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Les csrtf'S, planches, tableoux. etc., peuvent etre film^s A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film* d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, at de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'imsges ntcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32 X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^ 6. W- DOM IN TON OF CANADA // MANITOBA AM) Till: NOIITII-WESTTERHLTOIUES l!EI\(i A IJKPOUT BY MR. P. R. RITCHIE OF ESSEX ENGLAND OF A 'l^^)ri! KXTF.X1)IN(; FROM APRIL TO Sl'l'THMl'.l'K 1S'>> \ •i^ O T T A W A rPvINTED BY S. K. U.VWSOA. i'KlN'iKR TO TME <, Water .St., Liverpool, Kng. J. W. Down " - Batii Bridge, Bristol Thos. (iK.vHAMK " " 4„ St. ICnoch Sqnaru, Clasgow. Scot. Thos. C...SN„u.v " " Northumberland House, Dnl.lin, Ire H. Mkurio'K " •• ;« Victoria Place, Belfast CANADA. ThkHon. T. MaynkDai.y, Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. A. M. BfR^iKss, Deputy Minister of the Interior " " John R. Hau>, Secretary of the Department of the Interior " •« H. H. Smith, Commissioner of Dominion Lands, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. E. F. .Stki'Hknsox, Agent of Dominiim Lands " " a. H. Cami'bkli,, General Immigration Agent " i.;(; Avn viriNiTv. Leaving Ottawa on the morning of the 8th April I arrived in Winnipeg after a two days' journey, and was met by Mr. Ronaldson, a relative of mine, who drove me out to his place at Royal which IS situated on the banks of the Red River, 15 miles south of Winni- peg. Six miles from the city we passed the village of St. Norbert which is principally a French settlement,- and where there is a Trappist Monastery. On the road to Roval there are numerous settlers along the banks of the Red River, chieflv French and Half- breeds ; this was one of the earliest settlements in the countr>-, but the land is too much wooded for extensive cultivation ; other parts of it are lowly situated and wet, though here and there I found patches of from 5 to 15 acres under cultivation. At Royal the prairie proper commences. Farms here arc on what are termed " river lots," only a few chains wide, and extending back from the nver 2 or 3 miles ; in e.irly years the land was badly farmed, aii,l allowed to get very dirty. Old settlers sav that " French weed " 8 •MAMTOHA AND TIIK XORTH-WEST. 1 and thistles were brouglit in witii seed from the States, others again maintain these noxious weeds came from Ontario. Two large farms, which I visited here, were to let or sell. One was the Jelly farm which at one time belonged to a contractor of that name, who had speculated, lost money and finally mortgaged the farm to the Commercial Bank of Winnipeg, whose property it now is. This farm had 200 acres ploughed ; 100 of which were newly broken. It was let at the end of April to a Mr. Macdonald, an Ontario farmer, who sowed 150 acres with wheat and the rest with oats and barley. Although sown so late as it was (the last of it only being put in by about the middle of June), a good average crop was reaped and an ample return for the investment realized. The other farm is Icnown as the Patterson farm, 312 acres in extent, which is the pro- perty of Messrs. Allan & Brydges, bankers, of Winnipeg. About 40 acres were under cultivation. I was offered the rental of this farm for a merely nominal sum, and realizing that it would be a most practical way of furthering my investigations, I determined to accept, and made an agreement with Mr. Ronaldson that he should do the labour and plough 15 acres more.— myself to supply the seed,— and that we should equally divide the proceeds. We sowed 25 acres with wheat, 15 with oats, and the remainder with two-rowed barley. The wheat was sown on the 23rd of April and reaped on the 17th of August ; the oats were sown on the 17th of May and reaped on the 30th of August ; and the barley was sown on the 14th of May and reaped on the i6th August. BRANDON. I left Wi riipeg on the 29th April for Vancouver, on the Pacific coast, breaking my journey at Brandon, Moosomin, Indian Head, Medicine Hat and Calgary, long enough to make me acquainted with these localities, for it was my intention to thoroughly inspect the country on my return trip. While at Brandon I visited the experimental farm, where by that date they had already got most of their seeding done. At Mr. Sandison's gigantic grain farm, 3,000 acres in crop, they were sowing Red Fyfe wheat, of a grade known as No. 2, regular, with two Catling gun seeders. The grain was being sown broadcast on wheat stubble and being ploughed in. At the Brassey Colonization Company's farms at Indian Head they were seeding with six press drills on land where the stubble had 1 i KEPOKT OF MR. P. ,{. nnVIUE. ' 9 burned by a pipe straight „„t of 'he g™,„d ™'' '""« Traveto thaf r ' '"!' ^ ™" "°' ^"='"1" '° describe, iravellers that I have met. wl- have l,een all over the world deelare there is nothing ,o s„r„ s it in Krandenr Va cZ r he tenntnus of the great Canadian Pacific Raihvav i, 13 to •become a ,o,vn of great importance, for it is splendid - tuated and has one of the best harbours on the Pacific coL. From here there equinoed atnt '^""'P''"^' ""=f «■•» are antongs. the finest and best XT ^ " 'f""'* °' Vancouver has been verv rapid In 1886 there was only one house on the town site • to-dav tiSe • ^ a cred I to any place. From Vancouver I took steamer across to bi.hly asa heahl^TsJSe J^:::rZ;:i^'' ^ .ntpresses me n.ost during a brief sojou™ in b S CoLnbl *e ,mme,,se amount of timber it contains. On a side "o«s s abound w,th trees of large di.nensions. In the pa k at \?' British coLb;:t w'e^Jth^; d • por;:om::*^"5"' " ™'^ from the coast I stopped off one dav a he rh H ""^ """'" summit of the Selkifk ^,ou„,ai;:^;:,' :;;L"^:^^^^^^^^ Te";r:^; ne r^^eeTr^rc"''''^" ^°"^- --« rcsencd b\ the Government as a Xational i 10 MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST. Park. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company have here a mag- nificent hotel, capable of accommodating over three hundred guests. Hot sulphur springs flow out of the mountains at several places, and they effect marvellous cures to bathers. Many people affected with severe rheumatism have gone away in less than a week's time completely cured. CALfiAHY. At Calgary I spent about a fortnight on my return from British Columbia, and again after I had visited the Edmonton country. The population of the town is 4,500, and its altitude is 3,388 feet above the level of the sea. It is the important centre of the trade of the ranching country which surrounds it, and is also the chief town of supply lor the mining districts at the Rocky Mountains. Its buildings are the most substantial of any town between Winni- peg and Vancouver. The town is prettily situated, surrounded with high bluffs and hills, and the peaks of the Rocky Mountains are in view from most parts of the town on a clear day. The buildings are chiefly of good sandstone, which is found in abund- ance in the neighbourhood. The principal banks of Canada have agencies here. On my arrival I called on Mr. T. Stone, to whom I had introductions. He is the manager of the Canadian Agri- cultural Coal and Colonization Company, and also of the North- west Trading Company. The Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonization Company was started ten years ago under the manage- ment of Sir John Lister-Kaye, but did not prove a paying concern. Under the management of IVIr. Stone it is rapidly gaining ground. The company have ten farms of 10,000 acres each along the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The number of stock on these farms are : 1,000 horses, 7,000 cattle, 20,otX) sheep and 1,500 pigs ; 5,000 acres of the company's land are under cultivation. The North-west Trading Company do an extensive dead meat trade in Calgary, and they also export to Vancouver .