Part 4

WHEAT OATS Year Acreage Average Total Acreage Average Total Yield Yield Yield Yield 1907 2,789,553 14.22 39,688,266.6 1,213,596 34.8 42,140,744 1908 2,850,640 17.23 49,252,539 1,216,632 36.8 44,686,043 1909 2,642,111 17.33 45,774,707.7 1,373,683 37.1 50,983,056 1910 2,962,187 13.475 39,916,391.7 1,486,436 28.7 42,647,766 1911 3,350,000 18.29 61,058,786 1,625,000 45.3 73,786,683 1912 2,823,362 20.07 58,433,579 1,939,982 46.0 87,190,677 1913 3,141,218 19.30 62,755,455 1,939,723 42.0 81,410,174

BARLEY FLAX Year Acreage Average Total Acreage Average Total Yield Yield Yield Yield 1907 649,570 25.7 16,752,724.3 25,915 12.25 317,347 1908 658,441 27.54 18,135,757 50,187 11.18 502,206 1909 601,008 27.31 16,416,634 20,635 12.26 253,636 1910 624,644 20.75 12,960,038.7 41,002 9.97 410,928 1911 760,000 31.5 21,000,000 86,000 14.00 1,205,727 1912 962,928 35.0 33,795,191 191,315 13.06 2,671,729 1913 1,153,834 28.0 33,014,693 -- -- --

=Education.=--Manitobans expend a greater percentage of public funds for schools than for any other purpose. Private schools, business colleges and public libraries, as numerous and as well equipped as those in similar communities anywhere, are established in all important cities and towns and these with the excellent public schools afford educational facilities equal to those of any country. There are also a number of Catholic parochial schools.

The Dominion Experimental Farm at Brandon is doing much to educate the farming population of the Province. Accurate records of all practical experiments are kept and the information is given to settlers free. Dairy schools, farmers' institutes, livestock, fruit growers, agricultural, and horticultural associations also furnish free instruction as to the most successful methods practised in their callings.

=Railways= have anticipated the future, so that few farmers are more than eight or ten miles from a railway. Manitoba now has 3,895 miles of railway as compared with 1,470 miles in 1893. The Canadian Pacific has 1,620 miles, Canadian Northern 1,809, and the Grand Trunk 366, and extensions will be made by all lines this year. Railway lines being built to Hudson Bay will make large mineral deposits available. When this territory is surveyed there will be opened up a wonderfully rich area, capable of maintaining an immense population. This added territory gives a port on Hudson Bay, from which vessels can carry the farm produce of the West to old country markets.

=Climate.=--Unlike some other provinces, Manitoba's climatic conditions are uniform throughout. There is much sunshine the year round. The summer is pleasant, warm, and conducive to rapid and successful growth.

The long autumns are usually agreeable, ploughing weather sometimes extending to the end of November.

The winters rarely last more than three or four months, and because of the dry atmosphere, the low temperature is not as much felt as in countries with more moisture. The snow is never deep, and travel in winter by team or rail is rarely impeded by drifts. The annual precipitation is 21.4 inches.

The crop season in Manitoba extends from April to October, inclusive. Seeding frequently starts early in April, and threshing usually lasts through October. The mean temperature for the period, April 1 to September 30, in 1913 was 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The mean temperature in October was only 34.40 Fahrenheit, but threshing can be done in cold weather as readily as in warm, with no injurious effects. The total precipitation in the Province was smaller than usual--for the growing season 9.67 inches, but rain was well distributed: May 1.04 inches; June 2.34 inches; July 1.70 inches; August 3.56 inches, and September .68 inches. The average sunshine was 7.3 hours daily. The mean temperature of the country is 32.7; January 5.2; July 66.1.

=Picnicing on December 11, 1913.=--The mild weather of the past few months has been general throughout the Province of Manitoba. At Melita, on December 11th, the citizens suspended business and had a picnic at River Park on the outskirts of the town, and there was no discomfort from heat or cold.

