how these plains, made to glow golden with the 

 first grain of the continent, have been beautified 

 by the extensive planting of trees of every sort, 

 which thrive lustily as if sprung naturally from 

 the soil. 



That a wide demand does come to the Cana- 

 dian prairies for trees is evident in the history 

 of the Prairie Nurseries in Saskatchewan, the 

 largest nursery concern in Western Canada and 

 claimed to be the largest grower of Caragana 

 and Russian Poplar in the world. Not only have 

 millions of trees been sent out to cover the 

 Prairie Provinces from the nursery, but their 

 product is shipped as far east as- Fort William 

 and as far north as the Peace River Country. 

 Nurseries in British Columbia and Ontario also 

 purchase considerable stock from it, and ship- 

 ments of considerable size have been made to 

 the United States, these including in the past 

 year, 140,000 Caragana and 80,000 Box Elders 

 or Manitoba Maples. 



Millions of Trees Distributed 



The nursery, which is near the city of Estevan, 

 covers four hundred acres, practically all of 

 which is under cultivation. Started in 1911 on 

 a very small scale, the present management took 

 over the nursery in January, 1913, when there 

 were only a few acres cultivated. Each year 

 since that time the acreage under cultivation 

 has been greatly increased, and the number of 

 young trees which have left its parent soil rung 

 into many millions. 



The greater part of the nursery is taken up 

 with plantations of the hardiest trees and shrubs, 

 Russian Poplar, Laurel Willows, Manitoba 

 Maples and Caragana. A beautiful new shrub, 

 the Russian Olive, is grown largely for hedges, 

 also the Buckthorn, but the Caragana is the 

 most popular and 3,000,000 seedlings of this 

 variety were grown this year. A large stock of 

 the hardiest apples, plums, cherries and small 

 fruits is grown, with the demand increasing 

 every year. The demand for fruits and orna- 

 mental shrubs taxes the utmost resources of the 

 nursery, especially currants, raspberries, and 

 strawberries. 



The nurseries give employment to a large 

 staff of men, there being thirty-five salesmen and 

 a veritable army of gardeners during the rush 

 seasons. Schools are held each year giving 

 instruction to the salesmen in landscape garden- 

 ing and horticulture, with special attention to 

 the planting and care of nursery stock. 



The Christmas Tree Industry 



Canada, with a considerable range between her win- 

 ter and summer climates, has in consequence many indus- 

 ries which are purely seasonal in character. Among them 

 is one of the briefest period of activity but which, Tor the 

 few day? of its operation, carries greater joy and pleasuie 

 into the world than any other pursuit, and is one of the 

 few lines of commerce which the juvenile population would 

 consider indispensable to the well-being of the country. 



This is the Christmas tree industry, which is responsible 

 for putting the little spruce tree into the homes of the 

 continent. For weeks past woodsmen have been busy in 

 the woods of Canada and cars of the little trees going down 

 across the border to the cities and towns of the United 

 States. This winter a bit of Canada will go into the 

 homes of the entire continent though not all will know or 

 recognise it . 



The Christmas tree idea was continental in origin, 

 though America with its deep-breasted valleys, its canyons, 

 and citbanks clad with spruce and pine would suggest it- 

 self at once as the home of the custom, and the institution 

 might have been created expressly for the children of the 

 American continent. The United States as she grew and 

 expanded found she required her trees for less romantic 

 and sentimental purposes and, it must be confessed, used 

 them in a rather lavish and profligate manner, not always 

 seeing that when a Christmas tree was cut down to cheer 

 somebody's Christmas there was one planted in its place 

 for a Christmas to come. 



The time came when there were too many homes or 

 not enough trees and the United Stales called upon Canada, 

 which had not so many homes and a great many trees, and 

 for years the Dominion has been sending her them across 

 the border to decorate the homes and gladden the holiday 

 of the children of the Republic. And Canada is profit ing 

 by the example of other countries. Her policy is to put 

 back a tree wheie one has been cut, to have her Christ mas 

 trees for years to come and to cheer the Christmase* of 

 future generations of children of the continent. 



Education in Canada 



One of the uppermost considerations in the mind of 

 a head of a family contemplating the step of migrating to 

 a new land is the educational facilities it offers to his 

 children. In the misconception which exists among cer- 

 tain uninformed sections of people of Canada as a land of 

 primitive conditions just struggling from its natural 

 created state, there is naturally a total lack of appreciation 

 of the high standard of education in the Dominion, and 

 it is regarded as being necessarily in the most elementary 

 stages of progression. Nothing is farther from the truth, 

 and with the realization of the Dominion as the most 

 up-to-date and progressive of modern nations, the splendid 

 modern schools, the high type of educationalists and the 

 lofty ideals instigating them create surprise and wonder. 



It may be dogmatically stated that no country is more 

 actively interested than Canada in ensuring its children 

 are given every chance and that facilities are provided for 

 an education adequate to equip them to enter upon the 

 work of their later life. Attendance at school is com- 

 pulsory; school boards and other corporate bodies exert 

 themselves to see that the law in this respect is carried 

 out; and in their work, they have almost invariably the 

 active co-operation of the parents of the country. Pos- 

 sibly in no other country does such a large proportion of 

 the nation's youth extend its Learning into the secondary 

 grade and the university. Given the active sympathy 

 and early assistance of the parents, no child has greater 

 educationaljacilities than the Canadian, born or raised. 



The British North America Act 



Under the British North America Act of 1867, the right 

 to legislate on matters respecting education was reserved 

 exclusively to the provincial legislatures, subject to the 

 maintenance of the rights and privileges of the denomina- 

 tional and separate schools as existing at the time of 

 union or admission of the provinces. In general, through- 

 out Canada, there are two fundamental systems of edu- 

 cation: one that of the Protestant communities free from 

 the control of religious bodies, and the other that of Roman 

 Catholic communities in which education is united with 

 the religious teaching of the Church. 



In all the provinces the cost of education is defrayed 

 from the public revenue, provincial or local, and public 



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