-■nd Victoria. To enable them to carry on this business successfully, they have built a slaughtering and cold storage establishment about a mile from Calgary. The trouble in shipping live cattle was the falling off in weight and quality during transit. The cold storage building is capable of holding carcasses of 250 cattle and 2,000 sheep. Here they can be preserved for several months. Ranchmen can bring I s a t; p h ir \\ c; ei b( 111 i RKPORT OP Mli. P. R. HITflllK. 11 their cattle and sheep here, can see them killed and weighed in a very short time, and return hcne with the cash in their pockets. r.UMHKH MILLS AT CAL(;.\l{y. The Eau Claire and Bow River Lnnil)er Company have the largest lumber mill west of the Lake of the Woods. Its capacity IS 30.000 feet of lumber and 10,000 laths per day. Electric light is supplied cheaper in Calgary than in any city in Canada, there being two opposition companies. Mr. Thompson, the Homestead In- spector, drove me out to Quorn Ranch, a distance of about thirty miles. Eor twelve miles round Calgary the country is well settled up. Crop growing has not been very successful, the country beine subject to drought, although in some cases oats have been grown 80 bushels to the acre and weighing 44 pounds. There is a good opening in this district for dairy-farming. The water is excellent Lll"'^ f .r T\^f '^''' '' STass in abundance. I had a long talk with Mr. Ratchffe. who has a creamery establishment twenty five UK es west of Calgary. He has found dairying very profitable. Ihe Hudson s Bay Company buy all his butter at 25 cents (is) a ITL "'^"'' ""'' '" ^^"'■^^ 35 cows, and he draws about HO m per cow every year, besides having the increase of calves and the skimmed milk. The average price that good milch cow are bought for is $30 to $35 a head. Raxciiint; i\ alukrta. Two of the principal ranchers in Alberta are the Quorn and the North-west Cattle Company. The Quorn RanclT is seventeen square miles m extent, and is held on a lease from the Government a one cent per acre. On it there are 1,500 horses and several thousand head of cattle. The t^.elve stallions are nearlv all m- ported from some of the best blood in England, severalof them having been prize winners. Three hundred o the mares were jmpor ed f.om Ireland fo.ir years ago. and a number of their s^k will be sent this year to England to be trained for hunters and c valry remounts. Horses bred in Alberta are noted for the"r endurance, and such a thing as a broken-winded horse has ..Z thirv^r" "• "^'^ ^'"^' "•" "^'^^^^^ 70 per cent of "fiaJs 12 MAMTOUA AND THE NOKTH-WEST. The .\orth-vvest Cattle Company's l^anch consists of 240000 a es and there are 9,000 cattle and from 800 to 900 horses'oT^ Mr Stimson, the manager, told me they would pay this year a O.xley. the Wa rond. the High River Horse Ranch, and the Co 1> rane Ranch^ A smaller ranch I visited here was one belonging o Mr. Bryse Wnght, who came from Ayrshire, Scotland. Helias over 200 horses. His aim is to breed a heavv class horse o nfeaSe ^' ''''T"'\ '^^'^ ^^^^^^^"^^ ^^^"'^"^ ^'hat he had would please the eye of any fancier. One of them took first prize at the Calgary agnctdtural show last .eason. A team of three-year-olds of hjs he had just sold for town work for $300 (£^7 Some cousms of h,s, the Messrs. Turner, whom I met at the Calgary racTs also from Ayrshire, have a ranch on Sheep Creek, about twenty: five mdes from Calgary. They are breeding the same chss of horses as Mr. Wright, and they find them the^most remun ive Along the foot hdls of the Rocky Mountains there is some splendTd IS of |,e best quahty and plentiful. This year a railway will be completed running south from Calgary to Macleod. and hence will be canned on through the Crow's Nest Pass to the Pacific Coa^t Ihis hne will open up a new stretch of country, of which a ereat deal IS suitable for either mixed farming or stock-raiJng CAI,(;aHV to EDMONTON. ton if .^'' r^ ^- ^ f •""■ °" ''^' ^^'^ °^ ^^^y- ^"d '■^^^^hed Edmon- ton at 7 o clock in the evening. The railway, which is of recent const.uct.on, having been opened in August, 1891, is 192 miles long The coimtry for the first 40 miles is rolling prairie, and then small patches of timber begin to dot the landscape Further north here ,s timber m abundance. Several nrettv lakes catch the eye from the railway, with rising banks, well wooded down to the water s edge. Villages are springing up along the line very rapidlv the two most important being Olds and Innisfail. Ninety miles' north of Calgary, at the crossing of the Red Deer River, is the old settlement of Red Deer, now a rising town. The main town of tdmonton is situated on the north bank of the Saskatchewan The railway terminates on the south side, and here another town i. fai;t springing up. The river Saskatchewan at this point is about 800 I 1 c f; a C a< it st w . liKPOUT OF MR. P. K. HiTCMIE. 13 feet wide, and the banks about 200 feet deen wh.Vh f«., 1 . crossing both difficult and expensive THp/o •"' '"^^' appHed to Government to ^^li^^ ^^^^^^'^^ doubtedly be done in the course of a sZ'::!. "If e^" Z crossing is made bv a cable ferrv-hnat R«f ., present the north and south sides of L'Zr a good dIaT'; t '^ ' °""" as to which is to be the orincinal one T„ l °V °"'^ ''"'"■ I spent six days, and droVe a £ L^ 'of ^ ^iles ^eTAh '*"' rounding country and interviewing ntanvTet" te ZV ""'l ca.,ed on was Mr^K.t:L^^:,,o c™:r t^^tht :o:r;r„: -s: oats, 8ol,she.s' and Sv 40 " sh* o rT"'""- neighbour Of his, Mr. Macfariane,' ha'd at'.r'the'a n' a Zint 0I s^ie.dld^xsprai''^ fI^:;^:"- " ""-'• a n^r.h-easter>y direction^hrough .hXL:^'- : ^ --« vvooded hlt^ ' '^ "■' P'^'^'' "'""Sh ™^ somewhat heavUy They have mce houses some of then, two-story build Z^^ of them named Cunningham, with whom I l°ad a bt, ad l^e fannmg there for twentv-two vears H» I,,, 1 ' "'" it. His yield last'vear ™, 45 ZmsLZ ''''' T'"^ ''"™^<' storm which had ever lone anv dlV t""' '"= °"'>' '^^"^ when about half hisTopId beln raSd." '" ''°' ™" '" "'^' u MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST. ST. AI.llKUT. The village of St. Albert is one of the prettiest in the North-west. Here is the scat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of the diocese. The village lies down in the hollow on the banks of the Sturgeon River. Above the village is the church with on either side the Bishop's