396 Out North Land. 



produced is very heavy, from sixty-two to sixty-five pounds to the 

 bushel. The average yield in the whole Province is nearly twenty- 

 five bushels to the acre. In many instances the yield reaches forty 

 bushels to the acre, but upon the whole the average is unequalled 

 anywhere in the world. The quality of the wheat produced is 

 exceptionally good, being of a hard or flinty character, and grading 

 very high. 



Many estimates have been made of the productive capacity of 

 the Province of Manitoba, in wheat alone, but the following is 

 probably not over-stating near future results : — 



200,000 farmers each cultivating fifty acres=10,000,000 acres. 

 10,000,000 acres each producing twenty bushels to the acre=200,000,- 

 000 bushels. 



These figures are astounding, but it does not appear improbable 

 that there will be 200,000 farmers in Manitoba at no very distant 

 day, and that the extent of lands mentioned will be brought under 

 cultivation. But reduce the calculation by one half, if you will, and 

 then multiply it by five to represent the Territories of the North- 

 West that must soon be settled up and erected into provinces, and 

 you have an aggregate annual tonnage of bread and meat — for the 

 whole North-West is not by any means to be confined to wheat 

 growing — for exportation, which a single line of railway could not 

 move in five years. It is useless to apply figures to these calcula- 

 tions. The merest forecast will convince any one that such a great 

 country must have a great future, and the idea that its trade rela- 

 tions must be confined to the older provinces, or to channels through 

 them, is preposterous. The hope of Manitoba is in the Hudson's Bay 

 route. By this natural channel of commerce the fertile areas of the 

 Province are brought within three thousand five hundred miles of 

 Liverpool — nearer to the world's greatest markets than any other vast 

 bread and meat producing territories in the world. It is almost 

 wonderful to contemplate the possibilities of the Province in con- 

 nection with this highway of traffic. With a soil almost five times 

 as productive as that of Western New York, the Manitoba farmer 

 will be equally accessible to the world's best markets. With such 



