Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, October 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899Various
Philosophy
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, October 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
"The most trustworthy estimates," says Sir W. Crookes, "give Canada a
wheat area of not more than six millions of acres in the next twelve
years, increasing to a maximum of twelve millions of acres in
twenty-five years." Who prepared these estimates, and upon what are
they based? Were they prepared by the same authority that supplied Sir
W. Crookes with the figures of the area of Manitoba? If so, we may
well dismiss them at once; but supposing that these estimates are, as
far as the rate of increase is concerned, perfectly correct, and that
the wheat area of Canada will be only twelve million acres in
twenty-five years, there would still remain at least twelve million
acres in Manitoba alone available for wheat. It is no exaggerated
estimate to say that from sixty to seventy per cent of the land
available for cultivation in Manitoba is well adapted for the
production of wheat. Sir W. Crookes says that his area of Manitoba of
13,051,375 acres includes water courses, lakes, forests, towns, etc.
Now, the water area alone of Manitoba is 6,329,600 acres, so that
after deducting this area and the 1,630,000 acres already under wheat
and making due allowance for the other conditions mentioned, he would
have us believe that wheat-growing in Manitoba has already nearly
reached its limit, which all who know anything about the province will
unite in saying is absurd.
Now let us turn to the Northwest Territories, where, according to Sir
W. Crookes, there is practically no amount of land of any consequence
available for wheat, and let us remember that the same authority
limits the wheat area of Canada to a maximum of twelve million acres.
The area of the three provisional districts, with which alone we will
deal, is as follows, viz.: Assiniboia, 57,177,600 acres; Saskatchewan,
69,120,000 acres; and Alberta, 63,523,200 acres (these figures being
exclusive of water surface), making a total of 189,820,000 acres. Some
of this large area is possibly not particularly well adapted for
agricultural purposes, but a careful examination of all available data
on the subject justifies one in saying that fully one half is suitable
for successful wheat cultivation, while in eastern and southern
Assiniboia there are some 20,000,000 acres, in the valley of the
Saskatchewan 14,000,000 acres, and in northern Alberta 15,000,000
acres that are especially adapted for the production of wheat as a
staple crop. The area is so large and settlement at present so sparse,
that it is impossible to do more than give its capabilities in general
terms, founded on the opinions of experienced men who have traveled
over it. Professor Saunders, Director of the Experimental Farm at
Ottawa, than whom there is no better authority on the subject in the
Dominion, told me that, from what he saw of the country in driving
over it, he became more and more impressed every year with the vast
area of good land in the Northwest, and no practical man has ever
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