The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-04-03
Land OF WEALTH
Western Canada Has Unbounded
Possibilities.
Glorious Opportunities for the Stock
Raiser, the Wheat Grower, and the
Mixed Farmer-Its Field8 to
Feed the World.

Feed the World.
Before there were any cattle in
Alberta, or il was known that it was
possible 10 feed them oHtside 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 wall
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 thousnn"
miles will always be Il natural feeding
ground for live stock. In the southern
part of Alberta the altitude is greater
than in the more northeriy 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, richer vegetation AID 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 mor his alone last year about half
a million hogs We're shipped from
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
\ Yer" conservative estimate value OF
these animals To the farmer would be
$500 a head.
The Canadian West is fast forging 70
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 ii is considered
that the three hundred and forty-threc
million four hundred and Seventy-thrpe
thousand bushel crop of 1915 was from
only eleven million acres of her hun
dreds Of millions Of acres. ii gives an
idea of what her future will be.
1t is felt, however, that on account
of the great money there will un-
dou'tedly be in growing wheat during
the next few. years there is Il POSSIBLE
fly 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
Seed 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 Il 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 il has not been Us 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 1t has now dawrpd
on him that he can raise vegetables
and poultry, and supply his own table:
that with very little effort he can raise
n lot of garden produce and in Il very
simple manner solve his own problem
of the cost of living. Further that
there is 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 1916 Canada imported 1854, 2G9
/ pounds of butter. most of it from a.
far away as New Zealand, and for the
( first time in 60 years failed 10 ship
/ butter to England. condition due to
/ the home consumption, which is eSti-
/ mated to be increasing a the rate of
$1,000 900 worth year being great
/ ~ in excess of the increased supply.
This condition has brought about a
change in farming methods that is far
! reaching ana 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
ItiouS To- the fHrmer is fuel In north
/ ern Manitoba. Saskatchewan and Al
/ berta. where portions of the country
are well wooded, the settler has little
| difficulty in getting all the wood he
requires and thousands of men find
! employment in the winter cutting
wood, which is shipped all over the
prairie portions of the provinces
! There is an abundance of coal