The adaptable and friendly man going into Canada will find a welcome
awaiting him. There is room for everybody. The man already established,
the railways, and the Government are equally anxious to secure further
immigration of the right kind. The new man is not looked upon as an
intruder but as a producer of new wealth, an enricher of the
commonwealth. The new man should buy his tools as he needs them. Until
he has more than thirty acres under crop he can work with a neighbour,
in exchange for the services of a binder. He may not need to build a
granary for two or three years. A cow is a good investment, and a
vegetable garden easily pays its own way.
A few broad general suggestions might be made to the settlers who come
in with varying capital at their command.
=The Man Who Has Less Than $300.=--This man had better work for wages for
the first year. He can either hire out to established farmers or find
employment on railway construction work. During the year, opportunity
may open up for him to take up his free grant or make the first payment
on a quarter-section that he would like to purchase.
=The Man Who Has $600.=--Get hold of your 160-acre free homestead at once,
build your shack, and proceed with your homestead duties. During the six
months that you are free to absent yourself from your homestead, hire
out to some successful farmer and get enough to tide you over the other
half of the year which you must spend in residence upon the land. When
you have put in six months' residence during each of these years and
have complied with the improvement conditions required by the Land Act,
you become the absolute owner.
=The Man Who Has $1,000.=--Either homestead a farm or purchase one on the
installment plan, and get to work at once. A small house and out
buildings will be required, with horses or oxen, a plough, a wagon, etc.
Working out in the harvest season will be needed to bring in money to
tide over the winter and get the crop sown in good condition. As the
crop grows, opportunity is given to make the house comfortable, to look
around and plan ahead.
=What $1,500 Will Buy.=--No farmer should come expecting to make a
homestead pay its own way the first year. He needs buildings, an
equipment, and money for the maintenance of himself and family, until
his first harvest can be garnered. After securing his land and putting
up his buildings, $1,500 will give him a fairly good equipment to begin
with. This will probably be expended as under:
1 team of good horses $450.00
1 harvester 165.00
4 milch cows at $65 260.00
1 seeder 113.00
1 strong wagon 94.00
4 hogs at $25 100.00
4 sheep at $8 32.00
1 set strong harness 35.00
1 rough sleigh 37.00
1 disc harrow 36.00
1 breaking plough 25.00
1 mowing machine 60.00
1 stubble plough 20.00
1 harrow 20.00
Other smaller tools 40.00
Barnyard fowls 40.00
Total $1527.00
If the settler locates early in the season he may get in a crop of
potatoes or oats in May or early June.
=Will a Quarter-Section Pay?=--"Will the tilling of a quarter of a section
(160 acres) pay?" when asked of those who have tried it provokes the
invariable answer that "It will and does pay." "We, or those following
us, will make less than that pay," said one who had proved up on a
homestead. Another pointed to the fact that many of those who commenced
on homesteads are now owners of other quarters--and even larger areas,
showing that they have progressed in obtaining more land, while others
still have stuck to the homestead quarter and this year are marketing as
much as $2,000 worth of grain and often nearer $3,000.
=Shall You Buy, Rent or Homestead?=--The question is one that Canadian
Government officials are frequently asked, especially in the homes of a
family of boys who have become interested in Central Canada. If the
young man has grit and inexperience let him homestead. Treating this
subject in a newspaper article, a correspondent very tersely says, "He
will survive the ordeal and gain his experience at less cost."
Another has ample knowledge of farming practice, experience in farm
management, but lacks pluck and staying power and the capacity to
endure. The food for thought and opportunity for action provided by the
management of an improved farm would be just the stimulus required to
make him settle into harness and "work out his own salvation in fear and
trembling."
Many men make excellent, progressive, broad-gauge farmers, by renting,
or buying an improved farm in a settled district and keeping in touch
with more advanced thought and methods. Their immediate financial
success may not be so great; their ultimate success will be much
greater, for they have been saved from narrow-gauge ways and withering
at the top.
Let the boy take the route that appeals to him. Don't force him to
homestead if he pines to rent. Don't try to keep him at home if
homesteading looks good to him. The thing to remember is that success
may be achieved by any one of the three routes. If the foundation is all
right, hard work the method, and thoroughness the motto, it makes little
difference what road is taken--whether homesteading, buying, or
renting--Central Canada is big enough, and good farming profitable
enough.
[Illustration: Alfalfa is a crop that is now assured in any of the
Provinces of Western Canada. The above is a Manitoba illustration, but
will apply to the other Provinces.]