“Land is cleared and prepared for cultivation at comparatively small cost. In the southern part of the province no clearing is necessary. In the central and northern part, where there is considerable scrub and timber, the cost of preparing the land for crops is higher and will vary from $5 to $10 per acre. The trees are nearly all surface rooted, and in a few years the most thickly wooded farm will be as free from roots as a market garden. Raw homesteads in a year or two become profitable farms. Towns spring up along the railway as if by magic, and the erstwhile wilderness is transformed into a populous and prosperous community. “From the earliest times explorers have expressed the greatest hope in the future of Alberta. It was the home of the most powerful and civilized Indian tribes of the whole North-West. Its luxuriant pastures supported vast herds of antelope, deer and buffalo, while its mountains, lakes and canyons comprised the richest territory exploited by the fur companies. “Ninety-six different varieties of wild grasses have been identified, of which forty-six make excellent hay. Of the sedges and rushes there are at least ninety-four varieties, many of which make good hay, and all make splendid pasture during the spring and the early part of the summer. The sedges grow on the lower lands and marshes, and are diligently sought for by stock in the early spring, and during those seasons when the upland grasses harden. Cultivated grasses also do well, timothy, alfalfa, western rye grass, and blue grass having been introduced and all proving very successful. “The establishment of agriculture depends upon many natural resources, such as extent of fertile soil, rainfall, and energy of the people. All these elements are compounded in the case of Alberta. The soil is deep and black, composed of a covering of vegetable humus which sits undisturbed since it was laid down many centuries ago. The chief nutriments are nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, but what is of principal importance is the lime contained in the soil whereby the nitrogen is set free and ready to be absorbed by vegetable organism. The richness of the soil is illustrated in the number of grains in the cluster found in the heads of the wheat plant. Three, four and five grains occur in each spikelet, a fact which explains the large average yield of the Alberta wheat fields.