ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 13 



5,250,405 acres devoted to a variety of agricultural crops, and 

 there are 2,782,537 acres under hay. Horses, cattle, pigs, and 

 poultry are being kept in increasing numbers. The dairy trade of 

 the province is a great trade, keeping in operation no less than 2806 

 factories. Ontario, the most populous and the most advanced in 

 some respects of all the provinces from an agricultural point of view, 

 has a population of 2,182,947, and a superficial land area of 220,508 

 square miles, over 100,000 of which are in woodland. The agri- 

 cultural acreage is disposed of thus : — 9,764,724 acres under agri- 

 cultural crops, 326,290 acres in orchards and gardens, and 5,248,180 

 acres in pasture. The main agricultural crops are — hay, oats, 

 wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, turnips, and Indian corn. Fruit is 

 a source of much revenue, and the dairy trade, which operates 

 1284 factories, is one of the most profitable branches of agri- 

 culture in the province. 



3. North-west Provinces 



The North-west Provinces are Maiiitoba, Saskatchewan, and 

 Alberta. They contain a population of 808,863, and their 

 total area is 577,921 square miles. The southern part of the pro- 

 vinces embraces the whole of the prairie region, which extends to 

 200,000 square miles, and runs nearly 900 miles east and west, and 

 from 100 to 400 miles north and south. Needless to say, the great 

 crop of the North-west Provinces is wheat. In 1908, 5,624,000 acres 

 were under wheat, and the return was 91,853,000 bushels. But 

 the area under oats and barley, particularly in the older settled parts 

 of the provinces, is also extensive. According to the 1908 figures 

 there were 2,772,300 acres in oats which yielded 96,718,000 bushels, 

 and 873,300 acres in barley which yielded 22,926,000 bushels. 



4. British Columbia 

 British Columbia is the greatest in size and the most mountainous 

 of all the provinces. It runs 760 miles from north to south, and 470 

 miles from east to west. It contains 236,922,177 acres of land, 

 of which only 10,000,000 are arable. It is estimated that fully ten 

 per cent, of the remainder is suitable for cattle ranching and fruit- 

 farming. All kinds of crops are grown, but the backbone of agri- 

 culture is dairying, particularly in the rich delta lands, and fruit- 

 growing among the mountains of the interior. 



Such is the country which on 7th August 1908 we sailed from 

 Liverpool to explore. 



