Ml', John Itohcrt8*s lieport. 



13 



was expensive. Thoy must bo housed and fed for five months during 

 wintry weather. In Hiimmer they are turned on the prairie, and this 

 costs nothing. In this district we saw several fields of wheat that 

 hud been destroyed by hail. Tliese hailstorms are a puzzle. They 

 leave, perhaps, one part of the field without being touched, whilst the 

 other part is destroyed. They arc local storms. 



On the 19th wo left Brandon for Qu'Ap|)elle, a "new" 

 QiCApi)elle. town of DoO inhabitants. On our way \\o pass(>d a 



large tract of land not yet farmed. This land is held 

 by speculators. These people, I was informed, do not pay as much 

 in rates and taxes as those who actually cultivate the land. In my 

 opinion, it is a great hardship that industrious farmers are compelled to 



ti-n> \ \\ 



ii" ;.-l' 



HYDE FABM, QU'APPSLLB. 



})ay higher taxes, while speculators are allowed to go comparatively free. 

 It would be better, I should think, tliat the taxes should be reversed, and 

 put on land that is doing nothing, so as to compel its owners to put it 

 in a state of cultivation, or put it in the market. At present the holding 

 of such land compels farmers to live far away from^ the stations 

 Besides, land left in this state breeds "gophers," a most destructive class 

 of vermin. The land in this district is a rolling prairie, and not so 

 bleak as in some other parts. It is dotted witli poplar bluffs, which 

 afford admirable shelter for stock, and supply the farmer with fuel and 

 rails. All the houses have been built diu'ing the last 10 years. * There 

 are liaptist, Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, and Episcopalian churches, 

 and the last named denomination has also a college, where, among 



