Canadian Agriculture. 
305 
several philanthropic gentlemen who visited it last autumn, the 
progress hitherto made, as well as the outlook, are of an encou- 
raffin? and gTatifvin? character. 
One of the most interesting settlements is that of the Mennon- 
ites. They were German-speaking Russian subjects, followers 
of Simon Menno, who preached that war is a crime, and rather 
than undergo military service, they — or at least such of them as 
could get permission from the Russian Government — left their 
homes and emigrated to Canada, where the Dominion Govern- 
ment, in 1876, made them a grant of 64:0 square miles of some of 
the best land in the Red River Valley, in Southern Manitoba. 
The soil is a good loam, 3 feet deep, and as the settlement has 
been established eight years, the Mennonite farmers may fairly 
be expected to have acquired some exact knowledge of the capa- 
bilities of the land which they till, and they find it desirable to 
allow a bare fallow every fourth or fifth year, this being about 
the only case of fallowing in Manitoba. Thev have some such 
" rotation " as, — wheat, wheat, oats, wheat, fallow : the season 
of fallow being known as the " black year." Wheat is most 
largely grown, then oats ; barley is only sparinglv cultivated. I 
believe they have not yet tried a cropped fallow, but this would 
seem desirable, particularlv as they fallow the land because they 
find it has become too weedv and dirty after the fourth succes- 
sive corn crop. The cultivation is prosecuted on a kind of com- 
munal svstem, there being: a huge field of wheat belonging to a 
^ ' o o Off 
number of families, another of oats, and so on. Their cattle are 
herded in one huge pasture, and the manure from the cow- 
houses is cut into oblong pieces, dried in the sun, and stacked in 
the same way as "turf" in Ireland, and, like peat, it is used 
in winter for fuel. The Mennonites now number some 8000 
people, and their settlement comprises a number of villages. 
Many of their kinsmen in Russia would no doubt like to 
join them, but the Russian Government has not allowed anv 
of them to emigrate since 1876. 
There are also a Jewish settlement, made up of Jews of various 
nationalities, and an Icelandic settlement. 
Future of Prairie Farming. 
Most of the farming in ^lanitoba and the ^«orth-\Vest must 
be described as pioneer farming. There is very little settled 
or approved practice, and rotations are almost unknown. But 
Manitoba has taken a great step in advance in the establish- 
ment of her Board of Agriculture, probably the most efficient 
in the Dominion, and the influence of which is bound to make 
its mark upon the development of agriculture in the Province. 
VOL. XXI. — S. S. X 
