Agriculture -- Prairie Provinces; Northwest, Canadian -- Economic conditions
Winnipeg, the grain centre of Western Canada, has received and handled
more wheat per day than Chicago, Minneapolis, and Duluth combined.
Approximately 191 million bushels of grain were shipped from the
elevators at Fort William and Port Arthur during the season of
navigation; from the first of September, 1913, until December 20, 127
million bushels of grain were shipped to the east--52,000,000 bushels
more than for the same period last year.
=What Farmers Receive.=--The amount of grain marketed, and the estimated
receipts, based on an average price for September, October, and
November, are as follows:
Bushels Price per bushel
Wheat 97,000,000 .73 $70,000,000
Oats 30,000,000 .30 9,000,000
Barley 9,500,000 .40 3,800,000
Flax 6,500,000 $1.10 7,150,000
Total $89,950,000
=A Splendid Fall.=--The fall of 1913 was exceedingly favourable to the
farmer of Western Canada. The weather made it possible to harvest and
thresh in the minimum of time, and in some cases permitted a start on
fall ploughing early in September, in many parts continuing until
December 1st. Owners of traction engines took advantage of clear nights
to plough, the powerful headlights throwing a brilliant light across the
fields. The men worked in relays, and it was frequently midnight before
the big outfits quit.
[Illustration: Beginning a home in the prairie--house and table "lands"
are built on cement foundation.]
[Illustration: Sizing up quantity of hay per acre he would get from his
hayfield.]
[Illustration: Starting from town with loads of posts for pasture
fence.]
=Mixed Farming.=--Mixed farming is yielding large profits to those who
work intelligently along the lines of intensive farming. In addition to
wheat, oats, barley, and flax--alfalfa and other fodder crops are grown,
and in some places corn.
Every variety of vegetable grows abundantly and sugar beets are a
moneymaker. Stock-raising is an important branch of mixed farming, and
hogs and sheep are commanding high prices, the demand greatly exceeding
the supply.
=Sheep.=--The sheep industry in Western Canada pays exceedingly well. In
the early days--but a few short years ago--a district south of the
Canadian Pacific Railway from Swift Current to Maple Creek was stocked
with sheep, and several large ranches made money, but with the onrush of
settlement these ranches have been vacated and are now given up to
successful grain growing. However, the farmers who now cross the
boundary to purchase the best Montana breeds and take them to their
farms, in every case report a success as great as that in grain growing.
Although no country could be better fitted for sheep raising, and
numerous successes have been made, Western Canada imports much of its
mutton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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