486 Report of Faemees' Institutes 



From 1840 to 1910 tliere was quite a rapid increase in the 

 number of dairy cows, from 16,000 to 45,000. The number of 

 other cattle fell off greatly, there being 19,000 in 1910, as com- 

 pared with 45,000 in 1840. The number of swine also very 

 materially decreased, there being only 21,000 in 1910, as com- 

 pared with 45,000 in 1840. Sheep grazing largely disappeared, 

 only 5,300 sheep being raised, as compared with 56,000 in 1840. 

 In the matter of the production of wheat, oats, corn, and other 

 crops, the figures of 1910 are not so different from those of 1840. 

 The number of dairy cows in this region is now decreasing. 

 Between the years 1840 and 1860 this was a great butter region. 

 Since that time, however, it has declined in this respect for rea- 

 sons already pointed- out. Farmers in all this eastern region have 

 found themselves imder a further handicap in that they were 

 more or less forced to farm on small areas. The farms are too 

 small to give the gTeatest efficiency in the use of machinery. 

 There was not enough work on these farms to keep the family 

 busy, consequently some of them had to move away or go into 

 other lines of business. 



There is evidence now that agriculture is becoming stabilized. 

 This is true, not only in this country, ;but throughout the world. 

 There is no longer opportunity for the development of conditions 

 that will bring about such violent fluctuations as have been wit- 

 nessed in the past. The new and -available agricultural lauds, not 

 only throughout this country, but pretty generally throughout the 

 world,, have been taken up, and there is not the pressure for 

 migration that there was formerly. There are still likely to' be 

 fluctuations, of course, one way or another, due more or less to 

 local causes, but there will not be the violent swings of the pen- 

 dulum that have been witnessed in the past. There is still con- 

 siderable land to the northwest of us that is open for settlement, 

 but our people are beginning to find that there are many handicaps 

 connected with these lands, and there is not apt to, be the rush 

 for them in future years that there has been during the past. I 

 am speaking now more particularly ^bout the lands in the Can- 

 adian Northwest. 



Within the last decade, and especially within the last few years, 

 there has been a rapid rise in land values, particularly in the 



