The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-04

siASA eeit pt G0Sil lDi jilllGS lo d ilGH EOlutl hue It is the delight of the business man as well as the farmer to know that harvest has begun. A large amount of extra labor is required to handle tile harvest of the prairie provinces and luck fly the harvest in the east is finished by the time the harvest in the west is be- gun. Tho fall Of 1911 the railroads car ried 5000 harvest hands to the western provinces. The grain is cut with binders, which tie it up in bundles. This is then put into stocks by hand. and later hauled to the threshing machine, which is stationed in different parts Of the field. It Is pretty sight. the straw shoots out into a wagon box, Harvest means busy time for the farmers wife as we'll for she has to cook for q lot of hungry men. Ranch- ing is one of the leading industries of the country and in Alberta, up to recent years. was the only industry of any importance. The range cattle and horses are left to roam on the prairie. They are herded up in the fall to brand the calves and market the steers. They are driven into corners where the calves are lassoed, thrown down, branded and turned loose The colts are handled the same way. The stock is left out all winter and only when the snow gets deep in extreme cold weather are they fed straw or hay. They are never stabled. Horses are seldom fed anything in the worst of the winter; they paw through the snow for their food, while COW will not. When and years old the colts are taken off the range and put into hard work The mich cows and work horses are properly stabled.
 The rapidity by which the country is becoming settled is noticeable in the grain elevators. Today there are five elevators for every one five years ago. Towns have grown to be cities in q few years. For example, the city of Calgary, 'The Prai- Tie Diamond,' commonly called the Chi- eago of the west. The population in 1908 was 25,000 people; in 1911 COCO people. Building growth in 1907 was S2,o94,a54, and
 in 1911 over $120O0,000. A model city. with automatic telephones, owned and operated by the government. Municipal owned street railway, mountain gravity water system. light and power, all operated on a profit earning basis. There is an abundance of coal, water power and nat ural gas in close proximity. The school buildings are remarked upon by tourists all over the world. They do not expect to find such fine educational buildings out on the prairie. The system of education is one of the finest in the world. The buildings are the best stone structures and all freproof buildings, costing from $l0o,0OQ to s2O0000 each.
 The people are a mixture from all over the world; most every country is well represented. The prominent rank the Americans hold is very noticeable. They are leading in agriculture and finance. Every one from the good old |. S. A. is called Yankee" regardless of what sec ton of the country they might hail from. Thousands of the American farmers in the western states are selling their high priced land and buying land in sunny AL hot lac, sfs ak.
 quarter the price and will produce larger returns No fertilizer is required on the virgin soil of sunny Alberta.
 To us in the south we think of this far north country as being too cold to live ln This is a great mistake. The climate is very bracing and the people as a whole are more industrious.
 Alberta is no banana belt" although the sun shines most of the time. Possibly you would like to know how cold it does get. About once or twice each winter it will go down to 55 degrees or 60 degrees below zero, but this will only last for a night or two. In southern Alberta a cold spell lasts about ten days. then we are | visited by ''schnook' wind from the Pa | cific coast. which usually takes the snow | away and the weather remains mild for about two weeks. In Iaskatehawan and l Manitoba they do not get the schnook
 
 count of the high altitude the air is very | dry, so one does not feel the cold near as much as one does a cold spell in the south. The houses are built warm with double floors and walls which have heavy building paper between the boards and an extra sash Is simply screwed on out side of the window frame We also 1.se storm doors. All houses have basements with concrete walls, which keeps out the a ft1rt tAI frost goes often six feet under ground so all water and sewerage pipes are buried from six to eight feet
 I have spent three winters in Calgary and do not mind the cold, with the excep- | tion of the extreme sold weather which | lasts about a week. I really like the win ters. The only cases of people freezing to death are some unfortunate ones who l get lost on the prairie in a blizzard The summers are delightful. 1t is neces- sary to sleep under a blanket at night fhe sun shines almost constantly in sum- mer: the longest days are from a. m. | to 10 D. m. This is the cause of vegeta- | ton growing so rapidly
 l Have you ever seen a prairie fire when l the air is filled with smoke for miles and the heavens are aglow? Prairie fires that l have caused so much loss of life and damage to property are becoming thing
 
 | every precaution to prevent prairie fires | by blowing fire guards on certain section roads across the country. The railroads | are all required to blow fire guards on both sides of the railroad track. Most of | the farmers blow fire guards around their l buildings and hay stacks, and often around their farms Today we only have 1 prairie fires in the thinly settled districts, | and often the poor unfortunate home
 steader will be swept away When they l get into the foot hills they do great daia. | age to tho timber and cattle feed. \ | prairie fire spreads very quickly and hy blowing the land in advance of the fire is often the only way to stop it.
 ! Hunting, There is not better in the 1 world. The wild ducks and geese raise I their young on the sloughs and lakes in l western Canada. Sloughs and lakes are
 very plentiful in the prairie as it is so l level the surface water that does not soak | in the ground has to have somewhere to accumulate. The ponds are full of ducks | The geese raise their young further north l than where we find the ducks. The little | ducks ire seen on the water a s soon as | they are matched. Duck shooting season l opens August 23. and lasts two months, O, l until they migrate south. The geese come | down from the north the first real colo weather and migrate south. By Novem- | Der 10 there is not a duck or goose in the l country. Our prairie chickens are abou, | the size of a broier and stay in covIes
 the same as the southern quail. They are