| Show AN ILLINOIS FARMER IN WEST CANADA A recent issue of the illinois democrat contains a long and interesting letter from mr allas kost formerly a prosperous farmer of that state who recently emigrated to west era canada taking up a claim tor himself and for each of his sons from mr kost s letter which was written feb 3 1904 we publish the following believing it will prove ot great interest to those who have con settling in the canadian northwest I 1 had in august 1102 secured a claim for and filed on tareo quarter sections tor my sons my claim Is one half mile south of the edmonton and laag st anna trail coming so late in the season wo had little opportunity to break and to prepare ground for a first year s crop still we raised over bushels ot very fine potatoes and sowed a few acres ot barley but the season was too far advanced tor the barley how ever we secured good teed from it and on rented ground 18 miles east ot us raised a fine crop ot oats so that we will have plenty 0 teed for horses we cut about 60 tons of hay and thus will have an abundance we have all told about acres ot hay meadow which would yield the past year over three tons to the acre and in or binary season the mea low would fur nish tons of hay the grass ia very nutritious and cattle on the ranges become very fat without be ing fed a pound of grain on the upland th grass grows from eight to ten inches tall this 1 called range grass and Is suitable for stock at any time even in the winter when the ground 1 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 red top and grows from alvo to six feet in length and when cut at the proper time yields an abundant crop of nutritious hay our cattle have not cost us a cent since we came on our homestead only the email outlay for salt and labor in putting up hay and shelter all cattle bave been doing well this winter and feeding up to the first of january waa unnecessary as there was rood range up to that time all the snows up to that date were followed by winds from the north west that melts it very rapidly these winds are called chinook winds and are always warm in one night a wind may take away three or tour inches ol 01 snow we have built on our claim a corn for table house of hewn logs 2026 feet one and one hall stories in height with a good cellar during the latter part of june we rafted logs down the sturgeon to a sawmill about eight miles away and thua secured 5 feet of good lumber which wae needed tor the house later in the season a shingle mill located six miles away to this we hauled loge and had shingles cut for the roof we had an abundance of wild fruit the past season consisting of goose berries strawberries raspberries eye berries blueberries cherries and sas the latter are a fine looking berry red and quite pleasant to the taste but not much to be desired in cookery the strawberries are the same as those that grow wild in 11 are red in color large and equal to any of the tame varieties and so are the gooseberries the cranberries consist ot the high and trailing varieties the latter are most sought and contiguous to the swamps the ground Is literally ered with them as with a red carpet but the best and most sought Is the blueberry so called by the indians this Is the famous huckleberry whortleberry ot the blue ridge mountains in pennsylvania and can not be excelled tor excellence by any fruit cultivated it Is found here both on the prairie and in the timber in am mense quantities game Is very plentiful so tar as prairie chickens pheasants ducks ot all kinds and geese are concerned we have taken nearly and pheasants also a great many ducks an occasional deer is seen but are not plentiful only one having been taken during the season in this settlement fish are very plentiful at all seasons of the year fish wagons and bleds are passing almost dally along the trail with heavy loads of flah dea tined tor st albert and edmonton from the latter point they are shipped south on the calgary and edmonton railroad to points along the line and also to on the canadian pacific railroad for further information apply to any authorized canadian government agent whose addres cleara else abelt in this paper |
