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N,

A SPEECH

DlLIVlBXD^jAT THB

SKSSION OF JUNK 3rd, 1892

or

The legislative ASSEMBLY

OF THK

PROVINCE OF QUEBEC,

BT

THE HONORABLE LOUIS BEAUBIEN,

iCoMMISSIONBR OP AoEIOULTUBE AND COLONISATION.

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1892

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A SPEECH

DELIVEEBD AT THE

SESSION OF JUNK 3rd, 1892

OP

The legislative ASSEMBLY

OP THE

PROVINCE OF QUEBEC,

I'.Y

THE HONORABLE LOUIS BEAUBIEN,

II

Commissioner of Agriculture and Colonisation.

1892

7i'

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A SPEECH

Delivered at the Session of June 3, 1892, of the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec

— BY —

THE HON. LOUIS BEAUBIEN,

Commissioner of Agriculture and Colonisation.

Me. Speaker,

I postponed the discussion of this item of $10,000 for the dairy iudustr)'^
until to-day for a set purpose. Several members had prayed me to wait,
in order to give them an opportunity of taking part in the debate, and I
thought it my duty to accede to their request.

In the Committee on Agriculture we had lately two such interesting
sessions, that we determined to revive them in the early days of next
session, at which time the members will not be v^ry busy. This will give
the specialists a fresh opportunity of addressing our farmers. The addresses
will be published.

We heard Professor Robertson, who occupies an important position at
the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, as well as the Assistant Commissioner,
Mr. J. C. Chapais, and we were greatly interested by the addresses of both.

'"'"'" SILOES. ' ' " ' ■ "

Since these two addresses I have made many reflections, which I now
propose to communicate to this House.

First, I request the active, sincere cooperation of each membsr.

A member, in the county he represents, occupies of necessity an import-

1 81259

ant position. I ask for his influence to help us to establish a silo in every
parish where no silo exists at present.

Grood advice has frequently great effect, and does a great deal more
than any amount of offered prizes.

Were each member to devote himself seriously to this end, and push
ahead one of the wealthiest of the farmers in each place, we should succeed
indisputably in implanting the practice of ensilage over the whole province.

To encourage this practice we intend, this year, to grant a prize of ^20
to the farmer who shall build a silo in a parish where there is none at
present. There are, I believe, a thousand parishes in the province. We
should have as many siloes as a commencement. The same prizes cannot
be offered every year, but this year, I hope, we shall have to pay the greatest
amount possible.

There is not one member who cannot promise us to devote himself to
this task during one day in each parish. Every member follows, doubt-
less, the laudable custom of presenting himself before the electors after
every session to render an account of his stewardship ; the best speech he
can make to them, after having justified his parliamentary conduct, is one
explaining the real value of the silo.

FARM-SCHOOLS.

Secondly, I ask the members to send a pupil from every parish to the
farm schools. We ought to have a thousand pupils next year. With the
aid of the zealous cures and the chief inhabitants, this result can be obtained.

I spoke of the cures. They it is who can and who will be of the great-
est assistance to us. We heard yesterday about the great work done by
them in the country, what they have done for the higher education, for the
diffusion and the progress of classical studies. They it is who have built
the colleges and peopled them with students.

Now, we do not ask them to make such extensive sacrifices. Our farm
schools are nearly ready ; it is only the pupils that are wanting, and they
must be found.

What steps were taken to develop this state of the higher education,
the advantages of which are nowadays so highly valued that even the
poorer farmers deprive themselves of everything, so to speak, that they
may send a son to college ?

How often has not the cure sent his protege to college ? More than
one has even had the merit of sending a dozen or more scholars of his par-
ish at his own expense ; and among them have sometimes been men who

^1-

I

have distinguished themselves in the service of the State and of the
Church. After building the college, the cure found the scholars. What
we ask for to-day will not be so costly. The taste for the higher education
is well developed, it has become part of our customs, it can stand alone.
The cure can now exert his influence and his earnest desire to be useful
in another direction. His advice will still be productive of good. Let
him endow our farm schools with an equally numerous band of agricultu-
ral students.

If, with the assistance of those distinguished agriculturists who will
lend me their cooperation, I am supplied with one pupil from every parish,
I will engage to make a good farmer of him. But I beg the members, as
well as the other people of the country, to send me fit pupils. I will tell
you what a lad ought to be, so that time and money may not be uselessly
expended in obtaining pupils to instruct, who, the moment they are free
from the trammels of the school, will desert the interests of agriculture.

Our proposed pupil should be from 14 to 18 years old, possessed of a
certain amount of education, and, in every sense of the word, a nice lad
{joli fj^arfon). He must be the son of a farmer and the heir presumptive of a
farm.

The chief point is the judicious selection of the pupils.

Up to the present time, the results obtained by our schools of agricul-
ture have rot, it must be confessed, been in due pi'oportion to the sums
-expended tliereou. We have not been so successful as we hoped to be,
because the selection of pupils has not been possible. We have been
satisfied with ere iting the institution, but we have not employed the pro-
per means of finding pupils to fill it ; and as a certain number of students
was necessary before the institution covild receive its grant, any lad who
presented himself, or could be picked up anywhere, was received, without
much care being exercised in the selection. This must be entirely altered.