=Fruit.=--Small fruits did well in 1913. Apples are not grown extensively, but several orchards in the Province were well laden. The orchard of Mr. Stephenson, near Morden, was the most notable, and produced a crop of several hundred barrels of apples, as well as an abundance of crabs, cherries, and other fruits. At the recent Land and Apple Show in Winnipeg, native apples compared very favourably with those from Provinces which pride themselves on their horticultural possibilities.

=Sugar Beets.=--In growing sugar beet, Manitoba has had success. Syrup produced from sugar beets grown at Morden was of good consistency and the colour indicated that good sugar could be manufactured from it.

=Game and Fish.=--Manitoba's fishery output represents an annual value of over one million dollars. There is plenty of good fishing. Wild ducks, geese, and swans haunt the lakes and rivers, while on the prairies are flocks of prairie chicken.

=Manitoba Farm Lands Year.=--In addition to circumstances which point to next year as an important one to farming interests, there is one great factor which will undoubtedly have much to do with the sale and development of farms. This is the fact that the people of Manitoba realize the necessity for mixed farming. This means the breaking up of large tracts of land into smaller farms and therefore a largely increased population. Even while the present year has been one of some financial stringency the demand for farm lands has steadily increased.

WHAT SOME MANITOBA FARMERS HAVE DONE

=Gladstone, Man.=, reports that the wheat crop of 1913 exceeded all expectations; 30 bushels per acre was the general yield. The grade was never better. One farmer had 400 acres in wheat, which weighed 66 pounds to the bushel.

=Portage Plains, Man.=, showed some remarkable yields. Noah Elgert had 61 bushels of wheat per acre; the government farm, 61 bushels; Geo. E. Stacey, 54; T. J. Hall, John Ross and D. W. McCuaig, 50; W. Richardson, 51; M. Owens, 61-1/2; Anderson and Turnbull, 60; J. Lloyd, 48-1/2; Jas. Bell and Robt. Brown, 48; R. S. Tully, 52; J. Wishart, 49-1/4; Philip Page, 47; J. Stewart, 45; J. W. Brown, 30; Chester Johnson, 44; E. H. Muir, 42; L. A. Bradley, 43; W. Boddy, 40; Albert Davis, 43; E. McLenaghen, 37. After farming the same land for forty years, J. Wishart secured a crop of 49-1/2 bushels to the acre, the best he ever had. Mr. Bradley's yield was on land plowed this spring.

=Marquette, Man.=, September 21. Splendid weather has enabled the farmers of this section to make good progress with the cutting and harvesting of this season's crop. Wheat is averaging 20 bushels to the acre, with barley 45 and oats going 70. There has been no damage of any description.

=Binscarth, Man.=, says good reports are coming from the machines of high yields and good sample. The elevators are busy shipping cars every day.

=Dauphin, Man.=, September 13. Threshing is general. The grain is in good shape and the weather is ideal. The samples are best ever grown here, grading No. 1 Northern. The returns are larger than expected in nearly every case. E. B. Armstrong's wheat went 34 bushels to the acre; others, 25 to 27.

=Balmoral.=--John Simpson says: "Very prosperous has been our first year's farming in Canada. Shipped two carloads of wheat that graded No. 1 Northern and sold for eighty-five cents. Weather for the last two weeks was perfect--no snow and just enough frost to keep the roads from getting muddy."

=Brandon.=--Hard wheats have long been the choice product of Manitoba soil, but nothing more significant is required to announce a new industry in the Province than that Glencarnock Victor, a Manitoba-finished steer, owned by Mr. J. D. McGregor, was last year grand champion of America, and his half-brother from the same stables, won like honours this year. Neither had ever been fed any corn, but fattened on prairie hay, alfalfa, and barley.

CITIES AND TOWNS

=Winnipeg=, with a population of about 200,000, is a natural distributing point for Western Canada, as well as the shipping point for the wonderful crops from the tributary prairie lands. The prosperity of Western Canada is here reflected in substantial buildings, wide boulevards, quarries, water works, street lighting systems, asphalt plants, and a park system of 29 parks, covering 500 acres. There are 40 modern school buildings with 378 teachers and 21,210 pupils.

