Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1919 — FINE CROPS SURE [ARTICLE]

FINE CROPS SURE

ft . - - Outlook in Western Canada Never < More Favorable. * ~ .• ••' Perfect Weather Conditions Enabled Early Seeding and Wheat Has Long Been Above Ground in the , Land of Opportunity. The greatest optimism prevails throughout every district In Western Canada. From the eastern boundary of Manitoba to the slopes of the Rocky Mountains the farmers have been busy for three weeks In seedlhg operations. Last fall, even for Western Canada, was an exceptional one. Threshing was completed>at an early date and the amount of fall plowing made ready for crop from fifteen to twenty-five per cent more acreage than In any year in the brief history of the country. Therefore there was ready for seeding this spring an acreage away beyond anything ever before experienced in that country. On April 20 Calgary (Alta.) reported that in south country points there was a notable spirit of optimism amongst the farmers there. Moisture and weather conditions were good, while land in most places was in the best possible condition. More tractors were being put into operation than in any previous year. In some parts of the south country, however, there was a marked shortage of labor, but in the consideration of the country as a whole the labor outlook was bright.

Seeding operations were well under way in every part of Western Canada by the fifteenth of April. The practice of the farmers in that country is to commence as soon as the frost is out of the ground enough to allow the few inch seed bed to be worked up well. Beneath this the ground may still be frozen, but from this frost the young and tender wheat roots get the moisture at first so necessary to its existence. The warm days of spring and the long hours of sunlight that are ushered In with it thaw the frost out day by day and pay to the growing plant the moisture as it is needed. Nature’s way of producing moisture to the young wheat plant is one of the chief reasons why Western Canada has become world famous as a wheat-pro-ducing country. What may be said of wheat can as truly be said of oats and barley, and yes, in fact, corn, too. Rapid and Strong growth is stimulated in this manner. Heavy spring rains usually occur after seeding is over and the grain well above ground. Already a report has been received, dated April 20, that a farmer near Cabri, Saskatchewan, had 180 acres of wheat showing’above the ground. • A good, strong and sturdy wheat plant is necessary when it is expected that there will be produced a forty-bushel-to-the-acre crop of wheat of a quality that will weigh out its sixty-five pounds to the measured bushel.

These spring wheat conditions represent but one of the reasons why Western Canada has been able to produce, with so little effort, world’s record grain crops, wheat and oats that have carried off all championship awards at America’s largest expositions. Western Canada has this spring shipped ten thousand bushels of Marquis wheat, the variety that holds most of the world’s championships, to Australia, where It is to be tried but Seventy-five thousand bushels of the same variety has been sent to France to be used for seed. The wheat lands of Western Canada are probably the most undervalued of any on the continent. , _ A comparatively small acreage of Western Canada’s lands has been sold as high as S6O an acre. The greater portion of the best farming land in * unimproved state may be purchased at $25 an acre. The comparison between these prices and an annual revenue derived from grain-growing alone, with big yields and present prices, can but more firmly impress one with the certainty of a rapid increase within the next few years.—Advertisement;