the members who consti-
tute this body, a feeling of greater
importance and a feeling that they
had a place among the educated
and highly trained leaders of the
country. We have been looked
upon by many of the University
Associations and many of the uni-
versity graduates as being men on
a lower level in investigatory
character than they are them-
selves, and we cannot expect them
to change their minds in this res-
pect unless we assert ourselves
and demonstrate to the world that
we have just as high scientific and
investigatory powers as have these
other mere graduates of institu-
tions in other sciences. That
should, in my opinion, be one of

20

the principal functions of this or-
ganization once it is well estab-
lished, and, judging by the excel-
lent attendance we have here to-
day, we should be very much en-
couraged. The attention we give
to this work, will be the measure
of our success in building up this
society. It is true the science of
agriculture is so varied in char-
acter, and covers such a wide field,
that it is hopeless to expect every
man of us to pay that very close
attention to the details of in-
vestigatory work in each and
every line, that he will need to
give to the work in his OAvn line.
Still, as men intensely interested
in agriculture in this country, it
will be quite possible for us to en-
courage these varied investiga-
tions by favorable comment, by
laudatory criticism and by really
helpful work among ourselves. I
have no doubt judging by my own
experience that each man who
leaves one of our agricultural
institutions goes out feeling that
he has a mission to perform in this
world. I can remember when I
graduated, I undertook some work
in pig feeding ; it was exceedingly
simple as I look back at it now,
and reall}' did not amount to much
in the way of work ; yet to me
it seemed at that time a matter of
the very greatest consequence. I
am glad to say it did have some
effect. There is absolutely no
reason why every man in agricul-
tural work should not have some
objective in view, some line of
work that he can carry on in an
experimental way, and we who are
connected with agricultural insti-
tutions can help in many ways.
Let me urge upon yoii that this
be one of the first and most im-
portant functions of this Associa-
tion.

Dr. Tolmie has mentioned the
fact that the Dominion Depart-
ment of Agriculture is trying to
help the Society. That, however,

should be a matter of secondary
consideration. There are many
reasons why it might not be pos-
sible to make such a grant. We
as a Society, I believe, can get
along without it if necessary. Each
one of us who leaves here, feeling
that this is his own association
and that he is bound to do some-
thing to help it along, will be a
factor making for the success of
the organization. We can without
doubt make this a live organiza-
tion that will have a very lasting
effect upon the Agriculture of
Canada and upon our own status
as a scientific body. We are proud
to have among our graduates of
Agricultural Colleges in Canada
some of the best agriculturists in
the world ; many of the heads of
the investigatory institutions in
the United States corns from this
country; there is hardly an insti-
tution in the United States that
has not one or more graduates of
a Canadian agricultural college
on its staff.

We are met here today a body of
men known the world over as men
who are keenly interested in their
work, who are now banded to-
gether in organization, possibly
the first organization of its kind in
the world. I know of no such
organization in the United States.
This organization is, as I take it,
for the purpose of strengthening
our hands, of giving us a standing,
of making agriculture a really
scientific industry, and of gi\ang
to agriculture in Canada a name
that shall be equalled in no other
country.

I wish you, Gentlemen, the very
best of success in your delibera-
tions. I trust we may be inspired
to continue in the good work and
that we may leave here with a
fellow feeling that will make us
even more ready, if possible, to
co-operate in the future than we
have been in the past.

21

ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY MAYOR FISHER, OF OTTAWA.

Mr. Cliairman and Gentlemen:

I understand you have a very
lull proj^ramuu'. and tluTefore 1
wi^ not take much of your time.
I simply desire to make my bow
and to tliank you for the privilege
of beinf? allowed to do so, because
it is a very great privilege to ap-
pear before this Society. You are
engaged, as I discover from 3'our
programme, with the basic indus-
try of agriculture. I would not
mention it if it were not for the
fact that a number of gentlemen
here know me to be a lawyer, and
in these modern days, for a la-\vyer
to be allowed to speak with gentle-
men engaged in this basic indus-
try of agriculture, is a great honor.
I have been in municipal polit-
ics for several 3'ears, and during
that time I have not been mixed
in any other politics, but there was
a time w^hen I used to go out into
the country to try and persuade
the farmers to come into my partj'.
There were not a great many of
them that would come in. Now,
the farmers have formed a party
of their own, and they have laid
out a platform that looks very
much like what I used to try to
preach in my humble way, and I
find myself in this very different
position that they apparently do
not want to come into my party,
and it is very doubtful if they will
let me into theirs. I do not know
that the door is absolutely barred,
but it is apparently temporarily
shut to the members of the legal
profession.

You are the gentlemen, I un-
derstand, who teach other men
how to do the work. That surely
is a very pleasant employment,
and I am quite certain in this in-
stance that it is a very useful one.
The people now are ready to be

guided, and I am of the opinion
that if we only have tlie proper
leaders, men who will tell honestly
what are the country's needs,
there is a great deal of hope that
the people may be ready to follow
to the great advantage of the
country as a whole. I think we
should have somebody who should
tell us that it is not a' question of
buj'ing more goods in Canada but
of buying less goods anywhere.
This "Made in Canada" campaign
is all right provided it is not car-
ried too far. Let us try to make
things in Canada that we need,
and that we can make economic-
ally. It w^ould not be useful for
me to attempt to say anything in
regard to your particular occupa-
tion. I can remember the farms
of Canada 25 years ago, and there
is no doubt that great changes
have taken place, and as changes
have come there has been a higher
intelligence in the farming com-
munity. Let us hope that the
Powers that Be will not overlook
the people who have been engaged
in research work and who have
been doing experimental work and
work of that kind for many years.
Those of us who live in Ottawa
know that there have been in this
country many men in the Govern-
ment employ and the employ of
other institutions who have been
doing very real work for which
they have not been very ade-
quately paid, and I think the
country generally has come to the
position where it is prepared to
admit that these men should be
better paid and to back the Gov-
ernment up if they have the cour-
age to put into effect a better
scale of remuneration.

I have much pleasure in wel-
coming you on behalf of the peo-
ple of Ottawa. "We are pleased to
have you here and we hope your
convention may be successful and
that you will enjoy yourselves.

22

ADDRESS OF MR. F. N. SAVOIE, REPRESENTING HON. J. E.
CARON, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE FOR QUEBEC.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :

My address will be very short.
Before leaving Quebec I went to
see the Minister and try and urge
him to come to this convention be-
cause X "^^s sure that he would
have very interesting things to
tell us. Unfortunately, he could
not leave Quebec, and he asked me
to represent him at this conven-
tion and to give, his message. He
wishes every member of this con-
vention all success in their deli-
berations and in the future. His
heart is with us and anj'thing he
can do to help the Society in every
way possible he will certainly do.
I am sure he is much in favor of
the organization of such a society,
and no doubt he will be of assist-
ance to us in the future.

The Province of Quebec was
discovered in 1608, and since that
time there has been some progress
made. We had the first school of
agriculture on the continent,
started in 1859. We had the first

school of Household Science, not
only on the continent but the first
in the world. We now have three
agricultural schools in Quebe, five
schools of household science, and
59 secondary schools of household
science. I hear that some people
have not yet discovered the Pro-
vince of Quebec. If you will come
down and see us we will give you
the best reception that we can.
We are trying to do our best the
same as you all are in other parts
of this Dominion. We would be
delighted if the next convention
was held in Quebec City.

I must say that I have enjoyed
the deliberations at these meet-
ings. We have very wide fields
of action, and our ideals are very
high, and I feel confident that we
shall realize them. There is a
motto that will fit us very well.
It is the motto of one of our col-
leges in Canada, and it is one that
we should aim at : — " Mastery for
Service."

TECHNICAL AGRICULTURISTS IN RELATION TO AGRICUL-
TURAL PROBLEMS.

DR. JAMES W. ROBERTSON.

Mr. President and Gentlemen:

I appreciate the opportunity of
this occasion to speak to so many
of you who are now members of
this new Society, and to offer my
congratulations to your President
upon the recognition you have ac-
corded him in electing him your
first president, an appointment
well merited by the valuable ser-
vices he has rendered to agricul-
ture and education.

I am glad you have formed this
Society. There is a place for it
and work for it to do. I have
known many of you; and when I
thing of you severally I think of
men of good natural ability devel-

oped into greater ability by train-
ing, further enlarged and improv-
ed by experience in administra-
tion, teaching and other useful
work. Consequently this Society

23

should be strong because its mem-
bers represent great intellectual
and moral power. But tlie sum total
of the qualities of its members
does not represent fully the powep
of a Society like this. Every mem-
ber in contributing service to the
Society, as an organized body, be-
comes thereby a stronger man per-
sonally, wliile the effectiveness of
the organization itself, as an en-
tity, becomes greater than the
sum total of the qualities of the
individual members. A simple
illustration: Take 20 men; con-
sider their strength of body, their
agility of foot, their intelligence,
and their courage and say of them
"They are a pretty good lot of
men." If you could devise a ma-
thematical or other formula to
represent the ability of them
severally and add those into one
total you would have something
to wonder about. But if you or-
ganize the 20 into a fire brigade,
the fire brigade is worth more in
putting out and in preventing fires
than any 20 individuals. The fire
brigade as an organization has a
different kind of effectiveness
from that of 20 unorganized indi-
viduals. I hope your Society as
an organization will do great work
for Canada ; and that all of you,
because of its work, will be
stronger and more efficient singly
and severally.

Subjects, Problems and Persons.

I look back and remember the
first five graduates of the 0. A. C.
They were students while I was a
professor there. Last week I
looked over the examination pa-
pers that w^ere set for those who
were hoping to graduate this year.
These papers disquieted me into
the conviction that I knew scarce-
ly anything at all about the sub-
jects. I have always been im-
pressed, sometimes oppressed, by
the feeling that I did not know
enough about subjects. Never-
theless I have had occasion to deal

with many problems; and it lias
been necessary for me to under-
stand something about their solu-
tion. For more than 30 years,
knowing my own inadequacy, my
difficulty has been to find fellows
who knew and could do, and get
them on the job; and I indulge
myself in these ripening years
with the reflection that I did tliat
part of my work reasonably well.
I hope still to help in finding many
persons and to see them placed
where they will do good work.

Let me ask your attention to
that word "problem." We now
have the problem of the luxury
tax and also the problem of oat-
meal "versus" cornflakes. Every-
thing perplexing is called a prob-
iem. I looked up the dictionary
to see what it says about the word
"problem": "A perplexing ques-
tion demanding settlement." I
want you to think about one par-
ticular agricultural problem as a
problem demanding settlement —
settlement in actual conditions on
the farms in Canada. I hope it
will be the duty and privilege of
the technical agriculturists to con-
tribute to the settlement.

The one problem I want to dis-
cuss wath you is the problem of
helping the average farmer. He
may not believe in agricultural
colleges or in college graduates.
You say he ought to. Don't forget
the fact that he may not believe in
agricultural colleges as being of
any practical benefit to the prac-
tical farmer. He may not have
any use for experimental farms
as run by Governments. If so, I
think he is wrong. But don't for-
get the fact that his opinion may
not agree with mine or yours. The
problem in Canadian agriculture
is to help that man, the average
farmer. The technical agricul-
turist should help the average
farmer to solve his problems suc-
cessfully, and he must not forget
that there are many farmers who
think that a man who is educated

24

hj' going to college has acquired
no kind of ability to help them in
their practical work. They sup-
pose he has been removed from
their field of business, farming,
and will likely come along with
some high-worded theory and sug-
gest things that are not practical.

Qualification Through Education.

What qualification has the tech-
nical agriculturist to enable him
to help that man and make that
man quite willing to accept his
help and even anxious to obtain
his help? His education should
qualify him ; and if it does not he
should seek re-education and pur-
sue it diligently. There are many
contributing factors in the pro-
cesses of what is called education.
May I call to your minds some of
the things which you should have
got out of the processes of educa-
tion? My acquaintance with men
does not lead me to think that they
always get what they should have
got. On two sides a man can get
what is worth while in a college
course — on the intellectual side
and the social side. I am sure that
you will agree that the processes
of education were not confined to
the courses of studj', they were not
limited to what was done in the
class-rooms and laboratories. If
I should attempt to interpret to
you, for a few minutes, my present
impressions of what may be ex-
pected from the best processes of
education I would submit for
your consideration that such pro-
cesses, which I hope will continue
as long as you live, should pro-
duce skill — skill in living.
Through the acquisition of know-
ledge and the development of in-
telligence come the beginnings of
skill in thinking ; through dis-
cipline in doing comes skill in
working ; through the exercise of
judgment comes skill in managing.
In addition to the cultivation of
the intellectual powers the pro-
cesses of education must not leave

out the development of the spi-
ritual senses. By spiritual senses
I mean those qualities which
enable and cause men and women
to live at their highest and their
best in the common as well as the
uncommon conditions of everyday
life. Through the cultivation of
the sense of proportion comes skill
in appreciating. Through daily
exercise of the sense of respon-
sibility comes skill in serving.
Through a quick conscience, in
obedience to self-discipline, comes
skill in living. Out of all such
experience, which for conveni-
ence of expression I have indicated
as separate, but which are in-
separable in the growth and devel-
opment of character, we come to
recognize and hold to some noble
purpose in life, definite and domin-
ating.

Agriculture and Farm Surveys.

A word or two as to this par-
ticular problem of agriculture,
the problem of helping the average
farmer. What is agriculture in
this sense? It is a skilled trade
like a handicraft ; it is a business,
a business carried on for profit ;
it is a profession dealing with the
application of principles to the
art of farming. And it is more
than all that. It is a way of liv-
ing. If you go into a shop or a
factory, it is a place where a man
works, but a farm is where a man
and his family live. Therefore,
agriculture is not only an occupa-
tion, but it is a way of living. It
is also a great national interest.
It is an interest that concerns the
nation. It affects all the people.
Agriculture being that sort of
thing, this particular problem of
helping the ordinary average
farmer must be an important
problem. How can j^ou find out
how that man looks on these
things which we call problems?
How will you find out what he is
thinking about except by going
to see him and finding out from

25

him? That is ono of the objects
of a farm survey. Through it you
obtain a knowledge of facts. From
the study and proper interpreta-
tion of tliem you come to conclu-
sions. Out of these you shape
your policy, make up your pro-
gramme, and formulate your plans.
That was the course followed by
the Committee on Lands, of the
Commission of Conservation. Since
I have been Chairman of that Com-
mittee since its formation, I can
speak with intimate knowledge of
its work, to w^hich I now invite
your attention.

Committee on Lands.
Under its Committee on Lands
the Commission began its work by
ascertaining as fully as practic-
able the condition of land under
cultivation and whether the sys-
tems and methods of farming
were resulting in the conservation
of fertility and productivity. For
several years it conducted surveys
of conditions on groups of farms
in representative districts in every
province. The surveys were made
for 62 groups which contained a
total of 2,245 farms. The detailed
results were reported upon in the
published Annual Reports. They
revealed the fact that in raany
cases fertility had been and was
being reduced, weeds were be-
coming increasingly prevalent,
and systematic courses of rotation
of crops were not being followed.
At the same time in every group
of farms surveyed, some farms
stood out conspicuously as exam-
ples of conservation, and at the
same time as illustrations of profit-
able agriculture. In consequence,
one of such farms in each of the
first groups surveyed in 1912-13
was chosen by the neighboring
farmers, in co-operation with the
Commission, as an Illustration
Farm.

Illustration Farms.
The Illustration Farm was not
in any sense taken over by the

Commission. The Illustration
Farmer did not receive any salary
or subsidy. He agreed to accept
regular visits from the Agricul-
tural Adviser sent by the Com-
mission and to put into practice
on his farm only such advice or
suggestions as he considered would
prove profitable to him. The
Commission gave a little financial
assistance to encourage the use of
seed grain of first class quality
and suitability, to try out the sow-
ing of larger quantities of clover
and grass seeds per acre, and to
bring about more effective meth-
ods of cultivation to suppress
weeds. The object of the inves-
tigation by the Commission, in co-
operation with the Illustration.
Farmers, was to discover whether
the combination of expert and
scientific information and advice
from the Commission with the pro-
fit-making methods of the prac-
tical farmer would result in the
conservation of fertility, increase
the profits, and bring more satis-
faction to the farmer and his fam-
ily from following the occupation.
]\Ieetings were held on these farms
to explain the system and methods
to neighboring farmers and to
demonstrate what these w^ere ac-
complishing when applied, not on
a government farm, but on one
such as the farmers themselves oc-
cupied and under conditions simi-
lar to those wdth which they had to
do. The results were striking and
improvements were notable and
numerous. There was a pressing
demand for these Illustration
Farms in other localities. But the
Commission, not being an admin-
istrative Branch of Government
Service and having accomplished
its object in pointing to an effec-
tive means of promoting conserva-
tion and profit, turned over the
scheme to the Department of Agri-
culture. There is now an Illustra-
tion Farms Division of the Domin-
ion -Experimental Farms.

26

Illustration County.

The success which attended the
Commission's survey o£ Farms and
resultant Illustration Farms, led
the Commission to conduct a sur-
vey of four counties and to select
an Illustration County. The plan
followed in and with the County is
similar in principle to the plan
adopted with the Illustration
Farms, The work in Dundas
County, Ontario, has still to go on
two years of the five-year period
for which it was undertaken.

I am confident that as a result
of this bit of experimental re-
search in conservation, through
Illustration Farms and an Illustra-
tion County, you will find Illus-
tration Farms in every county or
municipal district in Canada be-
fore many years. Moreover, the
definite and definable progress
made in the Illustration County
of Dundas will have made such
an impression that the underlying
principles of the policy and plan
of Illustration Farms and Coun-
ties, will be generall}^ accepted and
commonly applied. The essence
of the scheme is to discover, devel-
op, and call into use the ability
and character of the best men and
women of each community for
local leadership ; and to supple-
ment that by helping to bring into
each community the best things of
any community, in proper rela-
tionship to all of the other best
community services and condi-
tions. By these latter I mean such
things as good farming, good
schools, good roads, good mar-
kets, good health and good com-
munity life. I have said ''good,"
but on the Illustration Farm and
in the Illustration County we want
proper co-ordination of "the best''
in order that all these services and
conditions in the community may
be good.

Further Organization Needed.

For the conservation and im-
provement of the fertility of its
lands and the production of crops
and animal products in the most
effective and profitable ways, Can-
ada is, as yet, imperfectl.y and in-
completely organized. This does
not refer so much to the organiza-
tion of the departments of Agri-
culture of the Governments, Fed-
eral and Provincial, as it does to
the lack of organized means by
which the ordinarj' farmers may
be enabled and will be induced to
bring their farming up to the
present level of the best farmers.
The chief obstacle is that the n-.
plication of the knowledge wh!:-h
is now possessed and used by the
best farmers is, as yet, to a large
extent not operative in the case of
the ordinary farmers. And it must
not be forgotten that the kind of
management and work on the or-
dinary farms by the great body of
Canada's intelligent, capable and
industrious rural population,, is
what determines the prosperity,
stability and progress of the coun-
try.

Agriculture is to be regarded as
a national interest as well as an
occupation followed by indivi-
duals to earn their living. As a
national interest very much more
can be done and should be done
for its further improvement. We
will have to rely, in the main, on
the improvement of agriculture
and the further development of
Our other natural resources and in-
dustries to enable us to maintain
prosperity, to pay our way as a
nation and to pay our public debt.
Moreover, in the keener compe-
titions we are sure to meet in the
world's markets we cannot expect
to hold our place unless our peo-
ple are as well informed, as well
trained, and as well organized as
others.

I venture to submit five proposi-
tions regarding further organiza.

27

tion required to holp in the ad-
vaiu-ement of the average farming
of the country and in tlie conserva-
tion of the fertility and pro-
ductivity of our lands.

(1) Provision should be made,
particularly by the employment of
highly qualified men and women,
for further research investigations
iu the field, in the laboratory and
in the market.

(2) Experimental work should
be continued and co-ordinated on
(lovernment Experimental Farms
in trying out and comparing meth-
ods of applying knowledge, al-
ready possessed, to the practical
operations of farming in order to
obtain the best economic results
under the varying conditions of
soils, climate, markets, labor, and
other available resources.

(3) Provision should be made,
through competent Editorial
Boards or Committees, for com-
piling, studying, interpreting and
publishing, in simple terms and in
reasonably short form, the conclu-
sions arrived at by reliable ade-
quate investigations anywhere so
far as these may be applicable,
with the prospect of advantageous
economic results, under Canadian
conditions. Such Board or Com-
mittees might be formed, in the
first instance, for such large and
general subjects as : —

(a) The relation of the phj'sical
condition and chemical composi-
tion of soils to the production of
crops.

(b) Systems and methods of
producing field crops in relation
to profits and the conservation of
fertility.

(c) The breeding, feeding and
care of live stock and the market-
ing of animal products.

(d) The production and mar-
keting of fruits and vegetables.

(e) The control of plant diseases
and injurious insects.

(4) At least one Illustration
Farm should be chosen by the
farmers in everv considerable com-

munity on which they could see
for themselves the results from the
practical application of a combina-
tion of scientific information and
advice from an expert with the
profit making system and methods
of an experienced successful
farmer.

(5) A Neighborhood Improve-
ment Association or Better Farm-
ing Club, iu close association with
each Illustration Farm, would be-
come a means whereby the natural
leaders of the locality would be
brought into full play for the
development of every farm and
farmer, and the improvement of
the whole community.

Probable Results.

Such a scheme of organization
would provide the means whereby
the discoveries, information and
recommendations of the best in-
stitutions, the best minds, and the
best work would be brought home
to the average farmers with un-
paralleled beneficial results. It
would cost a comparatively small
amount of money. Its practical
evolution and application offers
an unsurpassed opportunity for
the best brains, hands and hearts
in Canada. When in full operation
it might be reasonably expected to
bring about an increase in the an-
nual value of the output of the
farms by from 20 per cent upward
with scarcely any increase of ex-
penditure. That estimate is not
mere conjecture. It is based on
knowledge of what has already
been accomplished in localities
surrounding Illustration Farms.
At the current range of prices 20
per cent increase would represent
between $300,000,000 and $350,-
000,000 as the weather conditions
were less or more favorable ; and
the fertility and productivity of
the farms would be conserved and
improved continuously.

You can do a great deal as tech-
nical agriculturists to advance the
organization suggested or to bring

28

about by some other means the
solution of our most difficult and
important problem in agriculture
— the continuous improvement of
the average farm and the better-
ment of the vi^hole rural popula-
tion. Your Society can do still
more towards the accomplishment

of that end. You can do things
that will be entirely creditable to
the race and blood to which yovL
belong, to the breed from which
you have sprung, and to the insti-
tution Jn which you have been
trained. And the more you do, so
much the better will it be for Can-
ada and for the world.

A VISION OF AGRICULTURE.

President J. B. REYNOLDS, Ontario Agricultural College.

Your old men shall dream
dreams, and your young men shall
see visions.

Dreaming on Things to Come.

There are those who dream, and
those who execute. The dream is
the thing. Nothing has been ac-
complished in human progress
that has not previously been
dreamed. Amos Cruickshank
dreamed the Shorthorn, and Cecil
Rhodes dreamed the world-wide
influence of the British Empire.
Blessed are thev who can dream

and blessed are they who can exe-
cute. Twice blessed are they who
can both dream and execute.