To repeat what I said just now : you know the steps that were taken
*o promote the diff"usion of the higher education. Since our success has
been so great in that, let us take the same means to promote the diffusion
of sound agricultural studies. We said to ourselves : The country needs
statesmen and churchmen ; and statesmen and churchmen were found
for it.

In this, success was obtained in an enterprise much more arduous than
the enterprise I put before you to-day ; for, indeed, the task then was not
to search after the son of a farmer to convert him into a farmer, but, so to
«peak, to go to the very antipodes of things — to visit the abode of the farmer

6

to find a man who one day mig-ht be called npon to govern the nation.
The son of the voyageur who passed his life in the bush ; the son of the
peasant-soldier, who deserted the plough for the musket ; the youth born
in the humblest grade of society — all these were taken, educated, and then
placed at the head of the nation ; out of them was selected a distinguished
prelate, a Cartier, a Papineaii. (Cheers.) Thus, by going from one extrem-
ity of the social scale to the other, prodigies were accomplished. Out of a
popiilation composed in great part of voi/a<reurs and poor peasants, means
were found to form men highly educated, men who haA^e worthily occu-
pied the most ele\ ated positions, men who have rlone honor to our coun-
try, as they would have done honor to any country in which they might
have happened to have lived.

At the time when we were <^onquered, and reduced, algebraically
speaking, to our simplest expression ; at the time when France was aban-
doning us, we were endowed with new chiefs. Let the clergy again
afford us the cooperation of their intelligence and of their devotion, and the
restoration of our agriculture will be assured.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Agriculture is still the source of our national wealth. That our towns^
may flourish our rural districts must be prosperous.

To arrive at this result I desire to benefit by the experience of those
who have followed the best practical methods, who have been successful,
and who are living, ostensible proofs that one can gain one's bread on a
farm and not come to ruin ; that on a farm one can prosper aud remain in
this our country, Canada. (Cheers.)

One of the largest dealers in the country, Mr. Ayer of Montreal, a man
who has made his fortune in the dairy industry, told us the other day,
before the Committee on Agriculture, that the soil of the Province of
Quebec was better suited to dairying than the soil of Ontario.

To this statement I am sure you v;ill all listen with pleasure.

Our field of operation in the Province of Quebec is superior to that of
Ontario ! "Why, it is a perfect revelation ! j([

I have often heard it said that it freezes in every month of the year in
this province. May be, Voltaire was the author of this saying, but I
believe many of our people have repeated it after him. They tell us our
climate is too severe; our long, long winters devour our profits. Well,,
here is a man who has realised a considerable fortune in dealing in the
butter and cheese of our province, a man who has been obliged to visit all

)

nation,
of ther

h born
id then
ruished

xti'om-
nt of a

means
y occu-

conu-

agaui

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our districts, who is well acquainted with them all, and who tells us :
For dairying you have the finest country in the world !

SYNDICATES OF CREAMERIES AND CHEESE FACTORIES.

I ask, in the third place, that the Dairymen's Association be aided in
syndicating all the creameries and cheese factories that exist in the province.

Here, Mr. Speaker, is a way in which a member may be of the jrreatest
service. They are, say, ten, fifteen, twenty creameries or cheese factories
in his county. These are independent ; that is, they form no part of any
syndicate. The thing to be done is to reunite them into a syndicate, and
the member is the one who can work most successfully for that pur-
pose.

Let him go and hunt up the proprietors of these creameries and
cheeseries, and try to convince them of the folly they are guilty of in
remaining unconnected with the syndicate.

But it will be said, "What good can the syndicate do us ? The syndi-
cate is the school of cheese and butter-making ; it is even more than that,
I might almost say it is the university for that business. It is the best
means of teaching how to manufacture the goods, and to give them the
shape and quality needed to assure them the highest prices in the market.

This morning I was breakfasting with an Englishman, and the con-
versation happening to turn upon the subject we are now discussing,

"Why," said he, " don't you make butter here like some we make in
England ? And why don't you, especially you who derive ycnir descent
from the Bretons and Normans, make such butter as is made in Brittany ?
Brittany butter, that's the stuff! When once one has tasted it one knows
its value. Brittany butter is good, and it's always the same, always good ;
so it always fetches the best price. There, the same quality of butter is
invariably made. There is very good butter made in England, but it is
not constantly good. One day you buy good butter at market, and the
next week you can't get anything equal to it ; while Brittany and Nor-
man butter is always of the same quality, always excellent."

This is the result we aim at in forming syndicates for our creameries
and cheeseries : the manufacture of goods of superior quality and always
uniform ; permanency of the same quality ; good butter, always good ;
good cheese, and always good.

