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Show mmmm mmm mm mmm i m AN ILLINOIS FARMER IN WEST-ERN WEST-ERN CANADA. A recent Issue of the Sholbyvlllo, Illinois, Democrat contains a long and Interesting lottor'from Mr. Ellas Kost, formerly a prosperous farmer of that state, who recently emigrated to West-orn West-orn Canada, Inking up a claim for himself and for each of hla throo sons. From Mr. Kost's letter, which wns written Feb. 3, 1004, wo publish tho following, believing It will provo of great Intorest to thoso who havo contemplated con-templated settling In tho Canadian Northwest: "I had in August, 1902, secured a claim for myself, and filed on throo quarter sections for ray sons. My claim Is onohaif mile south of tho Edmonton and I.nke St. Anne trail. "Coming so lato In tho season wo had little opportunity to break and. to prepare ground for a first yoar'a crop, R till we rolsod over 100 bushels of very flno potatoes, and sowed a few acres of barley, but tho season was too far advanced for tbo barley. However, How-ever, we socurcd good feed from It, and on rented ground 18 miles east of us, raised a flno crop of oats, so that wo will havo plenty of feed for horses. Wo cut nbout CO tons of hay nnd thus will havo an abundance Wo havo, all told, about 240 acres of hay meadow, which would yield tho past year over throo tons to tho acre, and in an ordinary or-dinary season tho meadow would fun nlsh COO tons of hay. Tho grass li vory nutritious, and cattle on th ranges become very fat without being be-ing fed a pound of grain. "On tho upland tho grass grows from eight to ten Inches tall. This Is called rango grass, and Is sultablo for stock at any tlmo, oven In tho winter when tho ground Is not covered too deep with snow. Horses subsist on it alono, at nil tlmos, provided they arq nntlvo stock. The grass In tho hay meadows hero Is callod red-top, and grows from five to six feet In length, and when cut nt tho proper tlmo yields an nbundnnt croj; of nutritious hay. "Our cattle havo not cost us a cent slnco wo camo on our homestead, only tho small outlay for salt and labor In putting up hay and shelter. All cattle have boon doing well this winter, nnd feeding up to the first of January was unnecessary, as there was good rango up to that time "All tho snows up to that dato woro I followed by winds from tho northwest north-west that melts It very rapidly; thoso winds are called Chinook winds, nnd nro always warm In ono night n Chinook wind may take away three or four Inches of snow. "Wo havo built on our claim a comfortable com-fortable hoiiRp of hown logs, 10x20 feot, one and one-half stories In height, with a good collar. During tho latter part of Juno wo rafted logs down tho Sturgeon to a sawmill, about eight miles nway. and thus secured 6,000 feot of good lumber which was needed for th'e house. loiter In tho season a shingle mill located six miles away To this wo hauled logs and had shingles cut for tho roof. "Wo hnd an abundance of wild fruit the past season, consisting of gooFP-1 gooFP-1 borrios, strawberries, raspberries, oye-berrics, oye-berrics, blueberries, chorrles and saskatoons. sas-katoons. Tho latter aro a flno looking berry, red, and quite pleasant to the tasto, but not much to bo desired In cookery, Tho strawberries are tho sam as thoso that grow wild In Illinois. Illi-nois. Raspborrlos aro red In color,. large and equal to any of the tnmu varlotlos, and so are the gooseberries. The cranberries consist of the high and trailing varieties Tho lattor aro most sought and contiguous to tho swamps. Tho ground Is literally covered cov-ered with them ns with a rod carpot. but tho best and most sought is tho bluoborry, so called by the Indians. This Is tho famous 'huckloberry' (whortleberry) of the Blue Illdge Mountains in Pennsylvania, and cannot can-not bo oxcolled for excellence by any fruit cultivated. It Is found hero both on tho pralrln and In the Umber In immense im-mense quantities. "Onmo Is very plentiful so far as prairie chlckons, pheasants, ducks of all kinds, and geoso aro concerned. Wo havo taken nearly 500 chickens and pboasntits, also a great many ducks. "An occasional doer is seen, hut nro not ploutlful, only ono having been tnken during the season In this settlement. "Fish nro very plentiful nt nil seasons sea-sons of tho year Fish wagons and sleds nro passing almost dally along the trail with heavy loads of fish, destined des-tined for St. Albert and Edmonton. From tho latter point thoy nro shipped south on tho Cnlgary and Edmonton railroad to points along tho lino, and also to Asslulbola, on tho Canadian Pacific railroad." For further information apply to any authorized Canadian Government Aguit whose address appears else-whoro else-whoro In this paper. |