754 DISCUSSION ON WHAT : 
The policy of the distribution of immigrants in small isolated groups 
is then discussed, and a careful analysis given of the available statistics of 
immigration and the progress of cultivation and the relation traced between 
the increase of cultivation and the growth of the population. Professor Mavor 
puts the cultivated area per head of population as 86 acres in 1901, of 
which 59 acres was in wheat, whereas in 1906 the cultivated area was 
9°9 acres, of which 6°3 was in wheat—.e., 62 per cent., as against 68 per 
cent. at the earlier date. He traces the diminished proportion of wheat 
growing to the total acreage under all grain crops, which he puts as declining 
from 62°56 per cent. in 1905 to 55°44 in 1909, the drop being greatest in the 
latest years, 1908 and 1909. Oats, on the other hand, had shown the greatest 
proportional increase, from 24°86 per cent. to 33°57 per cent. This, however, 
he attributes chiefly to the amount of railway construction and employment 
of horses that has been going on in the three provinces. 
The unsatisfactory condition of the collection of agricultural statistics 
in Canada at present, and the inconvenience of the periodic presentation 
of two differing sets of statistics—one compiled by the Dominion Government 
and another by the provincial authorities—is illustrated by Professor Mavor 
in the discrepancy of 16 per cent. between the wheat crop of 91,853,000 bushels 
given in 1908 by the former and that of 107,002,093 bushels by the latter for the 
three prairie provinces, while the latter figures seem to be adopted by the 
Dominion Department of Trade and Commerce. He advocates the employ- 
ment of more expert statistical officers and an adequate agricultural survey 
of the whole region. Without this only ‘fanciful’ conclusions could be 
reached about the future productivity of a vast and very varied country. 
Professor Mavor points out that the yield of wheat per acre since 1898 
exhibited a fluctuation of from 9°11 in 1900 to 25°16 in 1901, being twice 
above 20 bushels and four times below 16. He finds no justification for 
multiplying the estimated acreages by the arbitrary figures of 20 bushels. 
Irrigation notwithstanding, he finds no evidence that the semi-arid area 
can be relied upon to produce any considerable amount of wheat for export, 
but notes a very rapid increase in miscellaneous farming in this area ; and he 
traces the progress of three irrigation schemes in the semi-arid regions of 
Alberta, giving interesting particulars of the largest scheme, that of the 
Canadian-Pacific Railway, which contemplates dealing with 3,500,000 acres 
of land and involves at present 1,000,000 acres. 
The Paper further offers in detail interesting particulars of the course of 
land values, and a table is given of the advancing values per acre in the 
sales of land belonging to the Canadian-Pacific Railway from $3-15 in 1901 
to $9°54 in 1908. 
After discussing the various railway extensions and their bearing on 
the development of the North-West, Professor Mavor concludes his Paper 
with a reference to the varying estimates of possible wheat production 
quoted by him in his Report of 1904 from different expert authorities, and 
offers an amendment by those responsible for the lower one of 13,750,000 
acres, which would, in the light of recent progress, add another 3,500,000 
acres to that total, and a consequent enlargement of the resultant produce of 
this lowest estimate to 317,000,000 bushels, ‘which would provide 232,000,000 
bushels for export. He repeats, however, his own distinct disclaimer of 
any responsibility for the original estimate or its amendment, and urges, 
as before, the very numerous economic factors which have to be borne in 
mind in estimating the productivity of any country in this respect. He 
concludes that no one who examines the statistics of agricultural pro- 
ductivity in the North-West since 1883 can fail to be astonished at the 
progress made in twenty-six years. In 1883 the population was insignificant, 
and the one railway then constructed had not been completed to the coast. 
Now three great railways are crossing these provinces, and another 