The dreamer is an idealist. He
dreams of the perfect, of heaven.

Heaven is the vision of fulfilled
desires.

Scorn not dreams because they
seem impossible. For impossible
as they are, they lift us nearer
to the heaven of our desire.

Agriculture has invited the
dreamer of all times. The wilder-
ness and the solitary place shall
be glad for them, and the desert
shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose.

He will cause to come down for
you the rain, the former rain and
the latter rain in the first month,
and the floors shall be full of
wheat, and the vats shall overflow
with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the
years that the locust hath eaten,
and the cankerworm, and the ca-
terpillar. And ye shall eat in
plenty and be satisfied.

Every grim ravine a garden,
every blazing desert tilled.

Robed in universal harvest up
to either pole she smiles.

The Dreajn of Possession.

Every man who wishes to till
the soil and is able to till it well,
should have the right to do so.
and no private ownership should
interfere with that right.

Possession of land should imply

tillage. So long as a man, or his
family, continues to till a farm,
he should have possession. When
he ceases to farm, he should cease
to own.

I would have no bidding for
absolute private ownership, but
bidding for the right to till the
land.

Under the feudal system, the
King owned all the land, and
leased it for certain considera-

29

tions of service. The modeni
equivalent of that idea is, tiiat
people should own the land, and
lease it to those who are able to
pive payment for its use. The
land of Canada was once public
property. It should have remain-
ed so, and every one wishinj; to
occupy land should be allowed to
do so, either free or for an an-
nual rent. But an unalterable con-
dition should be that he or his
family should work it.

The speculator in land is a hin-
drance to the progress of the
country, for by his absolute o\vner-
ship, he is debarring someone
from the rightful use of the land,
or taking unlawful toll from the
labor of other men.

The tiller of the soil, instead of
investing his savings in procuring
absolute o^vnership of the land he
tills, should return part of the pro-
ducts of his labor to the state for
the use of the land, and save the
rest to keep him in his old age.

As this is only a dream, prac-
tical details must not be expected
or asked for.

A Dream of Mastery.

No wise person will embark
upon a career in which he is pretty
sure to suffer distinct defeat. A
sense of mastery is essential to
happiness and self-respect. Not
just to win, but to be confident of
winning, is the inspiration of the
dailv task. Lacking that confiden-
ce, lacking the power and the o])-
portnnity to conquer, life is drab
and hopeless.

The farmer is in constant con-
flict with the powers of nature.
Natural laws and natural pheno-
mena, the wind and the rain, heat
and frost, "cloud, fog, and sun-
shine, are the atmosphere in which
he labors, and the forces with
•which he is engaged. These are
largely nneontrol'.able factors, and
yet the problem of the farmer is
to secure a measure of control, or
so manage that he can be indif-
ferent to or independent of them.

Drainage, irrigation, tillage, crop
rotation, diversified farming, are
the varied means by which the
farmer gains mastery over the
unfriendly forces of nature.

Man has learned to make u.se
of onl}^ a few plants and animals.
The rest he considers useless and
harmful. Those he has learned to
use he has develoi)ed and improv-
ed according to his own ideas.
The u.seless and the harmful he
seeks to destroy.

At War.

But here nature and the farm-
er are at variance. In deciding
what is useful, and what is use-
less, in propagating the one, and
destroying the other, the farmer
has defied natural environment,
natural selection, and the law of
the survival of the fittest. For
natural environment the farmer
has substituted an artificial en-
,vironment, and his pure bred live
stock must be housed. For
natural selection he has substitu-
ted human selection. Human se-
lection has produced the short
horn and The Angus and The
Hereford. Natural selection pro-
duced the Moose. For the law
of the survival of the fittest the
farmer has substituted the law of
survival of the most useful. He
has ordained life tx) the sheep and
to the Avheat plant, and death to
the wolf and the thistle.

For these defiances of nature's
decrees, the farmer suffers the
penalty of nature's hostility. It
is war. Indeed, agriculture, is
the moral equivalent of war. By
skill in breeding and selection, by
l)rotection and fostering care, the
farmer has produced his improved
live stock, his cereals, grasses, ve-
getables and fruits. Nature un-
aided never has and never would
produce the plump berry of the
wheat, the full-flavored Northern
Spy, or the full udder of the Hol-
stein. If left to nature these
would speedily degenerate. Eter-
nal vigilance is the price of suc-

30

cess. Let the farmer withdraw
his protecting care, or relax his
studied vigilance, and nature will
speedily avenge herself against
the farmer's partiality.

Essentials to Mastery.

In this warfare, a knowledge of
the conditions is essential to mas-
tery. He is half prepared for the
fight who knows the enemy's in-
tentions. My dream is that every
farmer shall be a student of na-
tural science. Here is the field
of the agricultural technologist.
By research, experiment, and pro-
pagandism, the technologist helps
the farmer either to enlist nature
in a cooperative effort, or by
knowing her intentions and her
methods, to combat her success-
fully.

It has bean remarked that agri-
culture is the moral equivalent of
war. When men have learned to
live peaceably Avith one another,
they will then be able to turn
their attention to an important
branch of the real business of
civilization, which is, to obtain
mastery over the powers of nature.
How much further on the road to
that mastery we should now be, if
the science, the energy, and the
wealth that have been expended
in war since 1914 had been ex-
pended in exploring and master-
ing the secrets of nature !

Mastery in the realm of nature,
not master in the world of men.
For the farmer is not only an agri-
culturist— a tiller of the soil. He
.is also, if not by choice then by
compulsion, a business man, a
dealer buying and selling in the
markets of the world.

The merchant is a trader only.
He buys and sells, but does not
produce. And in the buying and
the selling there is usually one who
buys and another who sells. There
is a separation of function and a
division of labor. The manufac-
turer buys his raw material, pro-
duces and sells. But in this busi-

ness also there is a separation of
function, and division of labor.
One buys, another produces, a
third sells.

Generally, in Canada, the farm
business does not permit this divi-
sion of labor. The farmer is his
own buyer, his own operator, his
own salesman. Thus his attention
is divided. Nor has the syndicate
farm been successful. The small
farm seems to be the type. The
problem is, how can the farmer of
100 to 300 acres best combine the
two functions of business man and
agriculturist.

Two Problems.

There is a double aspect to farm-
ing as a business undertaking —
the internal business of the farm,
what we call farm management,
and the external relations, or mar-
keting. To determine what the
farm is best fitted to produce, is
one problem, taking into account
climate and soil and available mar-
kets. The next is to lay out a sys-
tem of rotation or a method of
fertilizins: wlierebv the revenue
is secured and the capital — the
soil fertility — left unimpaired. The
relation between capital and over-
head expenses, and revenue is an-
other problem. Hoav are the an-
nual charges of interest or rent
maintenance, labor, and living ex-
penses to he met ? Book-keeping
on the farm is a most dishearten-
ing business. A good many
farmers when they keep books be-
come alarmed at what the books
reveal. They seem to be going
behind every j^ear. Interest, depre-
ciation, labor, maintenance costs,
consume apparently more than the
revenue provides. As a matter of
fact, no one branch of the farming
business is profitable by itself.
Each is a bye-product. If the
farmer charges his live stock with
the market value of the grain and
hay they consume, his live stock
is liable to show a deficit. If he
charges his upkeep, the repairs to

31

buildings and implements, with the
market value of the labor expend-
ed upon them, upkee[) makes an
alarming inroad upon revenue. If
he charges liis revenue with the
interest on capital invested, his
labor income often vanishes. All
is a compromise. Much that he
feeds his live stock has no market
value. They must live for tlie most
part on roughage and waste pro-
ducts. The hen is re(iuired to
scratcli her own living, and the
cow forages for herself along the
fences. Much of the farmer's labor
is given free, after he has done a
full da3-'s work, not to mention
the work done by the family, which
is nearly all free. On the principle
of b^'e-products alone can the farm
be made to show a profit. Yet it
is desirable that every farmer give
his mind to the question of cost
and production. If he does so, per-
sistently and intelligently, his re-
wards will be greater and his satis-
faction and contentment increased.

Organize.

In conducting the external
affairs of the farm, the farmer
to-day finds himself confronted
with what looks like huge com-
bines and conspiracies to rob him
of the results of his labor. Trade,
transportation, and tariff all seem
to be against him. How can the
farmer singly combat this system?
How can he secure a living and at
the same time attend to the main
business of his calling, produc-
tion?

I see no answer to that question
except the word "organize." Or-
ganize for economic reasons, to
buy and sell. Organize for poli-
tical reasons if necessary- to compel
government to give attention to
the farmer's claims.

The joint stock company is the
favored method of organization in
city industries. It has never fitted
into rural conditions, or suited
the rural mind. The dollar is the
unit of power in the joint stock

company. The farmer is too much
of an individualist to subordinate
his soul to the shekel. He requires
some type of organization in
which his individuality counts, re-
gardless of the number of dollars
he can bring. And so the co-
operative society has been devised,
with its principle of "one man,
one vote." In the co-operative
society, probably lies the solution
of conducting successfully the
affairs of the individual farmer.
Even in his co-operative society,
the farmer learns that he must
subordinate some of his individual-
ity to the common good. He must
acquire trust, learn to pledge his
word, and to keep it though seem-
ingly to his hurt, and be willing
to adopt the social idea of major-
ity rule.

A Dream of Service

The farmer is the only creator
of wealth. The miner, the lum-
berman, the fisherman extract
wealth already provided in the
reservoirs of nature. The manu-
facturer transforms, the merchant
and the railroad man transport.
The miner, the lumberman, the
fisherman, the manufacturer,
divide and substract and dimin-
ish the potential wealth of the
world by their labors. The farmer
adds, multiplies and creates some
thirty, some sixty and some an
hundred fold. The farmer is one
with the Creator in the great en-
terprise of providing food for the
world. As one of the ancient poets
has said, "these wait all upon thee,
that thou maj'st give them their
meat in due season." And as a
certain one of our own poets has
said, "Godlike, he makes provi-
sion for mankind."

The farmer performs a great
service for mankind. And my
dream is that more and more he
shall be enabled to do his work in
the spirit of service, and not for
reward. Farming is not so much
a business as a calling and a wav

32

of life. He only is the true farmer
who loves his work, who feels im-
pelled to his calling, who is drawn
to it b3^ invisible cords of destiny,
"Woe is me," cried the Apostle,
"K I preach not the Gospel."
"Woe is me," cries the true
farmer, "if I till not the soil."
Each, the Apostle and the farmer,
receives a call. Each embarks with
joy and confidence upon his great
adventure. He can do no other.

Necessity compels the farmer to
be two men in one. He must be a
business man. He prefers to be a
husbandman. When the cares of
business do not press too heavily
upon him, he can yield to the joys
of creation. He can do his work
for the work's sake, for the love
of gro"wing things. He is a free
man, conscious of partnership with
the divine in providing for hu-
manity's first need.

This world cannot be redeemed
from its present pain, and unrest
until men are willing to do with
their might what their hands find
to do, in the spirit of service. Agri-
culture must lead the way.

A great Latin poet thus dreams
of the life of the farmer : Some
vex the blind bays with oars, and
crowd the thresholds and the halls
of Kings. One threatens the city
and the homes of the wretched
with destruction, that he may
drink from bejewelled cups and
lie upon Tyrian purple. Another
secretes wealth and broods upon
buried treasure. One is amazed at
the rostrum, and is carried away
by the applause of the people and
the fathers echoing along the

benches. One gloa|:s over the blood
of his brethren, or changes the
home and the precious hearth for
exile, and seeks a country lying
under an alien sky.

The farmer turns over the soil
with his curved plow. Hence is
the labor of the year, and hence
he sustains his country and his
little children, his herds of cattle,
and his deserving oxen. Nor is
there rest, until the year abounds
with the young of cattle and the
harvest of cereals, and the furrows
are laden with produce and his
barns are filled with plenty.

Comes the winter: The olive
berry is ground in the mill, the
swine return fat with the acorn,
and the bushes have yielded their
berries. Autumn has given up her
varied fruits, and high up the
vines have ripened on the sunny
rocks.

Meanwhile sweet children hang
upon his lips, his pure home guards
the modest}' of his children; the
udders of his cows give do^vn the
milk and the fat lambs have play-
ed in the rich pasture.

Formerly this life the ancient
Sabines followed, and the found-
ers of Rome ; thus Etruria errew
great, and Rome became the great-
est city on earth, and surrounded
her seven hills \\'ith a rampart.
Even before the rule of Jupiter,
and before an impious race has
feasted on the second sacred oxen,
golden Saturn lived his life ; nor
had men heard the blast of the
trumpet, nor the swords clatter
upon the anvil.

STUDY COURSES AT OUR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.

Dr. F. C. HARRISON, Macdonald College.

Mr. President and Gentlemen : —

The subject which the Organiz-
ing Committee asked me to speak
on is " Study Courses in our Agri-
cultural Colleges." In the space

of time that is given me to open
this discussion, it is impossible to
outline the courses ^vith any
degres of detail that would be of
use to those who are interested

33

ill planning such courses either
from a departmental standpoint
or from the larjier one of a degree
course. All I shall attempt to do
is to bring certain broad outlines
before you as to what may be
taken up in such courses.

To begin with, before setting
out any kind of course, the first
requisite and the most important
requisite to my mind is a survey
of the field in which you are in-
tending to operate, and the class
of men that you wish to turn out.
If you wisli to graduate specialists
in animal husbandry or in horti-
culture or any of the sciences, you
have got to fit your course for
these requirements. On the other
hand, if you are intending to turn
out men who are going to be agri-
cultural representatives, another
kind of course ..11 1'^ needed, so

that I think tlie first desideratum
in planning a course is to make a
very careful .survey of the field.
This method of survey is also true
not only of the four year course,
but the shorter courses which are
given in a number of institutions.
You are familiar A^-ith the two-
year courre which has been part
of the preparation for the four-
year course, intended to equip
those who are returning to the
farm, and also those who Avished
to go forward for the four-^-ear
course. Such a course (like a dual
or general purpose animal) can
neither excel as a two-year course,
nor as a four-year course, and I
am glad to see that a number of

institutions have recently acknow-
ledged this fact, and are now plan-
ning their course differently.

If you wish to direct your at-
tention to planning courses for the
man who is going to return to the
farm, there are other things you
have to think of: What length of
time can he afford? Can he come
at the end of September or begin-
ning of October and stay until the
end of April? Can he remain for
one season or two? Such con-
siderations have to be looked into
and very carefully studied before
any progress is made in outlining
a course.

For the four-year course it is
first necessary to take into con-
sideration the entrance require-
ments. What are your entrance
requirements going to be for the
four-year course? Are you going
to accept a certain standard for
the first two years' work, and
allow students to go on, or are you
going to insist upon a certain edu-
cational attainment before they
commence? I do not wish to be
dogmatic on this point, but I do
think that it is very necessary that
a well defined entrance require-
ment should be insisted upon for
men A^ho are going forward for
their degree.

TVe find that other universities
are irsistin-i upon higher entrance
requirements and that they are
insisting on longer courses of
5, 6 and 7 years' duration. This
is especially true of applied sci-
ence, medicine and law, and I
think it should be equally true of
agriculture, because it is im-
possible to turn out a throughly
trained man with an imperfect en-
trance equipment in four years.
I should suggest, therefore, that the
entrance requirement of a course
loading: to the bachelor degree
should be the "School Leav-
ing" examination of the Province,
Junior matriculation as in Onta-
rio, or the final examination held
at the high school, collegiate in-

stitute or academy. Entrance re-
quirements for non-graduate
courses may not be so obligatory,
but for the bachelor degree, I
think it is essentially necessary
for a man to go forward with a
progressive course. Further, if
he has not got a proper entrance
requirement, and he goes forward
for postgraduate work, some in-
stitutions will not receive him un-
less he has the equivalent of three
or four years high school work.
The postgraduate work in the
majority of the larger colleges in
the States will not allow him to
take his master's degree until he
writes off this disability. There-
fore, the minimum requirement for
entrance for Degree courses should
be the School Leaving examina-
tion.

Another requirement for en-
trance should be some previous
farm experience. The majority of
agricultural colleges do not at-
tempt to teach elementary farm
operations. They are best learned
upon the farm, and I believe both
in the United States and here such
requirements are being more and
more exacted. At least one season
from seed time to harvest should
be spent on a farm, and preferably
on a Canadian farm. In the case
of students coming from abroad,
farm experience in their o^vn coun-
try would be sufficient if they
Avere going back there, but if they
intend to stay in Canada and if
they want to know the conditions
here, I think they should spend
the time mentioned on a Canadian
farm.

To turn to the courses them-
selves, I find considerable dif-
ficulty in simply reciting to you
the whole list of the various sub-
jects. I can only group them. I
should first of all like to insist
upon the importance of the scien-
ces to agriculture. They are as
important to it as the sciences are
to medicine. Unless you have a
good foundation in Biology. Chem

istry and Physics you are going
to fail when you take postgraduate
work. In medicine and applied
science, the universities are insist-
ing upon better science prepara-
tion. In medicine two or three
years' preparation in the sciences
is demanded. In Applied Science,
the general course is the same for
two years for all students, no mat-
ter whether they specialize in
mining, civil engineering, railway
engineering or any other branch
of Applied Science. I should,
therefore, like to insist on this
point that the sciences be given a
very substantial part of the time
allotted to the course in the first
two years, and a fair share in the
final two years as well.

If we divide our subjects into
three main groups, we may take
the science group, comprising first,
the biological sciences, which in-
clude not only Botany with all its
branches, but Horticultural Bot-
any, Pathology, Entomology, Bac-
teriology and Genetics, the last of
which I think should find a very
important place in all specialists'
work in agriculture.

Secondly, Chemistry with all its
various subdivisions. Organic and
Inorganic, Nutrition, Chemistry of
Fertilizers and Food stuffs, etc.

Thirdly, Physics, in which we
want to have a broad general
training in physical laws, ^vith
special work in soil physics and
also a certain amount of the phys-
ics of light, heat, and electro mag-
netism.

A course is also necessary in the
Geological Sciences, in order to ex-
plain soil formation.

The second main group com-
prises the subjects of Animal Hus-
bandry, Agronomy. (including
field crops and soil,) ; Horticul-
ture, Poultry, Agricultural En-
gineering, Apiculture and a num-
ber of other practical subjects.

The third main group I shall
term "cultural," and the most im-
portant under this heading is Eng-

35

lish, hotli written and spoken.
Practice shouUl bo {riven to all
students in how to present a sub-
ject to an audienee. Enfrlish is
fundamental and cultural ; stu-
dents who lack good English train-
ing do not get the most out of
their courses and are handicapped
throughout their college career.
Economics is important, and atten-
tion should be given to Rural So-
ciology. A course in Economics
is more necessary to-day because
of the recent political movement
among farmers. We must give
students a good foundation in
Economics in order that they may
take their place in our Legislative
Assemblies and have a broad
sound knowledge of those great
economic questions that are dis-
cussed from time to time.

Inasmuch as the majority of our
graduates, no matter what they
go into, have some kind of teach-
ing to do, whether it is in the class
rooms or to audiences of farmers
or children, I think that a course
in the Art of Teaching or peda-
gogy should be added to our cur-
riculum. When you think of the
number of graduates that have
gone out with no instruction of
this character and who do not
know how to present a subject,
you will agree that it is most im-
portant that some training should
be given along these lines so that
they can teach the subjects in
which the}- have specialized.

Another subject of the "cul-
tural" group, whose value is much
debated, biit which nevertheless
does find a place in some colleges,
is a foreign language. In Quebec
two languages are official, and if
there is only one language taught
it should certainly be French. A
knowledge of several languages is
a great asset to anyone going into
science, in fact it is almost neces-
sary before one can do research
work. Even if you do not have a
speaking knowledge, it is neces-
sary to have a reading knowledge

in order to be able to review the
literature of any scientific sub-
ject. As a new subject a language
is difficult to teach and I should
never think of advocating teach-
ing one in an Agricultural College
unless the student came in already
prepared as far as the matricula-
tion standard. French or German
should be one of the qualifying
subjects of those going into agri-
cultural science.

The above are, very briefly, the
major subjects which should be
taken up in agriculture. When one
looks at such a curriculum in de-
tail, it is rather an appalling list
and one of the great difficulties in
our courses is that relatively there
are too many subjects, but how to
get over this great obstacle I do
not know. It is difficult to give
a student a xevy large number of
subjects at one time, though all
have a bearing and each in-
structor and professor naturally
thinks his subject is the one which
should be given the most atten-
tion, but the result of combining
these is to get the best possible
compromise that we can.

How are we going to combine
the science, practical, and cultural
subjects in our degree courses?
The practical man who has been
brought up on a farm and who is
acquainted with animals, has the
greatest difficulty with the science
subjects, and the men who have
not had any training on the farm,
or who come from the city homes,
usually do better in the sciences.
You often get a good practical
man who is weak in his educa-
tional att'ainments, and you do
not know what to do with him.
Queen 's University has solved this
problem by admitting adult stu-
dents to their courses, (if they are
over 21 years of age, even if they
have not got ordinary matricula-
tion requirements) but they take
very good care that if such a man
does not do well on the first year's
subjects, he is not allowed to go

36

further, and thus they are able to
help a number of men who other-
wise would be disqualified from
taking courses.

The men with least practical
knowledge often do the best on
science subjects. Therefore, when
you are mapping out your course,
you have got to remember that the
science trained men must have
sufficient of the practical subjects
to be able to deal intelligently
with the farmer. Take one ex-
ample : Suppose we have a man
who is qualified in Vegetable or
Plant Pathology, if he has no ac-
quaintance at all with agricultural
practices, he might give extremely
foolish advice to a farmer seeking
information, and therefore it is
necessary for such specialist to
have some practical training. It is
best to put the major part of the
science subjects in the first two
years, at the same time adding suf-
ficient practical subjects to give
the non-practical man a sufficient
acquaintance with the practical,
and to give the practical man a
scientific knowledge of these sub-
jects so that he will not lose sight
of them and will not be disgusted
with the tremendous amount of
science put before him.

In the third year allow a cer-
tain amount of specializing, pick-
ing out those subjects which have
the most to do with the special
option that the man is taking. For
example, if a man is taking Hor-
ticulture, then naturally he has to
have a larger and more intense
training in Biological Science,
particularly in Botany and Plant
Pathology. Therefore, these sub-
jects would be featured in the
third year and also in the fourth
year.

Again if a man was going in for
Animal Husbandry, he would be
asked to give more time to Vet-
erinary Science and Animal Breed-
ing. By allowing your specializa-
tion to commence in the third year,
you are thus able to concentrate it

more in the fourth year, and de-
vote more time to the special sub-
ject which the student is going to
make his life's work.

Further, I suggest that more
than a pass standing should be ex-
pected of a man who specializes.
(By pass standing, I mean from
33 to 40%). A man who wishes
to qualify as a specialist should
have a course equivalent to an
honor course and should be expect-
ed to make a high standing ; I am
not prepared to say how high that
standing should be but it should
certainly be considerably higher
than 40%, the pass mark that is
usual for the ordinary examina-
tion.

