=A Splendid Fall.=--The fall of 1913 was exceedingly favourable to the
farmer of Western Canada. The weather made it possible to harvest and
thresh in the minimum of time, and in some cases permitted a start on
fall ploughing early in September, in many parts continuing until
December 1st. Owners of traction engines took advantage of clear nights
to plough, the powerful headlights throwing a brilliant light across the
fields. The men worked in relays, and it was frequently midnight before
the big outfits quit.
[Illustration: Beginning a home in the prairie--house and table "lands"
are built on cement foundation.]
[Illustration: Sizing up quantity of hay per acre he would get from his
hayfield.]
[Illustration: Starting from town with loads of posts for pasture
fence.]
=Mixed Farming.=--Mixed farming is yielding large profits to those who
work intelligently along the lines of intensive farming. In addition to
wheat, oats, barley, and flax--alfalfa and other fodder crops are grown,
and in some places corn.
Every variety of vegetable grows abundantly and sugar beets are a
moneymaker. Stock-raising is an important branch of mixed farming, and
hogs and sheep are commanding high prices, the demand greatly exceeding
the supply.
=Sheep.=--The sheep industry in Western Canada pays exceedingly well. In
the early days--but a few short years ago--a district south of the
Canadian Pacific Railway from Swift Current to Maple Creek was stocked
with sheep, and several large ranches made money, but with the onrush of
settlement these ranches have been vacated and are now given up to
successful grain growing. However, the farmers who now cross the
boundary to purchase the best Montana breeds and take them to their
farms, in every case report a success as great as that in grain growing.
Although no country could be better fitted for sheep raising, and
numerous successes have been made, Western Canada imports much of its
mutton.
=Profits in Horse Raising.=--The raising of horses is receiving increasing
attention. Here also a rare opportunity for profit exists, for the
market is woefully unsupplied.
=Dairying= offers splendid opportunities for profit. In the rapidly
growing cities and towns there is a demand for milk, cream, and butter.
Creameries and cheese factories are established at accessible points.
The feeding of cattle is nominal.
=Poultry Products= can be readily marketed, and poultry raisers have done
remarkably well. No one knows better than the farmer's wife the saving
effected by having a flock of hens, some turkeys, geese and ducks, and
the cost of feed is not noticed.
=Hog Raising.=--Hog-raising has equal advantages with grain growing. A
large quantity of pork that should be supplied at home is now shipped
in. Barley, the best staple for hog raising, is easily grown and yields
heavily. Alfalfa can be grown with little trouble, and with two crops in
a season, and three tons to the acre to a crop, it will play an
important part in the hog industry of the future. The Canadian field pea
and the rape, also are good feed and produce the very best of pork.
Chas. Reid, of Swift Current, who sold a thousand dollars' worth of pork
last summer, and then had considerable on hand, has demonstrated that
hogs pay better than straight grain raising. He has an income from his
farm the whole year round.
A farmer near Moose Jaw sold some hogs for $130.00. To the question,
"What did they cost?" he answered: "Really nothing. I bought one sow; I
have kept two, and I have three to kill for my own use. Of course we had
skim milk and buttermilk, and I fed some chop, but what is left is worth
all I paid out. I call the $130.00 clear profit."
It is the same story in all parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and
Alberta. A little attention, plenty of such grain as would go to waste,
some shelter, and that's all. Last year many farmers went into
hog-raising extensively, and it saved many of them from financial
embarrassment; for when money was not obtainable at the banks, farmers
having marketable hogs sold them with handsome profit. Several made from
$1.00 to $1.20 per bushel for wheat by feeding it to hogs.
=Butter and Eggs.=--Large sums are spent regularly in United States
markets for butter and eggs to supply the cities and towns of Western
Canada, and large quantities of butter are imported from New Zealand.
Not only is the demand in the towns, but many wheat-raisers purchase
these commodities when they might produce them on their own farms at
trifling cost.
William Elliott, near Moose Jaw, has eight cows and eighty hens. In less
than eight months, his butter and eggs sold for more than $500. All the
groceries and the children's clothing and boots, are paid for with
butter and egg money.
W. H. Johnston, five miles south of Moose Jaw, has thirty cows and milks
an average of twenty-five. His gross receipts last summer were from $600
to $700 per month, of which $300 was profit. He grows his own feed,
principally oats and hay, and has no worries over harvesting or grain
prices.
=Truck Gardening.=--Long days of abundant sunshine from May to September,
and adequate moisture in the spring and early summer permit of a wide
variety of products. The soil is rich and warm, and easily worked. Close
attention to cultivation has resulted in record yields of vegetables and
small fruits, which bring good prices in the cities.
A farmer within five miles of Moose Jaw, who sold vegetables at the city
market last year realized more than $300 between August 1, and October
30. He had half an acre in carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes,
beans, lettuce and onions, and half an acre in potatoes and turnips. His
own table was supplied all summer and enough vegetables were put in the
cellar to supply him during the winter and seed potatoes in the spring.
[Illustration: R. P. O. Uwell's old home, Clover Bar, Alberta. This old
home is now replaced by one of more modern structure.]
[Illustration: A comfortable modern home in Western Canada, the old home
now used as a granary. William Hamilton--Pioneer.]
