Typhoid General No cases were reported in the last ten years. There is very little mixed farming practised in Alberta, the main crops being wheat, and then oats or barley and summer-fallow. The water supply is obtained from artesian wells, which are from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet deep. Most of the farmers have large holdings from one hundred and sixty to nine hundred and sixty The fuel used is coal and is obtained from the nearest town or at the acres. mines. British Columbia Of the area visited, thirty-eight per cent. was under field crops, twentynine per cent. in unbroken pasture, and thirty-three per cent. in woods. Rotation of On the Lower Mainland, thirty-two per cent. follow no Crops systematic rotation. About forty-five per cent. follow a rotation of roots, grain, hay, the balance using mixed rotations of various. kinds. On Vancouver island ten per cent. follow no systematic rotation. Thirty-five per cent. follow a rotation such as hay and pasture for two years, followed by roots, then grain. Thirty-five per cent. follow the roots, grain, hay system, and the balance follow a longer course rotation. In the Okanagan and Kootenay districts about seventy per cent. follow no systematic rotation, while the balance follow various systems into which the growing of potatoes enters to a large extent. Seed About fifty per cent. do not use selected seed. Ten per cent. state that they use selected seed, but do not give the method of selection employed. Twenty-five per cent. use carefully screened seed. The use of home-grown root seed is reported in two or three instances. This is a branch of the seed work which might be developed in other provinces as well as in British Columbia. The farmers could well be growing turnip, mangel and other root seeds, thus avoiding the introduction of new and noxious weeds in vegetable seed. Manures Eighty-five per cent. use farmyard manure. Over ninety per cent. on the lower mainland use manure, particularly on roots. Very few use artificial fertilizer, there being only four per cent. reporting its use on roots. Over ninety per cent. of the Vancouver island farmers use manure for roots, grain and top dressing at twenty to twentyfive loads per acre. Here we find the use of artificial fertilizer quite general. About seventy per cent. of the farmers apply from two hundred to four hundred pounds per acre on the root crops. Seventy-five per cent. of the Okanagan and Kootenay farmers use manure at the rate of about twelve loads per acre, and twenty per cent. of these farmers use artificial fertilizers. Weeds Twenty-eight varieties of weeds are reported. Among the worst are mustard, Canada thistle, pigweed, chickweed, shepherd's purse and wild flax. Twenty per cent. report weeds introduced through the use of impure grass seed, pig feed and chicken feed; some coming from the United States and some from the prairie provinces. Seven per cent. report railroad construction camps as being responsible for bringing in new weeds in horse feed. Pests Twenty-five per cent. report damage from turnip aphis to the extent of about fifty per cent. of the crop. A few report apple scab causing a loss of about thirty per cent. of the crop. Water About forty per cent. obtain water from wells, and forty per cent. from springs. Thirteen per cent. obtain water from streams or rivers. About twenty per cent. carry water to the house by hand. Forty per cent. have water piped to the house, and a few have standpipes and windmills. Fuel Eighty-five per cent. use wood only, sixty per cent. having wood lots. About forty per cent. have a supply which will last indefinitely. Where the time for the other lots to last is given, the average is forty years, and no doubt if care be taken of these lots they may be made to last indefinitely. Typhoid Three per cent. report typhoid in the last ten years. In one case, the well was under the house. In another, the supply was obtained from a spring and cistern. In many cases the wells are not properly protected. General Very little grain, with the exception of oats, is grown. Dairying is carried on to a large extent, and soiling crops are grown to a large extent. Many grow mixed peas and oats for hay. Every year corn is coming more and more to the front. crops here, and judging from the stubble left Clover is one of the great there must have been a splendid crop of oats in 1910. Fruit growing is increasing. The poultry industry is carried on here on a very large scale. This is a very profitable business and one which is increasing in popularity each year. In the Okanagan district the farms on the whole are run only fairly well, and the farmers could obtain more from their land by scientific rotation of crops. Farmers do not know enough about artificial fertilizers to use them to the best advantage. Weeds were allowed to grow unchecked on public roads, railways and vacant lands. In the Grand Forks district, the farmers stated that as long as weeds were allowed to grow unchecked on the railways and public roads, it would be impossible for them to keep them off their farms ஆ On the Lower Mainland the farmers are going into dairying more and more each year. The pleasing feature of the farming in this district is that a large number of the farmers follow short rotations of crops and clover is grown regularly in these rotations. The average hay crop was stated to be from three to five tons per acre. One of the great drawbacks of this district is the