No College can be expected to
graduate first class specialists in
four years, even with the best staff
that it is possible to gather, for
you cannot turn out real good
specialists in four years. You can
give a man a good start and you
can say his training has been along
the right lines, and you can train
him in the direction of his spe-
oialty, but after all he has got to
do postgraduate work either at a
College or by self development. If
it is all possible, the graduate
should obtain further knowledge
and experience as soon as possible,
not necessarily in the institution
from which he graduates, but, if
possible, and if he can afford it,
at an institution which offers the
work that he desires, and which
is well equipped in men, labora-
tories and equipment.

I have only time to outline a few
of these things and I am afraid I
have passed the time allotted to
me. In consenting to speak on
this subject, I suggested that a
discussion should follow and trust
that this suggestion be followed.

Discussion.

Mr. W. A. BROWN: I believe
from an academic standpoint that
the question of world marketing,
the supply and demand of dif-

37

ferent agricultural products, and
everything that helps .to inak<v
agriculture profitabl?, should have
a place in the curriculum of an agri-
cultural college, and I would,
therefore, bring to the attention
of this body the very great need
in all our agricultural colleges of
paying more attention to the ques-
tion of markets and marketing.

Prof. CROW: I should like to
ask Dr. Harrison whether he con-
siders it impossible to turn out
high grade specialists or whether
he thinks it not desirable in our
present stage of agricultural
knowledge ?

Dr. HARRISON: I think the
time has arrived for it. The course
I have outlined starts them in the
line in which they want to go, but
I certainly think it requires a
longer time than four years. I .
should give students special train-
ing in the third year and fourth
year, a good groujiding in the
first two years, and require higher
entrance recjuirements than we
have had heretofore in the major-
ity of agricultural colleges.

'Prof. CROW: We should first
remember the kind of men we
want to turn out. That point being
determined, the next point is this :
We recognize that in order to turn
out men as specialists in Animal
Husbandry or Field Husbandry,
they require a special knowled;Cre
of their subject, and the problem
seems to be one as to whether or
not these men are to receive a
scientific training which will be
effective other than practical
training, or whether they should
later take that, after having secur-
ed tlieir practical training. It
seems to me that if I were in a col-
lege and taking up a special line,
I would first take up practical
subjects, and have these co-or-
dinated so that they would follow
along in about the same line.

Mr. T. K. DOHERTY : During
the war a Council was appointed
by the Government with a mem-

bership of ten or a dozen expert
men to study the educational sys-
tem of Belgium. In that country
every sludent has to spend half
his time on practical work, but the
question arose of organizing
higher educational standards at
the University of Versailles, and
the great majority of the council
decided favorably on the study of
pure science during the larger
proportion of the four years
course, and further decided that
the entrance requirement should
be very high.

DEAN E. A. HOWES. 1 am
keenly interested in the subject
under discussion as one w^ho is
trying to lay the foundation for
a new institution, and during the
year I have been corresponding
with the leading institutions. I
just wish to sa}^ I have followed
this paper with very keen interest.
I must say that the information I
liave received would bear out what
Dr. Harrison has said. I w^ould
like to see the question of the ad-
mission requirements discussed.
It has been a burning question
with us in Alberta. I think we are
talking specialists too much. There
are so many institutions, when
they come to postgraduate w^ork,
that will not recognize students
from institutions where proper
matriculation entrance is not re-
quired at the beginning, or where
the privilege is given later on to
cover deficiencies.

President J. B. REYNOLDS :
Dr. Harrison has given us a most
admirable survej' of the situation.
I only wish to comment on one
phase of it, namely the entrance
requirements, and perhaps this
will interest Dean Howes. We all
recognize that Canadian, and I
believe many American institu-
tions, co-called agricultural col-
leges, have failed to distinguish
betAveen the function of agricul-
tural schools and of an agricul-
tural college. I believe it is being
done at Macdonald and in Mani-

.38

toba, and quite recently in Onta-
rio — the entire separation of the
school of agriculture from the
Agricultural College, a separation
recognized at the entrance and in
the entrance requirements, so that
we have a school of agriculture
apart from the agricultural col-
lege ? Now the question is shall
these agricultural schools be re-
cognized as preparing men for
admission to the agricultural col-
legs ? Shall graduates of the agri-
cultural schools be admitted to a
course in the agricultural college,
or on the other hand, shall the
agricultural school be considered
complete in itself, and will the
work be left in its own hands en-
tirely? I have my own conviction
in the matter, and I should like to
ask Dean Howies to elaborate it a
little further.

DEAN HOWES. I have been
keenly interested in that side of
the work, and the relationship be-
tween schools and colleges. In
most of the States of the Union, I
found that the work of the schools
was separated entirely from that
of the university. I found in one
or two cases they were given re-
cognition where the work has been
carried on for sometime. The dean
of a college said to me, "I think
you have done well in Alberta to
give some recognition to the boys
coming from the school, and to
give them some credit for the work
done there when they enter the
college, because we are losing boys
right along ; boys that had no in-
tention of getting higher education
when they entered the school, but
they ought to be given some credit
for their two years experience."
I think it is desirable that nothing
should be put in the way of any
young man who achieves the am-
bition during his course in the
lower school, from entering col-
lege. I realize the danger in a waj',
and I realize that the Avork should
be carefully supervised. I cannot
saj' much from experience in Al-

berta except that the men sent
from the schools have been out-
standing men. It is true in 20%
of the cases that lack of entrance
requirements showed itself lament-
ably all through the course, and I
think some arrangement will be
made by which the work must be
gotten up during the first year.

I think we should raise the
standard of entrance requirement
with the modification that we
might deal with the older man
when he comes in in a special way.
There are reasons why I do not
wish to discuss certain relations
in that connection.

Mr. W. J. BELL : I was going to
say something a few minutes ago,
but I am not going to say it now,
for the simple reason that Presi-
dent Reynolds has asked the ques-
tion that I was going to ask. I
believe the. tendency in our agri-
cultural colleges in the past was
not to give the ordinary farm boy,
Avho is going back on the farm, a
fair show. A great many of the
men are plucked at the first year's
examination, and that is not fair
to the boy. Many of these boys
have an opportunity to study agri-
culture from the practical stand-
point, and they get a great deal of
information that will be of con-
siderable value to them on their
own farms. As Principal of the
Agricultural School at Kemptville,
I would like to see something done
in Ontario that would enable our
students who have proper stand-
ing to go to Guelph or to Mac-
donald College or to any other col-
lege they desired to go to on
graduation from our institution.
I will guarantee that these boj's
have been given two years of real
instruction in practical agricul-
ture, and when they graduate,
they will be very much more use
to themselves and to agriculture
in Canada than they would have
been if given the course that is at
present given in the agricultural
colleges. The whole trouble is that

39

we are looking constantly to
praduatinp: of students and not to
making of practical agriculturists.
At our school, we are trying to get
the young fellow at the end of the
second year, up to a certain stand-
ard so that he can go on and com-
plete the third and fourth. It
seems to me that the farmer boy
who is going to be a farmer is not
getting the opportunity he should
get.

THE CHAIRMAN: Time will
not permit of a more extended dis-
cussion on this subject. It is not
very often that one finds himself
in such complete accord with the
speaker, not only in the policy
laid down but in the illustrations
as well, as the Chairman finds
himself in the statements made by
Dr. Harrison. The two ideas that
have been advanced have unfor-
tunately not been kept separate
and distinct heretofore, with the
result that what Mr. Bell has said
wdth regard to training given farm
boys is perfectly true, and what
has been said by the other speakers
with regard to the opportunities
given men who wish to proceed to
their degree and those who wish
to take postgraduate course is
quite true, so we must remember
the object we have in mind. If we
have in mind a course in an agri-

cultural college leading to a
degree, there is no (juestion in my
mind but that the way to do that
is to first require Matriculation
standing for all students who wish
to proceed to the degree. The next
point is to lay stress on the basic
sciences and couple with that just
as much of the practical work as
is possible. The courses which
have been evolved in the Univer-
sity of British Columbia are very
much similar to those outlined by
Prof. Harrison, except that he has
outlined one idea which I con-
sider an admirable one, namely,
that a course in teaching should
be given. Then he said, if j'ou
make the standards higher, j'ou
will rule students out. We have
not gone after students; we have
not very many it is true, but just
noAv we have more than we know
how to take care of. There are
those who are ahvays fearful w^hen
you talk of raising the standards
and lengthening the course and
increasing the fees, that you will
shut out a great many students.
No doubt you do shut out many,
but the general 'experience so far
as I have been able to observe is
this : that as soon as you raise the
standard and lengthen the course
and increase the fees, you have
more students than you ever had
before.

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION WORK IN CANADA.

GEO. A. PUTNEY, Department of Agriculture, Toronto.

The place given extension work
in the programme of the first
meeting of Canadian Technical
Agriculturists will not, I hope,
convey to the general public the
relative importance with which
we view the extension w'ork as
compared to other efforts in the
interests of agriculture.

Extension work, as I under-
stand it, embraces all methods
whereby knowledge in agricul-

ture is imparted to the practical
farmer and his family in his own
community, — production, busi-
ness, home-making problems and
community effort. The methods
include publicity, literature, lec-
tures, demonstrations, discussions,
illustrations and experiments.

The value of scientific research
and practical effort in agricul-
ture depends upon the degree to
which the results are made the

40

common property of the farming
community. We have paid too
little absolute and relative atten-
tion to extensive work in agricul-
ture, throughout the Dominion.
Our efforts have been largely
spasmodic and not based (upon
any definite, well-grounded plan.
The best that we have in research
experiment, practical work, busi-
ness methods, teaching (demon-
strations, lectures, illustrations)

are so far ahead of the general
practice, that we might well con-
sider the wisdom of devoting
some considerable time, effort and
money to formulating plans for
an aggressive policy in extension
work, so that the best that the
leaders in agriculture are certain
of may be a matter of common
knowledge. The great majority
of us can well afford to ignore
the indefinite and uncertain until
that which is well established is
made a matter of common know-
ledge.

May I be permitted to present
a view regarding this very im-
portant work which I am quite
willing that you shall accept as
a question for discussion. With-
out wishing to belittle in any way
the importance of the experiment-
al and investigational work and
the giving of instruction to reg-
ular course students in our agri-
cultural colleges and schools, I
beg to give expression to the con-
viction that the best interests of
agriculture, so far as the imme-
diate results and the future of the

industry are concerned, could
best be served by diverting a con-
siderable portion of available
funds if it is necessary to carry
on a comprehensive campaign to
make the common property of the
whole body of farmers through-
out the Dominion the unanimous
conclusions in science, experiment
and practice along agricultural
lines. While there is much to be
gained by further experiment, in-
vestigation and research, the
essential, to my mind, at tiie pres-
ent time, is an earnest effort on
the part of all concerned to first
inform the farming pul)lic as to
what has been accomplisiied under
ordinary farming conditions and
to convince them that there are
better methods than are generally
practiced. Then by publicity,
lectures, demonstrations and ex-
amples give information as to
approved methods applied to
local conditions and possibilities.

The value of centres for educ-
ation and experiment in agricul-
ture was not generally appreciated
by the farming public until lect-
urers and demonstrators were
sent throughout the rural districts
to tell of what was being done
by the experiment stations and
agricultural colleges and success-
ful practical farmers. This
system was doubly beneficial, for
it not only placed the work be-
fore the public in its true light,
but enabled the directors of ex-
periment and teaching to adjust
their courses of study and lines
of experiment to more nearly meet
the needs of the farmer. The keen
appreciation of the value of pub-
licity and field work has resulted
in the establishment of extension
service departments /throughooi't
the United States. At the present
time there are only thirteen states
which are conductinsr Farmers'
Institute work independent of the
agricultural colleges. Thirty-five
have special officials in the agric-
ultural colleges which are direct-

41

iri^' the Institute work, while all
States have offieials in eharfre of
agrieullural .-xtensioii serviee.

Time will not permit a review
of the diversified metliods and, to
a large extent, spasmodie efforts
whieh have eharaeterized exten-
sion work thronjrhout the Dom-
inion. Mav I be iiermitted to
draw some lessons from Onlario,
with which I am so well aequant-
ed, and which was the first prov-
ince to introduee what we thonglit
at the time Avas an advanced policy
in apfrieiilture? It is a fjreat sat-
isfaction in goinji' tliroiij^hout the
province to learn from this farmer
and that farmer, who is looked
upon as a leader in his district,
that he first received his inspir-
ation to ado])t new methods and
to strike out alonji: new lines, —
to have an ideal in his Avork, as a
result of lectures delivered by the
leaders in agriculture in the early
eighties and nineties, a staff which
embraced some of the leading
farmers of the day and the prof-
essors and instructors at the Agri-
cultural College and Departmental
officials, both Dominion and
Provincial ; or, it may be that the
farmer was impressed and influ-
enced with an article in one of the
agricultural papers, or local press.
We must recognize that the ex-
tension work of the earlier period,
whieh was confined largely to
Farmers' Institute meetings, the
press and the pid)lications from
the Department of Agriculture,
accomplished much for agri-
culture.

In Ontario, and it nuiy liold
true in some other provinces,
there has not been that close co-
operation and co-ordination of
the various forces that is required
in efficient effort, and one essen-
tial to effective field work is the
establishment of a definite broad
policy where co-operation among
all interests, both Dominion, Prov-
incial and Inter-provincial, can
be ' effected. I trust that one

result (if this Conference will be
the formation of a strong Com-
mittee to give full consideration
to a get-together policy, wliercby
the practical farmer, the govern
ment official (director, teacher ox-
pci-imentalist, instructor, the
Farm .Journal representative,
market interests and business men
may formulate a comprehensive
policy whereby agriculture ma.v
be stimulated and developed to its
full ]>ossibilities in this country
of such wonderful resources.

So far as the staff, the message
and the method of presentation
are concerned, extension work has
unlimited possibilities.

The Staff.

The staff includes not only the
professors, instructors and dem-
onstrators at the Agricultural Col-
leges and Experimental Farms,
but also a large army of field men,
chief among them being the agri-
cultural representatives. We must
not overlook the fact that the
farmer who faces the practical,
every-day problem must always
be an important factor in exten-
sion work. The in.struction staff
should include a goodl.v number
of successful farmers who keep
themselves well informed on up-
to-date methods and the latest in
investigation and experimental
work. The farmers of the Dom-
inion have made wonderful ad-
vance, and the speaker who un-
dertakes extension work must be
prepared for something beyond
generalities and must be able to
give the last word in the particu-
lar lines for wdiich he is advert-
ised. While it is in most provin-
ces impossible for the regular
members of the College staff or
Experiment station to give any
considerable time to field work,
it would be well for those in au-
thority to consider the wisdom of
adopting a plan wdiereby the men
who are responsible for teaching
and experimental work will be

42

able to spend at least a limited
amount of time in field Avork, gix-
ing instruction, investigating
methods practised by the farmer,
and getting the farmers' view-
point on the particular line to
which the individual concerned is
devoting his time. There must be
a closer linking up of the teach-
ing and experimental with the
field Avork if we are to meet with
the greatest measure of success
in the experimental, investigation-
al, teaching and field work.

Those who are to undertake
field work should come together
in conference for the purpose of
exchanging views, deciding upon
the feature to emphasize, discuss-
ing methods of presentation,
choosing illustrative material, etc.
The Message.

There is no lack of reliable in-
formation of great value which is
not yet possessed by the great
bulk of the farmers, and there are
many methods and underlying
principles, the value of which can-
not be disputed, but which are
not believed, or fully appreciated
by the ^farming public, so our
message should be a statement of
fact and the setting forth of
underlying principles, presented
in such a way as to secure the con-
fidence of the average farmer. We
have the principles underlying
cultivation, the matter of ordin-
ary cleanliness in the production
and handling of milk, cheese and
butter, the value of the pure-bred
sire, which is not a scrub, seed
selection, and many other fund-
amentals which have not yet been
exhausted in our propaganda
work. The difficulty is not to
find subjects upon which to base
instruction, but to make a wise
selection and to adapt the in-
struction attempted to the needs
and, possibilities of the district
concerned. Greater production
should be one of our watchwords,
but we should emphasize profit-
able production. Business in

agriculture should be a matter of
advice by the government, but the
conduct of the business a matter
for action by the people them-
selves.

Metbod of Presentation.

There is a time and place for
the lecturer alone, but in the great
majority of instances in our ex-
tension work the effectiveness of
agricultural instruction depends
iipon the illustrative material
utilized. Charts, stereoptic views,
moving pictures, models of build-
ings and equipment, samples of
produce, can all be used upon oc-
casion to very great advantage.
The AVomon's Institutes of Scot-
land, which have been modelled
largely on Ontario methods, have
introduced a plan in their Instit-
ute work which proves very
effective. They aim at each meet-
ing not only to have something to
hear, but something to see, and
so far as possible, something for
each person to do ; and if we could
so plan our gatherings for instruc-
tion in agriculture that the spoken
word would be supplemented t»y
impressions to be received through
the eye, and still further strength-
ened by the individual taking
some part in the proceedings, I
am certain the effectiveness of
our efforts would be considerably
strengthened. We now have a
fund of illustrative material in
the way of statistics, surveys, cost
accounting, drawings, photo-
graphs, stereoptic views, moving
pictures, etc., bearing directly
upon the province of the farm.
Wherever an opportunity is af-
forded by which the producer can
compare his product with the best
of the district, the country or the
province, the lesson is made all
the more impressive. Teachers,
field men and the practical
farmer should get together and
formulate plans for making the
field work most effective.

I hope I have not left the im-
pression that the salvation of the

43

farmer depends wliolly upon tlie
(piality and amount of publicity
work, the value of instruction by
lecture and demonstration and the
practicability and reliability of
experimental work. These are
factors, and very important fac-
tors, but the essential in all ad-
vancement is to direct and encour-
age tiie people how best to help
themselves. The greatest service
which one can render to the prac-
tical farmer or the home maker is
to encourage initiative, the utiliza-
tion of local talent and resources,
and the active co-operation of all
residents in the community. En-
courage the farmers to discuss
their oAvn prol)lems in their own
way. In Ontario, as in most of
the other ])r<)vin('es, we now liave
local organizations — Farmers'
Clubs, Women's organizations,
Girls' and Boys' Clubs, Junior
Farmers Co-operative organiza-
tions, etc. Througli ])roper direc-
tion b}^ the provincial and local
officials of these organizations and
the co-operation of tlie Depart-

ments of Agriculture and other
departments of the Government,
the extension work of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture should become
much more effective.

If effective work in agriculture
is to be done ,we must have per-
manent local organizations; and
tiiese should be unified through
district organization.

"While there is still a demand
for a limited number of general
agricultural meetings, where gift-
ed speakers, well fortified with
])ractical information and scien-
tific facts, can create that interest
and enthusiasm which is necessary
to stimulate local effort, the major
portion of future effort will natur-
ally be a response to requests from
local organizations which have
l)een considering their own prob-
lems in their own way and feel the
need of advice and assistance from
outside sources by those w^ho are
recognized as leaders in the par-
ticular line or lines under con-
sideration.

THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE SOCIETY, 'WHAT THEY
MUST BE, AND "WHY NECESSARY.

Professor II. BARTON, Macdonald College.

I want first to thank you for
the honor you have done me in
electing me Vice-President of this

association. I assure you I regard
it as an honor and I appreciate
it. The President has been able to

offer some explanation for his ap-
pointment ; mine is still a mystery.
The whole purpose of this so-
ciety is collal)oration and to the
extent is collaboration operatives
in the activities of this society it
seems to me will success be meas-
ured. It seems strange that this
should be the first effort of scien-
tific men in agriculture to effect
an organization. They have had
much to do with organizing other
societies. Farmers are organized,
boys and girls are organized. I
believe there is a certain resemb-
lance between ourselves and the
unprogressive farmer who has
been so busy that he has had no
time or interest for his organiza-
tion. I hope we shall not find

44

many of his peculiarities within
our ranks. We have called him
independent, stubborn, selfish,
ignorant, and very many other
things. His activity has been in
the field of criticism and he has
been loath to subordinate his in-
terest to the "welfare of the major-
ity. We are now placed in what
we might call the co-operative
balance, and it will be interesting
to see how we weigh up. I want,
therefore, to la}' down as the first
basic principle of this society the
fullest realization of co-operation,
I do not know that I need dwell
upon it.

I have no instructions as to what
to say, and I don't know that any-
body knows what I am likely to
say. I believe this project of ours
demands a clear perspective ; we
have got to get that. Our great
objective has been stated as the
advancement of agriculture and
I believe that is right in its truest
sense. I believe that if a retro-
spect were taken for a ten year
period or a 20 year period, that
while we may recognize that some
good and some far reaching work
has been done, yet we are not en-
tirely satisfied Avith the progress.
It is because we are not satisfied
with the rate of agricultural ad-
vancement that this meeting has
been held, tliat is why we are here.
If we are satisfied with it then
this meeting is a mistake.

I want to divide the advance-
ment of agriculture into two parts.
I am going to call the first one
Agricultural effort. We have an
immense amount of machinery,
we are spending huge sums of
money, and we have a different
problem today to what Ave had ten
years ago. Apart from individual
features the machinery has de-
veloped along the lines of least
resistance. It is something like
Topsy, it just grew. One of the
reasons why we are not getting
further and going faster is be-
cause we haven't got co-ordina-

tion within our effort as a whole.
It has got to be a mutual affair,
and I don't see how we are ever
going to make full headway on
any other basis. I was glad to
hear Mr. Brown this afternoon
point out the importance of giving
a place in the college curriculum to
the question of marketing. This is
only one of many illustrations of
the need for co-ordination. I
have made an effort to keep in
close touch with Ottawa activities,
but I feel as a teacher I should be
more familiar with the work that
is being done there.

The other point I want to men-
tion is the improvement of the
status of the agricultural profes-
sion. It does not enjoy the status
that it merits and demands. I
think this societ}^ should recognize
the question of financial remu-
neration. The average man in this
profession does not even receive
a wage, he receives what might be
called an allowance. Before the
war it was possible for the aver-
age man in agriculture to live, to
dress respectably and to have a
little amusement, to carry a little
insurance, and to meet his doctor's
bills, and if he did not have too
many doctor's bills he might buy
his reading material and do a little
travelling, and all of these, on a
modest scale, I believe are indis-
pensable. I don't believe that
programme is possible today for
the average man in professional
agriculture. He does well today
if he lives, and then only if he
has a careful wife. I believe many
of us would have succumbed long
ago had it not been for our wives.
I don't believe it is any exaggera-
tion to say that the average pro-
fessional agriculturist is in con-
stant worry about his finances,
and I defy any man placed in such
circumstances to do his best work.
I want to make it clear that I do
not regard this as a union move-
ment, but I believe that through
this societj^ we will be able to

45

l)lace the facts wIktc tliey (»iiglit
to go. I believe that in the past
we have been too modest ; our
modesty has been t-ommented on
today by several speakers.

