The Benson signal., 1919-02-22
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 it 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
1ills. In the summer the herds wan
iered 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
:ernational boundary for thousand
niles will always be natural feeding
ground for live stock. In the southern
part of Alberta the altitude is greater
han in the more lortherly districts.
out while the herds in the south have
Tinder tracts of treeless pasturage. in
he north from Red Deer on into the
Peace river country there are more
rees, a richer vegetation and more
natural shelter
Those who have been advocating
stock raising and mixed farming for
he past few years point to the number
If hogs marketed as an evidence of the
increased production of the Western
Provinces. They may also take credit
'or the increase in cattle and sheep.
which is very great, but perhaps not
so marked as what has been accom-
1lished in hog raising. For the first
six months alone last year about half
million hogs were shipped from
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
very conservative estimate; value of
.hese 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 "No. l hard"
IS without doubt the best wheat in the
market today. When it is considered
hat the three hundred and forty-three
million four hundred and sevenry-three
thousand bushel crop of 1915 was from
only eleven million acres of her hum
lreds of millions of acres, it gives an
dea of what her future win be-
1t is felt, however, that on account
IF the great money there will un-
1oubtedly be in growing wheat during
The next few years there is a possibil-
ty that farmers may be tempted to
1rop the growing of coarser grains,
which might result in less stock being
:aised. Every effort is Being made by
he Agricultural Departments of the
various Provinces to impress on the
farmers that forage crops and coarse
feed in abundance mean production OF
9esh 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
IF 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
aousehold 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
Stor his supplies that have made big
dent in his profits. 1t 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
a lot of garden produce and in a very
simple manner solve his own problem
Of the cost of living. Further, that
t.. orsv1 .I~oA f0- 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 1915 Canada imported 1889, ,269
pounds of butter. most of it from as
far away as New Zealand, and for the
first time in so years failed to ship
butter to England, condition due TO
the home consumption, which is esti-
mated to be increasing at the rate of
$3.O00,00O worth year, being great
ly in excess of the increased supply.
This condition has brought about a
change in farming methods that is far
reaching, and will result in 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 we'll wooded, the settler has little
difficulty in getting all the wood he
requires and thousands of men find
g employment in the winter cutting
wood, which is shipped all over the
prairie portions of the provinces.
There is an abundance of coal
throughout the country. 1t is estimat-
ed that the coal deposits in 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 $4,000 miles, containing over
100000 tons. In Manitoba the coal