A method of conducting agricultural experiments in remote areas.

Agricultural research in Canada is largely centralized on Experimental Farms and Stations and at Agricultural Schools and Colleges where the property is owned, considerable equipment is available and a highly technical staff is employed. It is not possible for government services or educational institutions to establish such units in each of the numerous localities where study is required. Various methods of solving this problem have been developed, Many methods are dependent on farmer interest for their success, in others a small allowance is made for crop loss and inconvenience caused by the presence of tests on the farm. Some local problems are studied by technical men, other studies are dependent on the accuracy of the farmer co-operator. The Experimental Farms Service of the Federal Department of Agriculture has conducted experiments dealing with local problems through Illustration Stations; the Agricultural Colleges through local tests, and the farmers themselves have organized into Crop Improvement and other Associations in attempts to solve some of their own problems. All of these methods serve a useful purpose, particularly where they are close to a centralized station with its available technical staff and certain crop and other tests of short duration may be laid down and managed by trained personnel. Such experiments are usually of a demonstrational nature laid down to illustrate the results of well designed experiments conducted [...