longer. Alfalfa is, therefore, used to great advantage in 

 crop rotation, although, if desired, a field once sown will 

 yield large crops of hay for many years. 



Conditions Conducive to Success 



Thriving well, as it does, in a semi-arid climate where 

 there is abundant sunshine and a high summer temperature, 

 and reaching its highest perfection in such climates under 

 irrigation, alfalfa quite naturally was introduced into 

 Southern Alberta, whose climate possesses these advan- 

 tages, when the great streams rising in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains were made available for watering the immense areas 

 of land by the construction of irrigation systems. 



Most of the alfalfa produced in Southern Alberta at 

 present is grown in the country surrounding the town of 

 Coaldale, which lies about eight miles east of the city of 

 Lethbridge. From small beginnings about fifteen years 

 ago, the acreage sown to this crop has been increased 

 steadily year by year, until in 1919 it had reached nearly 

 twelve thousand acres, and in 1920, 13,534 acres. 



The value of the alfalfa harvest in this district has 

 been second only to the value of the wheat crop, but alfalfa 

 is steadily gaining ground. In 1919 the crop was worth 

 $1,218,840. This figure was exceptionally high and was 

 due to two reasons a heavy yield and the prevailing high 

 prices owing to a shortage of fodder elsewhere. The 

 value of the alfalfa harvested on 11,608 acres of land was 

 only $200,000 less than the value of the wheat grown on 

 32,640 acres of similar land. And the wheat crop was not 

 a poor one, for the yield averaged twenty bushels to the 

 acre. The average yield of alfalfa was three and a half 

 tons to the acre, and it was sold at prices ranging from 

 twenty-five to more than thirty dollars a ton. 



1920 Crop Worth $800,000 



In 1920 the alfalfa acreage was somewhat larger, but 

 the value of the crop was lower than that of the previous 

 season, an estimate placing it at $818,807. A drop in 

 price, caused by an abundance of hay and fodder of all 

 kinds, is mainly responsible for the difference in value in 

 this and last year's crop. The average yield was also 

 slightly smaller in 1920 than in 1919, but this difference 

 was not important. 



Of this year's alfalfa, hay farmers have still large 

 quantities in their fields of which they are unable to dispose 

 immediately. This situation should prove to be a blessing 

 in disguise, however, for it will eventually necessitate 

 live stock being brought into the district for fattening 

 purposes, and may lead also to the creation of a large 

 dairying industry. The ideal of an irrigation farmer is 

 to keep the forage crops on his farm on which they are 

 grown, feeding them to live stock and sending out only 

 such products as butter, cheese and meats. In this way 

 valuable fertilizing elements are retained on the farm, and 

 a system of agriculture excelling all others in profitableness 

 and permanency can be built up and maintained. But 

 this ideal could never be reached so long as alfalfa growers 

 were able to sell their hay at prices bringing them returns 

 of upwards of a hundred dollars an acre on land which 

 only a few years ago they acquired for half this sum, 

 since the large profits they were making gave the farmers 

 no incentive to go into the live stock business. 



13,000 Acres in Alfalfa 



There is much that might be added about the value 

 of alfalfa for increasing the yields of other crops following 

 it on the same lands, of its worth as a permanent crop, 

 and of the kinds of alfalfa suitable to Western Canada, 

 but the scope of this article will not permit any enlargement 

 of these points. It is certain that alfalfa is destined to 

 play an important part in the system of agriculture on 

 the irrigated farms of Southern Alberta. 



As yet these vast irrigable areas are only in the early 

 stages of development, and it takes time to bring such 

 areas to full fruition. Settlers have to be brought in. 

 Many of them possess little capital to begin with, and are 

 obliged, therefore, to employ methods that bring quick 



rather than more lasting returns. Then there is the 

 question of seed. Good alfalfa seed, suitable to conditions 

 in Southern Alberta, is scarce and expensive. The 

 Canadian Pacific Railway is trying to overcome this 

 difficulty by growing seed on its demonstration farms and 

 selling it at a reasonable figure to farmers. 



But the results obtained on a comparatively small 

 area of irrigable land near Lethbridge, where out of 

 71,000 acres more than 13,000 acres are already in alfalfa, 

 are significant. When the large irrigation block operated 

 by the Canadian Pacific Railway east of Calgary, which 

 alone contains 600,000 acres of irrigable land, reaches the 

 same stage of development as the district farther south, 

 it will have nearly 100,000 acres in alfalfa. Besides, there 

 are other irrigation systems partly in operation and partly 

 under construction, and contemplated schemes that will 

 add another three-quarters of a million acres to the irrigable 

 area of Southern Alberta. All this vast area is equally 

 suited to the growing of alfalfa. 



It is likely that, in a few years, a million and a half 

 acres of land will be under irrigation in Southern Alberta, 

 and the growth of alfalfa on this land in rotation with 

 other crops will make this part of Canada one of the best 

 cattle finishing and dairying areas in the world. 



A Sheep Romance 



Following up the tale of a cattle path to 

 fortune, a sheep story should be in order as 

 exhibiting that the roads to independent wealth 

 in Western Canada are many and diversified. 

 One man goes in for cattle, another specializes in 

 sheep, another grows only grain, and still another 

 distributes his eggs and indulges simultaneously 

 in all three. The results appear to be the same, 

 and if the follower of one line is richer than 

 another it is in that superfluity of wealth beyond 

 human needs. The story that follows might 

 truthfully be called a sheep romance. 



John T. Heninger is a large sheep owner in 

 Southern Alberta, and on his three large ranches, 

 known as the Coulee Ranch, King's Lake Ranch, 

 and Hay Lake Ranch, located southeast of 

 Lethbridge, he has clearly demonstrated what 

 can be done by personal application and assiduity 

 coupled with Alberta climate and fodder. Mr. 

 Heninger made a most insignificant beginning, 

 the early chapters of his life history having 

 much in common with the modest commence- 

 ments which have developed into ranching 

 fortunes in the west. But sheep have a way of 

 increasing, and the size of the herd, which at the 

 present time ranges the hills and coulees of the 

 three ranches, may be estimated from the fact 

 that last spring it was increased by the addition 

 of seven thousand lambs, and that the wool clip 

 harvested amounted to about 135,000 pounds. 



The Blighty Wagon 



All sheep breeders and farmers know that 

 there is a tremendous mortality'among lambs in 

 the first few hours of their existence, and this 

 rancher's motto has been, "Save the lambs and 

 the sheep will take care of themselves." Upon 

 this policy he has built up the herd he now owns. 

 A visitor to the ranches in the spring time 

 might be somewhat startled to see an ambu- 

 lance's mad antics as it pursues a rough and 



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