[Illustration: Segar Wheeler's residence "Rosthern," Sask. is a fair
type of many homes in the Canadians.]
=Corn Can Be Grown on Canadian Prairies.=--Manitoba is producing corn,
chiefly for feed. On September 28, corn nine feet high had developed to
the dough stage, and the crop would easily exceed twenty tons to the
acre. There are also scattered fields of corn in Saskatchewan and
Alberta.
Corn is successfully grown in the northern part of Minnesota in similar
soil and under the same climatic condition, and there is no apparent
reason why like results should not be secured in Western Canada. Many
American farmers of experience believe the corn belt is extending
northward.
=Alfalfa= is an assured crop in many parts of Western Canada and is
destined to be the leading forage crop. In a recent competition
forty-three entries were made, and every field was one of which farmers
of the older alfalfa countries might be proud. In southern Alberta
alfalfa is a success; at Edmonton it grows abundantly. Battleford,
Prince Albert, Regina, Indian Head, Lacombe, Brandon, and in many other
districts alfalfa is grown.
=Post Offices.=--Throughout the settled portions of Western Canada are
found post offices at which mails are delivered regularly, thus bringing
Eastern friends within a few days' reach of those who have gone forward
to make homes under new but favourable conditions on the fertile lands
of the West. Last year hundreds of new post offices were established,
many of them at points remote from the railway, but all demanded by new
settlements made during the year.
=Roads and Bridges.=--It is said to be the policy of the Canadian
Government to do everything possible for the welfare of the settler,
whether in accessible new town or remote hamlet. This solicitude is
shown in every branch dealing with the organizing of new districts.
Bridges have been built, roads constructed, the district policed, and a
dozen other conveniences provided. Is it any wonder that with the
splendid, high-yielding land, free to the homesteader or open to
purchase at reasonable prices from railway and land companies, the
Canadian immigration records for 1913 were so high?
=Land Laws=.--Canada's land laws were formed after the United States had
applied its methods to the free lands of the West, and embody the best
United States provisions. They are so framed as not to bear heavily on
the settler, whose interests are carefully watched, and are liberally
administered. After several years' trial they have proved satisfactory.
Titles, or patents, come from the Crown, and on being registered in a
Land Titles Office these patents secure a transfer.
Taxes outside of cities, towns, and the larger municipalities, are
merely nominal and are devoted entirely to the improvement of roads, to
educational purposes, to the payment of salaries, and to the erection
of public buildings. At least 50 per cent of these costs, and in small
struggling communities, 60 per cent or more, is paid by the Government
out of the fund produced by the sale of school lands, one-eighth of the
country having been reserved for that purpose.
=The Banks of Canada.=--The close of 1913 has brought the usual bank
statements accompanied by the addresses of the presidents and general
managers of these institutions. They deal with economic matters first
hand, and show in striking manner the prosperity of the country. Those
who know anything of Canadian banking methods know the stability of
these institutions, and the high character of the men in charge of them.
Mr. Coulson, of the Canadian Bank of Commerce says:
"We have had a good harvest. The yield has been generally
good, and the quality on the average has never been
surpassed. This has been especially so in the Western
Provinces, and the unusually favourable weather and abundant
transportation facilities afforded by the railroads enabled
the movement of grain to be made rapidly."
=Canada's New Bank Act.=--During 1913 the decennial revision of the Bank
Act took place. Among important changes were:
The establishment of the Central Gold Reserves. Authority to lend to
farmers on their threshed grain.
The provision which enables a bank to lend to a farmer on the security
of his threshed grain is extensively utilized. This class of loan is
regarded as a moral risk, and banks still depend more upon the character
of the borrower than upon the security.
=What Bank Managers Have to Say.=--Mr. Balfour, manager of the Union Bank
of Canada:
"The railway companies have carried out the grain from the
Western Provinces this year in a very satisfactory manner."
Mr. John Galt, president of the Union Bank of Canada:
"Speaking generally, the crop results have been satisfactory.
In the three great wheat growing provinces this has been a
banner year. Not only has the yield been large, but the
average quality has never been equalled, and the cost of
harvesting has been unusually low, owing to the magnificent
weather. This has, to some extent, offset the low prices
which prevailed. The railways have done splendid work in
handling the crop.
"There is a marked increase in the number of livestock.
Farmers are becoming more fully alive to the advantages they
derive from this source and are realizing that their
borrowing credit is greatly enhanced if they can show a good
proportion of cattle in their assets, and banks should look
with favour on loans for the purchase and handling of
livestock."
Robert Campbell, general manager of the Northern Crown Bank, gives
strong testimony of the wealth of Western Canada:
"It is important at a time like the present for every
business concern, financial or otherwise, to show by its
statement that collections have been good. We may
congratulate ourselves upon the showing we have made in this.
Notwithstanding that we have made new loans amounting to
millions of dollars since the crop was harvested, our old
loans have been paid off so rapidly that our liquid assets
were not reduced.
"This state of affairs is attributable to the fine weather we
have experienced in the West, which enabled the farmers to
harvest their grain early and quickly and to the unusual
rapidity with which the crop was moved by the railway
companies."
[Illustration: Corn is not generally grown in Western Canada, but this
320 acres shows a splendid yield, and considerable is now grown for
fodder.]