I believe it should be the prov-
ince of this a.ssociation to inspire
and encourage a higher academic
attainment. Research should be
one of the immediate objects of
this society as a means of better-
ing the profession. I think the
time has come when we want work
of a different order, and of a
higher order than our work has
been iu the past. As a teacher of
advanced agriculture 1 have had
to depend on American literature ;
we iiave been in a sense a suckling
of the United States for advanced
material. Dr. Harrison and Presi-
dent Klinck both referred to higher
research work. Its importance
cannot be too greatly emphasized.

1 have regretted more than once
that I have had no training in
pedagogy. I have seen the need
for it, and T believe it is extremely
regrettable that our men who have
gone into the field of instruction
have had no training in the art of
teaching.

We all know that these things
tliat T have mentioned will take
time, and will make a severe test
of our co-operative spirit and ap-
preciation. It looks to me as if
our proposition is not unlike the
average farm proposition. Our
results -will be slow but cumula-
tive, I do not anticipate any-
thing spectacular. I am looking
for slow, and perhaps small finan-
cial returns, and I realize that
many of the problems that we at-
tempt to deal with will lend them-
selves only to gradual treatment
and gradual solution ; on the other
hand I think there would be great
danger in regarding tliis associa-
tion as a hobby. I think the sooner
we can justify our existence the
better, and unless we are ag-
gressive we will die. I don't be-

lieve the association is something
that should be put aside-after this
meeting.

There are two vital things
upon which we should hinge
our work. In the first place we
must make definite provision for
continuation work, that means the
time of someone. It means a paid
official. In the second place we
must make our ideas and our
activities known. Publicity is the
life blood of every such society as
we have formed here. Whatever
form it may take it should main-
tain the dignity of the societA'.
and it should be a creditable pro-
duction. It should serve the pur-
pose of disseminating technical in-
formation, and also as the organ
of the society. I would also em-
phasize the importance of local
organization. It is not necessary
for me to say that as a society we
have a non-political policy, my
idea would be that we favor no
government and that when neces-
sary we spare none. I have nothing
revolutionary in that idea, I mere-
ly put it in that way as an ex-
pression of the courage of our con-
victions. There are things that
require being done and I think
this society can serve as an instru-
ment to accomplish them. I hope
this convention will result in some-
thing concrete. I look for business
and I hope we w-ill accomplish
something definite.

Discussion.
Mr. F. C. HART. On the point
of co-ordination, we all know that
various theories and statements
go out to the farmers from differ-
ent sources, and that is discour-
aging to the technical man and
certainly disadvantageous to the
farmer. Would it be possible for
this organization to be a clearing
room for technical information?
Before the technical man comes
out with any information it should
be placed before this society so
that it could be seen whether it

46

agrees with the opinion of others
in the same department. The ex-
pert at Ottawa might say one
thing and the expert of Guelph
another thing.

THE CHAIRMAN: I think it
should be possible to co-ordinate
the work of local stations without
going through the society. The
idea advanced bj' Mr. Hart is one
that should be taken into con-
sideration. We liave all experi-
enced the very difficulty of which
Mr. Hart has spoken.

PROFESSOR CROW : Is it with-
in the province of this society to
laj' do\\ai a general broad policy
covering all phases of agricultural
organization for the Dominion of
Canada ?

PROFESSOR BARTON: That is
about the sum and substance of
Avhat I was driving at.

Dr. C. E. SAUNDERS : Someone
was discussing the teaching pro-
fession in one of the Western
Provinces and made the statement
that if the teachers liad more self
respect they Avould get higher
salaries. Another said : That if
the people had more respect for
the teachers they would give them
higher salaries. It seems to go
round in a circle. Men trained
for research work are always bad-
ly and inadequately trained. I
do not think there is a man who
has begun agricultural research
work who Avas fit for the jol). I
do not think there is a man in agri-
cultural research work today who
is fit for the work, except those
who learned it after they received
the appointment. As the matter
stands today, nearly everA-body is
shockingly underpaid, and the
public are to blame. To my mind
the point is, how can we make the
public appreciate our efforts and
our worth ? The term agricultural
science is a little vague. There is
an agricultural science in coming
in contact with the farmer and
persuading him to use better meth-

ods. There is agricultural science
on the agricultural farm. The
salary question is one that should
be taken up by someone who is
competent to deal with it. Pro-
fessor Barton says that the object
of this society is for the advance-
ment of agriculture, and that is
true, but we can accomplish that
only by setting ourselves a defin-
ite goal, and when we have ac-
complished that then we should
go on to something else.

DR. J. H. GRISDALE : I have
listened with a great deal of
interest to the discussion, and I
must say that there has been a
vein of pessimism that I do not
like to see. It has been a case of
knocking ourselves and knocking
the public who employ us, and I
maintain that we would go at these
things in an entirely different
way. I say we have everj' reason
for optimism, and we have every
reason to hope for a great future
for this society. I Avould like to
say to the young men here, many
of whom have been in the Avork
but for a short time : Do not let
yourselves be carried away by a
wave of pessimism ; don 't let your-
selves feel that because one man
goes back and says that for ten
or twenty years he can see very
small progress made in agricul-
ture, tliat no progress will be
made in your life time. I can re-
mem])er agriculture for forty
years in this country and let me
tell you. gentlemen, that there has
been progress made, and in the
next forty years I venture to say
we will not knoAV this country
agriculturally. There is a great
future for everyone of us. Our ob-
ject should be to make this
science a real science If we spend
our time at this convention tell
ing each other how much we are
looked down upon and how little
we are paid, the young men of the
organization will go away feeling
that we are a bunch of pessimists
and they will not want to have

47

anything to do with us. That is
not tlie way to make progress and
to strengthen our society when it
is formed. We ran make of this
society just what we will. Let me
tell you that I have associated
with the farmers of this country
for fifty years. I was born and
brought up on a farm, and I have
lived witii farmers all my life. If
1 was not farming I was teaching
school among the farmers and if

I was not teaching school I was
carrying on experimental work,
and I am not afraid to say that
the majority of the farmers of this
country are not such as have been
described. We want to look upon
the farmer as our co-worker and
as a man who will back us up in
our Avork. There are men who are
willing to knock us a little bit
here and there, l)ut they are in the
minority.

FIELDS OF EFFORT FOR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS.

DEAN HOWES, University of Alberta.

Mr. President and Members of
the Canadian Society of Tech-
nical Agriculturists:

I am in tlie position of one hav-
ing had a subject selected for him
— probably not a bad idea by the
way. The Organizing Committee
to whom we owe so much for
careful and unselfish Avork per-
formed during the past months,
felt that! the question of local or-
ganizations should have a definite
place on the program of our first
Convention, and in this I feel that
good judgment lias been shown,
but differ from them in their
choice of a victim. However,
theirs be the responsibility.

I am strongly in favor of one
central organization of such soci-
ety as the one here met in Con-
vention. There are so many ques-

tions and problems so broad in
their significance and interest as
to demand consideration by repre-
sentatives from every Province
met in one Convention. I need
only cite the problems relating to
agricultural education in our dif-
ferent institutions for the purpose,
or the problems relating to re-
search and the maintenance of
definite integrity of action and
purpose in the conduct of this re-
search work, or questions pertain-
ing to the curtailment of unces-
sary duplication of effort such as
between Federal and Provincial
departments. I could easily name
many other sets of problems ob-
viously of nation-wide significance
Avhich can never be solved by local
effort alone. Also there would
seem to be much reason to contend
that the official centre of such an
organization should be in our Cap-
ital City, and in closest touch -wath
our Federal Department of Agri-
culture, even though some of us
be forced to travel almost across
the continent to reach that Capital.
The importance of the work in-
volved may well 'justify the dif-
ficulties incident to the main-
tenance of an organization built
for service to a country as far-
flung as ours. As a side idea we
must not forget the value of such
long trips, to some of us at least,

48

in the added sophistication there-
by attained.

Thus, sir, having cleared myself
as to the faith that is in me in
regard to the all important place
a national organization must oc-
cupy I am in a better position to
submit to our delegates for their
consideration two suggestions :

1. The necessity for eastern and
■western branches of our Society.

2. The advisability of inaugur-
ating Provincial branches of our
Society.

I shall briefly discuss these in
the order given and I hope any
discussion that may follow will
recognize the distinctions involved
in the two proposals.

I hereby respectfully submit :

1. Eastern and Western Branches.

With the type of men here
gathered together it is scarcely
necessary to plead for a considera-
tion of this problem on its merits,
and in a scientific manner and
without preponderance of senti-
ment. So often we hear that the
relationship between East and
West is a delicate question and
must be handled with gloves. I
have no sympathy with this idea.
There are no differences that will
not stand the light of public know-
ladge — none that straight-for-
ward word between man and man
cannot remove and history does
not show me that the method of
the gum shoe and the silky paw
has ever accomplished as much.
We, met in national convention,
may as well frankly recognize that
there exists a definite East and
West in this country of ours with
their own problems and interests
and that for the more frequent
consideration of these respectively
it would be of interest to maintain
two tributary branches. This does
not presuppose lack of interest on
either side, for reports of progress
would be exchanged at a Central
Convention. Speaking for the
West I would call attention to the

fact that for the present at least
nearly all of us come from the
East and we assume our boyhood
recollections have not died in us.
As a concrete manifestation of the
survival of that interest I submit
to you what other impulse would
move us to have the monotony of
the trip across the "land debat-
able" east of Winnipeg? Then
too, we feel that more and more
the wise agricultural men of the
East are showing interest and con-
structive interest too, in what we
of the West are facing. Since
coming to Alberta I have looked
forward to the annual visits of the
heads of the different Federal
branches, with interest, because of
old personal friendship it is true,
but also because of definite help
received in the way of information,
advice and encouragement. But
enough has been said to indicate
the bond of sympathy and com-
mon interest between the Tech-
nical Agriculturists of East and
West.

Granted all this, we still have to
face the fact that to a great ex-
tent we have two different sets
of problems to face and I submit
that these are best met on the
ground where they exist and by
the men handling them. At a
national convention the time is
limited and it is scarceh' fair that
the man coming all the way from
Saskatoon should have part of his
time taken up listening to the dis-
cussion of problems that can tech-
nically never be anything but
of indirect interest in his time and
place. Then too there is the ques-
tion of distance which must be
faced. Granting the necessity of a
national organization I plead for
the inauguration of Eastern and
Western branches for the reason
of more frequent meetings at less
cost of time and money. How
would it do as a basis of discus-
sion to suggest that the national
organization convene annually
but that Eastern and Western

49

braiulies convene at least each
year as well ? I have not forffotten
the different sets of problems to
be faced in British Columbia. Any-
one wlio has sat for months on tlie
Soldiers' Settlcmcni lioard need
not be reminded that once at least
British Columbia was a law unto
herself. I prefer to leave it to the
delegates from that Province to
state wliether Ihcy would feel like
joinin}; witii the Praii'ie Provinces
in a Western l)ranch if for peo-
graphical reasons only. T think I
can speak for the Prairie Provin-
ces when 1 say we feel that the
establishment of a Western branch
woidd be in the interest of more
l)ro{i^ressive work. W^e cannot feel
that this is in any sense a segref^a-
tion of interests but rather a place
for an opportunity of clearing up
home problems, report of which
would be brought to the parent
organization.

2. The Inauguration of Provincial
Branches.

One justification for this step is
to be found in the further develop-
ment of the idea of the extremely
local nature of many of the scien-
tific jn-oblems with which we are
confronted. Eacli Province must
inevitably present its own prob-
lems of soil, plant and live stock.
I can best illustrate this by a con-
crete example and you will pardon
me if I cite one that is of para-
mount importance in the Province
I have the honor to represent. Our
swine growing industry is a large
and rapidly developing one. Most
of us knew something about rais-
ing hogs in older States and Prov-
inces but in Alberta we find our-
selves confronted with new condi-
tions which we are far from hav-
ing mastered. Let me deal with
one condition alone — every year
there is a heavy loss caused by the
fact that a large percentage of the
young pigs are born in a hairless
condition. It has been stated that
in one year the loss approximated

50 p.c. ; how nearly correct this
estimate may be is of secondary
importance to the fact that the
loss is a very serious one. We are
working on this problem at our
College having just completed our
third winter of experiments with
tlie feeding and housing of breed-
ing sows. We have used about
fifty sows each winter for this
])urpose alone, using three breeds,
and as far as possible, litter mates.
We ai-e far from having solved the
i)robleni altliough we have made
some progress and liave rather
tended to disprove some of the
popular theories as to housing and
feeding. We are now working on
the possible connection betAveen
the condition named and the all
too prevalent goiti-e. I may state
Ave are studA'ing the question of
iodine content in the food and are
co-operating with our medical men
in studying the goitre contingency.
But enough of this, which is not a
report on an experiment but is in-
tended to illustrate the fact that
each Province probably has its
OAvn serious scientific problems
Avhich should demand more fre-
quent discussion and study than
the annual Convention of Tech-
nical Agriculturists offers or even
than that offered by the meeting
of an Eastern or W^estern branch.
Another consideration, possibly
only an argument in favor of the
suggestion just made is that Tech-
nical Agriculturists in each Prov-
ce have facilities for meeting that
do not obtain in connection
with meetings out of the prov-
ince. I do not refer to distance
alone, although that is quite a
consideration, but to the fact that
so many Provincial officials travel
throughout the Province as a mat-
ter of course and that meetings
for scientific discussion can be ar-
ranged coincident with regular
official duties. That this has not
been done in the past as much as
could be desired is no argument
against it, for I feel that one effect

50

of this parent organization will
be to foster and give impetus to
just such effort, for we must look
to this parent organization to hold
up the ideal and to consequently
guarantee the integrity of the
work of the tributary Provincial
organizations.

Another reason for Provincial
effort is to be found in the neces-
sity for the securing of Provincial
Government assistance and en-
couragement. This can never 1)e
secured through the parent or-
ganization. If the Provincial Gov-
erment gives assistance to scien-
tifc work it will be first of all to
work of more or less Provincial
service and Ave may as well face
this fact but in so doing we need
not forget that it is all a contri-
bution to the good work of the
whole Dominion. It miglit also be
pointed out in passing that often
our work as agriculturists is hook-
ed up with other work not direct-
ly agricultural and my idea is that
the Provincial Government will
more readily support such joint
effort to the good of all concerned.

I have with intent, confined my-
self to two definite suggestions.
Well meaning friends have often
intimated to me that I try to cover
too much ground and for once I
have yielded to their advice. We
teach agriculture in our High and
Public Schools and I can see great
value in Provincial organization
of teachers of these two institu-
tions for the study of their own
particular problems. These teach-
ers may or may not be recognized
as members of our National or-
ganization but I can see reasons
for the said organization interest-
ing itself in their problems and
difficulties. However, this may
come up later and for the time at
our disposal we will find that the
discussion of the two suggestions
submitted will furnish us witli
plenty of material.

Sir, I respectfully submit the
foregoing with the hope that any

part that meets with the approval
of your Convention will be given
force by definite steps looking to
such organization as shall be
deemed wise.

Discussion.

Mr. PUTNAM. I think the Na-
tional Organization for Women's
Institutes would illustrate the
point under discussion, and to
show how organizations may be
linked up Avitli the parent organ-
ization. We look to the parent
organization of Women's Institu-
tes as a sort of clearing house and
not an organization in itself that
is going to do much. Every or-
ganization will get information
and advice from the parent or-
ganization. We have standing
committees on Health and Better
Schools and Education ; the Health
Committee of the Women's Insti-
tutes is not going to undertake
health work, but the Chairman of
that committee links up with the
Chairman of similar committees in
each Province, and the Chairman
of those committees, again links
up with all efforts along health
lines in the particular Province,
and links up with our Medical
School Inspection and with the
Victorian Order of Nurses and
with the Provincial Boards of
Health, so that the Provincial
Committee of Health, which is un-
der a person acquainted with all
its activities, is in a position to
stimulate interest in health work
in the Province. Any information
which the Dominion organization
secures is passed on to the Prov-
inces.

With reference to the Eastern
and Western sections of the or-
ganization, I think it certainly
would be well to have such a divi-
sion. There is no indication that
there is a lack of interest in the
West in what is taking place in
the East, but we all have our prob-
lems, and the Western men want
to deal with certain features that
the Eastern men might not want

51

to deal with. In the Province of
Ontario we have more condens-
eries and milk supply factories
than any other part of the Dom-
inion. Last year we made some-
thinp like $11,000,000 worth of
milk powder and condensed milk.
I think where the National Dairy
Council has failed is that the Cen-
tral Organization has taken too
much in hand without referring
to the local organizations.

Dr. CHAS. SAUNDERS. The
American Societv for tlie Advance-

ment of Science is divided into
various sections, Chemical Sec-
tion, Bacteriological Section, Med-
ical Section, Physiological Section
and so on. You might divide this
Association into various sections
in the same way, and have the
various sections meet at the same
time as this society meets; that
would be very much better for
this society because the different
delegates Avould be coming for
their omti sections and would stay
over for the larger meeting.

THE BASIC INDUSTRY AS SEEN THROUGH URBAN EYES.
TOM MOORE, President of Trades and Labor Council.

Mr. President, Ladies and
Genth'men : It seemed to me
in looking over this audience
that the farming industry is
somewhat similar to the ordin-
ary city industries inasmuch as
whilst it embraces in its ranks
many Avomen workers, the men
think themselves full}" competent

to represent the women and their
views. Otherwise I feel sure there
would have been a greater number
of ladies present on this occasion,
because if there is one feature of
farm life which perhaps deserves
more attention than another, it is
the position of the women workers
on tlie farm.

When I was requested to address
your Convention, I was at the
same time given the subject of

my address. Therefore, I do not
want to take any responsibility
for the title. Before dealing with
that question, I would like to com-
pliment the organizers of this Con-
ference on the good work they
have accomplished in bringing to-
gether so many men from the dif-
ferent parts of the Dominion.
There can be no doubt in any-
body's mind that the tendency of
modern times is away from indivi-
dualism towards collectivism.
Some people always fear any form
of organization. If they see capital
organizing they think it is going
to be for the suppression of the
people; if they see the workers
organizing they dread that the
workers are going to use their
power to the detriment of the rest
of the community. No doubt there
are many who view Avith trepida-
tion the organization of Technical
Agriculturists, probably thinking
that an organization of this kind
Avill ultimately be used to the
detriment of the farmers them-
selves.

Anybody Avho vicAvs the prob-
lems of today Avith an open mind
must AA-elcome an organization of
your nature, and they should Avel-
come the organization of all classes
of the community. Organization
does not necessarily mean conflict.

52

Organization in its purest form
simply means progress. I believe
that if you can succeed in organiz-
ing your section of the farming
industry, the influence which you
caa bring to bear upon the farm-
ing life of this country will do
much to solve many of the pro-
blems which are today facing us.
Referring back for a moment to
the title of the address which I
am to give 3'ou, the question of
"The basic industry as seen
through urban eyes," I do not
suppose that the organizers of
your convention for one moment
had any doubt in their minds as
to what they meant by the
basic industry, and they probably
gave some thought to the changing
position of farming in this country
from what it was ten or twelve
years ago. I do not intend to trouble
you with any statistics, but it may
be necessary to quote a few figures
from time to time. There is much
difference between figures and
statistics, because figures usually
demonstrate a fact, whereas statis-
tics can be used to prove a theory-.
The figures of the census for 1911
showed that the far greater pro-
portion of the population of the
Dominion of Canada was then en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, and
since that time we have seen very
little to change the public mind in
that respect. The advertising
which is done for immigrants for
this country concentrates upon the
requirements of farmers for the
development of Canada. The prob-
lem which faces us so often of the
high cost of living brings home
to us very forcibly that farming is
undoubtedly the great industry of
this country, with the result that
we usually believe that farmers
represent the great proportion of
the residents of the Dominion of
Canada. The latest figures that I
have been able to secure are some-
what later than those gathered at
the taking of the registration dur-
ing the war, and they show that

there are aproximately three and
a half million adult workers in
the Dominion of Canada. The rest
of the population is made up of
children and women who do not
follow what is usually known as
work, but follow a far more ardu-
ous occupation, that of household
duties, people living on their in-
comes and others who are unable,
because of old age and disability
to do any work. The working
population is about three and a
half millions, and of these, it is
estimated today, about 34 per cent,
are engaged in agricultural indus-
tries ; about 10 per cent are en-
gaged in buildings industries, and
in all there are over 40 per cent
engaged in industries other than
agriculture; the remaining 16 per
cent is made up of distributors,
merchants and others of that des-
cription. Therefore, when we
come to discuss the basic indus-
try, there may be food for reflec-
tion in our minds as to whether
the conditions in Canada are not
such, viewed from the standpoint
of the number of people engaged
in the industry, that farming has
ceased to be the basic industry of
the Dominion of Canada.

I am not going to attempt to
argue as to whether that is an ad-
vantage or disadvantage to Can-
ada. We do know, however, that
in this country, there are vast
natural resources. "We have vast
timber limits, largely as yet, in
many instances, almost untouched ;
our inland seas and our oceans to
the north east and west of us con-
tain vast resources of foods. Then
we have our mines bringing in all
the metals which are kno\^•n to the
mind of man. These are some of
our natural resources, and if Can-
ada is to progress as a country
and do her duty towards mankind,
then the Canadian citizen must
start to develop not only one por-
tion of her natural resources,
which is her vast farming lands,
but must in justice to humanity

53

generally, develop all Ihe natural
resources of which she is i)osses.<ecl.
It is not sufficient that we should
develop these resources just to the
extent of turning,' them into raw
material for some other industry:
it is not sufficient that we shouUl
cut down our pulp wood and ship
it as pulp or that we should mine
our coal and ship it in its raw-
state. It is not sufficient that we
should take out our gold and silver
and other valuable minerals and
ship them from the country for
development in other lands. If
we are to have a progressive coun-
try, it is essential that we should
so balance our industries that we
are able to ship our commodities
in their final form. What is true
of our other resources is true of
our agricultural resources.

In the past Canada has been
advertised throughout the world
as a country of pioneers, and as a
country possessing illimitable fer-
tile plains where wheat can be
grown on virgin soil. The aver-
age conception of Canada outside
of the boundaries of the country
is a country which possesses wide
fields in which wdieat can b? grown
and shipped abroad, and that we
should import stock and other
subsidiary- items of farm life. That
seems tn be the conception that is
held in England and many Euro-
pean countries, and that perhaps
is the fault to some extent of the
class of advertising w-hieh has
been done. There are still great
stretclies of fertile country that
must be brought under cultivation,
and for that purpose we need
pioneer farmers, but we must also
realize that in speaking of farm-
ing, we are not speaking only of
the pioneers of the West, but that
Canada being a country of great
distances is also a country of vari-
ed conditions, and the farmer
exists not only on the western
plains but in every other section
of the community, from the 45th
parallel north and from the At-

lantic to the Pacific. In that great
expan.se, a territory larger than
I he United Slates, we have all
degrees and all kinds of farming;
we have our fruit farms, w-e have
(lur dairy and mixed farms, and
we have cereal farms. I am speak-
uig as a I'ity man and may there-
fore not use your technical terms,
but what I want to point out is
that the average conception given
the public is that all farming
must be regulated in accordance
with the needs of pioneer farms
of the West.

