=Regina.=--During the week ending Sept. 21, 5119 cars of No. 1 Northern
Hard were shipped out of the Province, as compared with 1,497 cars of
No. 2 Northern and 290 cars of No. 3 Northern in 1912. There were, in
addition, 111 cars of No. 1 Manitoba Hard shipped during the week.
=Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Nov. 30.=--Since Sept. 1, 19,850,000 bushels of
grain have been shipped from the Moose Jaw district, against 32,000,000
for the previous entire crop year. Rouleau heads the list with 1,040,000
bushels, and Milestone comes second with 910,000 bushels. Vanguard,
which led last year, is third, with 835,000 bushels.
=Rutan.=--Arthur Brondson, inexperienced in farming, having lived in
London until eight years ago, last year raised 36 acres of Red Fife
wheat, of 49 bushels per acre, and 48 acres Marquis wheat, 52 bushels
per acre.
=Regina.=--James Cranston threshed 1,050 bushels oats from ten acres;
James Hars's 60 acres yielded 106 bushels; W. J. Crawford's 60 acres
produced 43 bushels Preston wheat; other yields of Marquis wheat show
40, 48, 50, and 63 bushels to the acre.
=Esterhazy.=--Esterhazy shared in the abundant harvest of 1913. A
conservative estimate for the yield is from 25 to 30 bushels per acre
for wheat, and 40 to 45 for oats. Some fields yielded 40 to 45 bushels
per acre in wheat.
=Tisdale.=--D. McKibbon threshed 38 bushels wheat to the acre off 40
acres.
=Wynyard.=--Eggert Bjornson threshed 176 acres, averaging 36 bushels No. 1
Northern wheat.
=Moose Jaw.=--Chas. White's 80 acres wheat yielded 38 bushels to the acre.
W. H. Johnston's 90 acres produced 35-1/2 bushels wheat per acre.
[Illustration: A landscape view of Central Saskatchewan.]
[Illustration: This man is sufficiently modest to start with oxen; in a
year or two they will be replaced by horses. He now farms 320 acres.]
=Pasqua.=--E. S. Patterson, on 230 acres summer-fallow, threshed 31 acres
Marquis, with a yield of 40-2/3 bushels per acre; 199 acres Red Fyfe
with a yield of 35-1/2 bushels per acre.
=Caron.=--Archie Dalrymple, 100 acres, 40-1/2 bushels wheat per acre. Geo.
Clemenshaw, 80 acres, 42-1/2 bushels wheat per acre.
=Boharm.=--Geo. Campbell had 55 acres wheat that yielded 38 bushels per
acre, and 100 acres that yielded 36 bushels.
=Assiniboia.=--E. Lennard threshed 1200 bushels oats, from a ten-acre
field. His summer-fallow yielded 40 bushels No. 1 Northern wheat per
acre.
=Canora.=--Mike Gabora had a yield of 120-1/2 bushels oats per acre. C. R.
Graham, who has a 3,000 acre farm in this district, for a number of
years has grown oats that averaged 60 bushels to the acre, and sometimes
yielded 100 bushels: one year the average was 117 bushels.
=Arcola.=--R. F. Harman, formerly of the County of Cork, Ireland,
homesteaded in the North Battleford district in 1903, with $50.00
capital. He now owns 480 acres, clear of encumbrance, raises wheat,
oats, barley, hay, and is a firm believer in mixed farming. In ten years
his capital has increased from $50.00 to $25,000.
=Swift Current.=--Ed. K. Leep, of Chicago, homesteaded north of Swift
Current. He had 30 acres of land in potatoes in June and lifted new
potatoes on August 15. In the Fall little more than half an acre yielded
over one hundred bushels. Some had been used in the meantime. Fuel was
plentiful 8 miles away and good water was reached at twenty-five feet.
The climate was agreeable, and good crops assured.
=Nokomis.=--J. Keys had oats in 1913 that went 110 bushels to the acre,
and wheat, 40 bushels. He has paid off the mortgage on his farm, and now
contemplates a trip to his old home in Denmark, to induce more of his
people to settle in his neighbourhood.
=W. E. Lewis= of Dayton, Ohio, went to Saskatchewan seven years ago with
$1,800 in money, a carload of household effects and farm implements,
four horses and three cows. The first year he got only feed from the
crops, but the second year threshed over 2,800 bushels of wheat from 100
acres. He has not had a crop failure and now has 22 horses, 15 cattle,
35 hogs, and owns 1,120 acres of land, all under cultivation. He has
been offered $35.00 an acre for his land. Should he care to sell, he
could pay all his debts, and have $30,000 to the good, but, he says,
"Where could I go to invest my money and get as good returns?"