The system of the syndicate is to reunite from fifteen to twenty-five
associations, or makers, under the superintendence of one inspector, whose
salary is paid half by the Government and half by the syndicate. This

.8

fi

year there are fifteen of them. Duriug the whole summer, the inspector
visits the creameries and cheeseries in his charge, correcting faults, making
suggestions for the amelioration of the method of working — he himself
being a maker — acting in such a way that the goods be made in the most
perfect way. These inspectors are themselves under the control of an
inspector-general, and during the winter will attend a school where they
will receive full instruction in their duties. I shall have something to
say presently about this school. Everywhere, in all syndicated factories,
the products will be good, and consequently will find the best prices.

I take the syndicate to be one of the most important of the things
that concern the farmer and the proprietors of creameries and cheeseries.

Here, for instance, is a creamery or a cheesery which turns out a first-
rate article ; by its side — I am talking of places where the factories are not
syndicated — by its side, I say, is a factory that turns out only inferior
goods ; a dealer visits these factories — Mr. Ayer or Mr. MacPherson, — or
he sends his agent to make purchi^ses ; the butter or cheese is sent to
England. The consequence is, that the mixture of good and bad in the
same cargo diminishes the chances of obtaining for the good article the
price that was expected for it. And, as the price dealers pay here is in direct
ratio with that they receive in England, the careful, intelligent man who
has made a good article is compelled to submit to a diminution of his pro-
fits because his next neighbour has manufactured inferior goods.

Therefore it is clear we must improve the defective process of the
neighbour, and thus raise the general standard of excellence.

That is thy aim of th*? fjyndicates, the object that the Drirymen's Asso-
ciation proposed to itself when establishing them throughout the province.
-I congratulate that association with all my heart on its having advanced
BO far along the road of progress.

I desire to retain it as my best adviser.

The question with which it is now concerned is : How shall we attach
to the syndicates all those creameries and cheeseries not yet syndicated V

Here, the members can assist us. They have influence, and they are
even accustomed, in some degree, to the rdle of canvassers. If in their
counties there are some factories which are not syndicated, let them tell
the proprietors that they are far from extracting all the possible profits
from their trade ; that they have more to learn before they arrive at per-
fection ; that their school is the syndicate, and their instructor the inspec-
tor. They will not have long to wait for their reward.

I will ask the member for Bagot to relate his experience in this matter.

9

i

i

The day before yesterday, I heard the president of one of the syndi(;ates,
Mr. Brodeiir of St. Hugues, give us most interesting information on the
way in which the syndicates were appreciated by the people of his neigh-
bourhood.

Let the farmers open their eyes and convince themselves of the good
they may derive from these institutions. Under the syndicates goods will
be well made. Then, I shall propose to the Dairymen's Association to put
a trade-mark on the cheese — not on the box, but on the cheese itself. It
might be stamped with the words " Class 1," or 2 or 3, by the Inspector-
Greneral of the Province of Quebec. "With the aid of our friends of the
Dairymen's Association, I intend to do my best to provide a sufficient num-
ber of inspectors, and to insure that they all know their business.

To what result shall we arrive by this organization ? We shall se(;ure
the trade with the English market, the best and safest we have, and we
shall obtain prices mort? constant and more remunerative.

There, that is what I wish to do with the aid of the House ; I speak
to both sides of the Chamber.

As to myself, I intend to travel through my county, and to labor, with
the support of the cure of each parish and of all the well-disposed citoyem,
to attain to all three of the results which I have been talking about.

I do not say we shall be successful in every point, but it seems to me
that if each member would put his shoulder to the wheel, before long,
success — general success — would crown our common efforts.

We have to-day 800 cheese factories in operation, but we do not make
perfect goods in all of them. We must make perfect goods, uniformly,
everywhere, and thenceforward our trade will receive an enormous exten-
sion. We exported last year |10,000,000 worth of dairy products, of butter
or cheese. These figures represent the exports of the whole Dominion.
Unfortunately I cannot state the share of the Province of Quebec in them ;
still, looking at these figures, one can see at a glance the result at which
we might arrive with a little labor, which every one of us ought to give
with his whole heart.

THE SCHOOL OF DAIRY INDUSTRY.

A paragraph of the speech from the throne stated that the Government
intended to devote special attention to the dairy industry. I am now
explaining to the House what it is we propose to do. I am sorry to be
rather long, but the matter we are treating deserves that we afford it all
the time necessary to its consideration. I said that one of the most certain

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10

means of increasing the manufacture of a superior quality of goods, be
they cheese or butter, was a conscientious, minute inspection ; it therefore
follows that the inspector should be a man possessed of the necessary
qualifications.