house and a convent of Sisters of Charity, who conduct an hospital and orphanage. They are built symmetrically and complete a very pretty picture. From St. Albert they have telephone con- nection with Edmonton, nine miles to the south-east. THE EDMONTON DISTKICT. On my return to Edmonton, I went out with Mr. Johnstone, Homestead Inspector. The Cut Bank farm was the first we called at, o'vned by a Mr. Cust, who lives in Edmonton. The farm is worked by partnership, or " on shares." Two men do the labour and get half the crop Mr. Cust supplies the horses, implements and seed. 12,000 bushels of oats were threshed from this farm after the harvest of 1891. Another farm I visited was Clyderhouse, the property of a Mr. Mitchell who hails from Manchester, England,' and had only been settled nine months. His wife who had been accustomed to town life, felt the loneliness of the country very keenly. At Sandy Cameron's we saw a fine flock of sheep, and his catde were also looking well. Sandy migrated from Manitoba in 1882, and prefers the climate of Alberta. About seven miles from Cameron's we called on a Mr. Caron, who goes in for dairy- ing. He has thirty cows milking, and uses a separator and churn, virorked by horse power. By using the separator a large proportion of cream is extracted from the milk, and the skimmed milk, still warm, can be got at once for the calves. We put up a night at the Merchiston ranch, which belongs to a Mr. Hardisty, son of the late Senator of that name, who was long one of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's chief officers. Hardisty was educated at Merchiston College, Scotland, after which his farm is named. The ranch has only just been started. His herd of cattle consists of 80 Polled Galloways, and the same number of other breeds. His house is a good two- story building, and the stable and corrals are well finished. i a S( ItKPORT OF MR. P. n. niTcnrK. 15 i FORT SASKATCUi:WA\, The next day we reached Fort Saskatchewan, where is stationed a detachment of the North-west Mounted PoHce, eighty strong under the command of Superintendent Griesbach. Tlie soil is of a more sandy nature than at Edmonton, but of good quality. Here I saw samples of the gold which is found in the Saskatchewan River It IS washed out from bars along the Saskatchewan in the form of n"' f "I ., ^^'T/.^'" '^'^ fl°°ds bring down fresh deposits of mud. n wnch the gold :s found. To extract the gold from the sand, a blanket IS used, covered with mercury, to which the gold adheres he sand bemg washed off with the water. Miners can make from TtuJ\" ^^i ^^- '° '^'-^ " ^^y' ^"^ ^'^^ ^"^°""t washed out last season was $20,000 worth. From Fort Saskr.chewan I drove out four m.les to see a party of surveyors. Mr. Dennis, who was m charge, has surveyed in Manitoba and the North-west for fifteen years, and from him I gathered much valuable information concernmg the country. After leaving Fort Saskatchewan I called on a Mr. Walker of the Beaver Hill farm. Mr. Walker is a hard worker, or what is commonly called in that country "a rustler- He commenced farming in 1884. $1,400 in debt. To-day he has paid off his del3t has a clear title to 3.0 acres of land, owns'50 head of stock and 8 horses, and $8,000 would not buy him out The same mght (May 26) we camped at Mr. J. C. C. Bremner's of t le Mount Farm. Mr. Bremner's chief occupation is horse raising He has 75 mares, naostly Montana-bred, weighing on an average about 1,-00 bs and he is crossing these with a Clydesdale Lrse A small flock of 47 ewes that he had was the most prolific I hive heard of, the mcrease having been over 200 per cent not a few ewes having presented him with three lambs. The 'sheep werl kept fenced in near the house, and during the n^nter had been fed with cake and oats. They were of the Leicester and ShropsWre breeds, and the ram, a very fin. Leicester, weighed over 200 lbs CLIMATE AXD SOIL, COAL AXD TIMBKR RESOURCES OK THE EDMO.VTOX COUNTRY. We visited many other farms, too numerous to mention individu- snwn fn .'1 °' J"" '^"^ *""^'^^^ §^^°^'"^' ^^hich had been sown for several years. The crops were well advanced considering 16 MANITOHA AN-I) TIIK NOIil ll-WKHT, the ateness of the season. The soil in this district is a rich sandy black loam, very similar to that of Manitoba, with a clay sub-soil In Eastern Canada it is imagined by some that the Edmonton country must be too far north to successfully grow wheat, but when one IS the re, one hears settlers talking of their crops at the Athabasca Landmg, and the Hudson's Bay Company men have told me they have seen fine crops in the districts of the Peace and Mackenzie Rivers, several hundred miles further north. Edmonton as a matter of fact, is on the same latitude, 54^ (longitude 114^), as Dublm and York, and consequently further south than Scotland Coal IS found all over the district, and may be seen standing out from tlie banks of the Saskatchewan and Sturgeon Rivers. The seams vary from two to twenty feet in depth. What is burned in the town of Edmonton is taken from a tunnel run in under the town from the bed of the river. I^ifty miles to the north of Edmonton large timljcr forcjts aboiuid, which ensure the district of a plentiful sr.pply of lumber for ages to come. On my way back from Edmonton I stopped off at Wetoskewin 150 miles north of Calgary. Mr. Dowker, Canadian Pacific Rail- way land examiner, invited me to go up the Battle River with him where he was camped out inspecting lands. I had heard of this dis- trict as one of the best on the Calgary and Edmonton Railway The soil round the station is light, but as you go further back you find It richer and heavier. There is plenty of splendid land not yet taken up, close to the railway, and splendidly watered. Timber is not so plentiful as in the Edmonton country, but there is quite sufficient for building and fencing purposes. Duck and prairie chicken were more abundant here than in any place I had visited in the North-west. A FAKM AT NAMAKA. I left Calgary for Lethbridge on the 12th of June, and stopped off at Namaka, 40 miles south of Calgary, where the most import- ant of the Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonization Company's farms is situated. Mr. Middleton, the manager, who had been ad- vised of my coming, met me at the station. He comes from Aber- deenshire, Scotland, and a brother of his is manager at Dunmore. After breakfast we drove about seven miles across the Blackfoot Indian reser^'e to where the farm's stock was kept. There are over s r n tl se L th tic tai is tre '^^•r'v? IM:|'(i|;t "^' "«■ I', i;. liiTciii rented as /,„e a„ appearance as any br'cdc ' <,,,m f ■^'^■■''■';'«* l"'''- . 'Ileton oxpe,.,o,| ,„ l.a^e for,v-five , i! „ ' '•rr"''- ""''■ '""- Kood CIvdcs, imnortod fm,„ V^ I " ' '" """res are all i'orseasl saiv in'tle oumrv T™','™''/'" "»"'"" '^ '•'^ «"■= a were yard- fed on m.7^TLi„i^° '"'."