, 1919-02-20
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.

poooAbAC W LIEU tlltlu OutSlGe I'LL lue
year round, the Indian hunters could
always find the buffalo during the
winter months p%asturing in the foot
hills. In he 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 h more northerly districts,
but while the herds in the south have
winder tracts of treeless p%asturage. in
the north from Red Deer on into the
Peace river country there are more
trees. a richer vegetation and more
natural shelter.
Those who have been advocating
stock raising and mixed farming for
h 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
" hhdihSu as Wlldt udS Deen dCCOui-
plished 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 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, 1t 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 n,ixed farminp which
will, found ber p-rosner;tv on a more
enduring bas,s
N,xed farming bos ALWAYS haen the
rp,e in the Eastern Provinces where tbe
formation Of tbe land invites variety
of cron hut ~ has not been nc common
In the Western Provinces thoupb the
nroctice has grown in recent wears.
Hitherto the man mining wheat from
the rich soil has purcbos ed most of bis
household food and necessities his
enerp,es beinp devoted to getting every
possibIe busheI of grain ont of every
foot of his land. and he has paid prices
for his sunn,ies that have made n bjo
dent in his profits. It has now dawned
nm him that he cam raise Vegetables
and nou,try. and s1pply his own table.
that with very little effort he can raise
n lot of garden produce and In a very
simple n solve his own problem
of the cost of living. Further. that
there ia 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 1915 Canada imported 7,9S9,269
pounds of butter. most of It from as
far away as New Zealand, and for the
first time in go years failed to ship
butter to England, a condition due to
the home consumption, which is esti-
mated to be increasing at the rate OF
S3,OO0,000 worth a year, being great
ly in excess of the increased supply.
This condition has brought about a
change in farming methods that is far
raoabtno ond ,,,iyI rasr1t a., oraatir In