Farming only represents today
'M i)er cent, of our community, but
it is also true to say that a very
small minority of our entire com-
munity is represented by the West-
ern farmer alone. The success of
this country depends equally on
the successful farming of our
Eastern .sections, our fruit farms,
as it does on the successful farm-
ing of our Western plains.

In studying these problems, w-e
must clear our minds of all the
arguments which are generally put
forward which take the Western
farmers as their bas'"s, and see how
much nearer w-e can come to the
solution of the problems by tating
into account the other great farm-
ing sections in this Dominion of
ours. One question we have seen
discussed very fully in the press
during the past years, and that is
the question of the ability to
secure farm labour for the devel-
opment of the farming industry. I
have read in some papers that it is
necessary for. the farmers to or-
ganize themselves politically and
otherwise to resist the improve-
ments wdiich are being demanded
by the city w-orkers. A prominent
organ of the Ontario farmers re-
cently published an article where-
by they treat upon the dangers
which would accrue if 40 per cent
of our population should be grant-
ed an eight hour working day«
They talk of the inability of the
farmer to meet industrial com-

.54

petition, with the result that there
is a great tendency for workers to
come from the land and to settle
in the cities, and they draw a very
black picture. I would like to em-
phasize to you people today that
the two great masses of workers,
the industrial workers and the
farm workers, the tAvo great
masses of humanity wlio are en-
gaged in useful occupations of
producing, cannot Kve in harmony
and cannot progress and make
Canada a great country if
they are to look upon one another
with prejudice. It is only by
looking calmly at the situation
tliat progress can be made and a
solution reached. There is a possi-
bility of bringing to the farm,
conditions which Avill help to all-
eviate some of the disabilities un-
der which farming is carried on.
Through the research work Avliich
3'ou \\nll undertake, production
can be intensified until the numer-
ical strength of farm labour Avill
not be as necessary as in the past.
There is great room for develop-
ment of that kind in Canada.

I have not an intimate know-
ledge of Western farming, but
many of you have, and you must
admit that the Western farmer
today does not desire to any great
extent unskilled labour. His in-
vestment in expensive macluinery
and valuable horses is too great to
risk in the hands of unskilled
labour. The Western farmer to-
day demands a man of high intel-
ligence who can handle machinery
and who can handle his investment
in a Avay wdiich will avoid the des-
truction of that investment.

There iis great distinction be-
tween the position of the farm
worker and industrial worker, and
I would like to see the press of this
country give a little more promin-
ence, not to the blackest outlook
of farm life, but to some of the
conditions of farm life which do
not exist for the city Avorker. I
believe publicity is given in a

Avrong manner. I do not like the
publicity Avhich is given to the fact
that farming is an arduous occupa-
tion, that farming is a life of seclu-
sion and loneliness, that farming
means selling your oavu existence
for a mere pittance. Tiiat kind of
advertising is not such as to bring
an influx onto the farms.

Compare the financial condition
of the farmer Avith the industrial
Avorker. The average earnings last
year, according to the production
on farms, Avas somewdiere about
.$1,600 to $1,700 a year per head
of the adult Avorkers on the farm.
The figures Avhich Avere given re-
cently by Mr. Crerar, in the House
of Commons, shoAved approxi-
mately about $1,900,000,000 of
production from the farms. Taking
these figures as a basis, — I am not
speaking of the Avages paid but of
the earnings per head, — it Avorks
out to $1,600 or $1,700 per head.
Now, taking the figures giA'en by
Mr. Scott,' a prominent shoe manu-
facturer, of Gait, as to the Shoe
Workers of Canada, Ave find that
last 3'ear their average A\'as al)out
$742 per head. We also had fig-
ures quoted of the textiile Avork-
ers of the Dominion of Canada,
and it Avas only $600 per head. If
you compare that AAdth the earn-
ings possible upon the farm, ac-
cording to the total production,
you Avill see a vast difference.
Then if you look at the building
industry AAdiich is 10 per cent of
the adult Avorkers of this country,
OA'er 300,000 ihi number, their aA'er-
age Avages, CA^en Avith 60c and
$1.00 per hour, are only $1,400 or
$1,500 a year. The farmer of this
country, therefore, receives a
larger remuneration than the in-
dustrial Avorker for his labor.
There are not as many farmers in
this country aa^io employ help as
there are in the older countries of
Europe, and most of the farmers
in this country can be classed un-
der the head of farm OAATiers or
OAAiier Avorkers Avho do the AA'ork

on the farm witli the assistance of
their families.

The man who goes on a home-
stead huikl a home for liimself. I
am not goinf? to attempt to quote
what the average investment
on a farm in this country would
he, but I know you will agree with
me that if you consider it with the
land, there is a considerable in-
vestment of actual cash realizable
for the owner of that particular
homestead. The farmer, therefore,
in selling his labor, does not do so
with the intention of extracting
every dollar that he has earned,
l)ut he tries to invest as much as
jiossible, after leaving himself a
moderate living, so that that which
remains vriW be assured to liim as
an investment for the future, and
I think it is safe to say that the
average man looks forward to, in
five, six and seven years, paying
back tlie loans which were neces-
sary to place him on the farm, and
to having an investment which
will enable him to succeed in later
years.

It would be better it it were
possible for the industrial worker
to do the same thing, and most of
the industrial unrest today would
be solved if it were possible for
the industrial worker, singly or
collectively to become possessed of
the machinery of production the
same as the farmer. It is unfair
to compare the conditions of the
farmer during that struggling
period when he is taking the mini-
mum on which to exist in order
that he can provide a competence,
and place it alongside of the work-
er who is taking his entire savings,
and using these, and I believe if
this was thoroughly understood,
there would be a greater desire on
the part of many to go back to the
farms of this country.

The problem of finance is a
great one in the city. We know
that too often in industrial life,
the condition of the workers is
regulated not by their direct em-

ployers but by the great financial
(U)rporations who hold the purse
strings, and dictate to the em-
ployers under what eondition they
shall carry on tlieir industry. What
is true of industrial life is more
true of farm life, and too much
of tlic earnings of the farmer has
been dissii)ated in the past in pay-
ing usury interest demanded by
these financial corporations during
his first few years of struggle. If
tlie savings of the city worker
could be gathered together by the
Government so that they could be
loaned to the man who wanted to
go on the farm, at a reasonable
rate of interest with some security
that pressure would not be used at
a critical time, there would be
more security on the farm, the
farmer could secure money at a
low rate of interest and the devel-
opment of farm life would be
nearer solution.

Another feature I Avould like to
refer to is the loneliness of farm
life. We know too well that the
insecurity of employment of the
average farm laborer has been
such that it has deterred many
men from following farm life. It
has been necessary, for him to leave
his wife and children in the citj'.
It has been necessary for him to go
as a casual laborer for the season.
The accommodation on the average
farm is very, very limited, and in
many cases it is not what it should
be. If the farmer wishes to com-
pete with industrial labor in the
city, it is necessary that he should
provide better accommodation,
and he should build a small cot-
tage on the farm. In Ontario he
can secure the necessary money
from the Provincial Government
at 5 per cent interest, and the loan
will be extended over a period of
20 years, provided the farmer sets
aside one or two acres of land for
the use of the farm hand. If the
farmer would only do this, the
farm laborer could live with his
wife and family in comfort, and he

56

would be better off than in the
city.

Let me point out briefly two or
three things that have broken
down the loneliness of farm life.
There is the rural telephone, and
through the development of water
powers, it is now possible to ex-
tend to the farm, electricity and
sanitary conveniences, and pump-
ing outfits for water supplies. All
these things have a tendency to
make life on the farm better. They
can have the conveniences that the
city resident now has. 17,000
automobiles have been purchased
by the farmers of Manitoba, Al-
berta, and Saskatchewan ; I would
not care if it was 70,000. Let us
give to the worker on the farm a
man's wage so that he can enjoy
all the benefits of civilization and
some of the so-called pleasures
which are dangled before his eyes
and that have been forbidden him
in the past ; let him comingle with
the w^orkers in the city, and the
more he sees of city life and of the
struggle for existence in our cities
the more anxious he will be to
return to the farm, and the glori-
ous opportunities that are entirely
out of reach of the city worker.

The International Labor Body
which is composed of represent-
atives of the Government and re-
presentatives of the workers and
representatives of the employers
throughout the world is not
losing sight of the importance of
this great question. It is the inten-
tion of the governing body to place

on the agenda of the 1921 con-
ference, the whole question of the
development of the agricultural
industry, and foremost comes
technical education for the farm-
ers. The question of the shorten-
ing of the work day will also be
brought up ; I do not want anyone
to be shocked at that because it
has been possible in other coun-
tries to do it, and it will be pos-
sible in Canada. The arguments
that have been put forward as to
the impossibility of shortening the
work day on the farm have proven
to be fallacious. It has been pos-
sible to introduce the 50 hour week
and the 48 hour week in winter.
It has been possible in Italy, Eng-
land, and some other European
countries, by agreement with the
farmer and his laborer to intro-
duce that system, and a bill is now
pending before the Italian Gov-
ernment for the legalization of the
8 hour day for agricultural work-
ers. Problems which have been
capable of solution in other coun-
tries are capable of solution in
Canada. Farmers can co-operate
for the purpose of selling their
products so as to obtain the very
highest price, and the consumer
can co-operate so that he can pur-
chase at a reasonable price the pro-
ducts of the farm. The elimina-
tion of the middle men who are the
bugbear of the producer both on
the farm and in the city, is a prob-
lem that we are facing. We all
desire that a higher standard of
living shall be established for the
worker in Canada.

FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURAL POLICIES.

President L. S. KLINCK, University of British Columbia.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : —

In common with other speakers
at this Convention, but little op-
tion has been allowed me by the
Organizing Committee in the selec-
tion of my subject. To the original

title, "Federal and Provincial
Agricultural Policies" they have
permitted me to include the poli-
cies of the Colleges of Agriculture.
This extension of scope makes
possible a more balanced treat-

57

ment of the three closely related
agencies -which should be con-
s-idered as the component parts of
a national policy for agriculture
in Canada.

As one who has for some years
been in close personal and official
touch with those who are admin-
istering the Federal and Provincial
Dcparlmejits of Agriculture, I feel
that it would not be just or fair to
criticise adversely tliese branches
of tlie Government service without
at the same time pointing out some
of the defects in the College of
Agriculture — defects for which, as
a member of the staff in an Agri-
cultural College, I assume my full
share of responsibility.

This task, as 1 have already in-
timated, is not a self-imposed one.
A fair and impartial treatment of
the subject calls for more skill
than I am capal)le of, and for more
courage than 1 could at first

muster. And yet criticism, even
though adverse, need not neces-
sarily be a cold business. If my
treatment is destructive your op-
portunity will come in the discus-
sion ; if it is constructive, or even
suggestive, let us face the issues
squarely.

Because it is basic, the relation-
ship between these three divisions
of agricultural work is one of the
most important questions to be
considered by this Society. In my
treatment of the subject I shall aim

simply to sketch the main outlines,
without any suggestion of finality,
and shall purposely avoid being
unnecessarily specific in matters
of minor detail since you all know
to what extent the principles enun-
ciated will be applicable in your
respective fields of endeavor.

With the salient features in the
origin, history and growth of
these three branches of agricul-
tural service we are all familiar.
In the initial stages in the develop-
ment of each, they occupied separ-
ate and distinct fields. Gradually,
however, as each extended the
scope of its activities, the old lines
of demarcation became less and
less distinct until at present in
such sub-divisions of the field as
"extension," for example, a divid-
ing line no longer exists : and one
does not require unusual powers
of- discernment to see that there
is a possibility of a like situation
arising in other lines of agricul-
tural work.

The reasons for this are obvious.
Organizations, governmental or
otherwise, naturally, and in large
measure rightly, bend their energ-
ies in the direction from which
come the public demand and the
public response. If the demand is
persistent enough the temptation
becomes very strong for the Agri-
cultural College man to neglect
teaching and research and devote
all his energies to extension. Hence
we see in some provinces similar
work being conducted by two or
even three separate agencies, while
basic work which should be done
by at least one of these is almost
or wholly neglected. A careful
study of the relations of the Do-
minion Department of Agricul-
ture with Provincial Agencies-gov-
ernmental and educational — re-
veals many splendid examples of
co-operation, but also, unfortuna-
tely, equally striking instances of
lack of co-operation and co-ordina-
tion which in some cases are a near
approach to chaos.

58

In Canada tliere is no industry
which the government can foster
and develop with greater propriety
than that of agriculture. With
few exceptions our governments
have recognized this fact and have
voted large appropriations with-
out ahvays enquiring as fully as
they might as to the efficiency of
the organizations designed to give
effect to their intentions. One
of the results of this policy is that
today there is a danger of re-ac-
tion : in fact in some quarters it
has already set in. The number of
organizations functioning in agri-
culture and in agricultural educa-
tion is considered by many to be
too large and as a result the peo-
ple are coming to demand an ex-
planation.

To point out defects in a system
is, however, comparatively easy;
to diagnose the case is much more
difficult. Skill, constructive abil-
ity and a high order of public
spirit on the part of all co-oper-
ating are necessary to evolve and
to put into force an effective
remedy.

Reorganization of Agriculture in
Canada has not been effected, or
even seriously attempted, primar-
ily because it is admittedly so dif-
ficult. And perhaps this is an
opportune time to remind our-
selves that responsibility will
temper the most radical, even
when given a direct mandate to
effect a needed reform.

That the necessary machinery
has not yet been perfected for the
efficient an economical carrying
out of the agricultural affairs of
this country is evident. To illus-
trate this point I cannot do better
than refer to the conditions which
obtained in the Province of Brit-
ish Columbia in the spring of 1914.
Happily that condition no longer
prevails and today in few, if in
any of the other provinces is there
a better understanding or closer
co-operation among the Depart-
ments than is to be found in the

most westerly province of the
Dominion.

Briefly stated, the situation in
respect to agricultural organiza-
tion in British Columbia in 1914
was as follows: "Colony Farm,"
which is a provincial govern-
ment institntion with a well-
deserved international reputation
because of the excellence of many
of its classes of pure bred stock,
came under the Provincial Secre-
tary. The illustration dry land
farms, on which certain experi-
ments were conducted with field
crops, and in systems of dry land
farming, were presided over by
the Minister of Lands. Experi-
ments on the illustration and
demonstration farms outside the
dry belt were planned and execut-
ed by representatives of the
Department of Agriculture ; and
when the College of Agriculture
was being organized there seemed
to be but one place to put it,
namely, under the Minister of
Education, who was also Provin-
cial Secretary. Is it any wonder,
therefore, that with three estab-
lished lines of agricultural work
under as many Ministers, and a
fourth one projected, that the peo-
ple of the Province should begin
asking very pertinent questions?
As a result of the agitation which
followed, a series of conferences
was held which resulted in the
drawing up of an agreement
which, while it did not dispose of
all the anomalies, nevertheless
proved of great value in eliminat-
ing many of the more objection-
able features in the old arrange-
ment, and in constituting an ad-
mirable working basis for future
lines of co-operative action.

So satisfactory has this under-
standing been that Professor Bov-
ing was encouraged to advocate
a more comprehensive plan, de-
signed to include all agronomic
workers in the province. I am
tempted to enlarge upon this very
promising and significant move-

59

mcnt, l)Ut Ikmiij? not unmindful of
the fart that Professor Boving is
the originator of the idea, and
that he outlined the plan for his
colleagues several years ago, I
shall invite him, when opportunity
for discussion is given, to state the

While the illustration given to
show the laek of co-operation and
co-ordination which existed in
British Columhia six years ago is
perhaps the most striking one with
which I am familiar, many of you
vt'ill, I am sure, from your own
observations and experience, be
able to cite other examples which
call for equally united and
thorough-going action.

Unfortunately then, lack of co-
operation still exists between (1)
the Dominion and Provincial
Departments of Agriculture, (2)
the Provincial Departments having
the same or similar problems, (3)
the Dominion and Provincial
Departments and the Agricultural
Colleges, and, what is still more
pronounced and regrettable, (4)
between agricultural teachers and
investigators in the different col-
leges.

When in addition to these three
main divisions we consider other
organizations which are perform-
ing special service in the interests
of Canadian agriculture, such, for
example, as (1) the Commission
of Conservation, (2) the Canadian
Seed Growers' Association, (3) the
Honorary Advisory Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research,
and others which I might name,
is it surprising that the general
public is coming to ask what it all
means, and tliat many public men
are becoming extremely skeptical
as to the wisdom of extending a
ser\4ce which, to say the least,
appears to be so poorly co-or-
dinated ?

Nor is this all. Lack of co-
operation, and co-ordination, not
infrequently exists between de-
partments and branches in the
same division of the ser\ace, and

between departments in the same
institution of learning. Regret-
able as this Is, the fact remains,
and in moments of depression we
sometimes fear that perhaps it wall
continue to persist until human
nature changes for the better.

The underlying reasons for this
state of affairs are not far to seek.
A college education, or the posses-
sion of more than ordinary intel-
ligence, does not, unfortunately,
insure easy and harmonious co-
operation. Professional jealousies,
particularly among specialists, are
not unkno^^^l ; inter-departmental
and inter-institutional rivalries not
infre(|uently constitute a heavy
handicap to the cause of progress.
But perhaps the most potent rea-
son is that the scope of the activ-
ities of the different agencies, and
of the workers engaged therein is
not clearly and definitely defined.

These conditions all militate
against prompt and effective co-
operation, as does also the almost
prodigious distances which divide
us — conditions which I fear will
become accentuated Avhen the
West shall call for a relatively
smaller number of men from Cen-
tral Canada, and so will have
fewer interpreters of the spirit and
methods which actuate those at
the seat of government.

These are a few of the very real
difficulties w^iich will confront
any administrator who is cour-
ageous enough to undertake a
thorough-going reorganization of
a department, be it governmental
or academic.

That there is need for a Do-
minion Department of Agricul-
ture, for Provincial Departments
of Agriculture, and for Agricul-
tural Colleges, is unquestioned.
Presumably each organization has
its distinctive functions to per-
form. There are, however, certain
lines of work which are regarded
by some as properly coming under
two or more of the main organiza-
tions just referred to. About

60

these the controversy centres ; and
it is to these that attention must be
directed until the necessary ad-
justments have been made.

Before attempting to state my
views as to the functions of each
of the three great divisions of
agricultural work in Canada, per-
mit me to say that in my opinion
some minor activities cannot be
definitely classified and that their
satisfactory adjustment can be
brought about only as the result
of conference and of public spirit
on the part of the negotiating or-
ganizations. Even then there will
be still some unavoidable duplica-
tion which, however, \vithin limits,
is not without justification from
the standpoint of the investigator
as well as from that of the teacher,
But let duplication be reduced to
a minimum and where unavoidable
let us see that our energies are
directed to co-ordination in plan,
and the publication of results.

The following classification of
functions is suggested as a tenta-
tive working basis for what I hope
will prove an exhaustive study of
a pressing need in Canadian Agri-
culture :

Functions of the Dominion De-
partment of Agriculture.

1. National problems of admin-
istration.

2. Control measures affecting
distribution and marketing.

3. All researches of national or
international importance, includ-
ing those undertaken to solve
problems affecting interprovincial
and export trade.

4. Some measure of financial
assistance to the provinces to be
given under strict regulations and
to be conditional upon equally
generous grants from the Provin-
cial treasuries.

Functions of the Provincial De-
partments of Agriculture.

1. Provincial questions of ad-
ministration and control.

2. All illustration and demon-

stration work.

3. Assume responsibility for ex-
tension work where adequately
staffed; where not so staffed ex-
tension work might properly be
undertaken temporarily by the
College of Agriculture.

4. Except where the Colleges of
Agriculture come under the juris-
diction of the Minister of Educa-
tion, the Department of Agricul-
ture, through the staff of the Agri-
cultural College, should determine
the educational policy of the Pro-
vince as it relates to agriculture.
Functions of the College of Agri-
culture.

1. Teaching: The training of
teachers, researchers, farmers,
members of administrative and
technical staffs of Government,
journalists, etc.

2. Research: (a) In pure science,
(b) In applied science in relation
to problems not primarily inter-
provincial or national.

3. Extension: The amount and
character of the investigational or
teaching work undertaken to be
determined by agreement A\ath the
Provincial Department of Agricul-
ture or the Department of Educa-
tion.

Although, as we have noted,
many splendid examples of co-
operative effort are to be found in
our present systems of agricultural
administration and education, the
fact remains that closer co-opera-
tion and better co-ordination of
the agencies working for the devel-
opment of agriculture in Canada
is not only desirable but absolutely
necessary. Some way must be
found to bring our different, but
naturally related organizations
into closer and more effective con-
tact. "Unity of purpose, plan
and action must be secured." Un-
necessary duplication must be
eliminated. Agricultural research
methods must be standardized so
that the results obtained by one
investigator may be compared
with those obtained by another.

/^^

6J

Ui)j)orlunilies must be afforded
workers in the same or related
fields for contact, which cannot
l)ut prove stimulating and en-
lightening.

To this end a memorandum
setting forth in detail the policy
and work of each organization in
each province should be prepared
and made available for all inter-
ested.

The prospect for these needed
reforms originating within the
organizations directly concerned
is, I fear, not such as to give large
warrant for success. The suggest-
ion that a small body of individ-
uals, with an intimate personal
knowledge of the requirements of
Canadian agriculture, but prefer-
ably not officially connected with
any of the three branches men-
tioned, make an exhaustive study
of the whole question of the div-
ision of fields of Avork and of Gov-
ernment assistance thereto in all
its phases is one upon which I
cannot now improve. The adopt-
ion of this suggestion would, in
my opinion, lay the foundation for
a comprehensive agricultural
policy which would meet most
effectively present day require-
ments.

Discussion.

DR. GRISDALE: I have list-
ened to this address with a great
deal of interest and for the most
part I am agreed. I would like
to ask Professor Klinek if research
work is an interprovincial char-
acter or Dominion-wide character,
and should it be undertaken by
the Dominion, or if extension work
is to be entirely cut off from the
Dominion ; would he propose that
information should be given to
the public by the Dominion Dep-
artment?

PRESIDENT KTJNCK: While
science recognizes neither inter-
provincial or national boundaries,
there are problems which are of
greater scientific and practical
interest to one country than they

are to an}- other. Similiarly there
are problems which press more
insistently for solution in one
province than they do in another.
As I have stated, researches of jr
national or inter-provincial nature
should be conducted by the Dom-
inion; those which are more near-
ly local in character should be
carried out by the research staff
in the scientific departments of
our Colleges of Agriculture, or by
the Dominion Government in close
co-operation with the colleges
w^hen the researches bear directly
on inter-provincial questions.
Arbitrar}' bounds cannot be set
without doing violence to the
spirit of research; but T think the
principle enunciated, if broadly
interpreted, is absolutely sound.

The Colleges of Agriculture
should, in my opinion, train their
students more broadly and inten-
sively than they are doing. Post-
graduate courses, designed prim-
arily to train men for teaching
and research, are urgently need-
ed. At the same time experi-
mental and investigational work
should be stressed in order that a
solution may be found to the pro-
blems confronting the farmer. The
question as to whether the Col-
leges of Agriculture and the
Dominion Departinent of Agricul-
ture should each build up an or-
ganization to carry the results of
their investigations direct to the
people is, perhaps, a debatable
one. Personally, I am inclining
more and more to the view that the
Provincial Government should,
through its District Representat-
ives, assume responsibility for the
taking of this information to the
people.

