OCR Text |
Show eWorld's New Bread Basket . i I Ito The Tribune. Alborta, Sept. 17. An pIa,t a Plain that ,e forests of Genesis on mountains of Kingdom Mt-such I the world s ,i For n century, dry-ocononilsto dry-ocononilsto have been aeemlngly convincing 3 world would soon bo lack of bread. Tnese nd no conception of t ho. s of the Canadian north-ors north-ors ago the mnn who itiired lo suggest that , of the "great arctic a generation produce s of wheat in a single be.m touched at even a fli candidate for the ,v the Canadian view s of the region Js well cartoon that represents; Uncle Sam riding out mckboard to view the Ink of It. Sam?" asks ; hands In front of his n fine looking country. . "but durn it nil, you c wheat."-some wheat."-some exaggeration. Jake itcrl his Yankee cousin op and has beaten him .. can give pointers to mcr who ever sang the den west and sold town efe and on the lopa of il Empire, llowance is duly made, i!d substance to the pair of compasses with umlary between Canada talcs and the other leg . Then swing the lower wost and It will not f the agricultural land. hcos of Manitoba. Sas-Iberta Sas-Iberta contain ano.OOO.-a ano.OOO.-a cood part of which is ,ef only about 12.000,000 under cultivation, a of this great domain e arable is still prob-ally prob-ally I think from what that the .madlnn cs-i cs-i too sanguine. Long ony hills, vast stretches rshes and muskegs, and Impregnated with alluded al-luded from the grand ill deductions are mado al there remains a vast of supplying cereals ' the world, en Piircpssfully grown ice on I ho Mackenzie by latitude of Winni-Fort Winni-Fort Simpson, SIS miles tward the land of the :ii who know the Pence of Lake Athabasca say tains as much wheat-Is wheat-Is now unacr cultlva-or cultlva-or the three provinces. v contains only few Hudson's Bay company n successful operation, rs will witness a gTeat n, the last great block nd of 'The last best Is of "Corn-Wheat." government officials mens of "corn-wheat" IL'O bushels per acre In i-whcat" malces whole-able" whole-able" bread, and hence, rlous standards prevail, j for forage. But other In milling qualities, in Ing as much as sixty-ie sixty-ie buFhcl, are rcmarlc-Sfientiftc rcmarlc-Sfientiftc experimcnta-evolvlug experimcnta-evolvlug quicker rlpcn-will rlpcn-will require shorter nnd attain maturity. As chnesa of the soil is ;d by cultivation, the i rapidly nnd thereby I frost. This was the iltobu. and It is being other provinces. The inrncr days In Canada ng is the chief factor if wheal in 3uch high t Edmonton, at the end it Is only about four le baseball games begin inadlan provinces com-rlth com-rlth the wheat states average yield per acre jMiaii iast year was 'J2.1 bush- Uof Minnesota was ICS bushels: ijDakota. 13,7 bushels: and that United States as a whole. 15.S I Manitoba's acreage was 18.77 land Alberta's yield of winter Its not averaged less than IS in seven years; in lflOS it was 2. These are all Canadian Put fiKurcs and are entitled to ml. The thought will creep Into Rlgating mind, however that in of such Immensity "acres" mav Hy be a trine large. Mlonlslilng individual yields are Wilt tne face of tourists and proo-,?rs-, 0tt0 letting of "Sunny rAlborla" claims to have raised "(Of wheat jut aero in 1903 and w pi oats. Another farmer in T Ki section adinitlnd that he is ljiyvicc In the agricultural line, but -iJ"3 havo ralscd ono crop that made o3 bushels per acre, More astonishing still lo tho claim of yet another Albertan who writes thus: Tho past year (1908) has been reasonably reasona-bly active, with good crops and no front to speak of. The settler in this part of Alborta has done well, and good records ap5" rule. ,Wg lmvo na unheard-of fields of crops here this past vear. wheat in places going 6G bushels to tho acre. hM'chi sner?1 averaBe not less than 3& bushels to the acre. Oats, barley and ?5is. we.ro nl?. ver3' Sod save excellent returns." HaPPy German. Today I met a lolly, red-headed Gor-oi Gor-oi r om n10a? monton who had had equally wonderful experiences. In person, language and behavior lie was exactly the sort of beaming, ridiculous carlcaturo .if.VId m?.kc a fortljno