The Benson signal., 1919-02-22

considerable source of revenue In
the winter time The Edmonton coal
fields under and around the city have
an estimated content of sixty thousand
million tons. Farmers sell the coal
at $4 a ton for domestic use.
The pioneer of Western Canada
knew little of the enjOyments of life,
compared with the farmer in that
country today. The continual exten-
sion of railway lines affords facilities
undreamed of few years ago, closing
UP the gaps of communication. Great
ing immense business for the East in
the West and the West in the East.
and drawing the farmer all the time
nearer to the zones of commerce. In
creating wider markets the railways
are doing more than any other agency
can do for Western Canada and the
country as a whole. The products of
the farms, which are now readily mar
keted, and the vast train of employ
the farming industry, is creating new
agricultural centers and causing towns
and cities of Importance to grow all
along it's lines.
An admirable system of agricuitur-
al instruction has been developed
through the efforts of the Dominion
government and the various provin-
cial Departments of Agriculture. This
forms part of the educational system
of Western Canada and is doing much
for all branches of agriculture. Ex-
perimental farms have been estab-
lished at various points in the prov
inceS, which have done wonders in de-
veloping improved methods of farm
ing.
The result has been a great awaken
ing to the necessity of better methods
of tillage, scientific stock raising and
dairying. Farmers are beginning to
realize that to get what they are en-
titled to out of the land, they must
adopt scientific methods, and as re-
suit, careful seed selection, proper ro-
tation and summer fallow is the order
of the day. Under the favorable con-
ditions generally anticipated, prospects
point to an all round increase in pro-
duction that will leave a great deal
of money in the hands of the western
farmer this year, and prosperity for
Western Canada as whole. It will be
years before Europe will make up ar
rears in agricultural production.
caused by the enforced idleness and
wholesale destruction, and Western
Canada will play big part in filing
Ethe void.
The result of the continued shortage
in cattle, the future price of beef and
the solution of the perplexing problem
of feeding the world are vital ques-
tions uppermost in the minds of many
thinking people today.
There is no doubt that the wide
acres of Western Canada can, and will,
be made to play an important part in
bringing about proper balance in
supply and demand. In the northern
parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan
and in Alberta are many thousands
of acres of the richest pasture in the
world. well watered and treated by the
sunniest of climates. These rolling
hills for the greater part are still un-
pcopled and untrodden by the hoofs
Of domestic animals.
One of the causes assigned for the
decline in stock-raising is the reduc-
tion in the areas available for grazing
on account of so many big ranches be-
ing converted into farms. Expert
ments conducted at Vermilion, AL
berta, would rather go to show that
the old grazing grounds were too large,
and that the feeding is really better
when the animal is confined to com
paratively limited area, providing the
pasturags is of the right kind and
there is plenty of water.-Advertise
ment.