Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-11-03
CANADA'S IMMENSE
WHEAT FIELDS
The ATTRACTION FOR THREE
TRANSCoNTlNENTAL RAIL
WAYS.

Last August there visited the Cana
dian west the fce-president of the
| largest individual hardware company
| IN the United States. AS his firm have
turnover of millions, and deals ex-
| tenslVely with farm implements. this
man took deep interest in crop con-
dltlons in Canada, and on his return
| he embodied his findings in an article
Tor the Hardware Reporter. This ar
tlcle should be of special interest to
| farmers.
The writer speaks of the Importance
OF the spring wheat crop of Western
Canada. He might also have spoken
OF the Importance of the oat crop and
also OF the winter wheat crop, as we'll
as barley. Winter wheat during the
past few years has been great sue
cess, and experiments have shown
that it can be grown with success in
almost any portion of the three prov
| lnces OF Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Alberta. But apart from this, the
spring wheat crop is the one generally
grown, and all who know anything Of
grain, anyone who has had anything
to do with markets, knows or has
heard of the high character of this
cereal and the splendid yields that are
annually produced. Reproducing from
this article:-
I'm land of such great sweep, and
Of such difference in soil and climate,
there are many resources, but none
are at present of the same overwhelm-
ing Importance as the spring wheat
crop. In the interminable prairie
stretches of the northwest provinces
1t is the one absorbing topic of inter-
est and of conversation during it's
growing and it's harvesting, for upon
| its success or failure hangs the veal
or woe of large part of the Domin-
ion. Its influence extends far down
into the United States, drawing thou
sands of farmers northwards with the
lure of cheap lands, but likewise be-
] yond the great lakes, even to the easy
going maritime provinces, calling the
| lower of their young men to it's OPP
portunities. Development in these
prairie provinces goes on at high pres
sure for everything hangs on the out
come of spring wheat. Success has
emboldened the raisers of this one all
important crop, and each year there
Is further incursion into those north
arn fields that only a short time ago
were regarded as Arctic wastes. The
| Canadian Northwest seems to be one
Of those modern agricultural examples
I set forth to drive the final nail in the
coffin of that ancient Malthusian de-
fusion that population tends to outrun
the means of subsistence, since the
only fear now among Canadian econ
om1sts is as to the danger of over
| stocking the wheat market. Only
I about two and one-half per cent OF
possible arabic lands in the northwest
provinces is now under cultivation,
and this year the crop promises to
be close to 20O,000,000 bushels, so
hat your imagination and your arith-
netic can easily supply the answer as
10 the possible or even probable out
come"
! During the months of July and Au-
/ gust the weather was unfavourable
and the production of 200 million
yield of wheat will not likely be real
lied, but even with this, the threshing
reports coming to hand show that the
crop will be a splendidly paying one.