10 Oct.. 1918. 1 Agricultural Education in Canada. 



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are provided at 1,300 centres. The elevator capacity, including the ter- 

 minal at Fort William and Port Arthur, is 164,899,333 bushels. 



Saskatchewan's average wheat yield for six years was 18 bushels 

 per acre. The province has produced nearly 800,000,000 bushels of wheat 

 in the past seven years — a fine tribute to the fertility of the soil. 



There are drawbacks, however, even in the prairies. The temperatures 

 fall far below freezing during the winter months, and a system of heating 

 the homestead is essential on every prairie farm. Then the prairies 

 give one the impression of great loneliness — unending flat stretches, 

 practically treeless, and situated at least 1,000 miles from either the 

 Pacific or the Atlantic seaboard. 



The prairies are essentially great grain fields. Live stock have not 

 made their appearance in any considerable numbers. In Saskatchewan, 

 for example, despite the enormous production of grain in 1917, there 

 were only 2,801,593 head of all forms of stock — horses, cattle, sheep, 

 and pigs. 



Group of Farmers attending short courses on Stock Judging and Cattle 

 Feeding — Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Canada. 



Still, the Saskatchewan farmer will tell you he is doing well. In 

 1917 the total value of production for Saskatchewan was £80,000,000 

 for a total population of 687,000 people; an average production per 

 inhabitant of £123. The Saskatchewan people have acquired the habit 

 of asking strangers where can such production be equalled on this globe? 

 The only retort left the wondering visitor is that one deserves tp be 

 recompensed for the rigorous winters and the loneliness of the prairie. 



The grain crops of the prairies are, of course, handled in bulk. ISTo 

 other system of handling would suffice to deal with the enormous volume 

 of grain traffic. Wheat, barley, oats, and even flax are handled alike. 



In Southern Alberta irrigation has developed rather rapidly. The 

 rivers from the Rocky Mountains have been harnessed, and the water 

 diverted to the fertile plains below. 



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