H.—29b

.1916. NEW ZEALAND

AGRICULTURE IN UNITED STATES AND CANADA (REPORT AND OBSERVATIONS ON INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS IN REGARD TO), By Mr. A. MACPHERSON, Government Fields Instructor, South Island.

Laid, on the Table of the House of Bepresentatives by Leave.

Introduction. Early in the month of May last Mr. E. Clifton, New Zealand Commissioner to the Panama Pacific Exhibition, San Francisco, and Trade Commissioner on the West Coast of Canada, handed me a copy of a letter which he had received from the Right lion. Mr. Massey, Premier and Minister of Agriculture, in which he stated that as soon as the New Zealand Commissioner considered that he would Ire able to manage without my assistance at the Exhibition if was desired that I should, while in America, spend a few weeks in visiting those instructional farms in the United States and Canada considered most likely to be of interest in connection with my work. While no precise time-limit was fixed for this purpose, it was to be under-stood that there was a necessity for occupying as little time and incurring as little expense as would admit of my obtaining a reasonable insight into the methods being pursued, and that, on my return to the Dominion 1 should submit a full report of my observations to the Department. Having been appointed by the President of the Panama Pacific Exhibition to act. on behalf of foreign nations on group, departmental, and other juries in connection with exhibit awards at the Exhibition, I was unable to begin my visit to agricultural instructional institutions before the sth August, 1915. From inquiries made it was considered that it would take fully six weeks to visit institutions and complete the journey, and I am pleased to report that this was done in the time mentioned, the distance travelled by railroad being over seven thousand miles. The period of the year was autumn, from the sth August to the 16th September, inclusive. United States of America. In connection with my journey east through the States, visiting farms and institutions, &c, Mr. C. I. Blanchard, Statistician, Department of the Interior, United States Reclamation. Service at the Panama Pacific Exhibition, who was accredited by the United States Government, very kindly drew up an itinerary and furnished me with letters of introduction to many persons at the various institutions 1 should visit, as well as to officers of the State Departments, whose advice and assistance in regard to the objects of my visit proved most valuable. The following are the institutions, farms, projects, &c, visited in the United States of America: University Farm, Davis. California: Truckee-Carson Irrigation Project, Fallon, Nevada ; Truckee-Carson Experimental Farm, Fallon, Nevada : Grand Valfey Project, Grand Junction, Colorado; State Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Colorado; State Agricultural College, Ames, lowa,; Dairy farms (fifteen) the property of W. W. Marsh, Waterloo, Iowa; State Agricultural College, Madison, Wisconsin; Dairy Farm of ex-Governor Howard, Port Atkinson, Wisconsin; United States Department of Agriculture. Washington, D.C; Arlington Experimental Farm, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Canada . For my Canadian journey and visit to farms, <fee, Colonel Hutchison, Commissioner-General, Canadian Government Exhibition Commission, San Francisco, handed me a letter of introduction to Mr. O'Halloran, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in Ottawa, who received me with every courtesy. After going fully into the objects of my mission he passed me on to Mr. ,1. 11. Grisdale, Director Dominion Experimental Farms, who did everything possible to further the objects of my visit, and gave me every facility to acquire information regarding farming methods and experimental work throughout the Dominion of Canada. I put in four days very profitably at the Central Experimental Farm of the Dominion, which is situated within seven miles of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, where Mr. Grisdale has his head-

I—H. 29b.