Winnipeg has four live daily papers and forty weekly and monthly publications. Twenty-four railway tracks radiate from the city, making Winnipeg the leading grain centre of the world. A photograph taken at any point in the financial centre of the city shows magnificent new buildings under construction, representing immense investment and indicating the confidence felt in the city's future. Municipal improvements are constantly being made. The city now has 466 miles of sidewalk, 112 miles of boulevard and 162 miles of street pavement. There are 115 churches.

St. Boniface, the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of St. Boniface, adjoins and is partly surrounded by the business district: 17,000 population.

=Brandon=--With 18,000 population is the second city in the Province and is located on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with its seven branch railway lines. The Canadian Northern runs through the town and has erected a fine new modern hotel. The Great Northern entering from the south and the Grand Trunk Pacific completed, there is afforded excellent shipping facilities, necessary to the factories, flour mills, machine shops, and wholesale houses established here. There are fourteen branch banks here with clearings totalling $33,000,000. As an educational centre Brandon might be ranked with cities several times larger. The high school would be a credit to any city of first rank. A Dominion Experimental Farm is located here.

=Portage la Prairie=--Enjoys splendid railway facilities at the junction of four lines of railway. This fortunate situation has brought a number of industries. The city owns its park and has a fine educational system, including a Collegiate Institute. Many churches and fraternal organizations are supported by this city of 7,000 population. Municipal improvements are constantly being made.

=Selkirk= is a distributing point of supplies for points on Lake Winnipeg.

=Carberry and Morden= are flourishing railway towns in the heart of fine wheat-growing sections, as are Minnedosa, Neepawa, Dauphin, Carman, Virden, and Souris.

Scores of towns now developing afford openings for those desiring business opportunities; each has its mills and warehouses for wheat. Among these centres may be named Manitou, Birtle, Emerson, Gretna, Wawanesa, Rivers, Somerset, Baldur, Deloraine, Melita, Rapid City, Hamiota, Gladstone, Killarney, Hartney, Stonewall, Boissevain, Elkhorn, Gilbert Plains, Pilot Mound, Winkler and Plum Coulee.

Provincial Government returns.

POPULATION AND LIVESTOCK

1891 1908 1909 1911 1912 1913 Population 152,506 455,614 Horses 86,735 230,926 237,161 232,725 273,395 304,100 Milch cows 82,710 173,546 167,442 146,841 154,400 Other horned cattle 147,984 357,988 333,752 397,261 428,274 460,200 Sheep 35,838 29,265 29,074 32,223 42,087 112,500 Hogs 54,177 192,489 172,374 176,212 216,640 176,000 Cultivated farms 45,380 49,755 50,000

Increase in population in ten years was 78.52 per cent.

The exhibit of grains, grasses, clover, fodder crops, vegetables, and natural products shown at the 1913 United States Land Show spoke well for the soil and climate of Manitoba.

SASKATCHEWAN

Saskatchewan, the central Prairie Province, is a huge rectangle extending from the 49th to the 60th parallel, with an area as large as France and twice the size of the British Isles.

It comprises 155,092,480 acres, and extends 760 miles north and south and 390 miles east and west at the southern boundary bordering on the United States. The average altitude is about 1,500 feet above sea level.

Saskatchewan claims to be without a rival in North America as a producer of wheat and small grains. Only physical and geographical conditions retard even a more phenomenal agricultural development. Its growth and acquisition of wealth has been phenomenal. There are four distinct zones extending north and south: (a) rolling prairie, (b) prairie and woodland, (c) forest, (d) sparsely timbered belt. All the land is suitable for cultivation and will yield the highest quality of cereals, though less than 13 million acres are now under the plough. The population of approximately 550,000 thriving, vigorous people will eventually be a million. The increase in ten years was 440 per cent.

The Government forces in Saskatchewan are complete and effective. Every branch of agricultural work conducted by the Provincial Government is a part of the Department of Agriculture.