DR. GRISDALE: This question
of co-operation between the Prov-
ince and the Dominion and the
limitation of the work carried on
by the Provinces has received a
good deal of attention from these
departments for sometime, and last
March we had a gathering here

62

of the Deputy Ministers and the
Chiefs of the different Depart-
ments of Agriculture. Of course
it was quite impracticable to solve
all the problems at that meeting,
but a great deal of good work was
done, and it was agreed that the
Dominion should continue to run
the stations as they do now until
the Provinces were ready to take
them over, and if the Provinces
want them -/tomorrow they can
have them.

PKOF. BARSS : Yesterday,
Mr. Putnam, in talking on the
subject of extension work in the
colleges raised a big question
which might have been discussed
for some time : What should be
the exact relation between exten-
sion work and the college or univ-
ersity? That point was left un-
stressed by President Klinck. I
feel in my own mind that the work
of the Provinces may be even
more limited than has been sug-
gested, and the work might be
under the direction of the Col-
lege or University. I do not know
whether that would be possible
or not, but it seems to me that if
it were put undejr the college,
there would be less possible
chance for duplication.

PRESIDENT KLINCK: I think
the responsibility should rest with
the Provincial Department, The
majority of the staff in our Col-
leges of Agriculture are already
over-worked. These men respond
to pressure the same as other men
do, and since extension work de-
mands men of wide knowledge and
long experience the temptation is
for the most broadly trained ones
to respond to the pressure even at
the expense of the more advanced
work in which they are primarily
interested. Our teachers and in-
vestigators must keep in touch
with the problems of the farmer,
but this result can be attained
with the minimun expenditure of
time and energy by assisting the
District Representatives when-

ever it is possible for them to do
so without sacrificing the basic
work upon which all permanently
successful extension must ultim-
ately rest.

The need for post-graduate
courses and the urgent demand
for the strengthening of our re-
search departments has been em-
phasized again and again in this
conference. The need cannot be
too strongly presented or the
demand too insistently pressed.
There; is only one, source from
which our teachers and investig-
ators can come. If we see to it
that adequate opportunities and
facilities are provided for the
most advanced work, then we
need have no fear as to the supply
of competent district representat-
ives.

MEMBER : I think it is advis-
able that the extension work
should be directed from the col-
lege or university; they must have
a chief and it seems to me it
would be better if that chief were
on the staff of the university, and
the extension men on the staff of
the university. If you have a
member of the Department of
Agriculture dealing with the pub-
lic and you have a university deal-
ing with the public, the public
will be lost trying to worship two
gods at the same time. If you
have extension men not connected
with the university, where is the
inspiration from a technical point
of view to go? You will have a
large number of men not getting
the best they can out of their
work. It seems to me that the
technical department by being in
close touch with the Chief of the
extension work could keep better
tab on the teachings of the Dis-
trict Representatives. By having
a chief at the university for the
extension work, you would have
a point of contact between the
different technical departments,
the Department of Agronomy and
Animal Husbandry and so forth,

63

and you would be able to balance
the extension work much more
satisfactorily. Take the School
Fair Work; it has been popular,
and the District Representative is
liable to 1)0 overwhelmed by it and
nejrlect other work. With all due
respect to School Fair Work, there
are other lines of endeavour that
he mi{?ht give a great deal of
attention to.

MR. PUTNAM : It might make
a difference whether the exten-
sion work was directly under the
Department of Agriculture or
under the agricultural college.
The essential thing to my mind
is that whoever is in charge of the
extension work should see that the
men who are doing the field work
are kept in close touch with the
investigatory work. Take for
example th? dairy work in the

Province of Ontario. We have a
large staff in the field, and we
are up against exery-day prob-
lems in the factory and creamery,
and we have investigatory work
and experimental work at the col-
leges. It is necessary for a man
who goes out to do work among
the factories o know tthe field
problems and to know what is be-
ing done by those responsible for
investigatory Avork. It is essential
that they should be in direct
contact with the colleges. Pres-
ident Klinck made it clear that
tlie general policy of the college
must be determined by the Dep-
artment of Agriculture and the
details worked out by the college
staff. You must have all the in-
terests in the different lines rep-
resented in your deliberations and
in outlining j'our programme.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURAL

PROBLEMS.

Dr. W. P. THO:\IPSON, University of Saskatchewan.

1 am proud of having an op-
portunity^ to assist at the birth of
this new society. In this case it
seems that parturition has been
long overdue — perhaps owing to
the size of the embryo, if one may
judge by the secretary's state-
ment of membership. At any rate
it ])roves to be a very vigorous
healthy youngster and since it
will be watched over by all these
experts in nutrition, diseases, etc.,
one can safely predict for it a
rapid growth and active maturitj\

I must ask you not to estimate
my modesty by the title of my re-
marks, which appears on the pro-
gram — "Scientific research in
relation to agricultural prol)lems."
This very large subjef-t has l)een
assigned to me by your committee
and one consents to discuss it on
the present occasion only because
the relationship of scientific re-
search to the industries in general
has recently been thoroughly dis-

cussed and forcibly brought home
to everyone. The relationship of
scientific research to agriculture
is only a particular phase of this

geiieral question which has been
frequently and ably discussed
from man}' quarters. It would
serve no useful purpose to point
out particular agricultural exam-
ples of principles which should be
familiar to all scientists. It will,

64

therefore, not be necessary to at-
tempt a comprehensive treatment
of the subject. It will be sufficient
to point out certain respects in
which the relationship is peculiarly
important to agriculture, or in
which agriculture differs from the
other industries. In accordance
with the desire of your committee,
I shall speak largely from the
standpoint of the so-called pure
scientist.

Agricultural scientific research
suffers more than does any other
form of industrial research from a
lack of realization on the part of
the general public of its possibil-
ities. This is due, I believe, to
the familiarity on the part of the
majority of people with agricul-
tural operations. Anyone will
concede the value of research in
relation to manufacturing indus-
tries involving chemical actions.
Tlie great majority of people are
innocent of any knowledge of
chemistry, and regard it as a
highly complex, mysterious study
capable of performing all sorts of
wonders— in which opinion they
are not discouraged by the chem-
ists. But everyone thinks he knows
something of agriculture and many
people think they are experts at it.
To most people agriculture is
simply taking a little care of
plants and animals which would
grow anyway. The}' can see no
need of investigation in such fa-
miliar operations as ploughing,
harrowing, harvesting and thresh-
ing. And it is through average
public opinion that the expensive
support for research must be ob-
tained. The head of an agricul-
tural college informs us that it has
just taken him three years to con-
vince his board that a plant patho-
logist has any useful duties to
perform.

Of course all technical agricul-
turists know that agriculture, like
the other industries, has reached
a stage at which little progress
can be expected from casual ob-

servation or ordinary experience.
Progress will result only from the
careful application of scientific
facts and principles which are
known only to those who have
been properly trained, or which
have not yet been discovered. Agri-
cultural problems are just as dif-
ficult and complex as those of
any other industry. Our confidence
that great progress Avill be made
by the application of scientific
principles in agriculture results
from our knowledge of what has
been accomplished in this way in
the past. The achievements of
agricultural, scientific research in
actual financial benefits to the
country are not surpassed by those
of any other industry. This is not
the occasion, however, either to
mention the problems which have
been solved or to point out those
which can be solved by the applica-
tion of scientific principles. Owing
to the fact that such a large pro-
portion of our population must
always be engaged in agriculture,
any advance through scientific
Avork must result in benefits which
in the aggregate surpass those in
other industries.

My second point is that tech-
nical research in agriculture in-
volves research in an unusually
wide range of basic subjects and
that the technical researcher in
agriculture is therefore peculiarly
dependent on so-called pure sci-
ence. Agricultural problems in-
volve, among other things, the
physics, chemistry, biology and
geology of the soil, physiologj^ of
plants and animals (itself includ-
ing many basic subjects), patho-
logy of plants and animals, sys-
tematic biology, including ento-
mology, foreign plant introduc-
tion, genetics, bacteriology', me-
chanics, climatology, sociology and
economics. Many problems involve
several of these subjects. There
are, of course, routine problems
such as testing varieties, rotations,
etc., which may involve little more

65

than greneral agricultural know-
ledge. But the problems which will
result in new departures of im-
portauee are likely to demand a
profound knowledge of basic sub-
jects. The l)ig advances requiring
only superficial science have most-
ly been made, and progress in
future will depend more and more
on profound study in more tlian
one basic subject. The workers in
these basic subjects supply the raw
material — scientific information —
wliich the technical agriculturists
work up into manufactured ar-
ticles— better agricultural prac-
tices. To sustain our metaphor
further the.se manufactured ar-
ticles are transported by the agri-
cultural educationists to the con-
suming farmers.

Of course, as in other cases, the
workers in these different fields
("fields" is surely a good word
in an agricultural discussion)
cannot be sharply segregated.
Many technical men engaged
primarily in improving practices
are also spreading information
among the farmers ; many of them
are making discoveries in theo-
retical science. The same piece of
work may involve both discovery
and application. To use a simile
from our o^vn subject, the tech-
nical agriculturist may be con-
sidered a cross betAveen the so-
called pure scientist and the
farmer. And as in Mendelian
crosses, there are degrees of
dominance with respect to the
contrasted characters of the pa-
rents. Sometimes the technical
man is mostly pure farmer, some-
times mostly pure scientist, some-
times exactly intermediate. Not
rarely the cross proves too wide
and the offspring are completely
sterile.

Owing to the unusually wide
range of basic subjects this re-
lationship of pure and applied
science is peculiarly important in
the case of agriculture. It is hope-

less to expect a technical agricul-
turist to keep thoroughly posted in
all the subjects ancillary to agri-
culture ; it is equally hopeless to
expect a worker in an ancillary
science to keep posted on practical
agriculture. There is need of spe-
cial machinery to stimulate dis-
coveries in those parts of the basic
subjects related to agriculture and
to provide for their immediate ap-
plication.

The solution of this difficulty
and others presently to be men-
tioned depends, in my opinion, on
a large degree of organized co-
operation in research. All the
reasons in favor of co-operation in
industrial research in general ap-
ply in the case of agriculture and
these are strong additional rea-
sons.

The peculiar dependence of tech-
nical research in agriculture on re-
search in a wider range of basic
sciences demands co-operation be-
tween the pure scientist and the
technical man. A technical agri-
culturist endeavoring to solve a
practical problem is very likely to
encounter a fundamental problem.
A fundamental researcher is very
likely to uncover a fact or prin-
ciple which can be immediately
applied — if he knows enough of
the practical to make the applica-
tion. Sometimes a technical man's
duties and interests and training
will permit him to follow up a
fundamental lead. Sometimes a
worker in a fundamental subject,
may know enough of the practical
and possess the inclination to make
the application. But such cases
are likely to be relatively rare. It
seems obvious that the best results
both from the practical and theo-
retical standpoints are to be ob-
tained by close co-operation of
all concerned. The practical man
knows the problems and discovers
where fundamental information is
lacking in order to solve them. He
can then enlist the service of the
pure scientist in those problems

66

which his duties, or training or
interests will not permit him to
attack. At the same time — and
this is not the least important
effect — theoretical science will be
advanced. There will be a com-
plex series of effects and counter-
effects of the theoretical on the
practical. It cannot be too strongly
emphasized that theoretical science
receives as much from practical
science as it gives to it. The
theoretical advances made in prac-
tical research are as important as
the practical advances made by
the application of theoretical prin-
ciples. And in agricultural prob-
lems the possibilities are particu-
larly great.

I should like to refer to a par-
ticular example of what I have in
mind. A very practical problem is
the breeding of disease resistant
plants. In the case of stem rust
of wheat it turns out that the prob-
lem involves fundamentol genet-
ical work. But the prosecution of
it requires a very substantial
knowledge of plant pathology and
its methods ; it can be carried on
best in collaboration with a plant
pathologist. Moreover it has re-
cently given a very valuable lead
in fundamental botany by showing
the existence of many physio-
logical and geographical races of
rust which can be distinguished
only by their virulence in parti-
cular varieties of wheat. Stakman
and his collaborators have proven
the existence of many of these
geographical races in the northern
States and work at Saskatoon this
year has demonstrated the exist-
ence of several scattered over
western Canada, as well as the
occasional occurrence of more than
one race in the same locality. This
discovery seems for the time to
have made a practical solution
impossible. But the point is that
the geneticist and plant patho-
logist have had to collaborate on
the problem and both have un-

covered important leads for theo-
retical research. And before econ-
omic results are obtained the
practical agronomist must be en-
listed to test yields, earliness, etc.
This investigation also shows the
necessity of having the same work
carried on concurrently at differ-
ent places to meet varying local
conditions.

Many of the most important
problems in agriculture will in this
way require the united efforts of
several kinds of researchers. This
must be true from the very nature
of agricultural problems involving
as they do a highly complex set of
conditions and a very wide range
of basic subjects. Without co-
operation we find the technical
man necessarily spreading his
efforts over so many subjects that
he accomplished little. This result
is already too common. Without
co-operation we find the pure
scientist making foolish practical
claims or helpless before an un-
usual practical situation. Nor will
the best results be obtained when
the co-operation consists of the
fundamental scientists acting as
chore boys for the technical men
— performing their chemical anal-
ysis, physiological experiments or
bacteriological identifications.

Apart from the need of workers
of several kinds, many problems
are -so big that even where only
one kind of researcher is neces-
sary, several of these must colla-
borate if results are to be obtained
in reasonable time. Again, in
Canada local and environmental
conditions are so highly varied
that in the case of problems of na-
tion-wide importance work must
be carried on concurrently at
many places.

With the argument that co-
operation is necessary in order to
avoid duplication of effect I have
no great sympathy. We need both
collaboration and duplication or
collaboration by duplication. We
all know of too many cases where

67

claims have been made which have
iioli bi'i'ii justified hy the scientific
work, wliicli have injured scien-
tific agriculture, and which wotdd
never have been made by several
men working together. The cry
of needless duplication of effort
has been overdone; until agricul-
turists become infallible we can
stand a great deal more duplica-
tion. It should, however, be delib-
erate duplication knowingly un-
dertaken, not that of several men
working in ignorance of each
others efforts.

That organized co-operation in
research can accomplish a great
deal when support is available, has
been abundantly proven by the
war experience of all nations.

In this society we have the ma-
chinery at hand to bring about
the needed co-operation. This
society will soon bring together
all Canadian technical agricultur-
ists and, I hope, all researchers in
fundamental subjects whose work
is in any way related to agricul-
ture. Projects to be attacked can
here be divided into phases and
each man assigned the phase in
which he is best qualified or most
interested. Varying local condi-
tions can be met by providing for
the concurrent prosecution of
similar work in different places.
The groups must be democratic-
ally organized and co-operate
freely; they cannot function if
one man assigns tasks to others.
There is no need of entering into
details at this time. They can be
worked out to suit the problem.

Such a program will require fre-
quent group meetings for consul-
tation, formulating and modifying
plans, reporting results, etc. These
meetings can best be held in con-
nection Avith the conventions of
this society. On account of the
great distances involved, it will
be necessary that the institutions
to which thes? men are attached
should pay their travelling ex-
penses. I believe that little diffi-

culty will be encountered in this
respect. Certainly these institu-
tions could spend their money in
no way which would be likely to
yield more valuable results, not
only in actual problems solved but
also in keeping their staffs effici-
ent.

That a program of consultation
and collaboration will receive wide
support is shown by the resolu-
tions passed at the conference of
deputy ministers of agriculture
recently held at Ottawa. A reso-
lution concerning Experimental
Farms passed at that conference
reads, in part, as follows :

"Be it resolved that. . . definite
measures be adopted that will
bring about greater co-operation
in planning, conducting and giving
publicity to the results of Experi-
mental Farm work, to wit : —

" (a) The formation of joint
Provincial Advisory Committees
to be composed of representatives
from the Dominion and Provincial
departments of agriculture...

" (b) That such provincial com-
mittees shall meet not less than
once annually to consider the re-
sults of experimental work. . . for
the preceding j-ear or years and
to discuss and as far as may be
possible recommend and approve
contemplated lines of experimen-
tation for ensuing years with a
view to building up a system under
which the work of the respective
stations shall, as far as possible, be
supplementary to and co-related
Avith each other . . .

" (c) That from time to time. . .
conferences of these committees
or representatives thereof from
groups of provinces or all the
provinces be held. . . "

Another resolution with respect
to plant breeding reads, in part,
as follows: —

"Be it resolved that plant breed-
ing work in Canada whether car-
ried on under Federal or Provin-
cial direction should be fully co-
ordinated and correlated bv the

68

holding of Conferences of Can-
adian plant breeders... that the
mode of extension (of plant breed-
ing work) be arranged by confer-
ence from time to time between
Federal officers and the officers
of the provinces concerned so as
to avoid duplication of effort and
attain the maximum degree of
efficiency. ' '

It is of course possible that local
jealousies and personal affairs
may interfere with the working
out of such plans. I have heard
of an institution where one kind
of worker may study an insect so
long as it remains m the air but
as soon as it penetrates the hide of
a cow he must not seek to follow
it; it then becomes the property
of a different sub-department. If
it digs into the ground another
sub-department claims it. I know
that some technical agriculturists
are constanth^ on the watch lest
a botanist or chemist tread on their
preserves, and that some pure
scientists have "no trespassing"
signs up for technical agricultur-
ists. When members of the same
department quarrel over such
things we may expect trouble in
a larger organization. The divi-
sion of credit for work done may
cause some heartburnings. But I
believe the good sense of all con-
cerned and the desire to get results
will overcome all such difficulties.
And a little experience in co-oper-
ative work Avill soon convince
everyone of the essential decency
of scientific colleagues.

Such work need not interfere
with anyone's initiative, and no
• matter how much co-operation
may be secured in solving prac-
tical problems, undoubtedly much
of our progress will continue to
depend on individual brains and
initiative and imagination. Co-
operation cannot replace intellect
hut it can make intellect much
more effective in solving certain
kinds of problems.

Moreover it must be remem-
bered that co-operation can be
effective only with certain kinds
of problems. The problems must
be clean-cut, easily outlined. The
end sought must already be per-
fectly clear ; the probability of suc-
cess must be demonstrable; the
methods of attack must be fairly
obvious from the data at hand. But
there is another kind of studies —
those which really open up new
fields of interest and importance.
These studies must be highly in-
dividual and do not lend them-
selves to co-operation. Such prob-
lems cannot be outlined because
they are not known or are perceiv-
ed only vaguely. One gets a hint
but the end of the trail is not
clear; the success of the work is
doubtful or may appear ridiculous.
The project cannot be outlined so
clearly and attractively as to en-
list the help of colleagues or the
support of executive boards which
control funds.

And just here, it may be re-
marked, is a defect inherent in all
institutions and organizations
whose specific purpose is the car-
rjang on or support of research.
The directors or chiefs cannot give
financial support unless the prob-
lem can be clearly outlined, and
the probability of its solution
demonstrated. They must thereby
exclude many of that second and
higher type of researches to which
I have referred. If Mendel had
had to ask the prelate of his mon-
astery for land and labor to carry
on his experiments, he could not
have justified his request by pre-
dicting the discovery of his law
of heredity. There is after all
some advantage in holding a
teaching position in which one can
potter at whatever notions one
conceives without having to jus-
tify them to someone controlling
his salary and without having to
give reports at intervals. We
teachers are not as envious of you
full-time research men in govern-

69

mental positions as you might sup-
pose.

For the same reason it would, in
ray opinion, be a mistake to do
anything that would tend to con-
centrate research in governmental
departments or institutions. Every
teaclier should l)e encouraged to
woric at whatever problems he
wishes to attack. When a man's
teaching or other duties are suf-
ficient to justify maintaining him
and yet leave him time for re-
search he is more likely to choose
problems whicli break new ground
than if every research has to be
justified even for the reason that
he is paid a salary for research.

They must in general be no res-
triction on a man's choice of prob-
lems or on the distance to which
he may folloAV a research lead. For
this reason I must object to the
suggestion made today that pro-
vincial men confine themselves to
problems of provincial importance
and that problems of wider signi-
ficance be reserved for the Do-
minion Department of Agricul-
ture. One never knows where a
train is going to lead — that is one
of the chief attractions in inves-
tigation work. If a worker in
Saskatchewan uncovers a trail
which leads over into Manitoba
or Ontario or the States, he won't
stop at the boundary. The wider
its significance the harder he will
follow it. Our most important
provincial problems are of equal
importance outside provincial
boundaries. You cannot say to a
provincial man "You may study
these little local questions, but you
must leave the big things to the
Dominion men at Ottawa." Only
a very mediocre set of men would
endure such a restriction.

Apart from helping by co-oper-
ation in the solution of practical
agricultural problems, the worker
in a basic subject can do a great
deal by judicious choice of prob-
lems and materials. A geneticist
or plant physiologist for example

in attacking a fundamental prob-
lem can use a crop plant of great
economic; value just as well as the
usual greenhouse plants.

At the same time he is
likely to reveal, perhaps incident-
ally, perhaps directly, informa-
tion of great practical importance
concerning the plant. Our scien-
tific men could attack these prob-
lems on the borderline between
the theoretical and the practical.
They could attack a practical
problem not only for its own sake
but in the full expectation of un-
covering a theoretical lead. In
many cases in the past they have
not attacked practical or semi-
practical problems partly ])ecause
of ignorance concerning them,
partly for fear of offending tech-
nical colleagues.

Another difference between re-
search in agriculture and that in
the other industries concerns the
remuneration of the Avorkers. The
industrial research man shares, in
part at least, in the financial
benefits ■which accrue from his
work. Great increase in wealth
results from the perfection of a
technical invention. Even if the
researcher is a hired employee of
a corporation he shares handsome-
ly in the benefit. The industrial
researcher therefore always feels
the powerful financial stimulus.

The agricultural researcher, on
the other hand, deliberately re-
nounces all such rewards. In that
respect he is like the pure scientist.
Thougli his work may result in
great financial benefit to his coun-
try, he knows that he will profit
not at all or very slightly. From
the nature of his work he must be
attached to governmental or edu-
cational institutions, and he knows
that the salaries in such positions
can never be very large. But when
for the sake of his work he re-
nounces hope of becoming wealthy,
he can surel.y expect a reasonable
salary. If good researchers are
to be retained in and attracted to

70

involve an almost complete separ-
ation of the courses for technical
agriculturists from those for the
men who are to return to the
farms. In short our ideal should
be to bring our professional agri-
cultural training abreast of our
training for other professions by
requiring as pre-agricultural study
a large amount of, and as soon as
possible complete, arts work. Only
in this way can we secure a sup-
agricultural work, the remunera-
tion must be sufficient, not to com-
pete with what other industries
offer to research men, but to make
possible comfortable habits of life.
Our standard joke concerning the
salaries of teachers is unfortu-
nately just as applicable to posi-
tions in which the teachers are also
researchers and to those in which
research only is carried on.