<"•«' '""re "cad of cattle weighed from eight In.ndr d to f TT ^"'^" '^"'^'1 tl«y were fed on grain eroZont •' "' P°""* ^P'^ee- They ™n,pany hate .her::;,: ■,."::;;;:: Sf..r;:'™;" ■--. xi,: conveinent things the/ are Tb„ T r "" '""""• an' ^^''1"". afford it shonii invest in o^'pa Je, :',;:^^-' '— who conid l>eg.nning to realize the important «1 , ""=,f °"""7 are only just l'ricea,whichfatanin«serbe:idT„l""'*"""^'="'- The as in the fall, when beef is v", plenrffn". '"""'' '' ''"'' '' «-at >''^ly1l:i:Z^Z;::^if'^^^^'^ a narrow gange Alberta Railway and Coal CoZ "^^S'-"'™' C°™Pany, now the A. T. Gait. An extensto , oM T' P"'"'''^"' <" "''"^h is Sir to Great Falls, in Montl" T, "'"!''"' '^°""' '™" ^ethbridge I'y .he Great Falls and ?a„adIrR!n "" r °""' '"^"'=" "^ °--^;s ..ne ,s somewhat bleak, and only' i-habitld^rrlly'S LlwS^ItSt^D™!'";:'" ''^''"^ °< "^' f-" «>e 'he line „f ,|,e Canadian Se It ", """ '"' *"""' along "O" of over .,000, isa to^t „, co'sXbY*'"'^' "'' ' ^°^"'' jams some good stone building . In ,fe™n:e"„Ttr,""' "'" ^°"- ■s reser^-ed as a pnblic nark ^„/i ™^ "ntre of the town a square trees, adding grea'.h to fhe pi "sattU^:!'" ""' T," ^'^"'^^ -«' 2 - i"c pit.asant appearance of the place. All IX MAM TO HA A\l» TIIK NOliTII WKST. round Jx'ihhridgc, except on the river flats, the land is arid. The Mr>rnioiis have boup-'.it 8'JO,ooo acres of land forty miles to the south, and have established a prosperous settlement. They are a very good class of settlers, being a steady and industrious people. There arc already over 500 in the colony, which is growing rapidly, and this year they marketed 25,000 lixs. of wool. They are well sat- isfied with their condition ; and they intend to irrigate their lands on the same system that they adopted in L'tah. Seventy miles to the west of Lethbridge, in the Kootenay region, petroleum is being sunk for, it having Ijeen seen in large quantities on the surface. (Jver 300 applications have been made to the Government for claims during the last year and a half. The North-west Coal and Naviga- tion Company are the largest employers of labour between Winni- l^eg and the Rocky Mountains. They employ from 600 to 8tX) men in the mines. The coal found at Lethbridge is of a bituminous nature, and is one of the best in the counlrv for domestic and steam purposes. It can be seeti all along the !)anks of the rivers. Tun- nels are nni in from the river banks, and shafts are also sunk from ihe surface to get the liest coal. The company are putting out from 2,000 to 3,000 tons a week. An irrigation company lias got a charter to take an irrigation ditch through from the St. Mary's River and the Milk River to Lethbridge and Grassy Lake, which, it is calculated, will irrigate 2,000,000 acres of land. The cost of this ditch will be large, but the benefit that will be derived from it will be immense, as in the meantime the land is only fit for grazing and not too good for that, the grass being somewhat scarce. Where irrigation has been tried in British Columbia and in the States on similar land in similar climate, great success has been achieved, and large crops of corn, timothy, rye-grass, &c., have been grown, which come to maturit\- much qtiicker than on other lands. A CATTLK " KOCNI) IH." While ai Lethbridge I heard that a cattle " round up " which had met at Bow River on the 9th of June, was out in the direction of Fort Kip. I was anxious to witness it, and procured a mount from a livery stable at $3 a day. As several of the cowboys were just starting for the " round up," I rode out with them. We got up with the cattle about 14 miles out. A "round up" is made by f 1 t I t KKl'OliT UK Ml!. |.. li. itlTCIMK. ] () men fro.n all tl.e ra..chcs i„ the district, each ranch sending men m prop,.rt.onate numbers to the cattle owned. Every man has with hmi from six to eight horses, as they ha/e to change their .nonnts several tmies a day when they have long journeys. There is a waggon and team for every eight or ten men, which carries the provisions, cooking utensils, bedding, etc. Before a start is made a captam is chosen by the men. who plans out the day's work, and appoints the camping ground for each night. In this " rounrl up " here were thirty-eight men, one four-horse ^yaggon, and tlJee hawn by smgle teams ; also three bands of horses, with about loo in each. They were rounding up a district of about loo square mdes to do which would take six or seven weeks. They be-an from the south and were to finish in the north at High River \s they went along they '• cut out " the stock belonging to the southern ranches, and took those belonging to the northern ranches along with them. There were over 2.000 in the herd when I reached them of all breeds and ages. The cowboys ^yere then " cutting out " those bearing the southern brands, and letting them fall back The skill a trained horse acquires for this work h astonishing Thev seem to know exactly what is wanted, and whenever the animal unis^ the horse turn.s too. After the " cutting out " was finished, I rode on with them about 8 miles to the spot selected for the night's camp, the horses and waggons going on in front and the cattle heing driven behind. The men camped in three separate lots, with a band o horses round each camp, conveniently near for I>e.ng caught when wanted. After dinner, to which I was cordially invited the watch for the night was set, three men being appointed o look after the cattle, and one for each band of horses. It was ten at night before I got back to Lethbridge. TMK ' scarce, prairie dogs having eaten it nearly all off. Prairie dogs are about three times the size of a gopher, and are much more destructive : they throw up UKJunds of earth all roinid, eat up the grass, and wlu-u they have finished the district they migrate to another. Great Falls is a good specimen of an American western town. Mining is its prin- cipal industry, and there are also large smelting works in the district. SIIKKI' KAHMINf., I stayed off for three da} s at Swift Current. Here is situated the ^eep farm of the Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonization Company. Air. Rutherford, its manager, is admitted to be the best authority on sheep in the North-west. He is originally from Roxb irghshire, Scotland, and had also fanned in Yorkshire, Eng- land. He has had eight years of experience with sheep in the North-west, having previously managed a flock at the Cochrane ranch in Alberta. On this farm there are 19,000 sheep and 8,000 lambs, divided into flocks of 2,000 each. One shepherd attends each flock in the summer, and in the winter gets a man to assist him. Fifty tons of hay for every 1,000 sheep is all that is put up every season, and it i? very seldom all used, but it has to be ready in case of a : evere winter. This hay is put up by contract, costing on an average $3 a ton. The flock of sheep was brought from Mon- tana in 1890 — Mexico ewes, crossed with Cheviot, Leicester, Shrop- shire and Merino rams. The Cheviot cross lias proved the rr ist successful. The Leicester cross makes a large sheep, but it is iiot so hardy as the Cheviot, and does not stand the winter as well. A healthier lot of sheep than this flock I never saw. Amongst the 19,000 I do no liink there were fifty lame. What lameness there \vas had been c. (■{ hv cactus bushes, or the sharp stubs of the burnt prairie. F-~y..' .O' is .1 ol known ; and maggots, which make our greatest plagi;e . I'^-.g' the summer in England and Scotland seldom occur ht"'i', o. 