on tho stage Z oac,t,n6r nn-tral. He said that fanner, and I learned from other sources that ho told tho truth. come to dis country sixteen years ago a ready." lie eaid. "I bring dree carloads from South Dakota, and I lose i iLYI Vi0raes, by Swai"P fever, by Cott J, ); LuZ" ,my, '"fSroar's oats for dwenty-mi.w. dwenty-mi.w. hVndre(1 ,d0"a. My woman she I2?f ,l!ne,vo ,'ndr?d tollars last yenr Ui,inirItler. ?h9 havo dro hundred !.ns,i. fars aro not goot. hy Cptt. hut I have not had one bad fall-. fall-. uifmy ,ye5ra- 1 have a flection .lfuon? twenty tousand tollars loaned out by land. Everybody come to icd J Inns Mueller for money, bv Cott." A part of hla success ho attributed to Ct?S0 it0. a Ja,co that kcnt oft the ,.JIo.,Rlf,mod to hnvo 1,nd timothy have cut "sixty tons" from "twelve acres, Was a Bad Year. ,.P!fiuycar..thc crop3 n "Sunny South-cm South-cm Alberta are almost a total failure, owing to lack of rain and to hot. dry southern portion of the other two prov-short. prov-short. Professors at the Manitoba. Agricultural collcgo told me Hint in tnat province there would bo only naif a crop. Northern and central Saskatchewan Sas-katchewan and Alberta are more fortunate. for-tunate. The crops about Edmonton are the best I havo ever seen. Thcro will be no record yields this year. Increased acreage will partly neutralize decrcasod yields, but It is unlikely that Saskatchewan, Saskatche-wan, for example, will come near its high-water mark of last year 90,000,000 bushels. The total yield of the three prairie provinces will probably not exceed ex-ceed 100.000,000 bushels. As usually happens In similar cases, Canadians havo gone crazv over one great staple. It was so In" early Virginia, Vir-ginia, when tho settlors planted the streets of Jamestown with tobacco and sent to Europe for food, nnd it Is so now In the south, where too manv planters plant-ers "make" nothing but cotton and buy corn. In many places up here garden vegetables, especially potatoes, turnips, beets and other root crops, thrive luxuriantly, luxuri-antly, but few farmers will take the1 troublo to grow them properly or even at all. Nest to wheat, oats is tho most Important crop, though considerable barley bar-ley and flax Is also grown. Corn makes but a pitiable showing. In Alberta especially espe-cially stock raising attains Important dimensions. The past week I attended an agricultural agricul-tural exhibition or fair at Edmonton. It was a creditable affair, with exhibiting everything from tombstones to traction trac-tion engines horse races, fat girls, and the usual "trimmings." The people came in crowds for hundreds of miles, for It was one of the few opportunities for having hav-ing a good time and they mado tho most of It. Just now (August 2fi) harvesting is proceeding throughout the whole region. It is almost finished in the south; It Is only beginning in the north. Misconception About Harvesting. The methods used are practically the same as in the states; In fact, most of the agricultural machinery is of American Ameri-can manufacture. On somo great farms the plowing and reaping Is done by steam or gasoline power. The most advanced outllt consists of a traction engine that draws not only binders that reap the grain, but a gang plow that turns under the stubble for a new crop. Certain Illustrated Il-lustrated papers would lead us lo believe that most of the harvesting Is done by steam or motor power, but in more than a thousand-mile journey I have seen few such outfits. They are unworkable on rough ground, and they involve too great an outlay for the average farmer. Even on crcat farms their success from the standpoint of economy is questioned. Tho ordinary Canadian farmer depends wholly upon the common self-binder drawn by horse power. Somotlmcs two or more will be seen In the same flold. Tho wheat is "shocked" much as In the slates, but no "caps" or "huddcrs" arc used- When threshing lime comes, some farmers thresh from the Hhock: others stack their wheat beforehand just ns In the states. The most successful farmers grow wheat, one year, oats the next and then summer fallow (I. e.. work the land without a crop) the