Agricultural Parasites Research in Canada

Abstract

INTERNAL parasites are one of the stock-farmer's biggest problems all over the British Empire. They are the poultry-farmer's worst enemy, and, in all probability, constitute the most severe check on the growth of the poultry industry in the British Isles. In Canada it has been estimated that parasitic infestation causes an annual loss of £4,000,000 and is responsible for the death of one-tenth of the Dominion's live stock. A new Empire centre for the scientific study of internal parasites has been established in Canada, with the assistance of a grant from the Empire Marketing Board. New buildings, which will house the Institute of Parasitology, are now being erected by the Quebec Government at Macdonald College, the agricultural college attached to McGill University. The scheme is being financed for three years jointly by the Empire Marketing Board and the National Research Council of Canada. It marks the first occasion on which the Canadian Government and the Empire Marketing Board have combined to support a joint scheme of research. It is hoped that the new Institute may eventually become an Empire headquarters for the study of internal parasites, somewhat as Onderstepoort, in South Africa, has become recognised as an Empire centre for animal diseases research. The scheme therefore provides a fresh example of Empire team-work in the field of agricultural research.