April, i:^: 



SCIEXTIFrc AGRICULTrRF:. 



t'olle^fi .11 slio-vving inado 1)\' sokliiM- set- 

 tlers, is most remarkable, and will more 

 than compare favourably with ordinary 

 business institutions, wliich operate Avitli 

 ]ar«:t' pioporty security margfins behind 

 tliein This year conditions have been 

 nun-li more difficult, but since the first of 

 Octobei' in the west and the first of No- 

 vember iu the east, nearly $1,500,000.00 

 has !»een collected on this year's payments, 

 and. money is still coming in at a very 

 fair vi\tr^. While a little less than 30 p.c. 

 of the jftual money due has been collect- 

 ed, !"his percentage again compares more 

 than f ciAourably with the results being ol)- 

 tjiined l)y rural credit societies, farm im- 

 plemenf companies and such like institu- 

 tions, which have a somewhat similar col- 

 lectifiti prol)lem to that of the Board. 



Tlie real value of Soldier Settlement as 

 a nat^ional jiroject is not to be found, how- 

 cA'er, in the contemplation of those figures 

 and terms by which commercial institu- 

 tions are judged. The value of the work 

 from a national point of view cannot lie 

 computed in terms of dollars ancl cents, 

 but is, nevertheless, most real and far- 

 reaching in its effects. 



:\Iore than 600,000 acres of land, liither- 

 t() wild and unproductive, have been made 

 ready for cultivation and have produced, 

 or this 3'ear will produce, a first crop. 

 This is practically equal to the whole of 

 the cultivated area of the entire province 

 of Prince Edward Island, and from this 

 point of view alone, it may trutlifully be 

 said that a new agricultural province has 

 l)een brought into being by reason of 

 Soldier Land Settlement. 



Thuf^ far, from 12,000 to 15,000 of the 

 men established have settled on entirely 

 wild lands. Another 4.000 or 5.000 have 

 settled on farms so inadetjuately improved 

 that they might for all practical purposes 

 be classed as imimproved lands. The Ital- 

 ance, of from 6,000 to 8,000 men, have 

 been settled on more or less well improved 

 properties, replacing thereon the former 

 oAvners, but even here much national good 

 has resulted. V)ecause in the older sections 

 of the country, many of the former own- 

 ers Avere, by reason of old age or other 

 causes, unable to carry on farming further, 

 and had it not been for Soldier Land Set- 

 tlement, much of the land Avould undoubt- 

 edly have gone ba<?k to pasture. A real na- 



tional service has been rendered in preser- 

 ving intact the existing farm unit and the 

 maintenance thereon of a producing farm 

 family. 



WiTli oidy a very small number actually 

 l)roducing, soldier settlers in 1920 contri- 

 l)uted to the luitional wealth of the coun- 

 try from $15,000,00.00 to $25,000,000.00 

 worth of farm products, which in the 

 course of the next few years, will be doub- 

 led or trebled. Out of their 1920 farm 

 production, from exportable farm prod- 

 ucts alone, they contril),uted to the rail- 

 way freiglit receipts of this countrv more 

 than $3,000,000.00. This year, because of 

 the larger number, that contribution will 

 undoubtedly be doubled, as will the value 

 of their farm products. 



The Canadian Pacific Railway Company 

 lias estimated that the annual value of a 

 ncAv settler to the railways is $730.00. If 

 that I)e so, the 25,000 soldier settlers still 

 on the land have an actual value to the 

 railways alone of more than $15,000,000. 

 per annum. Their national value is, of 

 course, much larger even than this. ^ 



From the Avork- done, and even from 

 the mistakes made, very valuable lessons 

 liave been learned, and a great mass of 

 information is stored up iu the various 

 offices of the Board, AA'hieh is of the ut- 

 most value in am* agricultural coloniza- 

 tion or land settlement Avork Avhich this 

 country may conduct Avithin the next fcAv 

 years. 



As stated before, at the present time 

 it takes a A-ery great deal of courage to 

 Avrite of Land Settlement as a national 

 project. Agricultural industry is in a 

 depressed condition. The old line farm 

 loan companies are granting extensions 

 Avholesale. Rural credit societies, AA'ith 

 ample security margin.s. and dealing lar- 

 gely Avith Avell-estaldished farmers, are be- 

 ing forced to carry large arrears of inter- 

 est. Avhile the farm implement concerns 

 consider themseh'es fortunate Avhen their 

 cpllections reach a 15 p.c. or 20 p.c. level. 

 Grain prices are aAvay doAvn. Cattle Avere 

 almost unsaleable. Hogs have dropped 

 seriously, and even the old reliable hen 

 and dairy coav have slid dangerously. 

 Xearly everything the farmer has to sell 

 is back to, if not below, pre-war levels. 

 Freight rates are not auA- more of a conso- 

 lation than they ever Avere, and Avhile mar- 