There is another aspect of the
relationship between scientific re-
search and Canadian agricultural
problems to which I must refer,
namely, the educational aspect. It
should be perfectly clear that the
men who are to do worth-while
investigational work in agricul-
tural problems must have a
thorough training in the basic
subjects as well as a broad educa-
tion in the languages and human-
ities. As I have already pointed
out, a thorough understanding of
agricultural questions demands a
peculiarly broad acquaintance
Avith many fundamental subjects.
The problems of agriculture in-
volve just as complex scientific
conditions as do those of medi-
cine or engineering for example.
And the men who are to solve
them must have just as broad
and thorough a fundamental
training as the researcher in medi-
cine or engineering. Moreover,
apart from his research, the tech-
nical agriculturist has to face just
as many situations requiring broad
education and culture as have any
other professional men.

NoAv the medical colleges re-

quire the equivalent of two years
of arts work with specified large
credits in the sciences, before ad-
mission is granted to the purely
medical studies. Some indeed re-
quire full arts graduation and all
medical authorities advise gradua-
tion in arts even where they do
not require it. All this is required
of those who are to become only
general medical practioners. Much
more is necessary for the research
man.

Similar conditions are found in
regard to the training for other
professions. In engineering, law,
divinitj^ a broad fundamental
training is considered necessary
and is generally required. At the
recent Canadian Universities con-
ference held at Quebec a resolu-
tion was unanimously adopted
calling for large increases in Eng-
lish, history, economics and par-
ticularly fundamental science in
the training of engineers. The ideal
of all educationists in these pro-
fessions is to secure complete arts
graduation before admission to
professional studies, and failing
that a large and specified amount
of arts work.

In my opinion the professional
agriculturist should have just as
thorough a pre-professional train-
ing. This is true not only for the
researcher in agricultural prob-
lems but also for agricultural
teachers in schools or colleges, dis-
trict representatives, inspectors,
laboratory men and various ad-
ministrators.

In those institutions which in-
clude both arts and agricultural
colleges, it should be easy to ar-
range for such training. The pre-
agricultural students should be
taught in the same classes as the
pre-medical students, or pre-en-
gineering students, or straight arts
students. In other places the
students may not be given the
formal arts classes but he should
get the equivalent of them in a
thorough broad training during

71

the first two years. In all eases,
if he is to benefit by his work,
complete matriculation should be
demanded before the student is
permitted to enter. It is essential
pcdafjfofrically that the basic sub-
jects be taught before the student
takes up the professional ones.
They should certainly not be tack-
ed on after the student has taken
his professional work. This will
ply of i)roperly trained research
men as well as of other technical
agriculturists.

The educational aspect of the
relationship also involves the ques-
tion of graduate work which is
a very pressing one in Canada. l>ut
as that is to be dealt with by an-
other speaker, I shall refrain from
discussing it.

I said at the outset that I would
not attempt a comprehensive treat-
ment of the subject — in spite of
the time I have taken. I have
tried to emphasize four respects
in which, in my opinion, the rela-
tion of scientific research to agri-
culture is peculiarly important in
Canada at the present time. They
may be designated: (1) Founda-
tion ; (2) Co-operation ; (3) Re-
muneration, and (4) Education.

Discussion.
DR. SAUNDERS: I would like
to thank Dr. Thompson for his ad-
mirable paper, and to say that I
endorse most heartily what he said
as to the necessity of men engaged
in research work being free to go
where they would and do what
they liked. The man who does
scientific research work is a very
curious individual from the point
of view of the individual man. He
is a crank, and if he does not have
his own way, he will not accom-
plish much. The weakest point
at present in agricultural science
is at the top. Dr. Robertson em-
phasized contact Avith the farmer.
Of course that is absolutely vital,

but there is a long space between
contact with the farmer and agri-
cultural research ; that space is not
so badly filled at the present time,
but wlierc we are weak is in the
head. We are not rotten in any
sense, but we are hollow, and the
sooner we realize that the better.

DEAN HOWES. I would like
to know just how widespread and
general is the condition which
makes it necessary to outline al-
most in detail and tell what the
outcome will be when any research
work is being taken up. I have
l)een very much pleased with the
points brought out by Dr. Thomp-
son that the research man should
not be restricted by having to be
a professor as well as a research
man. When one 'of our professors
undertook some work in live stock
investigation, one official took him
very severely to task and said he
should not be allowed to under-
take such work because he did not
know what he was going to get
out of it.

PRESIDENT KLINCK: I wish
to thank Dr. Thompson for cal-
ling the attention of the con-
vention to the statement which
I made this afternoon when I
attempted to state what lines of
research work should be under-
taken by the Dominion Govern-
ment and what lines should be un-
dertaken by the Provincial Gov-
ernment. I attempted to condense
into a very brief statement many
things which might be enlarged
upon. What Dr. Thompson has
stated in regard to that w^ork is in
hearty accord with my own views.
We all know that men who under-
take research work should be
given a very free hand and in the
course of their investigation they
obtain new light w^hich permits
greater results than were origin-
ally looked for.

It gives me great pleasure at this
time to ask Dr. A. B. Macallum to
address you.

72

THE AIMS OF THE RESEARCH COUNCIL IN RELATION TO
AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS.

Dr. A. B. MACALLUM, Chairman of the Research Council.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :

I am really at sea tonight. When
I was invited to address you I was
told that there Avould be some
question of general policy come up
in a paper which Dr. Thompson
would read. Now, there are ques-
tions of policy discussed in that
paper but they are of a kind which
will agitate the world for a good
many years and upon which the
voice of the Council will not be
any more decisive than the voice
of any individual outside it. I
thought my function would be to
deal with the aims of the Research
Council in relation to agricultural
research. That has not been re-
ferred to in the paper which by
the way is a very valuable one,
and I hope it will be published,
and made available for those who
are interested in the subject. I
might add also that the views
which Dr. Thompson has enun-
ciated very largely agree with my
own. I do not think you can put
a handicap on research and expect
to get the best from it. I would
say further that it ought to be the
aim of agriculture in Canada to
cultivate a type of mind which
goes to make a successful and
brilliant reseacher. I would not
go so far as Dr. Saunders does in
calling such a researcher a crank.
Faraday was not a crank, nor was
Pasteur nor Tyndall, nor Darwin,
— all these men who were beacon
lights of science in the past. There
is, however, something in them
that you do not find in the aver-
age individual. There is what I
would call a kin of a particular
character; a qualification which
makes a man engaged in research,
in spite of himself, peculiar. My
experience of 30 years in the Uni-
versity has convinced me of that
fact. When I first entered the
staff of the University of Toronto

36 years ago, I had the idea, taken
from John Hopkins University,
that almost every student could be
a researcher, but I w^as in a few
years very sadly disillusioned, and
I have come to the conclusion now
that less than 3 per cent of the
students have that particular
qualification which will carry
them on through a long life's
career of research. Men of this
type in the past were responsible
for the progress of the human
race. All that has been achieved
has been due to their efforts. The
number today who are bringing
forward new ideas that will mat-
ter eventually are less than one
four thousandths of 1 per cent of
the population. If you can find
these students, give them every
opportunity that is possible and
leave them very largely a free
hand, you will get results
Miiieh will exceed all expectations.
Who, in the "thirties'' and the
"forties" of the last century
would have thought that Faraday
who was first of all an ordinary
laboratory attendant and later a
laboratory assistant to Sir Hum-
phrey Davis, with a salary of a
couple of hundred pounds a year,
would, in his investigations, obtain
results in electro-magnetism which
would revolutionize modern indus-
try.

I must, however, get back to the
subject for which I am here. I can
only say that the Research Council
is very eager to assist agriculture
as far as it possibly can, consistent
mth its functions. The Council
is called the Honorary- Advisory
Council for Scientific and Indus-
trial Research, and in the Order-
in-Council appointing it the fol-
lowing specifications were given:

(a) To consult with all respon-
sible bodies and persons carrying
on scientific and industrial re-

73

search work in Canada ^vith a
view to bringing about united
efforts and mutual co-opera-
tion is solving the various prob-
lems of industrial research which
from time to time present them-
selves ;

(b) To co-ordinate as far as
possible the work so carried on so
as to avoid overlapping of effort,
and to direct the various problems
recjuiring solution into the hands
of those whose equipment and
ability are best adapted thereto;

(c) To select the most practical
and pressing problems indicated
by industrial necessities and pres-
ent them when approved by the
Committee to the research bodies
for earliest possible solution;

(d) To report from time to time
the progress and results of their
work to the Minister of Trade and
Commerce as Chairman of the
Committee of Council.

Later on a rescript was address-
ed to the Council by a Special
Committee of the Privy Council in
which its functions were given in
more detail. Industrial research
is mentioned again and again, and
we understand that agriculture is
the basic industry. Still, the lan-
guage in which this rescript is put
and the ordinary use of the w^ord
"industrial" do not specifically
imply that agriculture is to be
under the auspices of the Council.
One of the paragraphs read as
follows : —

(e) To make a scientifc study
of our common unused resources,
the waste and by-products of our
farms, forests, fisheries and in-
dustries, with a view to their utili-
zation in new or subsidiary pro-
cesses of manufacture, and thus
contributing to the wealth and
employment of our people.

That is the only reference in
our instructions which would en-
able us to cover agricultural re-
search. Though tlie Research
Council is especially concerned
with scientific research, and has

endeavoured to perform its func-
tion in this respect to almost the
fullest extent, two fundamental
sciences, Zoology and A.stronomy
liave not hitherto been included in
its activities, and it has been cri-
ticized for this but there are very
good reasons why the Council
denies itself the exercise of any
of its functions therein. In the
matter of pure science, the Council
can support research in many
tilings which concern agriculture,
but it has done so, because the
problems undertaken, involved re-
search in pure sciences and be-
cause also the results may be of
immense benefit to the country.
The ((uestions which the Council
must consider in determining
whether it should support a special
research in agriculture are : —
How far will the proposed research
financially involve the Council,
and further, is it a problem that
could be undertaken more proper-
ly and as efficiently by some other
body? The answers to these ques-
tions determine the action of the
Council. If it supported agricul-
tural research unreservedly I may
tell you frankly, it would not have
a cent left for anj'-thing else out
of its Parliamentary vote. It did
provide for two investigations in
Agriculture, one conducted by
Prof. Thompson on the breeding
of wdieat and the rust problem,
and another, the bacteriology of
cream and milk in connection with
the grading of butter and cream.
It provided for these researches
at a time when it hoped agricul-
tural research would be generously
supported by the Provincial and
Dominion Governments and it did
not expect that it would be called
upon to provide further grants,
except occasionally. It was how-
ever, subsequently appealed to for
grants in aid of research on eight
or nine different problems, which
would have totalled something
over $60,000 at the start, and as
this was practically the amount

74

the Council had for all lines of
research it had to call a halt in
this matter, and wait until it had
additional resources before ven-
turing further into agricultural
research.

I believe there is great waste of
money in duplication in experi-
mental work in Canada, but there
would not be any waste if the
work were carried out on some
system of co-operation. Even if
there were some duplication, pro-
viding the efforts of the workers
were co-ordinated, it would have
one advantage : it would make
more certain the results obtained.
I have been informed by one who
has carefully gone into the ques-
tion that there is an enormous
amount of duplication in experi-
mental work in Agriculture in
Canada, and it is not only in this
country that such duplication oc-
curs. It also occurs in the United
States and Australia. New South
Wales and Victoria are separated
by the Murray River from which
the terrain rises on either side in
a gentle slope for miles. On op-
posite sides of the river at a cer-
tain point both States have large
experimental farms on which re-
search and experimental work are
carried on of exactly the same
kind, and about £350,000 a year
are thus spent by each of these
two States. If that is a true state-
ment of what obtains there, and
the party who told me of it was
an expect agriculturist from Aus-
tralia, it is criminal duplication.

There are a great many agricul-
tural departments in Canada, as
many as there are Provinces, and
one for the Dominion. It is not
possible for these departments to
co-operate in such a way as to form
some organization which would
have supervision of all research
work that is done in the country?
Some of that research work, I
believe is aimlessly' done, or done
in a futile way. Some of the work-
ers are not qualified for the work

which they have been given to do,
and in consequence the money thus
spent is wasted.

The Council itself is aiming at
producing a body of scientific
workers in all lines, in Physics,
Chemistry, Geology, Mineralogy,
Meteorology, Engineering and Bio-
logy. Of the seventeen Student-
ships awarded by the Council for
1919-20, four are held by students
who are engaged on problems in
Agriculture. One of these, Miss
M. Newton, has been investigating
wheat rusts under Prof. Thomp-
son, at Saskatoon. There are
three working in the Botanical
Department of the University of
Toronto, on problems in Plant
Pathology. The object of the Coun-
cil in giving these studentships is
to support students Avho have got
that peculiar f|uality I have re-
ferred to, while training them-
selves for research. The Council
is not restricting the number of
such studentships or fellowships to
four; it will give as many in the
future as there are students quali-
fied and deserving to get them,
I think that is as far as I can dis-
cuss tonight the relation of the
Council unless there is some point
that I have overlooked.

Let me say that I wish this or-
ganization to prosper and become
as strong as possible, and under
the leadership of those, amongst
you who are keen for scientific
work, I am sure that the country
will benefit from the work of
this organization. If it is con-
tinued and strengthened it will
have a very great influence in
directing attention to the right ob-
jects for agricultural research in
this country.

Discussion.

DR. F. T. SHUTT: The work
of agricultural colleges is to
train men who will be able
to undertake investigation work,
and I would like to empha-
size the desirability and im-

75

portam-e of that phase; at tlie
present juncture in our history,
tliere is a great desirability
t<» have men for investigational
work. I have been convinced of
that for many years, and it is
particularly gratifying to hear
that point so well emphasized this
evening. I am aware that the
graduates of our agricultural col-
leges are able to take experimental
work; I am (piite sure everyone
here will recognize that there is a
distinction between certain classes
of experimental work in agricul-
ture and scientific work. A num-
ber of men who came out here from
England reported on how we train-
ed our men, and they said we did
nothing in Canada at all to train

men to conduct investigatory and
scientifc work.

THE CHAIRMAN : I think it is
only fair to say that the point you
have just made is one of the
dominant notes struck in this con-
vention. There is an unanimity
of opinion in that line, and the
paper presented by Dr. Harrison
yesterday in which he outlined
courses of study in agriculture and
to which a number have spoken,
goes to .show that the courses now
being planned, and in some cases
being given in the universities
h^ve that object in view. The
course are being so framed as to
enable colleges to put on scientific
work of such a character as to
enable them to develop men who
will be qualified to do higher re-
search work.

A CANADIAN POST GRADUATE SCHOOL IN AGRICULTURE.

Paper by Dr. i\I. CUMMING, Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

Read by Mr. L. A. DeWolfe, Director of Rural Education for
Nova Scotia.

So far as preparation for life
on the farms of Canada is con-
cerned our present system of Agri-
cultural education, while possibh^
in need of some modification, is of

a sufficiently advanced character.
But, for that very considerable
body of Canadian Agricultural
students who are preparing them-
selves to occupy positions at Agri-

cultural Colleges, in scientific
Laboratories, at Experimental
Stations, etc., the scope of our
present system is altogether in-
adequate.

At the various Universities
where Arts and Science and Medi-
cine and other branches of learn-
ing are taught, the Professors are
practically all graduates of some
post-graduate course and hold
blasters and Doctors degrees. At
our Canadian Agricultural Col-
leges the majority of the Profes-
sors barely completed their four
year course when thej^ were called
upon to teach students who were
applicants for the same degree
that they themselves held and
although some of these Professors
have, through private study, added
largely to their knowledge and
grasp of their subjects, yet many
have little more knowledge and
training than they possessed when

76

they first became Bachelors of
Scientific Agriculture.

Under such conditions it is
inevitable that the teaching, un-
less in exceptional cases, has not
been as profound or as inspiring
as if the teachers had acquired
a bigger grasp and knowledge of
their subjects which only come
from a further course of study fol-
lowing the completion of the or-
dinary Bachelor Course.

In our Experiment Stations and
Scientific Laboratories men are
today working at some of the most
profound problems of the most
profound and fundamental subject
in the world-Agriculture, whose
educational equipment as meas-
ured by years at College is barely
half that of men who are engaged
in similar lines of experimenta-
tion and investigation in other
branches of science. The result is
that no matter what a man's abil-
ity may be, such an undertrained
investigator is altogether unlikely
to make the best use of his op-
portunities or to arrive at scien-
tific discoveries which Agriculture
is so much in need of today. True,
there are exceptional men who
without any kind of a College
course have made profound inves-
tigation and have arrived at some
of the worlds greatest discoveries,
but these men are exceptional. The
rank and file, to which group prac-
tically all of us belong, need the
very best and most extended edu-
cation we can acquire.

I fancy that there is not a man
in this audience who has anything
to do with filling positions in Col-
leges, Experimental Stations or
Scientific Laboratories, but who
would consider himself most for-
tunate if he could secure to fill
those positions men who, after the
completion of there regular Bach-
elors course, had devoted some
years to study under the best Pro-
fessors that the world affords and
who would thereby be equipped

with a training that would make
it possible for them to delve into
the most profound branches of
their subjects. But such men are
practically unobtainable for the
reason that there it not provided
in Canada and only to a limited
extent in the United States op-
portunities for post-graduate
study. Our Colleges and our Ex-
perimental Stations are all suffer-
ing because of this condition of
affairs.

There is another viewpoint
from which this quastdon should
be considered, and it is from
the viewpoint of the ordin-
ary graduate of our present
Agricultural Colleges who takes
a position at an Agricultural
College, an Experimental Station
or in any branch of the Civil Ser-
vice. I have little doubt that prac-
tically every one of these men at
graduation time hoped to continue
his studies in some branch of Agri-
cultural science. No doubt some
have done so, at least insofar as a
course of reading would permit.
The majority have either failed to
do so or have only carried on their
studies to a limited extent. The
reason for this condition of affairs
is evident to anyone who is fam-
iliar with College life at the big
Universities of the world. These
Universities either provide post-
graduate courses or encourage
their more brilliant graduates to
take post-graduate courses at In-
stitutions of learning where such
courses are offered. It is doubtful,
however, if more than one or two
per cent of all the graduates of
Canadian Agricultural Colleges
have ever taken a post-graduate
course at anj- institution and un-
fortunately, when they have desir-
ed to do so, the}' have found it ne-
cessary to go to some country other
than Canada where such post-
graduate courses were offered.

This is not as it should be. What
is needed is the establishment
somewhere in Canada, of a post-

graduate seliool tliat would first
of all afford facilities -for taking
post-graduate courses and that,
second, would afford a stimulus to
the average Bachelor graduate to
continue his studies after gradua-
tion. If such an Institution were
provided, the standard of educa-
tion of the members of the staffs
of our Agricultural Colleges would
he advanced on a ])ar with the
standard prevailing at other Insti-
tutions of learning; and graduates
would be turned out who would be
capable of filling positions w^ith
the iiighest possible credit to them-
selves and with a marked advance
in the standard of education at all
the Agricultural Colleges of Can-
ada.

I am of the opinion that every
person in this audience has alreadj'
given some consideration to this
subject and in all likelihood agrees
with everything that has been said
in the foregoing part of this paper.
The imi)ortant (juestion is, how and
where should such a post-graduate
school be established?

For myself I have thought that
the most practical way in which
to start this movement would be
for the various Provincial Depart-
ments of Agriculture and the t'ed-
eral Department as well to offer
a certain number of scholarships
annually to graduate students who
were anxious to continue their
studies at American or European
Institutions of learning. But this
would only be a temporary solu-
tion, but none the less a most prac-
tical one. The next step would be
the actual establishment of a Can-
adian post-graduate school where
the more profound lines of inves-
tigatio)! could be carried on, and
where post-graduate students
might have opportunity to con-
tinue their studies in their own
special lines. One such Institution
would be sufficient in the mean-
time for Canada. It should not
be Provincial in character. Pos-

sibly it should be supported joint-
ly by the Federal and the Provin-
cial Departments of Agriculture,
and in all likelihood it might, as
has been the case with similar In-
stitutions elsewhere, come in for
private endowments. However,
that may be the important thing
for use all to realize at this present
moment is that we cannot too soon
have established at some central
point in Canatla tlie best equij^ped
post-graduate Agricultural School
that may be found in any part of
the world, and let me add that this
Society of Technical Agricultur-
ists can, in no way, give a
better account of itself than by
using every influence in its
power to get such a school estab-
lished at the earliest possible date.

Discussion.

DR. J. H. GRISDALE : This
subject is one which might pos-
sibly better have been treated by
one who has been more in touch
with academic institutions of
learning than I have been for
some time, I have not been carry-
ing on any research Avork for the
last ten years, hence I feel some-
Avhat out of touch. I have felt
perhaps more keenly than most of
3'ou here the necessity for w'ork
of this kind being carried on in
Canada. I listened with the very
greatest interest to the able paper
delivered by Dr. Thompson. The
reasons for closer study and
deeper research and more thor-
ough training to men identified
with agricultural research could
not have been more lucidly given
and more completely outlined than
was done by Dr. Thompson, and
I hope, Mr. Chairman, that every
member of this Society will take
a day off and study that paper
and attempt to digest it. It appears
to me to contain matter for a
great deal of thought and most
careful consideration, matter that
may well be brought up for dis-

cussion here. I think no fuller
analysis of the situation could
have been given.

I regret I was unable to be pres-
ent yesterday when Dr. Harrison
took up College Courses, but I
have had two or three chats with
Dr. Harrison on this matter and
have some idea of the lines he
followed. The reasons for the in-
ception of such courses are multi-
tudinous, and I do not propose to
attempt to discuss them here to-
night. We know from experience
that the average graduate leaving
the halls of learning at the diffe-
rent points in Canada where
agricultural science is taught is
of verj' small value as an investig-
ator or even as an instructor un-
less and until he has had two or
three years' experience. Many of
the graduates of these institutions
feel that they know it all — not
quite, but nearlj- all — when they
leave those halls. We who have
had to do with these young men
Avhen they enter the service of the
Federal or Provincial Depart-
ments find out very soon that they
have a great deal to learn, and it
takes them from two to four or
five years to become at all satis-
factory as investigators or tech-
nical men. If we had at our tech-
nical institutions an opportunity
to carry on this work in which
they have taken elementary cour-
ses— because that is about the best
one can say about the courses —
if vre had some opportunity for
them to enlarge on these courses,
they would leave there after two
or three more years' work fitted
to carry on work that would be
of real value to the country. I
am of the opinion that it would
have the effect of materially in-
creasing the remuneration at
which these men would be en-
gaged. As Dr. Thompson said,
the man who is satisfied to carry
on investigatory work of a purely
scientific character is a man who
is satisfied to remain comparative-

ly poor most of its life. If we
can assure our graduates, that is
to say, men who take postgraduate
courses, that they would at the
end of the post graduate course be
in ^ position to take on work
which would be more amply rem-
unerated, I am sure we would
have no lack of men ready to go
into the work.

