The advocate., 1897-10-20

| Hudlly BIOuuu IHLO uOuT III INC HAAlS "
Minneapolis, and 100000 in the mills
Of Duluth and Superior. The small
country mills probably consume TO-
! 900 900 bushels more, 80 that nearly two
thirds Of the entire crop Is required tC
keep the mills running in the regions
where it is grown. A good deal Of the
surplus goes to Europe to English and
Scotch millers, and good deal Is ground
by the mills in our Eastern States. The
price is from " cent to ! cent bushel
higher than Is obtained for the best
wheat Of other varieties.
There is no possibility of extending
the hard wheat belt further south In
the United States or much further west
but patriotic Canadians base their hopes
of developing out Of their country a
great autonomous nation on the posi-
bilities Of wheat-raising in their North
western provinces. Manitoba has still
a great extent Of unsettled prairie coun'
try, and in the provinces Of Assiniboia,
Alberta and Saskatchewan is an i'm
mense region of fertile territory, where
wheat is successfully grown. In all this
far northern region, however, there is
danger Of August frost nipping the grain
while "in the milk" and shriVeling it
up This is a calamity which Is dreaded
every year by the wheat-raisers Of the
Canadian Northwest. Frosted wheat
grades as rejected" and brings only a
low price.
The long rail haul from Alberta and
AssinibOia makes wheat-raising a poor
business where there is any risk OF the
loss Of crop by frost, and, although
wheat is successfully grown in a small
way as far north as the Peace river coun-
try, it Is very doubtful whether the
great frozen plain of the Canadian
Northwest will ever produce large
amount of this grain. We may look for
considerable addition to the present
yield of Manitoba, of North Dakota, Of
Minnesota, and of South Dakota, but
this increase is not likely to any more
than keep up with the increased de-
mands of the world for food. The hard
wheat farmer knows that his grain al
ways commands the best price, and is
always wanted. The newspapers in the
Northwest have been preaching mixed
farming for many years to our wheat
growers as q short road to prosperity,
but the farmers stick firmly to their
staple crop, and believe they are wise
in doing 80. The great decline in wheat
prices In recent years shook their faith
in it sadly, but 1t has been re-established
by rise of about 20 cents bushel dur.
ing the past year. Present prices are
quite remuneratiVe where there is fair
yield. In Minnesota the average yield
Is from twelve to fifteen bushels per
acre. In North Dakota and in Manitoba
1t is somewhat higher. On some farms
it occasionally runs up to thirty bushels
The raising Of hard winter wheat in
wolves comparatively little labor. The
plowing is mostly done in the fall, and
the seeding is completed early in May;
then there is nothing to do but to watch
the crop grow and ripen until harvest
commences in August. By August l, the
reapers get to work, as rule, and by
the LIST of September the whole crop is
secured. Formerly the threshing was
done directly from the shocks, but in re-
cent years early fall rains have con-
Vinced the farmers of the wisdom Of
stacking their grain, and now all the
great wheat plains are dotted with the
Conical stacks by the first week in Sep
tember. When the grain is we'll stacked
the threshing can await the convenience
of the farmer. 1t is usually well under
way by the time cold weather sets in in
November, and is often prolonged until
snow flies. The most productive Of our
hard wheat regions is unquestionably
the valley of the Red River Of the North.
This great alluvial plain, which drains
northward to Hudson bay, is now an
immense wheat field, gridirOned by rail-