=A. T. Smith= of Southern Saskatchewan will grow alfalfa on 3,000 acres of
land in 1914.
=Mr. S. G. Cowan says=: "I usually thresh from 60 to 65 bushels of oats,
30 of wheat, and 60 of barley. Vegetables grow well, and it is no
trouble at all to grow potatoes. My farm has been under crop nine years,
and has never been frozen, snowed under, or hailed. I have kept 100
cattle and 100 hogs. I usually give them their growth on green feed,
wheat, oats, and barley, and fatten them on grain. With a little to
start on we have cleared $10,000 in a little over four years."
=Chaplin.=--J. R. Lowe has matured two crops of fodder corn, and he says
there is little difference between it and what he grew in Minnesota.
=Industries.=--The remarkable growth of the several cities and towns is
but one of many evidences of increasing agricultural prosperity. With
the coal resources of the southeastern part of the Province utilized,
and the opportunities in northern parts for getting cheap water,
Saskatchewan's industrial opportunities are many.
There is a great demand for help of all kinds. With seven cities, thirty
or more towns, and five hundred villages, many men are constantly
required for building trades and municipal work. The 90,000 farmers want
help to put in and farm their crops. Boards of Trade in every city and
town are ready to give information about openings for investment and
assistance in locating men. The experimental stage is passed and people
are developing beautiful homes surrounded by fertile fields.
Cost of Farm Implements:
Disc Drill (single to
twenty double) $ 96.00
Mowers 53.50
Twelve in. Gang Plows 82.00
Binders, six-foot cut 145.00
Binders, seven-foot cut 158.00
Binders, eight-foot cut 165.00
Rakes 35.00
Gasoline Tractors (Case) 2,480.00
Gasoline Tractors (Nicols) 3,665.00
Gasoline Tractors (International) 1,800.00
Steam Tractors (Case) 2,272.00
Steam Tractors (Nicols) 2,895.00
Case Separator 1,202.00
Nicols Separator 1,150.00
International Separator 1,280.00
=Agricultural Cooperation.=--The Provincial Government has established
co-operation in creameries, elevators, telephone, hail insurance,
agricultural societies and live stock. Five million dollars have been
set aside for road improvements. The new agricultural college, with its
1,300 acre farm, costing one million dollars, is an evidence of public
activity. The college has 100 students.
=Temperatures= and hours' sunshine in Saskatchewan ranged lower, and
rainfall during the growing season higher, than the average for several
years.
The average temperatures and precipitation for each of the first nine
months of 1913:
Month Mean Maximum Minimum Precipitation
January -7.85 37.5 -45.3 .70
February 2.64 37.7 -34.3 .64
March 8.9 44.9 -31.9 .65
April 41.7 78.5 13.4 .31
May 47.2 84.7 20.7 1.00
June 59.2 87.7 30.7 3.00
July 61.1 86.6 37.4 3.18
August 60.8 85.9 38.9 2.80
September 52.1 85.5 32.9 .88
January-September, 1913 36.2 69.8 5.9 Total 13.16
April-September, 1913 53.6 84.8 27.5 " 11.17
April-September, 1912 50.9 79.9 27.5 " 13.92
=Interior Storage Elevators.=--A great advantage and an immense relief for
the hundreds of elevators of from thirty to forty thousand bushels'
capacity, will be the two interior storage elevators now under
construction at Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, each with a capacity of 3
million bushels.
=Farm Help in 1913.=--Labourers work by the month, for $32 to $41. Servant
girls were paid from $14 to $22 this year as compared with from $10 to
$15 in 1907.
=Population and Live Stock.=--(Dominion Census Bureau):
1909 1910 1911 1912 1913
Population 492,432 [1]540,000
Horses 279,063 332,922 507,400 551,645 580,386
Milch cows 124,186 138,455 181,146 184,896 194,843
Other cattle 391,789 431,164 452,466 461,244 468,255
Sheep 129,630 135,360 114,216 114,810 115,568
Swine 131,757 125,788 286,295 344,298 387,684
[1] Estimated.
[Illustration: A healthy family from Nebraska, now living in Western
Canada. Observe the height of the oats. The crop yielded 70 bushels per
acre.]
[Illustration: Mr. J. C. Hill & Sons, of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, who
recently became winners for the third time of the Colorado Silver
Trophy, valued at $1500 for best peck of oats in the world. They now own
the trophy.]
[Illustration: CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN
Surveyed land shown in colour.