Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-05-30
INCREASE IN WESTERN
CANADA LAND VALUES
But Forty and Fifty Bushels Of
Wheat to the Acre.

During The pas, year there has been
"a greater demand for farm lands in
Western Canada than for Il number Of
farm lands improved or u~nimprOvcd.
And ut an increase of from ten to fif-
teen dollars an acre more than the
same lands could be had for Il couple
of years ago.
The rise in the price of every kind
OF produce crown on these Western
lands, i'm some cases To double and in
Others TO treble the price prevailing be-
fore 1914. have distracted and are at
lracttng In ever-increaSing proportions
the men who are anxious to invest
heir money. and apply their energies
III the production of wheat for which
the allied nations are calling with
voices which grow Iouder and more
anxious ais the months roll on, and the
n of the war still seems distant.
Beef. more especially bacon. are
required i'm ever greater quantities,
and the price of all these things has
scared, until ii is not II question of
what shall we produce, but how much
can we produce. Even should this
world calamity he brought to IL close
in six months from now. it will be
years before normal prc-war prices
prevail. and meantime sclf-intcrest 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:
prom inquiries made from leading
dealers i'm 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 i'm 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 IL extra good quar-
ter went as high as 500, and another
brought $500. These are, of course,
large prices, but that they will be
equalcd or even surpassed in the near
future is beyond question. There is n:
feature about this rush to the land
from which the most solid hope can
he drawn for the success of the move
ment. The proper tillage of land, to
produce large crops i'm Il 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 Guilt
Walton. the aso are changing
and the rainfall becoming greater and
more regular.
Crops are being harvested. especial
ly i'm 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 10Y 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 u necessarily be very large.
What matters $40 or even $50 an
mere extra on wheat land when q re-
turn as high as 80 bushels and even
more may he taken from every acre
sown? With hogs bringing 500 Il hun
dred pounds; beef on the hoof Mt So,
and mutton $40, while wool under the
new government arranged system of
handling and sale brings 65 cents a
pound (and these values cannot fall