=Soil and Surface.=--The soil in all of Saskatchewan is a rich loam, running from eight to twenty inches deep over a chocolate clay subsoil. Moisture is evaporated from this subsoil so gradually that the fertility is almost inexhaustible. With few exceptions the southern portion of the Province from a line east and west through Saskatoon is almost flat.

In certain portions the surface is undulating, but in no case so hilly as to preclude ploughing every acre; near some of the rivers in the more hilly sections the soil becomes lighter with some stone and gravel.

Five reasons may be given for the exceptionally favourable conditions awaiting the grower of wheat in Saskatchewan: 1. The soil is of almost inexhaustible fertility. 2. The climate brings the plant to fruition very quickly. 3. The northern latitude gives the wheat more sunshine during the growing period than is had in districts farther south. 4. Rust is of infrequent occurrence. 5. Insect foes are unknown.

=Fuel and Water.=--The coal areas to the south, and the partially wooded areas in the north, provide an ample supply of fuel, while water can be secured anywhere at a reasonable depth.

CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN

=The Available Homesteads= are principally in the northern portion of Central Saskatchewan which is watered east and west by the main Saskatchewan River and by its chief branch, the North Saskatchewan, a great part of whose navigable length lies within this section. The surface generally is rolling prairie interspersed with wooded bluffs of poplar, spruce, and pine, alternating with intruding portions of the great plain from the south. In soil and climate Central Saskatchewan is well adapted to the raising of cattle, also wheat and other grains. North of township Thirty there is unlimited grazing land, horses, cattle and sheep feeding in the open most of the year. There is the necessary shelter when extreme cold weather sets in and water is plentiful. Sheep do well. Many farmers have from 50 to 100 sheep and lambs. The district also possesses everything required for the growing of crops and there are satisfactory yields of all the smaller grains. The homesteader may add to his holdings by purchasing adjoining land from the Canadian Northern, Canadian Pacific Railway and other corporations. These unimproved lands range from $15 an acre upwards.

Districts recently opened for settlement are Shellbrook, Beaver River, and Green Lake, into which the Canadian Northern Railway is projected. Other new districts are Jack Fish Lake and Turtle Lake, north of Battleford, into which the same road is built. These districts are favourable for grain and cattle raising. North of North Battleford are several townships which will not long be without transportation, and to the east of these there are available homesteads which can be reached through the Prince Albert gateway.

SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN

=Available Farm Land.=--There are but few homesteads available in Southeastern Saskatchewan. The land is occupied by an excellent class of farmers, and values range from $15 per acre to $25 for unimproved prairie, and from $40 to $50 per acre for improved farms. In the neighbourhood of Moose Jaw mixed farming and grain raising are carried on with success. North and northwest, towards the Saskatchewan, are large settlements; but to the south and southwest is a tract of land available for homesteading, and a land office at Moose Jaw makes it easy to inspect the land and secure speedy entry. These lands are easily reached from Moose Jaw, Mortlach, Herbert, Gull Lake, and Swift Current.

Maple Creek district is an important stock centre. Some of the best sheep, cattle, and horses in Canada are raised on the succulent grass here but the wheat grower and mixed farmer are treading on the heels of the ranchman.

West of Swift Current to the Alberta boundary herds of cattle roam and largely find for themselves. Snowfall is light and winters so mild that hardy animals graze through the whole year. The Chinook winds are felt as far east as Swift Current. Grain growing is successful.

Farm land can be purchased from railway and other land companies in Southeastern Saskatchewan, which includes that section between Manitoba on the east and the third meridian on the west, extending some distance north of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It has more rainfall than portions farther west and less wood than the portion lying north. In character and productiveness of soil, Southeastern Saskatchewan is a continuation of Manitoba, but contains more prairie area.

NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN

=Available Homesteads.=--Northern Saskatchewan has not yet been opened to any extent for settlement. There are approximately 80 million acres beyond the railway at Prince Albert which time, zeal, and railway enterprise will eventually make accessible. Furs, forest wealth, and fisheries are recognized as a national asset, but thousands of acres of fertile land lie beyond the existing lines of railway awaiting development. Northern Saskatchewan has natural resources sufficient to maintain a population equal to that of any European country in corresponding latitude.

