296 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 
settlement, charging 5 per cent. over cost. The following represents 
the work done in this way :— 
— | 1908 1909 
Breaking ‘5 : A ‘ A 54 4,000 acres 15,000 acres 
Sown to wheat . : : : z 2,000 _,, 8,000 __,, 
Fence erected . * ‘ A F ‘ 36 miles . 150 miles 
Wells sunk . 3 F ; a oH None 50 | 
Some portion of the area, in addition to the quantity mentioned as being 
sown to wheat, is no doubt destined to be so employed next year. 
The proportion of the work done by the Irrigation Department of 
the Canadian Pacific Railway in relation to the whole of the work done 
in the irrigation block is about 33 per cent. 
The following gives the increase in the acreage under cultivation in 
the irrigation block since 1905 :— 
1905. . 1,600 acres 1908 . . 26,000 acres 
1906. 7B D0U 55 1909 . eee fee.) Oe ee 
1907 . . 5,800 ,, 
This land would probably not have been under cultivation at all but for 
the irrigation scheme. 
Dry Land Farming.—Much attention is now being devoted to what 
is called dry land farming. This practice, which has been introduced 
from the United States, consists of thorough and repeated cultivation. 
The principal advocate of the system, Prof. Campbell, says that, in 
order to render cultivation of grain profitable under his system, an 
annual rainfall of from 14 to 18 inches is required. The regions 
round Swift Current and Calgary fall within these limits, the 
average annual precipitation at these places being 15°74 and 1641 
respectively. The regions round Medicine Hat and Macleod fall below 
the inferior limit, the average annual precipitation being only 13°72 and 
12°17 respectively. Unfortunately the experiment of dry land farming 
is being tried in some regions where the natural conditions are quite 
unfavourable. 
Live Stock.—The following shows the increase in live stock between 
1901 and 1906 :— 
: zh eae aii i 
aa | Year | Horses | wu | BS Soe Sheep | Swine | 
N.W. Provinces . : | 1901 | 340 244 | 698 182 200 
Do. . an 1906 | 682 384 | 1,560 304 439 
The increase in animals is thus, on the whole, rather greater than 
the increase in total population, and is much greater than that in 
rural population. 
The Value of Land.—According to the census returns of 1901 
the mean value of land in farms of five acres and upwards was, in 
Manitoba, $10.53 (£2 3s. 4d.) per acre, and in the North-West Terri- 
tories $5.48 (£1 2s. Td.) per acre. The report of the census of the 
Prairie Provinces in 1906 does not give any estimate of the value of 
