The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 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 tho World.

TSS0 Iuo VvVGlOs
Before there were any cattle in
Alberta, or it vas known that it 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
ternational boundary for a thousand
miles will always be a 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
winder tracts Of treeless pasturage, in
the north from Red Deer on into the
Peace river country there are more
trees, q 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 an evidence of the
Increased production Of the Western
Provinces. They may also take credit
for, the increase in cattle and sheep,
which is very great, but perhaps not
SO marked as what has been accom-
plished in hog raising. For the first.
Six months alone last year about half
a million hogs we're shipped from
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
A very conservative estimate value. of
these animals to the farmer would be
$500 a head.
The Canadian West is fast forging to
the front of the wheat-producing coun-
tries of the world, and mo. 1 hard"
is without doubt the best wheat in the
market today. When it 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 un-
doubtedly be in growing wheat during
the next few years there is a POSSIBLE
ity that farmers may be tempted to
drop the growing Of coarser grains,
which might result in less stock being
raised. Every effort is being made by
the Agricultural Departments of the
various Provinces to impress on the
farmers that forage crops and coarse
feed in abundance mean production of
flesh and milk, and that in the long
run the great future of the Western
Provinces lies in mixed farming which
will found her prosperity on a more
enduring basis.
Mixed farming has always been the
rule in the Eastern Provinces where the
formation Of the land invites variety
Of crop, but it has not been as common
In the Western Provinces, though the
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
foot Of his land, and he has paid price:
for his supplies that have made q biz
dent in his profits. 1t has now dawnet
on him that he can raise vegetable:
and poultry, and supply his own table
that with very little effort he can raise
q lot Of garden produce and in a very
simple manner solve his own problem
of the cost of living. Further, tina
there is an increasing market for do
nestle necessities such as poultry
eggs, butter, milk and cheese, which
command very high prices, and tina
there are other roads to prosperit.
besides that through the wheat field.
In 1916 Canada imported 1892 {!
pounds of butter, most Of it from a:
far away as New Zealand, and for tn
first time in 60 years failed to shil
butter to England, a condition due t.
the home consumption, which is esti
mated to be increasing at the rate O
100000 worth a year, being great
~ in excess of the increased supply
This condition has brought about
change in farming methods that is far
reaching, and will result in greatly in
creased production all round of tn
necessities demanded by the hom'
market.
Natural Resources.
One of the most important consider
atoms to the farmer is fuel. In north
crn Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Al
berta, where portions of the countr.
IRE we'll wooded, the settler has littl'
difficulty in getting all the wood h
requires and thousands Of men f1n'
employment in the winter cutting
wood, which is shipped all owe tn
prairie portions of the provinces
There is an abundance of Goa
throughout the country. 1t is estlmat
ed that the coal deposits in Albert'
cover over $1,000 square miles ant
represent an available tonnage of owe
ten hundred thousand million tons
while those in Saskatchewan owe Al
area of 1900 miles, containing owe
&c OOO O0O tons. In Manitoba the Goa