AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH-WEST CANADA. 225 
that in Alberta there is a slight increase in the proportional production 
of wheat. This has taken place almost entirely in the southern part 
of the province. Oats remain the preponderating crop in the north. 
Agricultural Progress.—The condition of agricultural progress may 
be estimated from the statistics which have been given. There can bo 
no doubt that, although summer fallowing is becoming more common, 
continuous cropping is still the rule. When wheat yields a high price 
it is very difficult for the farmer to realise that although he may be 
able to secure enough from two or three crops to pay for his farm he 
may in a few seasons exhaust its value. This method of continuous 
cropping has come to be known in the West as ‘ mining the farm.’ 
Rotation of crops is, however, coming into practice, and mixed farming 
is becoming more common. 
Summer Fallowing.—Although summer fallowing has been univer- 
sally recommended by the directors of the Experimental Farms and 
other agricultural authorities it is as yet applied to a comparatively 
small proportion of the area under wheat cultivation. The last year 
for which statistics on this point are available is 1906. In this. year 
the proportion of the total acreage in the three provinces under spring 
wheat which had been fallow the previous summer was only 25 per 
cent. Manitoba exhibited the highest proportion, or about 30 per cent. ; 
Alberta the lowest—about 16 per cent. 
Irrigation.—There are being carried out at present three large 
schemes— : 
1. The Alberta Land and Irrigation Company’s, commonly known 
as the Galt Scheme. 
2. The Southern Alberta Irrigation Scheme. It will probably be 
two years from the present time before this company is in a position 
to supply water. They expect to have about half a million acres under 
ditch. The land with which they are dealing is reported to be fine 
land, but useless without irrigation. 
3. The Canadian Pacific Railway Scheme. This is by far the 
largest of all the schemes. The ultimate intention is to apply it to 
about 3,500,000 acres of land which formed the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way grant in. the semi-arid area. This land is in a solid block; the 
arrangement as to alternate sections which applied to the remaining 
22,000,000 acres of their grants does not apply to this area. At 
present the scheme involves about 1,000,000 acres. The block em- 
braced in this portion is divided into three sections—EKastern, Central, 
and Western. In the Western section there remain undisposed of 
about 250,000 acres. The following works are in progress and will 
be completed in 1909 :— 
Main canal, 17 miles. 
Secondary canals, 289 miles. 
Distributing ditches, 1,331 miles. 
About $3,500,000 have already been expended. The total estimated 
expenditure for the three sections is $8,000,000. The plans for the 
irrigation of the eastern and central sections are now being made. 
During the two past years the Canadian Pacific Railway Company 
has undertaken to prepare the land, fence it, and erect buildings, &c., 
for purchasers of land within the irrigation block in advance of aetual 
1909. Q 