need of better roads. The roads so far have received very little attention, and as they have much to do with the general prosperity and success of the community, they should receive early and careful attention. WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON LANDS IN 1910 Dr. J. W. Robertson, Chairman of the Committee on Lands, in summarizing the work of his Committee for the year, at the Second Annual Meeting of the Commission of Conservation at Quebec on Jan. 17, 1911, said that his work as Chairman of the Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education had brought out much useful information bearing directly on the problems being investigated by the Commission of Conservation. The possessions of the people in their natural resources were being surveyed and considered by the Commission of Conservation, and the ability of people to make the most of these through development, and to conserve them by utilization and improvement was being inquired into by the Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education. In regard to waterways and water-powers, forests, fisheries and, to some extent, mines and minerals, something definite towards conservation could be accomplished by means of regulations laid down by legislation. For the protection of the lands, the conservation of fertility and the prevention of the spread of noxious weeds, much less could be done by legislation. Most must be done by means of forming and directing intelligent opinion among farmers themselves and by furnishing such information and guidance as would make them competent and willing to make the best use of their lands. While other resources might be under the management of a few corporations or companies, the ownership and control of lands were in the hands of multitudes of individuals, each acting separately and individually. Because the task was more difficult and complex, it was none the less needful and advantageous that it should be done well. Rotation of For the Committee on Lands last year a survey was made of nine hundred and eighty-five farms in the various provinces of the Dominion, or an average of rather more than one hundred farms for each province. From the survey it was gathered that, taking the whole number, not more than nine per cent. follow any intelligent and effective system of rotation of crops. Many farmers take rotation to mean any order of sequence for one crop to follow another. Instead of that, rotation of crops implies that during each year while its crop is growing, the best preparation is being made in the same field for the succeeding crop and for the preservation of the fertility of the soil and its freedom from weeds. In some localities the percentage of farmers who follow a good rotation is as high as fifty per cent. in other localities not a single farmer reports any systematic rotation of his crops. Lack of rotation in one large area in the Northwest extending to about five hundred square miles is given as the reason for the destruction of the fibrous material in the soil which formerly held it in place. From that area it is reported that from want of root fibres in the soil, winds in the spring sometimes carry off the surface soil including the seed, or else leave the seed bare. Some Western towns might be a case of Nineveh over again, smothered into oblivion from want of care in protecting the soils. The two following statements are typical of others made by farmers themselves: "Farms are being worn out and are not giving returns they did." "Farmers have thoughtlessly allowed their farms to become more or less overrun with weeds, but now are thoughtful and alert and are combatting the weed pest." Weeds With regard to weeds in the Western provinces, wild oats are reported as the worst, all of the one hundred farmers in Manitoba whose farms were surveyed reporting wild oats; seventy-one per cent. in Saskatchewan reported wild oats, and only three per cent. in Alberta. Evidently the vicious weed is travelling and spreading westward. The Russian sow thistle, which is reported new in Manitoba within five years, is a dangerous weed which is spreading at an alarming rate throughout Canada. Sixty-three per cent. of the farmers visited in Quebec report the sow thistle as prevalent, and thirty per cent. of them report it becoming worse. Sixty-seven per cent. of the one hundred farms visited in Prince Edward Island report the presence of sow thistle and twelve per cent. of them report it becoming worse. The ox-eye daisy is reported as prevalent throughout portions of Quebec, seventy-four per cent. of the farmers reporting its presence and thirty per cent. reporting it becoming worse. Wood for In the matter of wood lots on farms for fuel, on the farms which have some supply of trees, the following shows the average of the number of years reported by the farmers during which the wood will last for fuel for their houses: Manitoba.. Saskatchewan. Ontario. Prince Edward Island. six years; nineteen years; twenty years. In other provinces, the wood lots are estimated to last for over thirty years; and in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and in some parts of Quebec practically perpetually. Water in Farm Houses In the matter of water for house supply, only about ten per cent. of the farmers have running water in the kitchens, most houses depending on wells at some distance. One of the means of conserving the time, strength and pride in their houses, of the |