The Green Forest tribune., 1908-09-04


 Miles on Horseback Across the De-
 nninion Provinces" Etc, Etc.
 Not soYery many years ago the major ity of people in the United States laughed at the prediction that the day was coming when Western Canada would far outstrip this country in the raising of grain-when, in other words. it would become the great bread-baskct of the world During the past three CT four years the enormous production of grain in the Dominion West has thinned the ranks of those who doubted the destiny of Canada S vast grain growing regions; the crops of this year will dispel the doubts of the remaining few. From Winnipeg westward to the foothills of Alberta, over country nearly thousand miles in width, the grain production this year will be something to almost stagger the belief of those hundreds of thousands of American farmers whose average yield is not more than from ten to fifteen bushels of wheat to the acre, and who are finding that their product is also outclassed in quality by that of their northern neighbors.
 The enormous grain crop of this year in the Canadian West may truth fully be said to be the production of "a few pioneers.' Only a small per centage of the unnumbered millions of acres of grain land are under culti- yation, notwithstanding the fact that tens of thousands of homesteads were taken up last year. And yet, when all the figures are in, it will be found that the settlers of the western prai- ries have raised this year more than 125.000.000 bushels of wheat, 100000 GOO bushels of oats and 25,000, GOO bushels of barley. It has been a for tune making year. for thousands of American farmers who two or three years ago owned hardly more than the clothes upon their backs, and whose bumper crops from their homesteads will yield them this season anywhere from $1, 300 to $2, 300 each, more money than many of them have seen at one time in all their lives.
 Very recently I passed through the western provinces from Winnipeg to Calgary, and in the words of fellow passenger, who was astonished by what he saw from the car windows in Manitoba, we were, metaphorically speaking, in a land of milk and honey The country was one great sweep of ripening grain In fact, so enormous was the crop, that at the time there were grave doubts as to the possibility of GETTING ENOUGH BINDER TWINE TO SUPPLY THE DEMAND. \ situation like this has never before been known in the agri- cultural history of any country.
 Before l made my first trip through the Dominion west I doubted very much the stories that I had heard of this so-called grain wonderland across the border I believed. as un- numbered thousands of others be- lieYed that the stories were circulated mostly to induce immigration I quick ly found that I was wrong. As one Alberta farmer said to me few weeks ago, If the whole truth were told about this country I don't sup pose you could find one American in ten who would believe it."
 This year the prospects of the wheat crop of Saskatchewan, Mani toba and Alberta are an average of over TWENTY-FIVE BUSHELS TO THE ACRE, and that this grain is far superior to that raised in the states is proved by our own govern ment statistics, which show that American millers are importing mil lions Of bushels of B Canadian hard" to mix with the home product in order that THIS HOME PRODUCT MAY BE RAISED TO THE REQUIRED STANDARD. It is a peculiar fact that while the Dominion Government is anxious for it's western provinces to fill up with the very best of immi- grants, there has been no blatant or sensational advertising of those lands. For this reason it is probable that not one American farmer out of fifty knows that Canada wheat now holds the worlds record of value-that in other words, it is the best wheat on earth. and that more of it is grown to the acre than anywhere else in the world
 A brief study of climatic conditions, and those things which go to make climate. will show that the farther one travels nerthward from the Mon- tana border the milder the climate be- comes-up to certain point. In other words, the climate at Edmonton, Alberta, is far better than that of Denver, 300 miles south; and while thousands of cattle and sheep are dy- ing because of the severity of the winters in Wyoming, Montana and other western states, the cattle, sheep and horses of Alberta CRAZE ON THE RANGES ALL WINTER WITH ABSOLUTELY NO SHELTER. This is all largely because sea-currents and air-currents have to do with the ma king of the climate of temperate re- gions. For instance, why is it that California possesses such a beautiful climate, with no winter at all while the New England states on a parallel with it have practically six months of winter out of twelve?
 It is because of that great sweep of warm water known as the Japan current and this same current not only. affects the westernmost of the Dominion provinces but added to it's influence are what are known as the chinook winds'-steady and undevi- cfipo air which ovoJ. the great wheat regions of Western