The Benson signal., 1918-06-01
INCREASE IN WESTERN
CANADA LAND VALUES
But Forty and Fifty Bushels of
Wheat to the Acre.

During the past year there has been
"a greater demand for farm lands in
Western Canada than for a number of
years past. The demand is for good
farm lands improved or unimproved.
And at an increase of from ten to fif-
teen dollars an acre more than the
same lands could be had for a couple
of years ago.
The rise in the price of every kind
OF produce grown on these Western
lands, in some cases to double and in
others to treble the price prevailing be-
fore 1914, have attracted and are at
tracing in ever-increasing proportions
the men who are anxious to invest
their money. and apply their energies
in the production of wheat for which
the allied nations are calling with
voices which grow louder and more
anxious as the months roll on, and the
end Of the war still seems distant.
Beef, and more especially bacon, are
required in ever greater quantities,
and the price of all these things has
scared, until it is not a question Of
what shall we produce, but how much
can we produce. Even should this
world calamity be brought to close
in six months from now, it will be
years before normal pre-war prices
prevail, and meantime self-interest If
not patriotism is turning the minds of
thousands back to the land. The in
evitable consequence has been the rise
in value of land, especially wheat
land.
The Calgary Herald, commenting on
these conditions says:
"From inquiries made from leading
dealers in farming and ranching prop
critics, and from the information gath
cred in other ways, it is known that
the value of all land-wheat land,
mixed farming properties and even
good grazing land-has risen in the
last two years 40 per cent. Wheat
lands in some districts have practical
ly doubled in price. One dealer in
farm lands recently sold three sections
for $40 an acre, one extra good quar-
ter went as high as 500, and another
brought $10O. These are, of course,
large prices, but that they will be
equaled or even surpassed in the near
future is beyond question. There is a
feature about this rush to the land
from which the most solid hope can
be drawn for the success of the move
ment. The proper tillage of land, to
produce large crops in a climate like
ours is now understood and practiced
as it never was in the early days of
the province. 1t would seem too that
with the increase of land under culti-
walton, the seasons are changing
and the rainfall becoming greater and
whore regular.
"Crops are being harvested, especial
ly in Southern Alberta, which would
have seemed impossible to the old-time
farmer, with his old-fashioned ideas
Of breaking and seeding. And at the
price now set by the government for
wheat and which possibly may be in
creased during the coming season, the
return to the practical skilled agricul-
turist must necessarily be very large.
"What matters $40 or even 500 an
acre extra on wheat land when a re-
turn as high as so bushels and even
more may be taken from every acre
sown? With hogs bringing $40 hun
dred pounds; beef on the hoof at $12,
and mutton $16, while wool under the
new government arranged system of
handling and sale brings 65 cents
pound (and these values cannot fall
to any great extent for some years.
the demand for land will continue and
values increase in corresponding de-
gree.
"There has never been in the history
of Canada time so favorable for the
farmer as the present; self-interest,
the inspiration Of patriotic feeling, the
aid freely extended by the govern
ment, who are permitting the import
Of certain agricultural implements
free, all these tend to still further
raise the price of Alberta land."-Ad-
vertisement