CANADA 



1106 



CANADA 



more is nearly seventy per cent of the total 

 apple crop of the Dominion. Southern On- 

 tario, especially the Niagara peninsula, is 

 famous for its peaches, grapes and small fruits. 

 Berries, in fact, flourish anywhere in Southern 

 Canada, even on the Western prairies. British 

 Columbia has a smaller area of land suited for 

 cultivation, but its variety of soil and climate 

 adapts it for many fruits and vegetables which 

 do not flourish elsewhere. 



In the older sections, and even on the more 

 recently settled prairies, there is an increasing 

 tendency toward diversification of crops and 

 the raising of cattle and other live stock. For 

 some years, at least, there were many farms 

 on which wheat was the only crop; if the 

 wheat crop was even a partial failure there 

 was serious hardship for the farmer. Nowadays 

 many farmers have cattle, horses and swine, 

 and perhaps a few sheep. The raising pf beef 

 for export is an important branch of the indus- 

 try. In Eastern Canada, and to a lesser degree 

 in the West, dairying and poultry-raising have 

 had a noteworthy development. 



Live Stock. Horses, cattle and other live 

 stock are raised in large numbers. Heavy 

 draught horses are raised chiefly in Ontario, 

 but also to an increasing extent in the Western 

 provinces. Thoroughbreds, including carriage 

 and saddle horses, are bred in many sections. 

 Large numbers of horses of all kinds were sent 

 to Europe early in the War of the Nations 

 for use by the allied armies. The raising of 

 live stock is noticeably decreasing in the East- 

 ern provinces, but is increasing rapidly in the 

 West. For example, the number of horses in 

 Saskatchewan increased from 332,000 in 1910 

 to 609,000 in 1914, and in Alberta from 294,000 

 to 519,000. During the same period the number 

 of swine in Saskatchewan increased from 

 125,000 to 454,000, and in Alberta from 143,000 

 to 397,000. The live-stock industry is gradually 

 shifting its center from east to west, but in 

 the process is not growing very fast as a whole. 

 The table below shows the 1915 totals for the 

 Dominion. 



NUMBER VALUE 



Horses 2,947,000 $371,430,000 



Milch Cows 2,673,000 153,632,000 



Other Cattle 3,363,000 143,498,000 



Sheep 2,058,000 14,550,000 



Swine 3,434,000 42,418,000 



No branch of agriculture has developed more 

 rapidly than dairying and its allied industry, 

 poultry-raising. The annual production of but- 

 ter increased from 141,400,000 pounds in 1900 

 to 201,800,000 pounds in 1910, and is still in- 



creasing steadily. Quebec produces nearly two- 

 thirds of the total, and Ontario about one-sixth. 

 Ontario has about one-half of the $15,000,000 

 worth of poultry in the Dominion, and Alberta, 

 British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec to- 

 gether have nearly all of the other half. The 

 egg production is over 125,000,000 dozen a year. 



Irrigation. The development of Western 

 Canada, while due in the first instance to the 

 construction of transcontinental railways, has 

 been greatly stimulated by irrigation. This 

 is especially true in British Columbia, and to 

 an increasing extent in Alberta and Saskatche- 

 wan. Irrigation on a small scale was practiced 

 on the prairies when these districts were first 

 settled, but the irrigated areas were small, and 

 the works were crude. There was at that time 

 no law regulating the use of water for irriga- 

 tion, and every farmer and rancher took as 

 much as he needed or wanted. The confusion 

 which resulted was untangled by a Dominion 

 law of 1894, and its amendments. This law 

 applied only to the Northwest, but in British 

 Columbia and the Eastern provinces irrigation 

 was already under provincial control. The de- 

 velopment of irrigation has been marked, espe- 

 cially since 1910. The best-known and the 

 largest of all the irrigation projects is that of 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway, in the region 

 between Calgary and Medicine Hat. The 

 vicinities of Lethbridge and Moose Jaw are 

 also irrigation centers. In British Columbia 

 irrigation is most extensive in the south, in 

 the Okanagan, Thompson and Columbia val- 

 leys. For further details, see each of the 

 provinces named. 



How the Government Helps the Farmer. The 

 Dominion government, through the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, helps the farmer, the 

 rancher and everybody whose living is derived 

 from the soil, in many ways. In 1887 the De- 

 partment established the central experimental 

 farm at Ottawa and branch farms at Nappan, 

 N. S., Brandon, Man., Indian Head, Sask., and 

 Agassiz, B. C. Since then fourteen additional 

 branch stations have been established, at all 

 of which information may be had as to the 

 best methods of preparing the soil, the most 

 profitable crops to raise, and thousands of 

 other facts which the farmer wants to know. 

 The-health-of-animals branch of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture not only enforces the laws 

 relating to quarantine and inspection, but is 

 constantly carrying on valuable experiments 

 relating to animal diseases. Through the ef- 

 forts of this branch Canada is now entirely free 