third. Others fool-ishlv fool-ishlv sow wheat year in and year out. Some oven sow the wheat on tho stubble without plowing, but this is a shiftless method. Those who employed it this vear have little wheat. "' Getting the raw prairie Into cultivation cultiva-tion Is more of a task than might be imagined. In order to obtain good re sults the Bod should be broken tho year before and "backset" before Eowlng. In many much brush must first bo grubbed out. This Is Increasingly bo every vear. In the old days fires swept over" the prairie every summer and prevented the bushes from growing up. ,Under present conditions much prairie that was formerly for-merly perfectly bare is becoming covered with thick scrub. In tho harvest season there is always a great scarcity of labor. Thousands pf hands como in from the Btntes and from eastern Canada. Last vear the number num-ber was about 30.000. Tho prevailing prlco is 52,50 per day with board. Harvest Har-vest excursions arc run by tho railroads and bring In a molloy crow of all nationalities na-tionalities In a single night, when 1 was in Winnipeg, 2000 puch laborers passed through. Not a few women and girls also go to help with the cooking and housework, for tho domestic servant problem is a terrible one. Then, loo, many prospective settlers take advantage of the low rales to spy out the land, while parents go to visit their sons nnd daughters. On the train that carried me from Winnipeg I mado the acquaintance of a culturod woman who was taking advantage advan-tage of such an excursion to visit her two sons settled In central Saskatchewan. Saskatche-wan. Three years before her husband had died, leaving tho family In somewhat some-what straitened circumstances. Ono of tho sonu, a lad of only IS, had said: "There is not enough hero for us all. I will go west." He did so, took up a quarter section, built a shack, suffered many hardships, but will this year receive re-ceive his title. He has already bought another quarter section. His brother studied pharmacy, went west to tee his brother, established a business In a new town nearby, and la doing a thriving trade. Both are on tho high road to a competency. Such a story Is typical. Great Wheat Funnel. Harvesting and threshing over, then comes the marketing of the crop. Every few miles along tho railroads stand elevators ele-vators unsightly, but necessary. Last year 219 additional elevators wero erected In the single province of Saskatchewan, and the storage capacity was Increased from 1S.000.000 to 21.000.000 bushels. Some of the elevators arc owned by tho railroads, rail-roads, others by Indlvldu.'ils or by companies. com-panies. Manitoba has Inaugurated a policy of government ownership. Most of the wheal passes to market through Port Arthur and Fort William, on tho northern shore of Lake Supe-rlor. Supe-rlor. Here stand long rows of gigantic grain elevators, Including one that is the largest in tho world and Is capable of storing over seven million bu3heln. To this place, over the long ribbons of polished pol-ished steel, roll tho heavy cars laden with a part of the world's bread supply. sup-ply. Block this funnel and up would go tho prices by leaps and bounds, Tho grain markot Is largely under government gov-ernment control. A government Inspector Inspec-tor at Winnipeg .draws samples with a tubo from fifteen places In a car, mixes them, examines them, and declares the grade. At Port Arthur and Fort William Wil-liam tho wheat le shot Into the great bins for. ntorago. A heavy train of perhaps per-haps forty cars runs beneath tho eaves of tho elevator. Nine cars arc unloaded , BERTfo NHE.AT "FIELD jr LLI i ii ii igQnriTTi mm in I iw liiiB jiijiTmwgii him iiiwVi.j(iijuiiir " i nl onco In well under twenty minutes. Tho wheat Is run Into titanic sluices. It Is scooped by electrically-worked machinery, machin-ery, and passed through a gale made of whirling fans. Tho dirt thus extracted is sucked along ono tubo and Is dumped Into Thunder bay. The chaff and tho broken wheat aro sucked along another tubo. and ultimately ulti-mately aro used for cattlo food. Tho wheat Is automatically weighed. A belt of steel