Number of Farms by Provinces, 1911 and 1916 



Province 



Manitoba. . . . 

 Saskatchewan . 

 Alberta. . 



1911 



No. 



45,606 



96,372 



61,496 



1916 

 No. 



46,580 



104,006 



67,977 



Increase 

 No. P.C. 



974 2.13 

 7,634 7.92 

 6,481 10.53 



Total 203,474 218,563 15,089 7.41 



Distribution of Farms by Size of Holdings, 1916 



Total 218,563 



73,300,135 



Whether the popularity or unpopularity of 

 farming is on the increase, the financial result of 

 the Canadian farmer last year is a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of the former. According to 

 official figures, field crops reached the huge sum 

 of nearly $1,500,000,000, exceeding the total 

 of the previous year by $182,000,000 and that 

 of 1918 by over $261,000,000. 



When one considers the vast available 

 Western farming acreage that, as yet untouched, 

 lies waiting the coming of the tiller of the soil, 

 it is easy to understand how boatloads and 

 trainloads of incoming settlers are swallowed up 

 almost without trace or impression. As this 

 BULLETIN has pointed out from time to time, 

 immigration this year has been strong and steady, 

 and yet so quickly has the process of assimi- 

 lation been evolved that it is hardly apparent. 



In the face of repeated claims that emigration 

 from Canada is as steady and constant as is 

 immigration, even sceptics will admit there is 

 room for doubt in the facts of increase in 

 population and steady annual increase in the 

 area under crop and its market value. 



Production of Flax Fibre in Canada 



By G. G. Ommanney, M.I.C.E., Investigation Engineer, 

 Dept. Colonization and Development, C.P.R., 

 Montreal, Que. 



The agricultural year just ended exhibited a gratifying 

 progress in the cultivation and production of flax fibre in 

 Canada. It lias been clearly demonstrated, as a result of 

 the year's work, that flax fibre can be successfully grown 

 in Manitoba, while extensive experimentation on the 

 irrigated lands of Southern Alberta have produced the 

 most satisfactory results which will shortly be the subject 

 of a detailed report. It is now possible to estimate fairly 

 accurately the cost of Canadian production as illustrative 

 of the profits to be obtained from the pursuit of the indus- 

 try, whilst the research into the suitability of Western 

 Canadian land for production has been extremely valuable 

 and entirely satisfactory. 



Prior to the war, Russia produced the greater part 

 of the world's supply of fibre flax to the extent of from 

 300,000 tons to 400,000 tons annually; Belgium and Nor- 

 thern France were also large producers. All the countries 

 except Russia were importers of flax, and the United 

 Kingdom grew only 12,000 tons of the 100,000 tons which 

 is required annually. To-day, the Russian supply is cut 

 off, the Soviet Government having declared, according 

 to report, that fibre flax production except for domestic 



consumption is at an end. A large extent of the flax- 

 producing areas of France and Belgium have been 

 devastated by war, and consequently the shortage of raw 

 material has been, and will continue to be acute. 



Successful in Both East and West 



In Eastern Canada, fibre flax has been grown success- 

 fully for some years, and in the past few years there has 

 been a great increase in the acreage, due largely to the 

 efforts of R. J. Hutchinson, Chief of the Flax Fibre 

 Division of the Dominion Government. In 1914, Ontario 

 had 1,400 acres of fibre flax, which was increased to 10,700 

 acres in 1917, and 30,000 acres in 1920. Fibre manufac- 

 tured from Ontario grown flax in 1919 was sold in the 

 European market for as high as $1 . 20 a pound. An expert 

 from Courtrai, Belgium, the world's most famous flax- 

 growing district, has stated that the Ontario flax plant 

 is of a quality equal to, and even better than, the best 

 Belgian flax, but labor conditions and experience have 

 hampered and been lacking up to date in obtaining the 

 best results in the conversion of this flax into fibre. 

 Nevertheless, a fibre of very excellent quality has been 

 produced and marketed, as stated above, and time and 

 experience will undoubtedly improve the quality of the 

 product. 



It has been clearly demonstrated in the past year 

 that fibre flax can be successfully grown in Manitoba, an 

 excellent crop having been produced at Teulon by the 

 Netherlands Canadian Flax Syndicate. The Canadian 

 Pacific Railway Company has carried out extensive 

 experiments during the year in the cultivation of fibre 

 flax on their irrigated land in Alberta. The results have 

 been entirely satisfactory and will shortly be published 

 in detail. 



Clean Land and Soft Water 



The cultivation of this particular crop in the last two 

 mentioned provinces may be said to be somewhat handi- 

 capped by climatic conditions due to the dryness of the 

 atmosphere. Flax naturally demands considerable moisture 

 and an abundance of soft water for its treatment in 

 harvesting. Irrigated land appears from experience in 

 Alberta to entirely fulfil these requirements. The writer 

 is of the opinion, which has been confirmed by government 

 experiments, that the climate of Vancouver is exception- 

 ally favorable to the cultivation of this crop. Fibre flax 

 demands level land, a soil that is free from alkali or peat, 

 that is not too heavy nor yet so light that the shallow 

 plant roots cannot have a secure hold, and that can be 

 cultivated so that it will be free from all irregular lumps. 

 A six or eight-year rotation is desirable, and only good, 

 clean land should be considered. 



There is a good supply of seed available from the 

 East this year. It is of the utmost importance that seed 

 should be of unimpeachable fibre-producing origin, and 

 the Canadian Government now places its certificate on all 

 seed, so that nothing should be purchased without this 

 protection. All of the Canadian seed was originally from 

 Europe, coming either from Russia or Holland, and some 

 having been first cultivated in Ireland. 



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