At present we have not enough inspectors, and some of them perhaps
are not quite so competent as might be desired, although others are
thoroughly well skilled in their business. They are few in number when
compared with the number of syndicated factories. This is what I propose :
In the very centre of the district where dairying is held in high estimation,
at St. Hyacinthe, the cradle of the Dairymen's Association, alongside of the
Experimental Farm of the College of St. Hyacinthe, we are about to estab-
lish a school where the manufacture of butter and cheese will be taught.
This school, I may say, en passant, is well advanced in its organisation.
The inspectors will attend it, especially in the winter months, when they
will not be on their travels. They will be kept au courant of all the new
processes, of all the improvements introduced into the business. The co-
operation of its skilled professors will be generously lent to us by the
Dominion G-overument for the benefit of this school. Again, for the use of
this school, the Dairymen's Association has already retained the services of
one of the best makers of the Dominion, and even of the United States.
Our course of instruction, then, will be excellent, both in theory and in
practice. If the House, which is listening to me with so much attention,
will kindly lend me its aid, will put its shoulder manfully to the wheel, I
can promise that in two years we shall be " giving points " to the Province
of Ontario in the making of butter and cheese. Before two years are over,
we shall even have goods as highly esteemed as those made at Ingersol,
the centre of the Ontario dairy indvistry. Only the other day. Professor
Robertson told us that, as to some goods, we had beaten Ontario. Not,
indeed, in the bulk of our manufactures, but we have shown that we are
capable of contending to advantage even with that rich province, a contest,
the high prize of which is the prosperity of our country. The organisation
of which I am speaking will assuredly bring about this result.

The inspectors, after leaving the St. Hyacinthe school, will travel
round their syndicates diffusing sound ideas, and insuring us throughout
the country the manufacture of an article that shall be always uniformly
good.

En passant, I wish to draw your attention to the little care that is
generally taken about the manufacture of the cheese boxes.

The best goods, as regards the market, are not only those that are the

■)f goods, be

it therefore

e necessary

em perhaps
others are
mber when
1 1 propose :
estimation,
gsideofthe
it to estab-
be taught,
ganisation,
when they
11 the new
i. The co-
US by the
• the use of
services of
;ed States,
jry and in
attention,
wheel, I
! Province
i are over,
Ingersol,
Professor
Pio. Not,
at we are
i contest,
anisation

11 travel
oughout
niform ly

that

IS

'• are the

11

best made, but they must be also well packed in the best cases. Remember
what Mr. Ayer said to us the other ds.y in the Committetj ou Agriculture,
that our package was not the most suitable dress for our goods ; that it
injured the sale of our products. He quoted facts within his personal
experience. It is clear that if a shopkeeper entering a store finds on one
side a heap of boxes of cheese badly dressed up (agencee), of rough appear-
ance, and on the other side boxes of agreeable looks, well made and
constructed in such a way as to keep the contents in good order, — it is
clear, I say, that he will naturally be inclined to select the latter as his
choice.

Since the preferences of the buyer may be determined, in a certain
degree, by the case even of the goods, the package itself must be cared for.
It is a detail that is not without its importance.

It being granted that we are going to improve the process of manufac-
ture and the mode of marketing our butter and cheese, we shall necessarily
be led to increase our production of milk. And this brings me back to the
subject of the silo : with the aid of this we can make butter in winter as
well as in summer.

THE SILO AGAIN.

In connection with this, 1 think I ought to read to the House the
observations made by our friend, the member for Chateauguay. He spoke
to us the other day about the silo, and I am entirely of his opinion. He
belongs to a purely agricultural family : he is a near relation of several
of the laureates of the Merite Agricole. I may say the same of my estima-
ble colleague, the member for Compton. They both belong to the Scottish
nation, so skilled in agriculture, and at w^hose abode my countrymen have
always found so much kindly feeling, as well as such good examples in
farming.

The following quotation is from the Montreal Gazelle of the 24th of
last May :

THE CONSTRUCTION OF SILOES.

" While the Grovernment seems disposed to encourage the farmers in
the building of siloes, it would be well to advise them, in order to save dis-
appointment, rather to expend a few dollars more in their construction
than to put up a cheap structure that will not keep out the frost. Mr.
Grfeig, member for Chateauguay, recommends one that is extensively used
in his county. The outside wall is composed of two thicknesses of plank,
with one or two linings of tar-paper between. The inner wall is of i>lank.

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f if

tongued and grooved, and there is a space of eight inches between the two
walls. It is almost impossible for the frost to penetrate, especially if the
fodder has been properly cut and packed so as to exclude the air. The
whole cost of such a silo is about $46, and every farmer who has built one
has found it so profitable that ho has added more afterwards. No man of
any intelligence would deny that the silo is about the most profitable
investment a farmer can make, but at the present time, when it is just
being introduced, it is essential that it shoald be in every respect com-
pletely successful. A silo with a wall of a single plank may not produce
all the results a farmer expects, and others may be deterred by his experience
from adopting the system."

It was remarked, the other day, that it was a hard task to get our
farmers to grow roots, and that it was for the purpose of persuading them
to do so that a grant was made to them of 50 cents a ton for all beets
delivered at the factory. It is much less troublesome to persuade them to
grow maize for ensilage, thereby furnishing themselves with the means of
drawing a very satisfactory revenue from their farms, either by using the
silage to fatten beasts or by giving it to their dairy cows.

The farmer who has a field of corn can not only fill his silo with it as
a provision for the winter, but use some of it in summer. When the burn-
ing rays of the sun shall have scorched up the pastures, so that the cows
begin to dry up, he can mow some of this succulent fodder and give it to
his cattle, either on the pastures or in the cow-house.