pockets scoops It up, somewhat as a dredge scoops up mud, and carries it at railway' speed to tho topmost story of the elevator, where, on the bed of the belt. It tipples tho wheat upon a continuously moving rubber platform, about five feet wide, and this carries the wheat to the mouth of whatever bin is being filled . The price of storage, including in-cluding unloading and reloading, is only about one-half cent per bushel for the first fifteen days, nnd one-half cent for each succeeding thirty days. The farmer may sell when ho will. Damp and excessively ex-cessively dirty wheat la sunt to King's elevator, where there Is elaborate machinery ma-chinery capable of drying more than 50.-000 50.-000 bushels of "tough" wheat In twenty-four twenty-four hours. From Port Arthur the wheat Is sent to Montreal and Quebec by water or by rail, and from there to Europe. Much of that moved by rail goes through during the winter months when other traffic Is slack. Iraponding Traffic Eevolution. Such Is the main route, though, of course, somo millions of bushels aro taken through the United Slates to Duluth and elsewhere. With .the completion of thy eastern pari of the niw Grand Trunk Pacific much wheat will be carried eastward east-ward by that line to Halifax and other Atlantic ports. It Is expected that when the lino Is completed wr-stward to Prince 1 Rupert, on the Pacific, Lhero will be almost al-most a revolution In the business. Prince Rupert Is a port that Is free of Ice all the yoar around. Tho grade leading to It from Alberta, and Saskatchewan is an extremely moderate one. which Is not true of the Canadian Pacific. Hence the Grand Trunk will bo able to carry freight westward at a low rate. It is expected that a large part of the wheat output will flow along this route to Prince Rupert Ru-pert and be thence transferred to boats that will carry It all over the world. The road will bo finished about 1913. Another plan In contemplation lo to run one or more railroads northeastward to Hudson's-bay. This route would not i be open but about four monthH In tho year, but It would bo much the chenpeot way of carrying wheat to Europe. Wheat thrashed one summer could not be marketed, mar-keted, however, for almost a year. Comparatively little Canadian wheat Is used In the United Slates, partly because wo arc ourselves a great wheat producing pro-ducing country, partly because of our high tariff. A certain amount, however. Is brought in, is milled under bond, and is then sent out again. Our Interests in the Northwest. The time Is coming when all this must change. In ten or fifteen years, says J. .1. Hill, the United Stales will cease to be a wheat exporting country and will become a wheat Importing country. "The time of pinch." says B. W. Snow, statistician sta-tistician of the United States bureau of agriculture, "may be dlstanr, nut it is as inevitable as the rule of three. In 1925 we should easily have n population of 113.000,000 to feed. For this we must have for domestic use at least 0(55.000,000 bushels of wheat. After that tho petition peti-tion for our dally bicad must be answered an-swered through tho labor of a foreign farmer," Tho development of the wheat industry in this region Is therefore certain to be of vital importance to us In the not distant futurt. It already concerns us Indirectly. Every additional bushel of wheat grown In this region means an additional ad-ditional demand for American agricultural agricul-tural machinery and other American products. 11 Is time that Americans generally should awaken to the possibilities for trade that we aro in danger of losing. Through a lack of some sort of a reciprocity re-ciprocity agreement both countries each year lose million!'