Canadian Agriculture. 
451 
twine binders, wide-cut corn binders, front-cut and rear-cut 
mowers, and spring tooth harrows ; and the Hoosier grain and 
fertiliser drills. Even the use of straw for fuel on the prairie 
has been provided for, as in the Abell straw-burning portable 
engine. The general excellence of Canadian agricultural machi- 
nery cannot fail to impress the observer. 
1 have alluded to the migratory habits of Canadian farmers, 
which undoubtedly constitute a hindrance to better farming. 
Another check arises out of the tempting and almost unlimited 
field for speculative land purchases by wealthy individuals and 
companies who are in a position to acquire large tracts of land 
to the exclusion of ordinary settlers. The men who are attracted 
to Canada are, as a rule, the reverse of wealthy ; but, at the 
outset, a deficiency of ample means is probably a much less 
evil than a lack of agricultural knowledge. The easy and 
inexpensive sale and transfer of land is another element not to 
be left out of consideration ; and as regards the ownership of the 
soil, I may again quote my colleague. Professor Sheldon, who, 
in addressing the Economic Section of the British Association, 
at Montreal, last August, said, — 
" The Canadian farmer owns the land he farms, and can do with it what 
he likes. All very well, this, when ownership does not bury too large a 
capital; but in course of time, as land inci eases in value, a landlord and 
tenant system will grow up in Canada, and it would be well that it should at 
the outset be defined on equitable lines. The British farmer avoids the loss 
which comes of a fall in the value of land — a loss from which every agri- 
cultural landowner in Britain is suffering to-day, more or less — and his capital 
is all available for active operations. So long as the industry of farmers is 
duly shielded from injustice, it is a loss rather than a gain to them to be 
landowners, for landowning at 2j per cent, is a luxury in which bread-winners 
can hardly afiford to indulge." 
The transfer of land in Canada is very easily and cheaply 
effected. In every district there is an office in which titles to 
land have to be registered. All mortgages or other charges 
made upon property have to be recorded in the same way as the 
titles, and are not valid unless this is done. A person, therefore, 
desiring to purchase land, can prove at a trifling cost the bona 
fides of the title that is offered, and can also ascertain what 
charges or encumbrances may be in existence. This, generally 
and strictly, is the system in operation throughout the Dominion. 
The matter is one that is dealt with by the local governments, 
and the details may, therefore, to some extent differ in the 
various Provinces. The general desire, however, is to simplify 
as much as possible such transfers, and to get them effected 
cheaply. It is not unlikely that the present arrangements may 
be amended by the adoption of the Torrens system, now in force 
in Australia, which is an amplification of that in use in Canada. 