People complain, and with reason, that emigration is decimating us ;
those on the opposite benches throw it in our teeth. "We are all anxious to
abolish it. "Were the system of ensilage diffused over the whole country,
farming would be attractive because it would be remunerative. The silo
is the savings-bank of the farmer, which will always give for him abund-
ant supplies for the whole of his establishment. Winter and summer,
summer and winter, at all seasons, his cattle will be always full-fed, their
number, through its aid, will be constantly on the increase, and, at the
same time, his stock of manure will be multiplied indefinitely.

The scarcity of manure — there's another thing that needs a remedy.
If we would reflect a little on the way in which we have farmed our land,
we might say, as Mr. Ayer said the other day, that, without exaggeration,
the soil of the Province of Quebec possesses an extraordinary stock of fer-
tility. For, in truth, for years and years we have worked the land ; We
have extracted from it vast stores of wealth ; we have never made it any
return, o.nd, even now, it is not worn out.

een the two
cially if the
le air. The
as built one
No man of
t profitable
u it is just
spect com-
lot produce
i experience

to get our
ading them
r all beets
ide them to
le moans of
using the

> with it as
a the burn-
it the cows
1 give it to

mating us ;
anxious to
e country,
The silo
im abund-
l summer,
-fed, their
nd, at the

a remedy,
• OUT land,
g-geration,
)ck of fer-
laud; We
ide it any

13

By breeding and rearing cattle we shall increase our stock of manure,
to use in the interim while we are learning how to add to it superphos-
phates and other artilicial manures.

Here is our mistake : we persist in following the old system of farm-
ing, which may have been good enough on the confines of the bush, when
the soil was virgin, but which is now no longer good after at least half a
century of spoliation. We close our eyes to the fact that in the cultivation
of grain we have now a rival with whom we cannot strive Buccessfully —
the West, the great West, where this cultivation is canied on on an im-
mense scale that defies competition.

This is a fact that the people in the Eastern States, and especially in
the State of New York, are beginning to feel that they will have to reckon
with.

On this point, allow me to read the following extract from a speech
recently made by the G-overnov of the State of New York :

{The Cidlivntor and Country Gentleman, 19//t May, 1892.)

" My own observation and experience have convinced me that the
most practicable kind of relief which can be offered to the agricultural
communities of the State, is that which, recognising the changed conditions
prevailing now and created by the opening up of an immense farming
territory in the west, endeavors to discourage our farmers from the vain
attempt to compete with their western rivals in the production of wheat,
corn, and other cereals, and stimulates them to new lines of agricultural
effort more suited to existing conditions and to present demands. The
rapid increase of population in the towns and cities of the State is of direct
benefit to our farmers if they would take advantage of it, by offering a
greater market than that possessed by the farmers of any other State for
the sale of the so called " small crops," vegetables, fruits, etc., of dairy
products, line butter and cheese, of poultry and eggs, and other products,
the demand lor which is constantly increasing, and in the sale of which
there cannot be dangerous competition from the farmers of neighbouring
States."

VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE.

At the dairy school, the mode of making several kinds of cheese, not
yet manufactured in this province, will also be taught. These novel kinds
will not return smaller profits to the maker even if they were put on our

11

Si 11'

14

markets instead of the chfiese we now import. I am speaking of the
Gruyere and other kinds.

Nowadays, our business lacks variety. We walk all in the same path,
we are all pursuing the same game, wo are all making the same kind of
cheese, the so-called " American.^' If we do not wish to see before long
the market overcrowded with unsaleable goods, it is important, it is neces-
sary, to vary our products, to open new roads. Let those who are actuated
by the spirit of innovation set the example. Let us beware of a possible
overcrowding of the market.

The popular saying advises us " not to put all our eggs into one
basket." In my turn, I say : do not all make the same thmg, but prepare
new markets for yourselves by manufacturing goods of a novel descrip-
tion.

I spoke of the school at St. Hyacinthe. Many districts, no doubt, will
try to get this school established in their locality, but I think it fair to
place it where was the cradle and where is still the centre of the dairy
industry of the Province of Quebec. This spot set the example, and it has
produced the men who have displayed the most enterprising spirit as
regards the dairy industry. While I applaud their labors, I desire also to
give them the encouragement they have earned. We have there already
an experimental farm and an analytical station, with an agricultural-
chemical laboratory. The new school will be the complement of these
establishments.

To diffuse a knowledge of agricultural science, is the sincere desire of
the Government, and I may tell the cheese-makers, in particular, that we
intend to neglect no t. eans of initiating them into all the mysteries of their
art.

While we are exporting to Europe an enormous quantity of so-called
American cheese, made in our province, we are, at the same time, import-
ing a considerable quantity of other cheese. I know that more than one
of my hearers is not satisfied with Canadian cheese, but orders, from
Europe, Gruyere and Roquefort for the consumption of his palace.

Well, we are going to try — and I do not see why we should not suc-
ceed— to make goods such as these.

WINTER BUTTER- MAKING.