. This Is not new doctrine. doc-trine. John tljo Baptists havo long been preaching It. It in time io listen to them. Should tho Chamberlain plan of preferential trade relations between dlf-' ferent parts "of tho Erltlsh empire he put Into execution, it will be too late. If we exercise wisdom, the time Is not far distant when our trade rotations with Canada will be more important than with any other country in the world. "Canada." says a Dominion govern-nient govern-nient publication Intended to stimulate Immigration. "Is a country with a meager paft. a solid present and illimitable future. fu-ture. The railways of eastern Canada gridiron a prlarie land of 200.000.000 fertile fer-tile acres, only a fraction of which is cultivated, yet this produced In 1909 approximately ap-proximately 110,000.000 bushel3 of the best wheat grown," "The twentieth century Is Canada's." says Sir Wilfrid Laurler. the Canadian premier. In these statements there is much truth, mingled with some exaggeration.-Without exaggeration.-Without question Canada is certain to bo one of tho chief aourccs of tho world's bread supply. I esteem Jt certain, that in ten years the production of wheal In the three prairie provinces alone will bo at Icnst -100.000.000 bushels In twenty years it may be from 000.000,000 to a billion bushels. Furthermore, the mineral min-eral wealth and timber resources of the country are practically untouched. These are facts upon -which Americans would do well to ponder. Optimism of Youth. One should not fail to mark, however, that In tho exuberance of youthful optimism, op-timism, many Canadians, long doubtful of the poBslbilltics of their country, have run to the other extreme and loudly claim that they passosn n country superior su-perior In potentialities to the United States. Many scorn to think that we are about to become exhausted through old age Such talk merits no more than a smile. The Canadian domain Is vast, but It Includes broad sterile plains, stony mountains, endless reaches of inarnhy muskegs and snowy wastes from whl'h the shivering Indian and the hardy Eskimo Es-kimo draw a precarious subsistence. The seasons are too short, tho rainfall too scanty for even thf be3t of this land to rival as a general agriculture country over our own middle west than which God no'er mado better Innd. An excellent (lustration of the uncertainties uncer-tainties of the weather the past week (August 23). On the way from Hardlsty to Edmonton our train ran Into a snowstorm snow-storm that not only filled the air with flying flakes, but weighed down the un-rlpened un-rlpened wheat nnd oats under a white mantle. It was certainly a remarkable spectacle. "Sunny Alberta" was a phrase not Infrequently heard on the lips of derisive de-risive travelers. At Edson. 130 miles west of Edmonton, the snowfall amounted amount-ed toslxlnchcOnlyckiudy ; I saved the country from a hard frost. There have been blight frosts already. Dwellers here say that there has been 1 snow every month this year but one. 1 Not a great deal of trouble is taken to transmit reports of such occurrences H to the States. In fact, there Is a tacit conspiracy to gild the climate. The truth Is that in all the three provinces ("Sun-ny ("Sun-ny Albertn"A included) winter tempera-turcs tempera-turcs of in and 50 degrees below zero are common. Tho mean yearly temper-ature temper-ature Is loss than a decree above the H freezing point' at Battleford. 3 degrees IH above at Edmonton. 1 degree above at IH Winnipeg, with 2 degrees below at Prince Alhorl. Spirit thermometers have to bo used in winter. .13 those using mercury jH freeze up solid. Somo laughable things occur when one talks with Canadians about the weather. jH At Brandon, Manitoba, a settler who has lived In the country for twenty-two years told me that the lowest tempera- IH turo he hail experienced was GO below. IH "The Idea." exclaimed an indignant IH young lady to whom I quoted him. flH "Whv. I have never seen It mucli below People apologlzo for the weather by H saying that tho air Is so dry that one does not fool the cold. Tho fact remains. however, that Jn wlnler many of them "hole up" like groundhogs. Any win-t'r win-t'r ther" aro tempera in res that would fr?onc tho nosi off any "brass monkey." . Notwithstanding the weather and other iilpadvontn'-coj:. Canada is certain to pros-yi'r. pros-yi'r. She will draw many more of our sons and daughters to hor fruitful bosom. but evorv lnrror.se she makes In wealth H will add "to our own. Tho United S'.aton ll Is nnd will alwnys remain the mistress of tho west. IH |