Canada West Part 2

Oats 30,000,000 .30 9,000,000

Barley 9,500,000 .40 3,800,000

Flax 6,500,000 $1.10 7,150,000

Total $89,950,000

=A Splendid Fall.=--The fall of 1913 was exceedingly favourable to the farmer of Western Canada. The weather made it possible to harvest and thresh in the minimum of time, and in some cases permitted a start on fall ploughing early in September, in many parts continuing until December 1st. Owners of traction engines took advantage of clear nights to plough, the powerful headlights throwing a brilliant light across the fields. The men worked in relays, and it was frequently midnight before the big outfits quit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Beginning a home in the prairie--house and table "lands"

are built on cement foundation.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sizing up quant.i.ty of hay per acre he would get from his hayfield.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Starting from town with loads of posts for pasture fence.]

=Mixed Farming.=--Mixed farming is yielding large profits to those who work intelligently along the lines of intensive farming. In addition to wheat, oats, barley, and flax--alfalfa and other fodder crops are grown, and in some places corn.

Every variety of vegetable grows abundantly and sugar beets are a moneymaker. Stock-raising is an important branch of mixed farming, and hogs and sheep are commanding high prices, the demand greatly exceeding the supply.

=Sheep.=--The sheep industry in Western Canada pays exceedingly well. In the early days--but a few short years ago--a district south of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Swift Current to Maple Creek was stocked with sheep, and several large ranches made money, but with the onrush of settlement these ranches have been vacated and are now given up to successful grain growing. However, the farmers who now cross the boundary to purchase the best Montana breeds and take them to their farms, in every case report a success as great as that in grain growing.

Although no country could be better fitted for sheep raising, and numerous successes have been made, Western Canada imports much of its mutton.

=Profits in Horse Raising.=--The raising of horses is receiving increasing attention. Here also a rare opportunity for profit exists, for the market is woefully unsupplied.

=Dairying= offers splendid opportunities for profit. In the rapidly growing cities and towns there is a demand for milk, cream, and b.u.t.ter.

Creameries and cheese factories are established at accessible points.

The feeding of cattle is nominal.

=Poultry Products= can be readily marketed, and poultry raisers have done remarkably well. No one knows better than the farmer's wife the saving effected by having a flock of hens, some turkeys, geese and ducks, and the cost of feed is not noticed.

=Hog Raising.=--Hog-raising has equal advantages with grain growing. A large quant.i.ty of pork that should be supplied at home is now shipped in. Barley, the best staple for hog raising, is easily grown and yields heavily. Alfalfa can be grown with little trouble, and with two crops in a season, and three tons to the acre to a crop, it will play an important part in the hog industry of the future. The Canadian field pea and the rape, also are good feed and produce the very best of pork.

Chas. Reid, of Swift Current, who sold a thousand dollars' worth of pork last summer, and then had considerable on hand, has demonstrated that hogs pay better than straight grain raising. He has an income from his farm the whole year round.

A farmer near Moose Jaw sold some hogs for $130.00. To the question, "What did they cost?" he answered: "Really nothing. I bought one sow; I have kept two, and I have three to kill for my own use. Of course we had skim milk and b.u.t.termilk, and I fed some chop, but what is left is worth all I paid out. I call the $130.00 clear profit."

It is the same story in all parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. A little attention, plenty of such grain as would go to waste, some shelter, and that's all. Last year many farmers went into hog-raising extensively, and it saved many of them from financial embarra.s.sment; for when money was not obtainable at the banks, farmers having marketable hogs sold them with handsome profit. Several made from $1.00 to $1.20 per bushel for wheat by feeding it to hogs.

=b.u.t.ter and Eggs.=--Large sums are spent regularly in United States markets for b.u.t.ter and eggs to supply the cities and towns of Western Canada, and large quant.i.ties of b.u.t.ter are imported from New Zealand.

Not only is the demand in the towns, but many wheat-raisers purchase these commodities when they might produce them on their own farms at trifling cost.

William Elliott, near Moose Jaw, has eight cows and eighty hens. In less than eight months, his b.u.t.ter and eggs sold for more than $500. All the groceries and the children's clothing and boots, are paid for with b.u.t.ter and egg money.

W. H. Johnston, five miles south of Moose Jaw, has thirty cows and milks an average of twenty-five. His gross receipts last summer were from $600 to $700 per month, of which $300 was profit. He grows his own feed, princ.i.p.ally oats and hay, and has no worries over harvesting or grain prices.

=Truck Gardening.=--Long days of abundant sunshine from May to September, and adequate moisture in the spring and early summer permit of a wide variety of products. The soil is rich and warm, and easily worked. Close attention to cultivation has resulted in record yields of vegetables and small fruits, which bring good prices in the cities.

A farmer within five miles of Moose Jaw, who sold vegetables at the city market last year realized more than $300 between August 1, and October 30. He had half an acre in carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, beans, lettuce and onions, and half an acre in potatoes and turnips. His own table was supplied all summer and enough vegetables were put in the cellar to supply him during the winter and seed potatoes in the spring.