That is not all. The making of butter in winter has just been success-
fully started, and this onward step in the road of progress must be intro-
duced into our province. Thenceforward, the cheese factory will no longer

ii ' K

15

ing of the

same path,
ne kind of
•efore long
it is neces-
re actuated

a possible

into one
ut prepare
el descrip-

oubt, will
: it fair to
the dairy
and it has
spirit as
ire also to
re already
ricultural-
t of these

! desire of
', that we
!8 of their

so-called
i, import-
than one
irs, from

have to close its doors in winter, but by making butter will continue its
operations, and become an establishment remunerative to its patrons.

And, in combination with the silo, this is simple enough ; for the silo
is, so to speak, the prolongation of the par.ture. The silo receives the
growth of th« meadow {plante de la prairie), and keeps it fresh and succulent
throughout the winter. So surely is this a fact, that I have been told a
hundred times, by makers and farmers, that their butter had during win-
ter the same taste, the same aroma, and the same color that it had in
summer.

If you have good silage, made from maize sufficiently matured and
fermented, you wll have cattle food that will possess the same flavor that
it possessed in summer, and your cows will give the same quality of butter.

The silo, then, the silo for ever ! The farmer, too, should learn that its
cost is not above his means ; that nothing out of the way is demanded
from him ; that he may see one built and in operation in the next parish,
even, perhaps, at the farm of one of his friends, and that it is invariably
successful.

If you want to persuade the general run of farmers to do anything,
show them an example close by, so that they may see it without any
trouble. This will prove of more value to most of them than any amount
of writing or speaking. And this is what I propose to do.

By means of farm schools, by the building of siloes in every parish, by
the improvement of our creameries and cheeseries, I aim at sowing
examples broadcast over the whole province ; to keep them at all times
before the eyes of every one, and by this to say to those even who never
open a book or an agricultural paper, " At least open your eyes. There,
at your very gate, is one of your fellow citizens, not more industrious than
yourself, and yet how much more successful. It is because he has a silo,
and with the fresh and succulent food he gets from it, he keeps his stock
in good order, and his cows give him almost as much profit in winter as
they do in summer."

not suc-

success-
)e intro-
) longer

INSTRUCTION IN THE FARM-SCHOOLS.

I hope our farm-schools will be crowded with the sons of our farmers.
These schools shall be, before everything, practical schools of agriculture.

Some may say, perhaps, that all I aim at is to make good workmen.
Grentlemen, I have a son who has completed his classical studies ; when
his agricultural education was going on he was not much afraid of follow-
ing the foreman in his work. He learned the practice of farming, and

./

16

?

the theory was not long in coming. To-day he is acquainted with those
works that contain brielly the- best inlbrmation on the subject of agricul-
tural chemistry.

I do not despise theory, but I do not think it is always wise to com-
mence a course of instruction with it.

Circumstances must be ri!ckoncd with. With our farmer, we must
shoot straight to the target ; he must be shown the practical result, so that
he can lay his finger on it. If you put into his hand a treatise on agrii;ul-
ture, very likely he won't read it ; but if you tell him to look at the practical
improvements in a neighbouring field, he will listen to the eloquent voice
of the charmer.

I want the agricultural instruction in these farm-schools to be essen-
tially practical. When an intelligent practice has once been established,
there will not be much trouble about adding the theory.

One of the best books ever written on agriculture, St<!phens' " Book of
the Farm," was the work of a man who was educated on a farm.

What I am now saying, I consider as very important. When I was
only a private member of the Council of Agriculture, I proposed one day
the above system of practical instruction, and some one said to me : "You
are going to make the pupils nothing but farm labourers." In spite of that,
some of them adopted the idea, followed this road, began to practice, and
they it is w^ho to-day are the most successful of all ; they who were not
ashamed of starting as labourers, are now^ the princes of the occupation.
(Cheers.) This Stephens, whose work I just mentioned, after having
entered himself on a farm as a simple workman, raised himself by degrees,
and ended by being decorated by Her Majesty as a laurtnite of agriculture.
He leapt from the plough to that distinguished position. He began by the
practice, and he ended by writing the best book on the theory of farming.

Work, personal observation, an individualistic habit of taking the
initiative : these are the elements of success.

I do not mean to indulge in useless recrimination, but I must say of
our agricultural schools, that they, in my opinion, have not followed the
right road to success. It has not always been their fault ; they had not a
choice of pupils. There was no systematic plan to guide their choice.
They lectured the lad who presented himself on agriculture, although he
frequently showed indisputably, that his heart was far from being interested
in that subject ; they did not send him to work on to the land often
enough to let him feel the annoyance of storm and tempest, the inevita-
ble lot of the farmer; they did not submit him to the salutary test of

^

th those
ii^ricul-

; to com-

we must

, so that

agricul-

practical

mt voice

bo essen-
iblished,

' Book of

en I was
one day
s: "You
[e of that,
;tiee, and
wore not
3upation.
• having
degrees,
'iculture.
an by the
farming,
iking the

ist say of
)wed the
ad not a
I" choice,
lough he
iiterested
nd often
inevita-
1 test of

17

labour, proving both his reins and his courage, in order to find out if he
had a real vocation to this puisuii-, so that the provincial grant and the
labour of his instructions might not be wasted. A noviciate has its raison
d'etre in agriculture, as well as in othei things.

I never had any doubts about the devotedness of the professors. I
admired them all the more that they showed proofs of it without being
discouraged at their persistent failures.

There ought to be now at least a hundred and fifty pupils at each of
our schools.

I mean to remember with gratitude the services rendered by these
professors ; to try to profit by their constant good intentions, directing it,
if I can, gently into a road rather different to the old road, but leading
always to the same end, the formation of good farmers. Hurried along
as we are, thirsting eagerly as we do for instantaneous progress, let us
endeavour to instruct, by surer and prompter means, the sons of our farmers,
but only on condition that they are certain to enter on a farmer's life when
they leave the school.

I intend to profit by what exists now, altering things perhaps, but
with prudence, with discretion. When one can reckon on good will and
devotedness, one can vmdertake with confidence that which is dictated, not
by the desire to do great things, to make a show, but by the desire to do
good according to the ratio of our powers, and with the co-operation of all
those that can assist us.

I do not think that, especially at present, a central school under the
guidance of the G-overnment, as has been already proposed, is what is
wanted. G-rignon, in France, has not yet succeeded as regards the num-
ber of the pupils there. Let us first find pupils, bring them forward, and
w^hen we shall have succeeded in crowding the schools we have at present,

it will be time enough to cast a glance elsewhere.

And we must treat the lads whom we propose to enlist under the
standard of agricuHure with consideration and respect; we must show
that we mean to care for them.

For my part I shall at once tell the cadets of our great agricultural
army that in them I see a hope of a salutary change for the country. Let
them flock to the farm schools to do honor to labor, which in turn will do
Jionor to them. They are called upon to go abroad over our country, dis-
tributing the good seed that will restore fertility to the heritage they have
received from their ancestors.

When our good lads shall have worked for a year, we must help them

18

ii

to take a trip throngh the country in autumn, so that they may learn and
see for themselves how things are done in the States, in Ontario and in
other places.

They will bring bacK a good load of experience with them, and many
of them will return resolved to put into practice on their own farms the
improvements they have observed during their tour.

The idea of a journey has more than once turned the brain of our
countrymen, and has led them far away from their country, far away from
the paternal roof. Let us hope that, for ouce, the journey we are speaking
of will conduce to their remaining permanently at home. Then, like their
ancestors, they will pass their days in honor and happiness.

For the cost of these excursions, lightened as they will bo by the gen-
erous arrangements of our steamboat and railroad companies, a trilling;
payment by each will suffice.

These, gentlemen, are the ideas I wish to lay before you.

I

i

A CENTRAL CREAMERY.

I see by my notes that, before resuming my seat, I have to return to
the subject of the dairy industry.

On another occasion I related to the House a project, which was to aid
the establishment of a central factory, to which butter should be brought
in the "grain " state, and be there subjected to the last processes of manu-
facture.

This central factory would be placed somewhere on the banks of the
great St. Lawrence, at a spot where the goods could be easily loaded on to.
the ocean steamers. "

Experts in the manufacture of butter say that this article runs special
risks in the last handling it undergoes. If it be not well made, if the tub-
is defective, the butler is soon spoiled ; it reaches its destination in bad
condition, and the aroma is lost.

Mr Tache, the Secretary of the Dairymen's Association, conceived the-
idea of this establishment. I have already spoken about it to Mr. Ayer,
who has had a long and fortunate experience in this business, and he thinks
the project may be carried out.

M

Ml

THE BABCOCK.

One of the obstacles to the success of the creameries and cheeseries of
the province is the objection a good many of our best farmers, who feed.

19

their cattle well, have to send their milk to factories where it will be sold
at the same price per lb. as the milk yielded by badly fed cows, or even as
milk lowered with water. These farmers desire to be paid in proportion
to the value of the milk they deliver at the factory. They are right.

There are many ways of increasing the volume of milk without add-
ing to its richness. Not only can the pail be put under the pump, but, to
give the operation a semblance of rectitude suihcient to acquit the con-
science of all sense of wrong-doing, hot water, with a little salt in it, may
be transmitted through the digestive apparatus of the cow.

The milk of this cow will be abundant but poor enough ; still it will,
if sold by weight, fetch as much as the best.

In order to put a stop to these frauds, recourse was first had to the
law, and fines were inflicted on those who added water, directly from the
pump, to their milk. But the question was how to reach the other, the
farmer who took advantage of the factitious thirst of his cow to induce her
to gorge a lot of water as if she were a warehouse, but always with a view
to its reappearing in the milk-pail.

Recourse was then had to an instrument called theBabcock — from the
name of its inventor, I suppose. Every maker will soon get one ; it is the
surest of detectives ; it will ensure that what belongs to Caesar shall be
paid to Ctcsar, and that the cheat will not be able to sell his water. The
Babcock will show how much butter-fat there is in the milk, and the
maker will pay the patron his just proportion. The good farmer will thus
receive payment in proportion to the good care and food he gives his cows.

