Show AN ILLINOIS FARMER IN WESTERN er CANADA A recent issue of 0 the Shel shelbyville byville illinois democrat contain cont ainsa ss longani lon ions gand and interesting letter lefter from arora mr lr eldad kost formerly a prosperous tanner farmer 6 at that state who recently emiz emigrated rated to western canada taking up a claim for himself and for each of his three soua from sir ilir costs tetter fetter which was written feb 3 1904 we publish the following believing be bA lievin ieving it will prove d of great interest to those vio have contemplated tem plated settling in the canadian northwest 1 1 I lad had in august 1902 secured a claim tor for myself and filed on three quarter sections for roy my sons my chahl Is one half mile south ot the edn onton and lake st anne trail coming so late in the season we had little opportunity to break and to prepare ground around for or a first years year a crop still we raised over bushels of very one fine potatoes and rowed a few acres of 0 barley but the season was too far advanced for the barley however we secured good feed from it and on rented ground 18 miles east of 0 us raised a flue fine crop of oats cats so BO that j we will have plenty of teed feed tor for horses 1 we rut cut about CO 60 tons of hay and thus will have an abundance we have all told about acres of hay bay meadow which would yield the past year over three tons to the acre and in an or j season the meadow would furnish COO tons of hay the grass Is very nutritious and cattle on the ranges become very tat fat without being fed a pound of grain on the upland the grass grows from eight to ten inches tall this Is called range grass and Is suitable tor for stock at any time even in the winter N when nhen hen the ground Is not covered too deep with snow horses subsist on it alone at all times provided they are native stock the grass in the hay meadows here Is called redtop red top and grows from five to six feet in length and when cut at the proper time yields an abundant crop of nutritious hay bay our cattle have not cost us a cent since we came on our homestead only the small outlay for salt and labor in putting up hay and shelter all cattle have been doing well this winter and feeding up to the first of january was unnecessary as there was good range up to that time all the snows up to that date were followed by winds from the northwest that melts it very rapidly these winds are called chinook winds and are always warm in one sight a chinook wind may take away three or tour four inches of snow we have built on our claim a comfortable for table house of hewn logs feet beet one and one halt half stories in height with a good cellar during the latter part of june we crafted ratted logs down the sturgeon to a sawmill about eight miles away and thus secured feet ot of good lumber which was needed tor for the house later in the season a shingle mill located six miles away to this we hauled fogs and had bad shingles cut tor for the root roof we had an abundance of wild fruit the past season consisting ot of goose berries strawberries raspberries rasp berries eye berries blueberries cherries and sas sai the latter are R 6 fine cne looking berry red and quite pleasant to the taste but not much to be desired in cookery the strawberries are the same sam as those that grow wild in illinois raspberries Rasp berries are red in color large and equal to any of the tame varieties and so EO are the gooseberries goose berries the cranberries consist of the high and trailing varieties the latter are most sought and contiguous to the swamps the ground Is literally co covered with them as with a red carpet but the best and most sought Is the mulberry Mu eberry so called by the indians this la Is the famous hucklebeury huc kleber ry whortleberry of the blue mountains in pennsylvania and cirii cannot be excelled for excellence by an any fruit cultivated it Is found hero here both on the prairie and in the timber in ird immense quantities i i garbe game ff r very plentiful so far fa as prairie chlo hens pheasants ducus ducks af 0 all kinds and geese are concerned wo W have taken nearly chickens and fl pheasants casalis cas auis also ia a great many ducks an occasional deer is seen but are not only one having been taken during tile the season in this settlement I 1 fish are very plentiful at all seasons ot of the year fan wagons and sleds are passing almost dally along tile the trail with keavy loads des tined lined tor for st and bilmon edmonton ton from the lafo laefer po pc they are shipped south on the calgary and edmonton railroad to points alon along 9 the line and also to oh the canadian cacide pacific railroad rAll road for further information apply to any authorized author izad Cau canadian adian government aga ni whose address appears elsewhere in this paper i |