'nsj to the d;yness of the climate. A few instances have been known in which sheep have been poisoned by a%ild herb, which grows on the banks of some of the alkali lakes. ItlOI'iilll Mil. I', h. liiKiiir.. I J'.ighlecti men were busy shearing wl'-.-n I visited the iam They were paid 8 cents (4d.) a head, and experienced hands were shearing 140 a day. One of them, whom I timed, caught his sheep, sheared it, and tied up the wool in four minutes' time. The wool is pressed hy hiirse-powor into hales, which weigh from 2'.. to 3 cwt. apiece. This company had sixty tons of wool last year. Its price varies from 12 to 14 cents a pound. Wool alone, with careful manage- ment, will pay the working expenses of a flock of sheep. The price of nnitton put on rail at Swift Current is i r cents per pound. At Wiiniii)eg and Vancouver during the spring, nnitton was fetch- ing 14 cents. Good shepherds are paid $30 a month witl hcjard. The dipping apparatus used on this farm will dip 1,000 sl'^ep an hour. The prairie grasses are very deceptive to one newly .irrived in the country. A blue grass which grows there, and is considered tiie most nutritious for sheej), is not unlike our watcr-gra s in Britain, which we think of little value. lti;(ilN\ lO IMilNTK Al.llKlfr. My next point was Prince Albert, for which I left Regina at 8 in the evening. The weather was particularly favourable for a fine view of the country. The railway, which is 247 miles long, was opened in the fall of 1890. The first twenty miles is over the Regina plain. At Lumsden, which is the name of the first station, the country becomes broken with steep ravines, covered with small brush, but a few miles from Lumsden on either side there is a fine wheat-growing country, to which the output from this station testifies, therr having been shipped thence last year 60,000 busliels of excellent wheat. At Saskatoon we stopped for half an hour. The railway station is on the opposite side of the river to the town, which is situated on rising ground on the south side. Round Saskatoon mixed farming is carried on, and there are also some large stock ranches in the district. Prince Albert is the principal town and capital of Saskatchewan, and is situated on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River. The North and South Saskatchewan Rivers, which have their source in the Rocky .Mount- ains, run parallel with each other for a distance of dghtv miles, fmm twenty to thirty miles apart, and join twentv-four mile's past of Prince Albert. Between th.e- two rivers t'.ie country is well settled. Settlement began here fifteen years ago, long before railways were dreamed of in the country. MANITOllA AND TilK NOHTIl-WKST. TlIK PHiyCK AI.HKHT SKTTLKM KNT. .Prince Albert itself is a very old settlonicnt, a mission having been fomied here many years ago. To-day it has three lumber mills, two flour mills, and thirty stores. The town is well lighted by electricity, and there is a system of telephones all over it. Mr. McKay, member of the Local Parliament, the Legislative Assembly of the Xorth-west Territories, drove me out to his farm, a distance of twelve miles. On the way out we called on several farmers who had from loo to 150 acres of crop each. They were all well satis- fied with their locations. Several of them had Ijeen farming there for fifteen years and had no wish to change. The general system of farming here is to have half the crop in wheat, and the other half in oats and barley. They are beginning to recognize the value of fallowing, and most of them will do so after every second crop. From two to three thousand acres of new land were ploughed up this season. Cattle are housed from the beginning of December to the end of March, the oats and barley grown being used for feeding ])uri)oses. Hay is plentiful all over the district, and can be put up at a cost of about one dollar a ton. The country between the two rivers is dotted all over with patches of small timber and bush, and there are numerous small lakes of from one to five acres in area. Mr, McKay's farm comprises over 1,000 acres, of which 660 are cultivated, 360 in wheat, 200 in oats and 100 in barley. He intended fallowing 100 acres this year, and breaking a hundred more. The fann house is a large two-story building, and the barn, stable, cow- house and granary are all substantial and well finished buildings. Limestone is plentiful in the neighbouriiood, and Mr. McKay burns his own lime for building purposes. He has 260 head of cattle and 65 horses on the farm. The next fami to [Mr. McKay's is owned by a gentleman resident in Ontario. In May, 1891, a little over a year from die time of my visit, he sent up to the farm two men and a boy, and the amount of work they have done is astonishing, A whole section, 640 acres, is fenced in with good tamarack posts nnd four strands of wire. The tamarack posts are 15 feet apart, and they had to draw them nine miles. There were 80 acres in crop, n/id 50 more broken. They had also built a house, barn and stables, sunk a well, and made Hi:i'(lliT OK Ml{. p. K. rUTCHIE. 1>.{ many other improvements to the place. From the top of the Red Deer Hill, on the side of which these two farms are situated, a splendid view of the surrounding country can be obtained, and settlers' homesteads can be seen in every direction for miles around. On my return to Prince Albert, Mr. Fish, one of the leading merchants of the town, drove me out to Mr. James McArthur's sheep farm. Here there were 2,700 sheep and lambs. The original flock was imported from Montana in 1884. Disease is not known amongst sheep here, the death rate being under 3 per cent. They are housed from December to April, and the amount of hay put up for winter feed averages 300 tons to 1,000 sheep. Mr. :\Ic- Arthur reckons that he can feed quite as cheaply in wi.iter as in summer. The best time for lambing is the first fortnight in May. Shearing commences in the middle of June, and the clip averages from 5 ' J to 6 lbs. a sheep. Another flock five miles from Mr. McArthur's is that belonging to ^Tr. P. Fraser. He started as a shepherd for Mr. McArthur a few years ago, without a pennv to his name, and has now a flock of 800 sheep, several horses ajid cattle and a nice homestead. By industry and economy he is rapidly acquiring a snug fortune. In the neighbourhood of Prince Albert there are many men like him. The mayor of the town, Mr. Donaldson, told me himself that he commenced business in 1879 $7 in debt. At the present time he has a large livery stable full of horses, a well-furnished house, and owns town property to the value of $10,000. In addition to the existing railway, the Regina, Long Lake and Prince Albert, the Manitoba and North-western Railway is expect- ed to reach Prince Albert in a short time, but what the people of the district are looking forward to most is the opening of the Hudson's Bay route. Prince Albert is now the nearest point to the Bay reached by rail by several hundred miles. Over a hundred farmers have come into this district from the I'nited States this vear. and have taken up homesteads— principally men from Dakota, who have migrated thence on account of the successive droughts. HK(;i\.