Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1899 — A SENSIBLE LETTER. [ARTICLE]

A SENSIBLE LETTER.

A Western Canadian Settler Writes te an Illinois Friend. In writing to Mr. T. Hawkyard, of Rockford, 111., Mr. G. Simpkins, of Leduc, Alberta, Western Canada (and to which points especially low rates are being quoted aver all lines of railway), says: “Dear Sir—Received your letter the 14th Inst We have had no snow till after Christmas, and the cattle have been able to live out, snd are all in good condition. It is snowing now. That is what we want Have about six Inches now. The old settlers say when we have lots of snow it means a good crop the coming season. It never drifts here. The weather is calm and bright We do not have to dress any heavier than In Illinois, and the horses never shiver with the cc!d when we take them from the warm stable, as they do In Illinois. It has not frozen in the •stable this winter. . "The most of the stock runs out but there is nd need of it for timber is plentiful, and there Is no expense to build good stables and houses. We have good log houses, and they are very warm. Two men can put up a house 16x24 in two days. There are good rails for fences. We live ten miles from the coal district the price being from 50 cents up to $2. The land is a very rich, loamy soil, from six inches to several feet in depth; the hills have the deepest. It is a rolling country, and excellent for stock of all kinds. Sheep do well, and there are plenty of small lakes, where the cattle can get good water. The cattle got out of grass last year, about the middle of April, and run at large; unless in charge of a herdsmen, we have to fence against them. Wheat goes from thirtyfive to sixty bushels per acre, oats eighty and ninety, very often over a hundred. Ap to potatoes, a neighbor planted seven bushels and dug 226 bushels and no bugs. Roots oi all kinds do well. There are lots of strawberries and lots of red raspberries, black and red currants, and gooseberries, where the fire has not burnt them. Cattie are scarce. I have been trying to buy some for eight months, and have ■got only three two-year-olds, and paid S3O each. “Hogs are scarce, but can be got. They sell for 6 cents dressed, and cost more for stackers. Wheat 50 cents per bushel, oats 25 cents, eggs 30 cents a dozen, butter 15 and 20 cents, poultry was 10 and 11 cents dressed. Sheep are scarce. If you come, bring your farm tools, but bring no seeders; we use drills. Bring cows, but do not bring horses unless you are an experienced hand in shipping them, for so many of them are hurt in shipping. There will be plenty of work for a binder. Two good horses will break, but three lighter are better. The horses you get here can work without grain, but are better with it It will be hard to tell what prices horses will be, for the immigration will be very large the coming spring. They could not be had last spring at one time. They claim the best time to break is June, but my experience is to break in the spring and work it. You.can break till the middle of July.”