Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1906 — THE FARMER IN WESTERN CAN-' ADA. [ARTICLE]

THE FARMER IN WESTERN CAN-' ADA.

.t• • • • The q,u«lltr of No. 1 Hard, Wheat Cannot Be Beaten. The Canadian West in the past five or ten years has given a set back to the theory that large cities are the bone of a country and a nation’s best asset. Here we have a country .where no city exceeds 100,000, and where only »ne comes within easy distance of that figure, according to the census just taken and where no other city reaches a population exceeding 15,000. The places with a population over 5,000 can be counted upon the fingers of one hand, and yet the prosperity that prevails Is something unprecedented in the history of all countries past or present. The reason for this marvelous prosperity is not hard to seek. The large majority of the 810,000 people who inhabit Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have gone on to the farm, and have betaken themselves to the task of not only feeding and clothing themselves, but of raising food for others less happily circumstanced. The crop of 1906, although not abnormal, is an eye-opener to many who previously had given little thought to the subject. Ninety million bushels of wheat at 70 cents per bushel —$63,000,000 ; 76,000,000 bushels of oats at 30 cents per bushel —$22,800,000; 17,000,000 bushels of barley at 40 cents per bushel —$6,800,000; makes a total of $92,600,000. This is altogether outside the root products; dairy produce, and the returns from the cattle trade; the beet sugar and the -various other by-products of mixed farming. When such returns are obtainable from the soil it is not to be wondered at that many are leaving the congested districts of the east, to take upon themselves the life of the prairie farm and the labor of the ■'husbandman. With the construction of additional railroads, new avenues for agricultural enterprise are opening up, and improved opportunities are offered to the Bettier who understands prairie farming, and is willing to do his part in building up the new country. This is the theme that Mr. J. J. Hill, the veteran railroad builder in the West, has laid before the people in a series of addresses which he has given at various points during the past few months, and, having been for so long identified with the development of the West, there are few men better qualified than he to express an opinion upon it. Take care of the country, says he, and the cities will take care of themselves.

The farmers of the Western States and the Canadian West are more prosperous than ever before, and when it comes to measuring up results, the Canadian appears to have somewhat the better of it. His land is cheaper, in fact, the government continues to give free homesteads to settlers, and the returns per acre are heavier when the crop is harvested. Farming land iti the Western States runs from S6O 1o $l5O an acre and up, whereas equally good soil may be purchased in Canada for $8 to sls per acre, within easy reach of a shipping point, and much of this is available for free homesteading. The quality of the Canadian No. 1 hard wheat cannot be beaten, and the returns to the acre are several bushels better than on this side of the line. The soil and climate of that country being peculiarly adapted to wheat growing. The fact is evidently appreciated by the large number of American farmers who have in the past two or three rears settled In the Canadian West. The igents of the Canadian government, whose address may be found elsewhere, advise us that for the fiscal year 1904-5, the records show that 43,543 Americans settled in Canada, and In 1905-6 the number reached 57,796. From all of which it appears that at present there is a good thing in farming in Western Canada, and that the American farmer is not slow to avail himself of it.