\, THK CAPITAI, OK TIIK \OHTH-U KST TKHHITOIUKS. Returning from Prince Albert on July the ist, I spent several days in the Regina district. Regina is the capital of the North-west Territories, and has a populatic )n of 2,500. The Legislative Assem- •-'4 MAXlTOJiA AM) Till'; \OHTII-U KST. bly of the North-west Territories, composed of the Provisional Districts of Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Athabasca, sits here. Two miles west of the town are the headquarters of die North-west iMounted Police and the Lieutenant-Governor's resi- dence, situated on the Wascana River. The Mounted Police hold a similar position in the North-west Territories to our policemen at home. They number about i,ooo stronjr, and are stationed at pomts all over the Territories. The barracks at Regina form quite a htde village. Colonel Herchmer, the commanding officer, took me through the riding school and the stables. The horses are bought principally in Alberta, at prices ranging from loo to 150 dollars. They have not a very commendable appearance, but are wonderfully hardy and capable to travel very long distances. The country which surrounds Regina for about twenty miles is known as the Regina plain, and, I believe, has the best soil in Canada for growing wheat in a favourable season. It is a heavy clay loam of an average depth of two feet, but much deeper in places ; where I saw men digging the sewage drain in the town, it was fourteen feet deep. In wet weather the soil is very sticky and inclined to cake on the surface. Land for homesceading is all taken up for fifteen miles round the town, but Canadian Pacific Railwav and syndicate land can still be bought at from four to seven dollars an acre. Amongst the many successful farmers that I visited in this district was Mr. Candy, who lives six miles north of Regina and went there from Ontario in 1882. He had 100 acres in wheat and 26 in oats this season. Oats which he sowed last year as late as the 8th of June threshed out 65 bushels to the acre, and weighed 48 lbs. a bushel. His average crop of wheat, for the last ten vears, has been from 25 to 30 bushels an acre. Mr. Purdy, of the \Iaple Vale Farm, commenced farming in 1886 with $300, and to-day would not sell out for $8,000. Last year he threshed 2,527 bushels of wheat ofF 70 acres, 600 bushels of oats off 9 acres, and 100 bushels of barley off two acres. He does all the ploughing and sowing on the farm himself, and for harvest gets one man to assist him. He was ploughing a fallow field when I saw him, oflf which he had taken four crops in succession without ploughing, the stubble having just been burned off and the seed harrowed in. The last crop yielded 37 bushels per acre. About half his crop this year was put in without ploughing. I\Tr. Purdy has two brothers in iy HKPOHT OK MIf. 1'. 1;. lilTrMIK. n the neighbourhood who have been equally successful. Mr. Galium and his two sons have 400 acres in crop ; last year they threshed 1 1,000 bushels. The two Brown brothers have 450 acres cropped this year. They own also two hundred cattle on a ranch 1 5 miles to the north by Long Lake. These cattle had been out all the winter, and of the number only three had been lost. Mr. Kelly commenced farming in 1883 without any capital. Last year he threshed 5,000 bushels of wheat from 125 acres, and sold it at an average price of 68 cents a bushel. Crops in this district looked very backward this year owing to the unusually late spring. They had been sown late, the heavy soil retaining the moisture for some time, and preventing work on the land. All the farmers I visited in this district had about half their acreage sown on the stubble without ploughing. At several farms I saw threshing in progress. Some of the wheat was in a damp condition owing to the stacks being badly built and im- thatched. Qu'.\ppi.;r,r,K. Qu'Appelle was my next stopping place ; the town is pleasantly situated amidst small blufifs of light timber. Two miles west of Qu'Appelle is St. John's College, governed by the Bishop of the diocese. Here pupils are taught farming, the premium charged being from £50 to iioo a year. At the farm connected with the college, stock of every description are kept. Four miles west of the college is the Edgeley estate of 14,000 acres, owned by Sykes Brothers, of Stockport. The estate was bought from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in 1883. The intention was to plough and improve every section, and sell to incoming settlers. This land can be bought at from $5 to $8 an acre. On the home farm there are 1,400 acres ploughed, 700 of which were in crop Six thousand bushels of oats, weighing 45 lbs. to the bushel, were last year exported to England, and realized 26s. per quarter. The farm buildings and manager's house are fine and commodious. Mr U . Cameron, the manager, with whom I staved a night, is from Livernesshire, Scotland. The next morning he drove me to Fort Qu'Appelle. a distance of eighteen miles. The fort is situated on the Fishing Lakes, the vicinity of which is one of the prettiest in the North-west. The Fishing Lakes are six in number, and extend along the Qu'Appelle vallev for twentv mile^ 26 MAMTOHA AND TIIK NORTH-WEST. From Fort Ou'Appellc, Mr. Macdonald. the Hudson's Bay factor, drove me to the Indian school of the Roman CathoHc Mis- sion. In this school there are 200 Indian children, varying in age from ten to eighteen years. In connection with the school there are blacksmiths', carpenters' and shoemakers' shojjs, at which the boys are taught a trade. The girls are taught sewing, knitting and other household work ; many of them after leaving school being hired out as domestic servants. One thing in which the children showed general excellence in com]mrison with Europeans was writing. At the Mission I saw the effects of a severe hailstorm, which had passed over the country a week previously, embracing an area of twelve miles long and six wide. The garden, which had been the pride of Father Lacombe, was ruined, and the glass of the conser- vatory smashed to atoms. This, however, was the only instance of damage done by hail that I came across or heard of during the season. The district of Qu'Appelle is well suited for mixed farm- ing, and the country is well provided with bluflfs of timber, which afford shelter for stock from the flies in the summer and the cold in winter. Two successful farmers in this district are Mr. J. H. Fraser and Mr. James Smith, who both came into the country ten years ago without a penny, and to-day are worth from $15,000 to $20,000 apiece. i\niA\ iiKAn. From Qu'Appelle Mr. Redpath, one of the solicitors of the town, drove me across country to Indian Head, where I visited the Gov- ernment experimental farm and the Brassey and Bell farms, for the second time. At the experimental farm windstorms had inter- fered very much with the experiments. The soil is so fine that it is blown all over the place, uncovering the seed in some