Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 April 1902 — BOMB WONDERFUL CROPS IN WESTERN CANADA. [ARTICLE]

BOMB WONDERFUL CROPS IN WESTERN CANADA.

Tk« Territorial Government Report* Show Result* Bevond Belief. Regina. Assiniboia. Canada, January 10th.—At the Agricultural Statistics Branch of the Department of Agriculture for tne Territories, reports are now being received from grain threshers throughout the Territories, for statistical purposes. The reports are somewhat delayed this year, owing to the extensive' crop and the delay in getting it threshed. The Department of Agriculture is leading the way in a new departure, with regard to the collection of crop statistics. In the older provinces, crop estimates are based entirely on the opinion of persons interested in the grain business who ought to be, and no doubt are, well posted upon the probable yields. Still the reports are simply a matter of opinion, in which a mistake may easily be made. The Territorial Department, however, has adopted the system of returns of crops actually threshed, upon which to base their reports. The accuracy of the reports cannot, therefore, be gainsaid, for they represent a compilation of actual threshing results. In this connection, it might be mentioned that the Department is organizing a system of growing crop returns, which will be in operation next summer. The information thus obtained, with estimated acreage, will be available for business men, banks, railway companies, and other interests which have to discount the future in making provision for the conduct of their business. The crop reports already to hand show some remarkable cases of abnormal development. In the Regina district, many returns are given of crops of wheat running from 40 to 45 bushels to the acre.

J. A. Snell, of Yorkton, threshed 28,000 bushels of oats from 450 acres, an average of 63 bushels per acre for a large acreage. W. R.. IZotherwell, of Abernethy, threshed 2,650 bushels of wheat from a 50-acre field, an average of 53 bushels per acre. In the Edmonton district, T. T. Hutchings threshed 728 bushels of wheat from a ten-acre plot, ai average of nearly 73 bushels per acre. S. Norman threshed 6,950 bushels of oats from 60 acres of land, an average of 116 bushels per acre. The publication of the actual yields or grain threshed will likely open the eyes of the people to the great capabilities of the Western Canadian prairies.