Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1919-02-27
LAND OF WEALTH
Western Canada Has Unbounded
Possibilities.
Glorious Opportunities for the Stock
Raiser, the Wheat Grower, and the
Mixed Farmer-Its Fields to
Feed the World.

Before there were any cattle In
Alberta, or 1t was 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 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 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
wfnder tracts of treeless pasturage, in
the north from Red Deer on into the
Peace river country there are more
trees, 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 what has been accom-
p1ished in hog raising. For the first
six months alone last year about half
a million hogs were shipped from
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta
a very conservative value VI
these animals to the farmer would be
$500 head.
The Canadian West is fast forging to
the front of the wheat-producing coun-
tries of the world. and mo L 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 I'M
doubtedly 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 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 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 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 prices
for his supplies that have made big
dent in his profits. It has now dawned
him that he raise vegetables
and poultry, and supply his own table
that with very little effort he raise
a lot of garden produce and in a very
simple manner solve his own problem
of the cost of living. Further, thai
there is an increasing market for do
mestic necessities such poultry
eggs, butter, milk and cheese, which
command very high prices, and tina
there are other roads to prosperity
besides that through the wheat field
In 1916 Canada imported 7,9S9, 26s
pounds of butter, most of 1T from a
far away as New Zealand, and for tn,
first time in 60 years failed to shil
butter to England. condition due t.
the home consumption, which is est
mated to be increasing at the rate o
So, 10000 worth a year, being great
ly 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 HON
market.
Natural Resources.
One of the most important consider
atfons to the farmer is fuel. In north
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and A
berta, where portions of the countr
are well wooded. the settler has Httl
difficulty in getting all the wood b
requires and thousands of men fin
employment in the winter cuttin
wood, which is shipped all over tn
prairie portions of the provinces
There Is abundance OF COS
throughout the country. 1t is eStima
ed that the coal deposits in Albert
cover over 81, 900 square miles an
represent an available tonnage of owe
ten hundred thousand million ton
while those in Saskatchewan cover a
area OF $4,000 miles, containing owe
59,OOO,OO tons. In Manitoba the co;
reserve is not as large, but even theI
1000 900 tons is considered conse
rirra-,f A