Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1901-03-27
FARMING 1NwEsTERr CANADA
The Great Natural Fertility Of the Soil
in Manitoba. Assiniboia. Sas-
katcheWan and Alberta.
What Has Been Done by Premier
Greenway, Himself . Leading
Farmer.

Hon. Thomas Greenway, Premier
of the Province of Manitoba, one of
the foremost farmers of Western
Canada, writes an excellent article to
the press, from which the following
extracts are made:
The writer came to Manitoba from
Ontario in the autumn Of 1873, and
has ever since been engaged in ag-
ricultural pursuits. From the day,
nearly % years ago, when he select
ed his homestead, he has had un-
bounded faith in the country as a
place where farming can be success
fully carried on, if pursued upon
proper lines. There is a large num-
Der in this Province who should rath-
er be called "wheat-growers" than
farmers. On account of the facil-
tiles, natural advantages, and there
fore cheapness with which wheat can
be grown, no doubt many have done
exceedingly well by raising wheat
only; still, it is far from ideal farm
ing. Not only will such a course, if
persisted in, have the effect of caus-
ing the land to run out, as has been
the experience of those who purs ued
the same plan in the wheat-produc-
ing prairie States to the south of us,
but it is far from being the most
profitable course to adopt
This fact is already being demon.
strated in Manitoba. Let the farms
in this " estern country be managed
upon the lines which were successful
in the Eastern Provinces, and much
more can be done here in a given
time than was ever done in the East.
The probabilities of failure are prac-
tically nil. Upon the farm there
should be found horses, cattle, sheep,
hogs and poultry, according to the
ability of the farmer-with respect
to his means and the extent of his
holding. The wanton waste which
has hitherto been practiced by many
farmers, that of burning vast guam
titles of excellent fodder after
threshing is done, should cease; it
should all be used upon the farm
and converted into the old, sensible
kind of fertilizer manure, and after
wards be returned to the soil, so
that what has been taken from it
by the crop. may be restored. AL
though admitting that the great nat
ural fertility of the soil in Manitoba
and the success that has attended the
growing of wheat for years upon the
same land have a tendency to make
tempting, yet, if continued, wheat
growing upon the same land year
after year is undoubtedly a mistake.
The writer knows of no country that
offers advantages so great to the ag-
riculturist as does Manitoba. The
vraious branches of farming can be
carried on successfully, as twenty
two years of practical operations and
observations of what others are do
ing have proven. To those desiring
to make new homes for themselves,
the low price of some of the best
lands in the world (although rapidly
advancing in price this year) offer
still great opportunities. To all such
the invitation is cordially given to
"Come and See." There need be no
poor people here. There is land for
all who choose to come, land upon
which happy homes can be estab-
lished, and from which ample re-
sources can be gathered against old
age. All that man needs to achieve
competence in this domain is COM
nonsense and industry. With these
qualifica tions he is bound to succeed.
For information regarding free
homestead lands, apply to any agent
of the government whose advertise
ment appears elsewhere in these col.
umns.