instances, and in others mixing them with those on neighbouring plots. This drawback Mr. Angus McKay, the manager, soon expects to con- quer, as the belts of young trees which have been planted and sown round the farm are growing rapidly, and in two or three years will afford complete shelter. The growing of these belts of timber throughout the prairie cannot be too much encouraged. Besides taking away the bleak appearance of some parts, they will help materially to equalize the climate. From the Brandon experimental farm this spring 50.000 young trees were distributed to farmers throughout the country in lots of 100. i « HKPOKT OK Mli. F. H. HITCH 1 K. '27 Lord Brassey is the owner of a larq-e tract o{ land ronnd Indian Head. This estate was bonght from the Bell l-"anning Company when it dissolved. It has been divided into four separate farms of 2,500 acres each, and farmed by four dififcrent companies with sep- arate corporations. Lord Brassey's object is that these companies, who have considerable capital, should provide employment for labourers coming into the country. On the Canadian Alliance Company's farm, over which I went, there were i.ooo acres of wheat, 200 of oats, and lOO of barley, in cultivation. The buildings, which were just being completed, consist of a 24-stall stable with large lofts and granaries, and a house for the manager and men. They have a stock of s|)lcndid Clyde mares and a well-bred stud horse. This year they were breaking 1,000 acres more. It is intended that the other three farms shall be worked on the same scale. It was much against Major Bell's wish that the Bell Farm broke up when it did. He was anxious that the company should keep on for another year, and had they done so, the famous' Bell Farm, once the largest in the v/orld, would probably have been in existence in its integrity to-day. When the company sold out, the Alajor, who had confidence in the North-west, bought up the buildings and some thousands of acres of the land. Ever since he has been reaj)- ing a good return. This year he had 2.000 aci es in crop— 1,500 in wheat and 500 in oats. His lot of thirty Clyde mares were 'the best I saw in the Territories. WIIITKWOOD. ^ I stopped ofif at Whitewood next, and drove thence to :\Ir. F. Cosgrave's of the Burrow House Farm, five miles east of the town. Mr. Cosgrave came over from County Kildare, Ireland, where at one time he had farmed extensively. He is a man of over sixty years of age, and has been in the country eight years. He took one trip to Ireland, but was glad to come back again to the North- west. MOOSOMIN. Round Moosomin there are some of the finest farm buildings in the North-west. I was greatly obliged to Mr. McNaughton, the mayor of the town, for taking me round the countrv here^ At 1 •»,s MAMTOliA AND IIIK NOIilll-W Ksi'. his father-in-law's, Mr. Crisp's, I spent an enjoyable afternoon. Mr. Crisp came here from Ontario eight years ago with very Httle money. He has just finished building a large stone house, and a good stable and barn. The stone of which the house and stable are built is gathered from the prairie ; the lime he also burns him- self. Any farmer in either England or Scotland would be proud to own the buildings, especially if he had built them himself. Mr. Crisp does not believe in breaking more land than he can handle well, and what he does, he likes to do thoroughly. His crops were the best in the district, proving that good farming pays. Sheep farming is carried on extensively in this district. Several farmers who own small flocks combine together during the summer, and pay one shepherd to hord the lot. During tlie winter the sheep are housed and fed. Some of the farmers in the Moosomin district started a hunt club last year. Besides destroying the coyotes (wolves) and foxes, which are a pest on the sheep, the club encour- ages the breeding and training of a better class of horses. Many an enjoyable run they have, sometimes lasting as long as an hour and twenty-five minutes. VIKDKV. In Mr. W. Stevens at the Gopher Creek Farm at Virden, you meet one of the old style of Scotch farmers. Mr. Stevens came to ATanitoba eight years ago, and continued farming on the same system as he jxirsued in Scotland. He sows down his land to pasture for two year?, and manures as much as he can, whicli, he finds, pays him, for on land that is dunged V,o gets an earlier crop by several days. Tie grass which he sov b down for hay and pas- ture does well. He would advise any Old Country farmer who is not satisfied with his condition to come out to Manitoba. For the same price that he could rent and stock his farm in England or Scot- land he could become his own landlord in Manitoba, build a good house and farm buildings and stock his farm well. He could afford to keep three teams of horses, and, if he attended to his business and avoided extravagance, would be certain to make money. Wheat which was grown in this district by Mr. Macdonald, of Laggan Farm, five miles from \'irden, obtained the gold medal at the Millers' Exhibition in London for the best sample of wheat, the competition being open to the world. It was Red Fyfe, weigl;- 1 UKI'OUT OF MH. P. 1{. UIICHM: 29 ing- 66 lbs. to the bushel, grown as the third cvop after breaking, sown at the end of April and reaped tiie end of August, and yielded 33 busliels to the acre. About half a mile from the town of Virden, is Boss Hill Farm, the property of Messrs. Bouverie and Routledge, They have 450 acres in crop, and 150 brood mares. ^ Leaving Brandon on die 13th of July, I tcjok the train down die Souris Branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The railway strikes off from the main line at Kemnay, 8 miles from Brandon, and takes a south-westerly course through Manitoba into Assini- boia, the terminus being Estevan, 180 miles from Brandon. The two principal towns along the line are Souris and .Afelita. The country through which the line runs contains some of tlie best, if not the best, wheat-growing land in Manitoba. Large fields of wheat can be seen on each side of the line as far as the eye can reach. Some of the wheat was dien well out in th.e ear, and in other fields just bursting. Land down this line, which was bought a year ago for $3 an acre, is now being held at from $10 to $15. At Carievale I saw twenty-six teams belonging to Mr. W. Sandison, of Brandon. Mr. Sandison has broken over 2,000 acres of land here, which he intends for wheat next year. This land he bought from the Canadian Pacific Railway in the fall of last year. He tdd me that a fortnight previous to my visit he had been offered $15 an acre cash for the land that was backset. The breaking and back- setting together cost him $5 an acre. On one of his sections he has built wood stables and a house at a cost of $2,500. TIIK SOriilS unwell ok TIIK C.WADIW pacific KAILWAV AM) TlIK \i;\\LV Ol'KNKl) IP COl'NTHV I\ SOlTH-KASTKliN ASSIMHOIA. All along this line new towns are rapidly siDringing up. At Ox- bow, where I left the cars, there was not a house five months pre- viously ; now there are over a hundred. xMajor Phipps, the Gov- ernment land agent who is stationed here, informed me that during the month of Tune he had taken entries for homesteading up tS 15,192 acres, irrespective of colonies, which would mean about as much more land. