264 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



The source and volume of the sup- 

 ply are therefore assured, the title 

 to the water is as good as the title 

 to the land, and in addition the pur- 

 chaser of an irrigated farm gets the 

 guarantee of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company to supply him with 

 water for all time. 



This is the first time on the contin- 

 ent that water has been supplied for 

 irrigation under such an absolute title 

 and with such a guarantee. 



SOIL OF THE BOW^ VALLEY 



The soil throughout the whole of 

 the irrigation block is first class, with 

 a heavy black loam and clay subsoil in 

 the western portion, and a lighter 

 sandy loam, with good subsoil, in the 

 more easterly parts. 



Professor Shaw, editor of the 

 Orange Judd Farmer, says : 



"The first foot of soil in western 

 Canada is its greatest natural heri- 

 tage. It is worth all the mines in the 

 mountains, from Alaska to Mexico, 

 and more than all the forests from the 

 United States boundary to the Arctic 

 Sea, vast as they are. And next in 

 value to this heritage is the three 

 feet of soil which lie underneath 

 the fi+st. The subsoil is only 

 secondary in value to the soil, 

 for without good subsoil the value of 

 a good surface soil is neutralized. 

 One acre of average soil in the North- 

 west is worth more than twenty acres 

 of average soil along the Atlantic sea- 

 board. The man who tills the former 

 can grow twenty successive crops 

 without much diminution in the yields, 

 whereas the person who tills the latter 

 must pay the vendor of fertilizers half 

 as much for materials to fertilize an 

 acre as would buy the same in the 

 Canadian Northwest, in order to grow 

 a single remunerative crop." 



Calgary's climate 



"What is the climate like?" is a 

 question which intending settlers in 

 the irrigation block are sure to ask. 



The winter in south Alberta is a 

 season of bright sunny days, broken 

 by short intervals of cold weather ; 

 with long spells when the western 

 chinook winds bring almost summer 

 temperatures. The snow fall is so 

 light that as a rule wagons are used 

 throughout the year, and the snow dis- 

 appears entirely two or three times 

 during the winter under the influence 

 of the warm chinook. During Feb- 

 ruary and the early part of March 

 brief periods of cold weather are usu- 

 ally experienced, but from one month 

 to six weeks of winter is the limit. 



The marked characteristic of the 

 climate of southern Alberta is the 

 "chinook" wind, which is a warm, dry 

 wind, blowing across the plains from 

 the Rocky Mountains which bound 

 the province on the west. This wind 

 has the peculiarity of melting and 

 drawing up the snow in winter sea- 

 sons with amazing celerity, and to its 

 influence may be ascribed the fact that 

 southern Alberta has many times cele- 

 brated midwinter holidays with cricket, 

 baseball, and other outdoor sports. 



CROPS AND MARKETS 



What is raised on the big water- 

 farm? First is the never failing crop 

 of stock, consisting of horses, cattle, 

 sheep and hogs. The hackney carriage 

 horses which took first prize at the 

 Montreal and New York Horse Fairs 

 were foaled and raised near Calgary. 



The winter wheat grown in south- 

 ern Alberta was awarded the first 

 prize and gold medal at the Lewis and 

 Clark Exposition, Portland, 1905, in 

 competition with wheat of that variety 

 grown in Washington, Oregon, and 

 Idaho. . Timothy, alfalfa, bromus and 

 all fodder grasses do well and yield 

 heavy returns. The sugar beet is pro- 

 duced in abundance, and of an excep- 

 tionally high quality, as wi'l be noted 

 from the fact that the average of pur- 

 ity and saccharine quality of the sugar 

 beets raised in Alberta is : purity 80 

 per cent; and saccharine content, 16 

 per cent. 



