The Virginia enterprise., 1908-09-11


this Is Alberta.s banner year u grain
production, as It is Saskatchewan's
and Manitoba's, and from figures al
ready in it is estimated that Alberta's
wheat will yield on an average of THIR-
TY-FIVE BUSHELS TO THE ACRE.
In many parts Of the province returns
will show yield of as high as FIFTY
bushels to the acre and it is freely
predicted by many that when the. Of
ficial figures are in a yield Of at least
forty-t1ve instead Of thirty-five bushels
to the acre will be shown. -
At the time of my last journey
through the Canadian West, when my
purpose was largely to secure 'statis-
tica1 matter for book use, I solicited
letters from American settlers in all
parts of the three provinces, and most
of these make most interesting read
ing. The letter was written by A. Kali
tenbrunner, whose postofice address
is Regina, Saskatchewan. -.
"A few years ago" he says, 81 took
up a homestead for myself and also
one for my son. The half section
which we own is between Rouleau and
Drinkwater, adjoining the Moosejaw
creek, and is low, level and heavy
land. Last year we put in 100 acres of
wheat which went Is bushels to the
acre. Every bushel of it was NO. L.
That means the best wheat that can
be raised on earth-wOrth 80 cents
bushel at the nearest elevators. We
also threshed 5000 bushels of first
class oats out of 100 acres. Eighty
acres was fall plowing AND YIELDED
NINETY BUSHELS TO THE ACRE.
We got So cents a bushel clear. All
our grain was cut in the last week Of
the month of August. We will make
more money out of our crops this year
than last. For myself, I feel COM
PEELED to say that Western Canada
crops cannot be checked, even by un.
usual conditions"
An itemized account shows a single
years earnings of this settler and his
son to be as follows:
2, 500 bushels of wheat at 80 cents
DuSnel. ~ ,Z5V
5000 bushels of oats at 53 cents
It will be seen by the above that
this mans oat crop was worth twice
as much as his wheat crop. While
the provinces of western Canada will
for all time to come be the worlds
greatest wheat growing regions, oats
are running the former grain close
race for supremacy. The soil and eli
matte conditions in Manitoba, Sas.
katchewan and Alberta are particular
ly favorable to the production of oats.
and this grain, like the wheat, runs a
far greater crop to the acre than in
even the best grain producing states
of the union. Ninety bushels to the
acre is not an unusual yield, whole
homesteads frequently running this
average. And this is not the only ad-
vantage Western Canada oats have
over those of the United States, for in
weight they run between forty and
fifty pounds to the bushel, while No.
q wheat goes to sixty-twp pounds to
the bushel. In fact, SO heavy is
Canadian grain of all kinds, and espe-
cially the wheat, that throughout the
west one will see cars with great
placards upon them, which read:
This car is not to be filled to ca
pacity with Alberta wheat"
When I made my first trip through
the Canadian West a few years ago
found thousands of settlers living in
rude shacks, tent shelters and homes
of logs and clay. Today one will find
these old "homes" scattered from
Manitoba to the Rockies, but they are
no longer used by human tenants.
Modern homes have taken their place
for it has come to be common say
ing in these great grain regions that,
''The first year settler is in the land
he earns a living: the second he has
money enough to build himself a mod
ern home and barns; the third he is
independent" And as extreme as this
statement may seem to those hun
dreds of thousands of American farm
ers who strive for meager existence,
it is absolutely true. am an Ameri-
can, as patriotic, believe, as most of
our peOple-but even at that I cannot
but wish that these people, whose
lives are such an endless and unhappy
grind, might know of the new l!fe that
is awaiting them in this last great
west-this "land of greater hope"
where the farmer is king, and where
the wealth all rests in his hands. AS
one American farmer said to me, 1T
is hard to pull up stakes and move a
couple Of thousand miles," And so it
is-or at least it appears to be. But
In month it can be done. And
| the first year, when the new settler
reaps a greater harvest than he has
ever possessed before, he will rise
with 100000 others of his people in
Western Canada and thank the gov
ernment that has given him, free of
cost, a new life, new home, and new
hopes-which has made of him, in
fact, "A man among men, a possessor
of wealth among his people,"
1horeau's Sensible Answer.
When the forest.haunting hermit
Thoreau lay on his deathbed, Cal
| whistle friend called to make inquiry
| regarding his SOUL Henry" he said.