The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-02-20
LAND OF WEALTH.
Western Canada Has Unbounded
Possibilities.
Glorious Opportunities for the Stock
Raiser, the Wheat Grower, and the
Mixed Farmer-lts Fields to
Feed the World.

Before there were any cattle in
Alberta, or 1t was known that il was
possible to feed them outside all the
year round the Indian hunters could
always find the buffalo during the
winter months pasturing in the foot
hills. In the summer the herds wan
dered on the plains and fed on the
prairie grasses. The plains have since
become grain fields, but the foothill
district extending north from the In
teinational boundary for thousand
miles will always be Il natural feeding
ground for live stock. In the southern
part Of Alberta the altitude is greater
than in the more nOrtherly districts.
but while The herds in the south have
wider tracts of treeless pasturage. IN
the north from Red Deer on into the
Peace river country there are moro
trees, II richer vegetation and more
natural shelter.
Those who have been advocating
stock raising and mixed farming for
the past few years point TO the number
of hogs marketed as IN evidence of the
increased production of the Western
Provinces. They may also take credit
for the increase i'm cattle and sheep,
which is very great, but perhaps not
so marked as what has been accom-
plished i'm hog raising. For the first
six months alone last year abont half
n million hogs were shipped from
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
those animals to the farmer would be
$500 Il head.
The Canadian West is fast forging to
the front of the wheat-producing cOun-
tries Of the world, and "No. 1 hard"
is without doubt the best wheat in the
market today. When il is considered
that the three hundred and forty-three
million four hundred and seventy-three
thousand bushel crop of 1915 was from
only eleven million acres of her hun
dreds of millions Of acres, it gives an
idea of what her future will be.
1t is felt however, that on account
Of the great money there will I'M
doubbtedly be in growing wheat during
, the next few years there is possible.
ity that farmers may be tempted to
drop the growing of coarser grains,
which might result i'm less stock being
the Agricultural Departments of the
various Provinces to Impress on the
farmers that forage crops and coarse
feed i'm abundance mean production of
| flesh and milk, and that i'm the long
run the great future of the Western
will found her prosperity on Il more
{ enduring basis.
Mixed farming has always been the
rule i'm the Eastern Provinces where the
formation of the land invites variety
of crop, but it has not been as common
practice has grown in recent years
Hitherto the man mining wheat from
the rich soil has purchased most of his
household food and necessities, his
energies being devoted To getting every
possible bushel of grain out Of every
for his supplies that have made big
dent in his profits. IL has now dawned
ON him that he can raise vegetables
and poultry, and supply his own table
that with very little effort he can raise
lot of garden produce and i'm very
simple manner solve his own problem
of the cost of living. Further, that
there is an increasing market for do
nestle necessities such as poultry
eggs, butter, milk and cheese, which
command very high prices, and that
there are other roads to prosperity
besides that through the wheat field.
In 1916 Canada imported 7,9S9,26g
pounds of butter most of it from as
far away as New Zealand, and for the
first time in 60 years failed to ship
butter to England, condition due ia
the home consumption, which Is esti-
mated to be increasing at the rate OF
S3,000,000 worth year, being great
~ in excess of the increased supply
This condition has brought about Il
change In farming methods that is far
reaching, and will result I'm greatly in.
creased production all round of the
necessities demanded by the home
market.
Natural Resources.
One of the most important consider
ations to the farmer is fuel. In north.
ern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Al
berta, where portions of the country
are well wooded. the settler has little
difficulty in getting all the wood he
requires, and thousands of men find
employment In the winter cutting
wood, which is shipped all over the
prairie portions of the provinces
There is an abundance Of Goa
throughout the country. II is estimat
ed that the coal deposits i'm Alberta
cover over $1,000 square miles and
represent an available tonnage of over
ten hundred thousand million tons
while those in Saskatchewan cover an
area of 1900 miles, containing over