PRODUCTION IN 1915 



"Never before has the true worth oj our agricultural production been so 

 impressed upon the mind as a fundamental factor in the industrial and 

 financial situation as at the present moment" 



THE FARMERS' RESPONSE TO THE EMPIRE'S CALL 



C. C. JAMES 



A year ago the Minister of Agriculture determined that the situation should be 

 fully set before the farmers of Canada. With the hearty assistance of the press of 

 Canada this was done. The results were most gratifying. Some seem to think, 

 however, that the wheat crop is the main or only farm production of Canada, and 

 have credited it in 1915 solely to favourable weather. True it is that Providence 

 favoured the grain crops over the larger portion of the West; but if the farmers had 

 not paid more than usual attention to good cultivation and good seed, and had not 

 worked early and late with a larger acreage and in the harvesting of the crops, Canada 

 would to-day be many, many millions of dollars poorer than she is. 



The wheat crop of the prairies was worth about $275,000,000; a big crop, the 

 biggest ever known in Canada, but after all, only a little if any over one-quarter of 

 the entire farm production of the Dominion. 



In addition to the Prairie Provinces, there are six other provinces in Canada, 

 and there are many other products besides wheat. Favourable weather did not prevail 

 ail along the line, and yet, every province responded. What of the beef and the bacon, 

 the cheese and the eggs, the fruit and the vegetables ? 



What about dairying? In Ontario the output was twenty per cent, over 1914, 

 and the market prices were increased ten to twenty percent. Alberta and Saskatchewan 

 also made big increases in dairy production; so did other provinces. In 1910, according 

 to the Dominion Dairy Commissioner, the milk products of Canada were worth approxi- 

 mately $110,000,000. It is a safe estimate to put the dairy output of Canada for 

 1915 at $150,000,000. While discussing wheat we should not forget the dairy cow. 

 She has done more for Canada during the past ten years than have our wheat fields, 

 and in view of what is now happening the world over, there is a possibility that the 

 dairy products of Canada in 1916 may exceed wheat in value. The wheat fields 

 reached their maximum yield per acre in 1915, the dairy cow is only getting into her 

 stride. She is now producing 4,000 lbs. or less a year; 10,000 lbs. a year is what the 

 dairymen are working for. 



Lumping all the farm products together, and deducting the food fed to stock, 

 we estimate that, in 1915, the farms, orchards and gardens of Canada gave a net pro- 

 duct of over a billion dollars. 



Perhaps the people of Canada have not yet fully realized what the farmers did 

 accomplish last year through hard work, good management, determination, and 

 patriotism. The farm products of all Canada in 1915 exceeded in value the farm 

 products of any previous year by at least $300,000,000. It is well for our public men 

 and our writers to know that the increase in the value of the farm products in 1915 

 was at least three times in value our entire output of war munitions. 



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