=Saskatchewan Crops.=--Saskatchewan leads all other provinces in wheat production, though only a comparatively small portion of its tillable area is under cultivation. In 1898 the area under wheat was 276,253 acres; 910,359 acres in 1905; 2,703,563 acres in 1908, and in 1913, five years' time, it had more than doubled, the area being 5,720,000 acres. On this there were grown approximately 121-1/2 million bushels of wheat, an average of about 21-1/4 bushels to the acre. The farmers realized about 124 million dollars for products apart from field and fodder crops, valued at 5 million dollars.

The following figures are from Provincial Government returns. Saskatchewan has easily 50,000,000 acres of unbroken prairie to grow just such good crops, and another 25,000,000 acres on which to graze live stock.

Acreage Yield Total Price per Total per Production Bushel Value Acre Wheat 5,760,249 19.5 112,369,405 At 63c $ 70,792,725.15 Oats 2,638,562 41.7 110,210,436 At 23c 25,348,400.28 Barley 307,177 30.2 9,279,263 At 26c 2,412,608.38 Flax 967,137 12.0 11,654,280 At $1.00 11,654,280.00 Province 9,673,125 243,513,384 110,208,013.81

While the average yield of wheat is shown to be 19.5 bushels per acre, thousands of farmers raised 35 bushels and some more than 40. Considerable was sown on stubble, and there were many low yields occasioned by indifferent farming, and anxiety to secure a crop from late seeding, without which the general average would have exceeded 30 bushels per acre. The same is true of other grains. On the Experimental Farm at Indian Head, Marquis wheat produced 48 bushels to the acre, and Red Fife on the stubble 28 bushels.

Almost the entire wheat crop was within the contract grades, (none less than 3 Northern, the great bulk graded No. 1) and by the end of October 75 per cent of the crop was threshed. In many instances wheat weighed 64 and as high as 66 pounds to the bushel. Mr. Paul Gerlach of Allan, Saskatchewan, had 71 pounds per bushel, and carried off the honours at the International Dry Farming Congress at Tulsa last November.

=Mixed Farming= is so successful in Saskatchewan that only passing comment is necessary. The Province is famous for its high-class horses, well-bred cattle, sheep, and hogs. At the Live Stock Show in Chicago in 1913, the Province carried off high premiums. The Department of Agriculture secures good breeding stock for the farmers and encourages the preservation of females.

=Poultry Raising= is so profitable that many Saskatchewan farmers have gone into it extensively. Of 10,000 turkeys marketed at Moose Jaw there was not a single "cull." They brought an average of $2.80 each. Chickens provide a certain profit and constant income.

=Dairying= is successful. An established market and excellent natural facilities favour this branch of mixed farming. 997,000 pounds of creamery butter yielded $271,185 in 1912 and private dairies realized $189,000 from 700,000 pounds, making a total increase of $177,376.69 over 1911. With the exception of cream delivery, a government superintendent supervises all business transactions of most creameries.

=Fodder Corn.=--At Prince Albert fodder corn has reached a height of eight feet with not a poor sample in the lot and there are strong indications that before many years corn will be grown here for ensilage with general success. At the Experimental Farm, fodder corn yielded about 18 tons of green fodder per acre, which went into the silo in good condition.

=Railways.=--About five hundred miles of new road opened in 1912 gives Saskatchewan a total mileage of about 5,000 miles as compared with 1,000 in 1905, of which 1,230 is main line and 3,700 branches. The Province is so well served by the Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern, and Grand Trunk Pacific that few of the established settlements are more than 10 to 20 miles from transportation; new settlements do not have to wait long for railway advantages. The Hudson Bay Railway will afford a short haul to ocean shipping from Saskatchewan grain fields. One and a half million dollars have been appropriated by the local government for improvements and building highways. From 1905-13 the population has doubled, and whole districts which were practically uninhabited but a short time ago are now filled with farmers.