[Ill.u.s.tration: R. P. O. Uwell's old home, Clover Bar, Alberta. This old home is now replaced by one of more modern structure.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A comfortable modern home in Western Canada, the old home now used as a granary. William Hamilton--Pioneer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Segar Wheeler's residence "Rosthern," Sask. is a fair type of many homes in the Canadians.]

=Corn Can Be Grown on Canadian Prairies.=--Manitoba is producing corn, chiefly for feed. On September 28, corn nine feet high had developed to the dough stage, and the crop would easily exceed twenty tons to the acre. There are also scattered fields of corn in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Corn is successfully grown in the northern part of Minnesota in similar soil and under the same climatic condition, and there is no apparent reason why like results should not be secured in Western Canada. Many American farmers of experience believe the corn belt is extending northward.

=Alfalfa= is an a.s.sured crop in many parts of Western Canada and is destined to be the leading forage crop. In a recent compet.i.tion forty-three entries were made, and every field was one of which farmers of the older alfalfa countries might be proud. In southern Alberta alfalfa is a success; at Edmonton it grows abundantly. Battleford, Prince Albert, Regina, Indian Head, Lacombe, Brandon, and in many other districts alfalfa is grown.

=Post Offices.=--Throughout the settled portions of Western Canada are found post offices at which mails are delivered regularly, thus bringing Eastern friends within a few days' reach of those who have gone forward to make homes under new but favourable conditions on the fertile lands of the West. Last year hundreds of new post offices were established, many of them at points remote from the railway, but all demanded by new settlements made during the year.

=Roads and Bridges.=--It is said to be the policy of the Canadian Government to do everything possible for the welfare of the settler, whether in accessible new town or remote hamlet. This solicitude is shown in every branch dealing with the organizing of new districts.

Bridges have been built, roads constructed, the district policed, and a dozen other conveniences provided. Is it any wonder that with the splendid, high-yielding land, free to the homesteader or open to purchase at reasonable prices from railway and land companies, the Canadian immigration records for 1913 were so high?

=Land Laws=.--Canada's land laws were formed after the United States had applied its methods to the free lands of the West, and embody the best United States provisions. They are so framed as not to bear heavily on the settler, whose interests are carefully watched, and are liberally administered. After several years' trial they have proved satisfactory.

t.i.tles, or patents, come from the Crown, and on being registered in a Land t.i.tles Office these patents secure a transfer.

Taxes outside of cities, towns, and the larger munic.i.p.alities, are merely nominal and are devoted entirely to the improvement of roads, to educational purposes, to the payment of salaries, and to the erection of public buildings. At least 50 per cent of these costs, and in small struggling communities, 60 per cent or more, is paid by the Government out of the fund produced by the sale of school lands, one-eighth of the country having been reserved for that purpose.

=The Banks of Canada.=--The close of 1913 has brought the usual bank statements accompanied by the addresses of the presidents and general managers of these inst.i.tutions. They deal with economic matters first hand, and show in striking manner the prosperity of the country. Those who know anything of Canadian banking methods know the stability of these inst.i.tutions, and the high character of the men in charge of them.

Mr. Coulson, of the Canadian Bank of Commerce says:

"We have had a good harvest. The yield has been generally good, and the quality on the average has never been surpa.s.sed. This has been especially so in the Western Provinces, and the unusually favourable weather and abundant transportation facilities afforded by the railroads enabled the movement of grain to be made rapidly."

=Canada's New Bank Act.=--During 1913 the decennial revision of the Bank Act took place. Among important changes were:

The establishment of the Central Gold Reserves. Authority to lend to farmers on their threshed grain.

The provision which enables a bank to lend to a farmer on the security of his threshed grain is extensively utilized. This cla.s.s of loan is regarded as a moral risk, and banks still depend more upon the character of the borrower than upon the security.

=What Bank Managers Have to Say.=--Mr. Balfour, manager of the Union Bank of Canada:

"The railway companies have carried out the grain from the Western Provinces this year in a very satisfactory manner."

Mr. John Galt, president of the Union Bank of Canada:

"Speaking generally, the crop results have been satisfactory.

In the three great wheat growing provinces this has been a banner year. Not only has the yield been large, but the average quality has never been equalled, and the cost of harvesting has been unusually low, owing to the magnificent weather. This has, to some extent, offset the low prices which prevailed. The railways have done splendid work in handling the crop.

"There is a marked increase in the number of livestock.

Farmers are becoming more fully alive to the advantages they derive from this source and are realizing that their borrowing credit is greatly enhanced if they can show a good proportion of cattle in their a.s.sets, and banks should look with favour on loans for the purchase and handling of livestock."

Robert Campbell, general manager of the Northern Crown Bank, gives strong testimony of the wealth of Western Canada: