Apples and roses for the world The Morden Agricultural Research Station
This is what the main lab of the Morden Station looks like today. It is focussed on the more scientific aspects of the plant and crop world. It celebrated its 100th year in 2015.
T
he Morden Research Station was opened in 1915 and became well known for its “many varieties of fruits, vegetables and ornamentals, including the 'Morden Festival' apple and the 'Morden Sunrise' rose from the Parkland Series of ros- es,” states the recently renamed Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “The development of technologies has also led to the production of a large number of pulses and other field crops introduced to this region . . . ,” it adds. Morden was not the only station in Manitoba, but it was the best known in the horticulture world. The first experimental farm in Manitoba was established at Brandon in 1888. This was two years after the The Experimental Farms Act was passed, followed by the establishment of the experimental farms branch, which was set up to inquire into the best means of encouraging and developing Canadian agriculture. According to a booklet published by the Dominion experimental
farms branch in
1925, the best practices to be studied includ- ed “livestock breeding, dairying, the testing of cereals and other field crops, grasses and forage plants, fruits, vegetables, trees, and plants; the study of seeds, fertilizers, plant
54 • Fall 2016
diseases and insect pests; the investigation of diseases of domestic animals, and such other experiments or researches as might benefit agriculture.” The Brandon station was largely focused on farm production.
Stations were added in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba in 1924 and Portage La Prairie (for crop diversification) in 1944. The horticulture division of the experi-
mental farms was established at Morden to examine fruit growing, vegetable gardening, ornamental gardening and plant breeding. Researchers tested hundreds of varieties of vegetables to help the waves of immigrants adjust to the growing conditions of their new home. At the same time, they experimented with pesticides to manage the insects and weeds that invaded the new crops. Homesteaders were encouraged to beau- tify their properties through the planting of herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs. The 1925 booklet recommended “such favourites as the sweet pea, phlox, verbena, aster, lark- spur, iris, paeony (sic), rose, mock orange, spiraea (sic), lilac, honeysuckle, and many others, which it advised “succeed admirably over a very wide area in the Dominion.” Plant breeding was an important aim of the
program so that varieties could be developed that would thrive in the various and diverse parts of the country. There was emphasis on apples and roses, both plants where the Mor- den Research Station, in particular, excelled. While the Morden station is still in opera- tion today, its focus has shifted away from ornamentals to more modern scientific endeavours in the plant world. But in its heyday, it was responsible for bringing many excellent hardy, woody ornamentals to the world, especially in the areas of apples and roses. x
The old barn has been reconfigured to accom- modate today's needs.
localgardener.net
All photos courtesy of Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada.
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