It will be with the milk as it is with the superphosphate which you
now buy, paying a higher price in proportion to the higher percentage of
phosphoric acid it contains.

Our inspectors, on leaving the dairy-school, will introduce everywhere
these useful instruments, through the agency of which the main objection
of our good farmers to the creameries and cheeseries will disappear ; no-
more robberies on the common labor of all will be possible.

What I have said to the members of the House to-day I intend to
repeat to the agricultural societies, to the farmers' clubs, in the press and
in circulars.

From every parish I ask for an agricultural cadet.

A silo : I have, at the service of everyone who shall ask for them, all
the directions for the construction of a silo and for the practice of ensilage.
— • , All the creameries and cheeseries in existence should be syndicated.

In the aggregate of our exports, cheese comes immediately after the

i

20

products of our forests. Timber is disappearing rapidly ; when that vast
harvest, sown by the hand of Providence on our soil, shall have vanished,
man can never renew it. But the greater the exports of the products of
our dairy industry, the greater the increase of our cattle, the greater the
increase of the fertility of soil, the greater the wealth of our country.

FARM-BUILDINGS.

I cannot avoid saying a word, en passant, on the importance of well-
constructed farm-buildings. Our climate is a stern one. The cattle are
in the house half the year. The warmer, the better ventilated and lighted
they are the less the stock will cost to feed. Of the warmth necessary for
the support of life, that which the animal does not obtain from the circum-
ambient air, he must obtain from a greater consumption of food. To erect
buildings in which the cattle feel all the warmth they need, is therefore an
economy.

The Department has at the service of all several plans of barns, which
will be sent, gratis, to all who ask for them.

When anyone is about to lay out money in important farm-buildings
that may serve as a model to the neighborhood, in addition to the despatch
of the plans I have spoken of, the Department will, if it is asked to do so
and the project appears to be useful, send to the spot a competent man
capable of giving advice as to the arrangement of these buildings, the best
place for their erection, etc.

DRAINAGE.

I may also inform those about to drain their farms that the Department
is in a position to procure them pipes at a good discount ; that in case the
draining is to be of considerable extent and of great interest to the locality,
upon request being made to that effect, an engineer shall be sent to take
the principal levels.

OFFICE FOR ANALYSIS.

The Honourable Premier called my attention lately to the importance
of establishing, in every important centre in the province, an office for
analysis, both for the agricultural and the mining industries. An approv-
ed Lai iff will be published, so that everyone will know beforehand the
■cost of the analysis he wants to have made. I need not say that I shall
favour with all my power the creation of these offices, and that the charges

tetauam

21

»at vast
uished,
ucts of
fer the

made shall be as modorato as possible. There will be one at Quebec^
where we ourselves already have the commencement of a laboratory ; one^
at Montreal, one at St. Hyaciuthe, where our experiment station inoonnt'C-
tion with the College of St. Hyacinthe is situated ; and one at Sherbrooke.

At these offices, the farmer will be able to get the artificial manures he
buys tested. He can have the different soils of his I'arm analysed, and thus
find out wherein they are defective.

The prospector in search of mines may send his samples there in order
to know at once the value of his discovery.

By means of these easily accessible institutions, doubtless more than
one farmer, who otherwise would never trouble himself to inquire into the
composition of the mineral his plough has just happened to turn up, will
find himself, perhaps, all at once the possessor of a property of very high
value.

CONCLUSION.

I have said what I proposed to say, and I conclude by asking you all'
once more to give me every possible assistance throughout the province.
Every one should do his part. Your hearty applause leads me to believe
that you accept this programme so humbly presented to you. With your
aid, coupled with the aid of the clergy and of all well disposed and pro-
gressive men, our farm-schools will soon overflow with pupils, there will be
siloes all over the province, and all the factories will be syndicated.

When our schools shall be crowded, wo will set about other establisii-
ments, we will address our good farmers, such farmers as those whom we
are about to crown in the House as the laureates of the order of agricul-
tural merit. They, too, can bring up pupils. In that so well farmed
country, Scotland, there are uo other farm-schools than the farms them-
selves.

My wish is that good farmers should be found all over our country.
Who says " good farmer," says, almost invariably, in this our country, a good
Christian, an example to the j^arish, a man at the head of all charitable
works. It has been said of him more than ouc3 that, having always before
his eyes the marvels of creation, the man of the fields remains good and
virtuous, for from the soil there arises around him, as it were, the aroma of
all the virtues. Providence gives him his bread in abundance day by day.
He has no need to envy his neighbour, but of all men the most free, he
depends solely on his God.

To support OUT courage, we can repeat to ourselves that there is very

f 7

little wanting to us in the Province of Quebec. Our people are moral and
industrious. "We want a little more skill and activity in business, in trade,
and in manual labour. The work of intelligence is perfected. "We have
the men. They make their mark.

If intellectual power assists the hand, if the head aids the arm, the
Province of Quebec will occupy and retain the rank she ought to hold in
the agriculture of thy Dominion, the same rank she already holds in the
arts and sciences, the first rank !

md
de,
ive

the

in

;he

r