426 



Canadian Forestry Magazine, August-September, 1920. 



was, up till a few years ago, apparently 

 more profitable. 



In the opening up of a new country 

 the situation may always be described 

 tersely in the terms that land for some 

 time is always relatively cheaper than 

 labor. Quick development, or, as wiser 

 men put" it, quick exploitation of land, 

 leads to the extensive use of land, with 

 labor as the limiting factor. It took us 

 some time to realize that there was an- 

 other limiting factor — moisture. _ And 

 now we realize that we have still an- 

 other factor of limitation in the soil drift- 

 ing, which has been a growing problem 

 in the last few years all over Western 

 Canada, which this year (1920) became 

 so serious in parts of Southern Alberta 

 as to be disastrous in its effects. 



Farming under irrigation, while it 

 must make agricultural operations more 

 intensive, leading to the use of less land 

 per unit of labor, will provide against 

 the lack of moisture, and will provide 

 means absolutely to control soil-drifting 

 — further than that, it inevitably leads to 

 the maintenance of the fertility of the 

 soil, a matter that has received, imfor- 

 tunately, far less than the attention that 

 is its due in Western Canada. 

 Replace the Humus 



We have been prone to think that our 

 soils had illimitable quantities of nitro- 

 gen, phosphoric acid and potash to draw 

 from ; and while this may largely be true 

 if the top soils stay with us, it certainly 

 is no longer true when these rich soils 

 blow away. The one sovereign remedy 

 against this is the replacement of humus 

 in the finely tilled soil. And there is, 

 practically speaking, but one means for 

 the provision of this humus available for 

 us, and that is cow-dung. We cannot 

 have that without cows, we can't have 

 cows without pasture, and we certainly 

 can't have many cattle on the farms un- 

 less we have irrigation to provide the 

 necessary pasturage and feed. Then 

 again, one of the most profitable crops 

 under irrigation is alfalfa, which is in 

 itself both a humus-builder and a nitro- 

 gen provider. 



Remedy Close at Hand 

 It so happens, very fortunately, that 

 in the area where the effects of soil- 

 drifting have been most severe, the re- 



medy is closest to hand. Tlie Lethbridge 

 Northern Irrigation District, which will 

 draw its water from the Old Man river — 

 an all-Canadian stream — is prepared to 

 proceed at once with construction work 

 just as soon as financing can be arrang- 

 ed. Every detail has been carefully 

 studied by the Reclamation Service of 

 Canada. At the instance of tlie Alberta 

 Government the proposed project has 

 been reported upon by George G. Ander- 

 son, an irrigation engineer of continental 

 repute, having great practical experience 

 both in the United States and Canada, 

 who thoroughly understands all the en- 

 gineering, financial, agricultural and 

 human elements involved. The water 

 supply at the very lowest stream 

 measurements over a long series of years 

 is guaranteed. There are no engineer- 

 ing works of any magnitude necessary, 

 and the engineer of the district, H. B. 

 Mucklestone, has had long experience as 

 assistant chief irrigation engineer with 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. 

 The farmers who own the 110,000 

 acres that will be irrigable vmder the 

 project are most anxious that construc- 

 tion should be proceeded with at once. 

 Estimates of cost, generously conceived 

 even at the present prices of labor and 

 materials, indicate that when tenders are 

 called or, they will show that the work 

 can be carried through to a finish at a 

 capital cost of less than $5 per irrigeabl 

 acre. That the farmers will amply be 

 able to pay the interest, and repay the 

 capital on this expenditure during a term 

 of say thirty years is clearly demon- 

 strated. 



Irrigation Will Pay 

 Taking wheat alone as an index, 

 wheat production on "dry" land aver- 

 ages 30 bushels per acre, which, allow- 

 ing for summer-fallowing half the acre- 

 age each year, gives 15 bushels annually ; 

 against 53 bushels annually on irrigated 

 land — an increase of 3^ times in pro- 

 duction. Even at pre-war prices of 

 around 80 cents a bushel, and cutting 

 down the estimated production to 40 

 bushels, there would be a gross return 

 of $32 per acre per annum. Or, again, 

 figuring in terms of alfalfa at the low 

 rate of 3/^ tons per acre at say $10 per 

 ton, there would be a gross return of $35 



