The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30
A DAY WITH THE WHEAT
HARVESTERS OF MANITOBA

thing is modern-everything is sub
stantlal IN the home, and a look of in
dependence on the mans face-a self
respecting attitude of the entire fam
lily. As we rememb er our poor colo
nlst' with hatless girls and shoeiess
Toys oisembarking at the station, we
ask, what has produced this strange
metamorphosis, what has caused this
great evolution; the answer comes back
from thousand homes dotting the
pfdlrle-iWheat, wheat, wheat
The Raising of Wheat.
What we don't know about wheat
| would NIL Carnegie library. How
| ever, man can ask a great MANY
questions staying one day in farmers
! mouse. Sink a full length spade from
tne grass root, down into the earth,
until the Whole spade is out of sight,
| mat IN many places is the SOIL six
! feet of rich, black loan; underneath
a clay subsoil. Summer-fallen the
land, because often in spring the
ground is too wet to plow, and plant
IN spring, as soon as two inches of
frost have gone out of the soil, leaving
| several inches of frost in the ground
TO go down and out the back way
That is the method. Frost every month
OF the year, snow every one save two,
that is the climate, but it matters not
as long as the farmer can get rain
III June on the sprouting seed for that
means good crop. Oh, the beauty
| OF the miles, and miles of lush green
wheat, when breeze strikes it and
sends ripple over the swaying grain,
SO gentle and graceful, like the fringe
OF a receding wave from the sea shore!
Or, the richness of the golden grain in
harvest time, when the full heads
stand up so proudly, telling the tale
of honest toll and pointing out the
true source of a nations wealth. The
Rich Fool of the Bible does not live in
Manitoba; there is no temptation to
build bigger barns, for he has no tim
Der, so he threshes his wheat, in the
fields, right into the wagons, and car
rles 1t to the nearest of Mr.. Ogilvie's
elevators and comes home with his
check. This Mr.. Cgilve, so far as l
can judge from his tall, numbered,
elevators at every point, and his flour
mills at Winnepeg, seems to be the
Napoleon in wheat
Words from the Men and Women of
But we have been too long away
from the human element; let us get
| back to what some of these men and
women say about their homes in the
west. Here are some interesting hui
man documents: Moose Jaw P. o..
Aug. q, 1901. I came to this country
in the spring of 1883 and took up
homestead. In "a 1 brought my fam
lily from Ontario My outfit amounted
to the value of $780, l have had good
success with my crops. My crop aver
age in summer falloW has been thirty
five bushels to the acre; stubble and
heaking, twenty-five bushels to the
acre. l worked three horses for the
first ten years and now work twenty
three and have thirty-five head, all
told. Ny cattle number sixty head;
they are fed two months in the stable;
the balance of the year they roam out
side. Horses run on the prairie all
winter and come in fat, ready for
spring work. My landed property
amounts to 2,0S0 acres, of which 1 Gull
tivate 800 acres, 800 acres is fenced for
pasture When 1 came to this country
we lived in a shack 12x14. Ny stable
was built of straw and poles. My
present dwelling house is a brick
building 22xS2, valued at $1,700; barn.
36x76, stone basement, cost $4,000.
have no hesitation in recommending
this country as field for settlement.
The poor man can secure q. good home
and competence by hard work and in
dustry To the intending settler with
some capital. with intelligence and
work, he can reach the fountain-head
of independence sooner than in any
country in the world.
IS. K Rathwell.''
This one letter is a sample of great
many thousand. which seem to indi-
cate that a home and competency are
in a few years within the grasp of any
man willing to work hard. Knowing
that thousands are pouring over the
border1and from the United States into
this northwestern country of Canada.
sought to inquire the reasons. I found
them to he. the cheaper price of land,
and the freedom from the overweening
and dominating power of the immense
wheat companies of the states. Good
land can be obtained free from the gov
eminent by demonstrating, and from the
Canadian Pacific Railroad, at a price
from $50 to Sc per acre, ten years
time. And there is no big monopoly
as your next door neighbor, so big that
it can drive its team of horses all day
iii one straight furrow and then come
back the next day in a single furroW.
But let us hear from the wives of these
pioneer farmers. Women universally
don't like the country, but prefer city
life. Again 1 quote: -Four miles out
OF the city of Brandon, Manitoba, beau
tiful Tullichewen," the home of a fine
type of Scotchwoman of patrician de-
scent, stands. 1t is really az estate
as it comprises $40 acres of beautifully
freed spruce and naples. 1t was the
threshing seasonal time of fullness IN
the land-and the mistress of this very
beautiful home was found busily en-
gagged in preparations for the six and
twenty threshers. A single serving
woman was all the assistance she had,
and those who understand what a
threshing-time is will appreciate the
undertaking of feeding and housing this
hungry gang You've caught me at
very busy time" said Mrs. McEwen,
laying aside her baking apron and
leading the way to a parlor as well
appointed as any city home what
made us come to the Canadian West?
Well, it was for the sake of our boys
we came. We gave up a good deal of
course by coming in the early days,
but have we not been repaid? On the
prairie-farm our boys grew strong and
rugged in body. brave and healthy in
mind, quick and useful in hand. Even
in those early days we found educa-
tional advantages; schools and col
leges were not far away. Oh, yes, we