I listened with much interest to
Dr. Cumming's paper, and I noted
that in one point at least, in fact
in every point but one, he and I
are in absolute accord. The one
exception is a point on which there
is more likelihood to be some
difference of opinion than any
other. Dr. Cumming stated that
in his opinion there will be only
one post graduate college to begin
with. We have in Canada some
7 or 8 agricultural colleges, and
of course there is naturally more
or less rivalry among these insti-
tutions. They are all, with one
exception, Provincial Institutions.
Now, Dr. Cummings stated in
his paper that the work in
a post graduate course should
be supported bj' the Provinces
and by the Federal Government,
and supported more or less by
donations or subscriptions of one
kind and another from private
sources. I quite agree with him on
all these matters l)ut it seems to me
that any such co-operation of the
Federal Government with one
Province would be likely to lead
to jealous}^ on the part of the
other Provinces and to more or
less rivalry. We should 'really
attempt to pick some institution
that is not Provincial in its alleg-
iance or in its relation, and there
organize such a course as would
be very thorough and very com-
plete and very well supported
financially.

I would like to see a complete
and comprehensive system of post
graduate work at one institution
in Canada so as to insure an
opportunity for those who are in-

79

terested in the different lines that
may be taken up to got that edu-
catioji and trainiiip: at a minimum
of cost and a maximum of effi-
ciency.

There are a great many differ-
ent lines of work for men who
have genius that will give them
a place in Canadian agriculture.
Let me name a few of them : Live
stock; that is a subject that is
susceptible to subdivision into
many headings, and there would
be 25 or 30 subdivisions right
there. Next, Horticulture, tliat
also is susceptible to subdivision
into man}' headings, and would
almost rank with live stock. Then
there is farm management, and so
on.

In all these lines we have need-
ed men during the last two
months, and we have been unable
to find them, and all the Provin-
cial institutions and organizations
having to do with agricultural
progress are having the same dif-
ficulty. Plant Pathologists at the
present time seem to be very rare
birds. We find that we cannot
get them anywhere in Canada,
and they are scarce in the United
States. When we go to the Unit-
ed States for them, we have to
meet the competition of higher
salaries than are being paid by
the institutions here. There is a
demand for experts in bee-keep-
ing, tobacco growing, flax, flax
mill operation, traction machi-
nery, marketing, agricultural
transportation and farm hygiene.
I could give you lists almost with-
out end. Anyone of these subjects
demands a man who will give his
time to it, and it will take several
years to fit him to carry on in-
vestigational work. As an initial
step in this work, it is absolutely
necessary that the student should
have a first class high school and
college education, and at least
Honor IMatriculation, which is
equivalent to six years in our Ont-
ario High Schools. That is the

very minimum with which a man
should start, and I agree "with
Dr. Macallum that it would be
advisable for a man to have the
degree of B.A. if he is going to
carry on research work. He should
have that degree to begin with.
There is no reason why a certain
amount of work that covers the
B.S.A. degree should not be in-
eluded in the B.A. degree; there
is no reason why a man who has
taken his B.A. degree should not
be granted a certain minimum in
the B.S.A. course. I think that
is done in some of the agricultural
colleges at the present time. I
think it would be exceedingly un-
wise if we did not have this mat-
ter thrashed out here to-night.

DR. F. C. HARRISON: There
is no subject in which I am more
intensely interested than this one
of graduate Avork in agriculture.
I have listened with interest to
the discussion that has taken
place to-night, and to the very
clear paper of Dr. Thompson and
to Dr. Cumming's suggestions and
Dr. Macallum 's statements, and I
agree with all that has been said,
with a few minor exceptions.

With reference to the training
of men going into research work,
I am fully seized of the import-
ance of having some preliminary
training. I do not know, how-
ever, Avhether I can wholly sub-
cribe at the present time to the
assertion that has been made that
the B.A. degree should be the first
essential. There are B.A. degrees
which deal with subjects which
are very classical and take up
higher Mathematics, and whilst I
believe that a certain amount of
training in Classics and Mathem-
atics is essential for good research
work, I do not think that at the
present time such a training is
altogether essential as a prerequi-
site for research work. It further
puts on the time in which we can
turn out men.

86

Agaiu, I should be afraid that
if a man embarks on an Arts
course, he might be so diverted
as to lose the practical bearing of
many subjects that he might be
asked to take up. It is hard to
make any dividing line between
pure science and applied science
because often discoveries in pure
science are of the utmost import-
ance in applied science. You
might get men of this training to
do excellent work, but I think
that it is well in the initial stages,
particularly if they have not had
any previous acquaintance with
agriculture, to have some general
knowledge of the subject, other-
wise they might lose something
of the viewpoint and practical
bearing of the subject. I certain-
1}^ believe in thorough prelimin-
ary training, and in certain lines
of work, training in Languages
and Mathematics is essential. A
great deal of research work in
Physics requires deep mathema-
tical study, and Mathematics are
required in Chemistry, Physics,
and Bacteriology, and it is
a subjest to which we do not
as agriculturists, give a great deal
of time or thought. As far as
possible, it would be Avell to work
up to these things gradually and
do what we can to fill the immed-
iate wants of our colleges and ex-
perimental stations with what
facilities we have.

Specialization has reached very
remarkable proportions. We used
to have a professor of Natural
History who lectured on Geology
and on Biological subjects includ-
ing Botany, Zoology and Ento-
mology. Then we got them sub-
divided, and now we have Ento-
mology and all the other subjects
so sub-divided that I think spe-
cialization is dwarfing the men,
and they are becoming too narrow
in their outlook.

I had an opportunity sometime
since of talking to a number of
men who have achieved promin-

ence in research work in the Unit-
ed States and who had gone to
the United States Department of
Agriculture by reason of the
opportunity given them there of
pursuing one research problem.
The free hand given them was
very much appreciated by these
men, but after a time many of
them began to feel they were be-
coming too narrow, and when
opportunity came they again went
back to the colleges and engaged
in teaching. I think a certain
amount of teaching work is rather
a good tonic. It helps a man to
rub against minds with new ideas,
motives and aspects, and gives a
change of occupation Avhich I
think is extremely healthy. If I
were only engaged in research
work, I should welcome a .certain
amount of teaching.

Dr Grisdale has given a list of
subjects for specialisation which
is alarmingly long. If we have
to provide experts in all these
lines, the Federal resources would
be somewhat inadequate. I think
a beginning should be made in
those lines of work which call for
the greatest number of men. 1
hope that the Dominion Depart-
ment will be as helpful as possi-
ble in providing facilities. There
is considerable jealousy in the
Provinces in educational matters.
Any new departure of the Domi-
nion along educational lines is
very apt to be strongly condemn-
ed by the Provinces. That is one
difficulty that has to be overcome.
The Dominion Department of
Agriculture has taken men prov-
incially educated and trained and
has only indirectly contributed to
that educational work. On the
other hand, the Federal Depart-
ment is the largest employer of re-
search men. and it seems only
right that they should help out
the colleges.

Dr. Macallum's committees
should be used and they will be
helpful in awarding scholarships

81

ami iiuluciiig men to go on with
graduate work who perhaps have
exceeded their somewhat limited
resources in preparing for their
Bachelor's defrreo.

We are trying to do something
to turn out men with better qua-
lifications with regard to their
Bachelor's degree, and also with
higher qualifications. We have
already had a number of men who
have taken the Master's degree.
We have an opportunity given by
McGill University to take the
Master's Degree in the Science
of Agriculture, and also going
forward to the higher degree of
Ph.D. provided of course certain
requisite as to majors and min-
ors and languages are taken. We
have a number of men who are
actually registered for the Doct-
or's degree at the present time.
Our resources at Macdonald Col-
lege are limited. We have not a
rich provincial fund to draw on.
Our endowment is largely private,
but as far as our resources allow
we are doing as much as we can
to help out this very considerable
shortage of specialists.

For the last three or four years
we have not had the same number
of men to graduate. Instead of
graduating 150, only 30 or 40 have
been prepared. Last year we had
none, and this year 15. The Colle-
ges have been called upon recently
to help out in the Soldier's Civil
Re-Establishment Work and this
organization has taken a large
number of graduates, and that has
diminished the small existing sup-
ply. For these reasons you can see
that it will take several years be-
fore the catching up process has
been accomplished, but I thing we
should endeavor to turn out men
who are much better trained
fundamentally, scientifically, cul-
turally than any that have been
going through our colleges previ-
ously.

This meeting has been a great
inspiration on account of the in-

sistent demand for better trained
graduates and more post-graduate
work. In speaking for Macdonald
College, I can assure this Conven-
tion that we shall do our utmost
to give the best possible training
to all prospective graduate stu-
dents.

PRINCIPAL RENOLDS: It
has been stated more than once
during the course of this discus-
sion that the agricultural colleges
have not taken a large part in
training men for research. That
of course is undoubtedly true, and
in passing I should like to remind
you that such a deplorable fact is
not entirely or even chiefly the
consequence of any lack of ap-
preciation of the agricultural col-
leges of the need for research men.
T would like to remind you that
the problem of teaching at agri-
cultural colleges has absorbed the
energies of the men and absorbed
the available funds, and, however
much we may have desired, as we
have desired, to strengthen our
research departments, we have
found it well nigh impossible to
do this because of the fact that
any extensions we have been able
to secure in the direction of finan-
ces, has necessarily been expended
in extending our teaching depart-
ments.

You know of course that the
coml)ination of teaching and re-
search is strictly limited. While
I believe the teachers should be
research workers to as large a
degree as possible, yet in agricul-
tural colleges, there is a problem,
during the winter session of teach-
ing, and there is a problem during
the summer term of extension and
the preparation of bulletins and
conducting correspondence and at-
tending meetings, and these prob-
lems have so taken the attention
and energies of our men that even
those inclined to research have not
been able to conduct them.

As far as training for research

82

is concerned, whether it should be
in academic institutions or tech-
nical institutions, I am not quite
sure. Being myself a graduate of
an academic institution, I might
be supposed to favor the B. A.
course, and while one might not
see at first glance the relation be-
tween practical training and re-
search, I do believe there is close
connection. If the objection men-
tioned by Dr. Harrison were not
so real, namely the objection of
time, then I would say perhaps a
little training would be an excel-
lent preparation for a man going
in for research, because it is not
only an exertion of ideas and accu-
racy of thought and expression,
but there is also the development
of imagination which a research
worker requires for the highest
success. Nevertheless the advant-
age of training in agricultural col-
leges is that he becomes acquainted
with the problem.

As to the type of institution
that should be recommended for
research work, I am not clear as
to the practical possibilities.
Doubtless, ideally, one central in-
titution would be the thing, yet
we must not forget tliat local am-
bition would probably interfere as
to the establishment of one central
institution. I believe Dr. Macal-
lum would agree with me that not
only the agricultural colleges
throughout Canada but the uni-
versities also would court for
themselves the establishment of
research and post-graduate depart-
ments. I believe the universities
of Canada have definitely express-
ed their position with regard to the
establishment of a central research
school. While that opposition may
be overcome, and while it may be
decided that one central school is
the best to meet the needs, yet the
opposition is undoubtedly a factor
which we must take into account.
We must not forget that the uni-
versities and the colleges, which
are attached to it,would he benefit-

ed by a research department. The
presence in a college of a research
department undoubtedly lends
tone, character and elevation to
the teaching that is done there,
and for that reason I fancy there
is a very real and indispensable
desire on the part of all univer-
sities and colleges to establish
sooner or later, post-graduate
courses. I may say from my own
experience that I have found it
difficult to convince practical men
and politicians with whom we have
to deal and from whom we draw
our resources, of the necessity of
research work of any kind. For
example, for three years I have
been attempting to secure for our
institution a 'Plant Pathologist,
but not until now have I been able
to secure an appropriation for that
purpose. I believe a Plant Patho-
logist is now on the job in Mani-
toba. We have attempted to get
research work going in a sort of
subsidiary and secondary way as
a department of our teaching, but
to maintain in an institution
Avhere teaching is so insistent,
separate men for research will be
difficult until we can convince the
public at large of the necessity of
that kind of work.

DEAN HOWES : T have not very
much to contribute in addition to
what has already been given. I
am glad of the opportunity of say-
ing "Yea and Amen" to what has
been said before. I take it, Sir,
tliat there has been no intention
to criticize the work of the col-
leges in the past. I did not, gather
tliat from the discussion. As men-
tioned by the Deputy Minister last
niglit, we are very young yet, and
I think considering our years and
time and opportunity, possibly our
colleges have done fairly well. At
the same time when we take ac-
count of ourselves and realize
wherein we are short and wherein
Ave may correct our deficiencies, I
take it that it is the sense of the

83

meetintr tliut tlioro is a necessity
for this post-frrjidualc Avorl<. I do
not suppose tiiere is any difference
of opinion in that regard, but I
can see at once there Avill be a
difference of opinion as to the
means in wliich tliat shall be
placed in operation, and tiiat is the
line -wliich I think perhaps the
discussion should follow.

As the head of a young institu-
tion just beginning, I feel that I
can only register my ai)probation
of tlie movement. Some of you
know already that our institution
up to the present time has been
conducted on three years' work
following two years' work at the
Scliools of Agriculture. We have
been instructed by our Senate to
put on a four years' course, with
tiie same number of months as
put in by the other Faculties of
the University. That is a mile-
stone in our career. At the same
time, we have been asked and have
drawn up a course and combined
our courses of Arts and Agricul-
ture. The ver,y specific reason for
that was the preparation and en-
couragement of young men to go
on witli this work that we have
been discussing tonight, the first
two 3-ears being almost altogether
arts, the next two years a com-
bination, and the last two years
practical agriculture with a com-
mensurate amount of training. We
will have two degrees, arts and
agriculture. We think that will
be an incentive to young men in
our Province to avail themselves
of the combined course. We have
men from our Institution already
who have gone to the United
States for post-graduate work. T
know of one now who would like
to get into some Canadian institu-
tion, and we will have men all
the time who will be looking for
that sort of Avork, and if some cen-
tral institution has already taken
tlie lead others Avill folloAv, but we
will have to take advantage of
that for the time being.

NOTE:— At this stage of tiie
discussion a committee was named
to give the (|uestion of graduate
study further consideration and
to submit a report of their deci-
sions. Tlie committee was com-
posed of Dr. F. C. Harrison (chair-
man). President J. B. Reynolds,
Dean E. A. Howes, President L. S.
Klinck, Dr. J. M. Swaine and Uv.
II. S. Arkell. The report of tliat
Committee follows :

Report of Committee on Graduate
Study.

DR. HARRISON : Your com-
mittee begs to report :

1. That tlie necessity for gradu-
ate work in agriculture is imper-
ative at the present time, both for
preparing teachers in all agricul-
tural subjects and for training
men ([ualified to undertake re-
search work.

2. That graduate courses be ar-
ranged for at the earliest possible
moment in :

1. Animal Ilusbandr.v;

2. Agronomy ;

3. Horticulture ;

4. Poultry;

5. Plant Pathology;

6. Entomology ;

7. Chemistry;

8. Physics;

9. Bacteriology ;

10. Agricultural Engineering;

11. Rural Economics.

3. That in undertaking graduate
work, it must be clearly under-
stood that such work must be very
carefully planned, adequately
staffed and proper accommoda-
tion and equipment for the ad-
vanced character of the work, ar-
ranged for.

4. That all colleges be invited
to co-operate in issuing an announ-
cement of the graduate courses
they are prepared to offer, as a
guide to prospective students.

5. That this Society appoint a
committee to advise with regard
to the undertaking of graduate
work at the various colleges, the

cS4

standardization and other neces-
sary details of graduate work in
agriculture.

6. That the Dominion Depart-
ment of Agriculture be invited to
enter into the fullest co-operation
with the colleges, and to place, as
far as circumstances permit, their
corps of experts and other facil-

ities at the disposal of institutions
offering graduate work.

7. That the facilities as regards
scholarships offered by the Com-
mittee of Scientific and Industrial
Research be taken the fullest ad-
vantage of, and that the colleges
be requested to provide further
scholarships for graduate work.

THE RELATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE TO THE
FARMERS' MOVEMENT.

J. W. CROW, O.A.C., Guelph.

The Farmers' Movement is a
broad humanitarian movement,
only incidentally political in char-
acter, being primarily moral and
social and secondarily economic in
nature.

The agricultural college origin-
ated in the farmers' movement and
has itself contributed very materi-
ally to the present situation. It
seems, however, that the agricul-
tural college is not providing at
present the leadership which is ex-

pected and it therefore becomes
proper to enquire into the situa-
tion and to bring about if possible
a more satisfactory condition of
affairs. It is because I feel so
keenly the importance of the posi-
tion occupied by the agricultural
college that I appreciate the op-
portunity of hearing the matter
discussed by this gathering of men
whose activities are so closely link-

ed up with the future of agricul-
ture in all its phases.

I am convinced that the agricul-
tural college stands at the focal
point of agricultural development
and that it requires to be re-es-
tablished in the public mind as
the focal point likewise of our
agricultural organization. In Can-
ada at the present time we are
formulating plans Avhich will pro-
foundly affect the future of agri-
cultural research, experimentation
and extension and through them
necessarily the solution of our
present agricultural problems. As
already intimated, and as I am
sure we all realize very fully, the
agricultural college must provide
competent leadership. In this res-
pect we look necessarily to the
men trained in the institution and
graduated from it as representing
the best we have to offer in the
way of training.

It seems to me only a very brief
inquiry is necessary in order to
discover the chief function of the
agricultural college in relation to
this problem. Dr. Robertson, in
his thoughtful address this morn-
ing, stated that the average farmer
needs "skiU in thinking" in order
that he may be able "to make out
of the acquisition of knowledge,
intelligence." It becomes obvious
at once that the men who make the
most important contributions to

85

agricullural advancement are
those who are able to think ac-
curately, to reason closely and to
deduce from available knowledge
the best rules for guidance. In
this sense it is perhaps not vi^ide
of the mark to say that the great-
est contribution the agricultural
college can make to the farmers'
movement is to train young men to
think and to think straight. It is
obviously not possible for the stu-
dent to absorb all knowledge but
it is ])ossible for him to learn the
right method of approach to his
subject matter. The mark of an
educated man is his attitude to-
wards knowledge and especially
his attitude toward new know-
ledge.

It will be pointed out of course
that the matter of teaching a boy
to think is a problem which con-
cerns our entire school system,
with which statement of course we
fully agree. This does not mean,
however, that the agricultural col-
lege is thereby absolved from any
of its responsibility in this direc-
tion; rather is its duty in this
regard emphasized and made all
the more important. "We are ac-
customed to speak of agricultural
education as though there Avere
several kinds of education of
which the agricultural is one. We
sometimes forget that education
is properly a development of the
mental faculties and that the psy-
chology of thinking is "the same
in all cases" w^hether the subject
mattei" be astronomy, theology or
agriculture. There is only one kind
of educative process and therefore
only one kind of true education. A
student may acquire an education
in botany or in mycology, but the
education he receives is not, there-
fore, to be spoken of as mycolo-
gical or botanical.

It will be stated of course that
graduates from our agricultural
colleges are expected to possess a
broad foundation of knowledge
but in my opinion we are over-em-

j)liaziMg the matter of breadth. I
believe that the situation in Can-
adian agricultural colleges calls
for a considerably greater degree
of specialization as a remedy for
the present overloading of curri-
culums. Arguments against spe-
cialization are, it seems to me,
fully answered when we have safe-
guarded the kind of thinking a
student is required to do. Even
if a man knoAvs nothing but corn
— if his thinking about corn is
accurate and if he sees corn in
all of its broad and intimate rela-
tions to human welfare he is not
narrowly educated and certainly
is not to be regarded as inferior in
mental development.

The advocates of so-called
"teehical education" frequently
fall into error in this regard.
"Education" wiiich goes no fur-
ther than mere training in the
technique of a craft may not be
education at all in the true sense.
An educational system which omits
the cultural values is seriously
deficient from the human stand-
point. Ancient Rome and recent
Germany were built on this plan
and in the light of our understand-
ing of democracy no further com-
ments should be necessary.

If the agricultural college is to
function properly as a training
school for rural leadership it must
be alive. To be alive it must be in
closest touch with new informa-
tion. It seems to me it w^ould be
very difficult for a teacher to keep
up-to-date if he were dejoendent
for his new information on sources
outside of his institution. Con-
versely, it seems to me that the
argument for developing research
work within the agricultural col-
leg is incontrovertible. The quick-
est way to kill the agricultural
colleges Avould be to take the
functions of research and experi-
mentation away from them. It is
not necessary that teachers shall
undertake research but it is highly
important that research Avork shall

86

be done and that both student and
teacher shall come in contact with
the researcher to a sufficient ex-
tent to get his viewpoint. Research
workers should not be expected to
do very much teaching but they
should do some and while teaching
is itself a distinct line of work the
teacher who is not at the same time
a student of the difficult prob-
lems of his subject is intellectually
dead and is not fit to stand before
a class. The agricultural college
must interpret to the agricultural
community the scientific view-
point and must show the farmer
what science can do for him. In
my judgment the important con-
tributions still to be made in the
cause of agriculture will come
from the trained scientist through
close study and careful analysis
or in other words, through re-
search. We are accustomed to
speak of science and practice as
though it is possible for them to
disagree in certain instances. It
it might be pointed out that the
best practice, when aJl conditions
are taken into account, is scien-
tific, and science, when applied in
the Light of existing conditions,
becomes likewise the best prac-
tice. The histiory of agricultural
science shows that agriculture is
only recently out of the primitive
stages. Great changes and im-
provements are ahead. In my
judgment science holds the key to
advancement.

The agricultural college should
be the centre also of activities re-
lated to the breeding and improve-
ment of plants and animals. The
viewpoint of the breeder is funda-
mental to agricultural practice and
the young men trained in our col-
leges are entitled to the best avail-
able information on the subject.
It would certainly" not be possible
for them to become informed un-
less actual work in breeding and
scientific study of the same are
conducted ^^dthin the institution.
Another aspect of this matter is
of even greater importance. The

viewpoint of the breeder is of
great intellectual interest and is in
fact, recognized by the modern
biologist as furnishing the key to
the understanding of Nature.
There is no more fascinating study
than the improvement of plants
and animals by breeding and fur-
thermore no line of thought sheds
more light on fundamental human
problems. The principles of breed-
ing are identical with the prin-
ciples of growth and development
as exemplified throughout the or-
ganic world and the methods of
breeding in common dailj' use by
the farmer are likewise those
which nature uses with all living
beings. The farmer, therefore,
ought of all men to possess the
clearest and most intelligent view
of the world he lives in. He of all
men ought most to be able to ap-
preciate his environment and de-
rive enjoyment therefrom. I be-
lieve the chief reason why young
people leave the country is through
lack of intellectual interest and I
can think of nothing more stimul-
ating and enlightening than the
principle of growth and develop-
ment as it is daily exemplified in
farm practice and as it is so abun-
dantly evidenced in the world of
plants and animals among which
the farmer lives.

I could wish for a young farmer
nothing better or greater than an
education which vnll stimulate his
sympathetic interest in the farm
and in country life and which Avill
teach him to think accurately and
to good advantage upon matters
of interest connected therewith.
An education, too, which will
relate his dailj^ practice to his
philosophy of life and which will
show him that the possibility of
improvement is fundamentally the
principle which underlies all or-
ganic development. I should like
him to realize too that the same
principle lies at the base of all
educational effort and that with-
out it even his theology is hope-
less.
87

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