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company during the same month sold over 6,000 acres at an average price of $3 an acre, all in the Oxbow district. From Oxbow I drove to Hirsch. a distance of 24 miles. Here Baron Hirsch has settled a colony of eighty Jews. Tw^enty thousand dollars is to be expended on them, 30 MAMTOHA AND TIIK N'OliTH-WEST. and, if tlic present colonists prove successful, many nuMc will he sent. It is expected that this money will pnn-ide each man with a team of horses or oxen, a waggon, plough and harrows, and keep tliem in food f(jr eighteen months, till they get a retury from their crops. At present they have twenty teams of oxen, and eight of lu)rses, and each man has taken up a homestead, on which a small house is being built. Many of them are good workers. The colony was started in April this year. At the time of my visit ^hey had 40 acres broken, ten acres sown in oats, and a few acres of potat(Jcs planted. I'lll': sol IMS CO AI.-KIKI.DS. At Estevan are situated the Souris coal-fields. Coal can be seen standing out in the coulees and banks of the Souris River, similarly to that at Lethbridge and Edmonton. The working of the seam has just been commenced, and it is expected that this coal will be delivered in Wiiuiipeg during the coming winter at $4 a ton. It is not really a coal proper, but lignite of a superior character, and while it has its drawbacks, it certainly solves the fuel problem for farmers in that district. UliANDOV DISTKirr. On my return to Brandon, I spent five days, from the 17th to the 2 1st of July, in its neighbourhood. Brandon is the largest and most important town between Winnipeg and \'ancouver. It is nicely situated on the side of a hill, and this year there are more new buildings going up than in any previous year. Its present population is over 5,000. A lumber mill, about a quarter of a mile from my hotel, I heard going night and day. I drove out to Mr. Uearn's farm, 13 miles south of Brandon. He is a son of the late rector of Roxwell, Essex, the parisli in which I have farmed for the last six years. lie was glad to see me and hear about the people of Roxwell, from several of whom I bore messages to him. He came out eight }'ears ago as a farm i)upil, and aftenvards started for himself, calling his farm Roxwell. Mr. Heam has 320 acres of land, and last year bought another quarter-section, which he purchased for $10.75 pcr acre. It was school land, and sold by auction. 135 acres of his land were in whe.^t, 35 in oats, and 10 in barley. He had aljoul twenty head of stock, several of them pure bred. ' KKPOKT OK Ml!. V. H. lilTCllIK. TIIK ItHAMHiN AiaUCri/rT'HAr, KXMimTIOX. At the RratKloii Agricultural Exhibition on the 19th and 20th July, I was asked by the directors of the society to act as judt;'e for tiic heavy class horses, in conjunction with two other g-entlenien. The classes which came before us were Clydesdales, Shires. Perch- erons and Sufifolks. Suffolks, Clydesdales and Shires were well represented, many of them being imported horses. The Perch- cron horse is of French breed, not as hcavv as the Clyde and Shire. Prizes were given for the best four of any one family, the best walk- ing team, and for the best turned out team in harness, in adflition to the usual prizes. There was a large exhibition of light horses — cattle, sheep and pigs also making a good show. In the buildings in the centre of the fair ground were exhibits of grain and agricul- tu'-al produce, and another building was devoted to poultrx-. Round Brandon almost all the land is under cultivation, and after that of Portage la Prairie it is considered the best wheat-growing country in Manitoba. \'ery few farms can be bought under $15 an acre, and some have been sold as high as $30 an acre. I!I(A\[)(I\ KXI'KIMMKNTAI, I'AIIM. The Brandon experimental farm is about two miles from the town of Brandon. It contains a section of 640 acres of mixed land, part of it being on the hill-side, and part in the valley of the As- siniboine River. In so extensive a province as Manitoba, soils of different qualities are to be met with, and here happily the farm answers the requirements of almost all of them. The principal farm building is a bank barn, 100 feet long by 30 wide, in which there is a silo, a root cellar, and all the modern improvements that a fami requires. A number of pure bred Short-horns, Galloways, Ayrshires, Holsteins and grade cattle are kept. Experiments are made of the different methods of feeding both with the cattle ^nd pigs. Over two hundred varieties of wheat alone were being tested this year, besides about as many of oats, bariey, rye, Indian com, &c. ^ Every endeavour is being made to obtain a wheat equal in quality to Red Fyfe, which will ripen earlier. Many earlier varieties have been ol)tained, but they do not come up to the standard of Red Fyfe. Fodder corn was grown here last year, twenty-five tons to the acre. The tests being made as to the best grasses, both native 32 MANirollA AM) Till-; NnUTII WKST. and fureigii, suitable for sowing down throughout the countn-, is, perliaps, the most important subject dealt with on the farm. The forestry department receives a lot of attention, and its work has already been dwelt on in this pamphlet. The anid. n of good that diese experimental farms arc doing is incalculable. N'ot only at the present time, but in years to come, the results obtained from them will be observed and appreciated. At the time of my arrival, Mr. Bedford, the manager, was showing eight farmers round, and while I was there several more came. These men had come long distances from various ])arts of the country, an evidence of the appreciation and popularity of the work. The son of Professor Saunders was busy hybridizing wheat, which is a very difficult and intricate operation. About a hundred heads can be hybridized by an ex]ierienced hand in a day, but Air. Saunders told me only about twenty per cent of these would germinate successfully. TIIK SAMHSOV KAHM. In the afternoon of ♦^he same day Mv. Sandison sent in h's trap for me. His enormous fami is about eight mile^ from tlie tovvm. Nine years ago Mr. Sandison was w^orking on a farm at Carberry, but by dint of hard work and judicious speculation is to-day the largest wheat-grower in Canada. He commenced for himself on a small scale, and gradually added to his land by purchase or rental, till to-day he farms over 6,000 acres. He is now building a stone house of granite ofT the prairie, which will cost $8,000, and has laid out two acres around the building with young trees, which are doing well. This year Mr. Sandison had 3,000 acres in crop, ; 300 in wheat and 500 in oats. His fields are all of a section each, a mile square, the furrows a mile long. His stables, which accommo- date 64 horses, have a coating of 3 feet of turf outside and a turf roof, which keeps the building cool in summer and warm in winter. The granary is also an excellent building. CAUHKIiliV. On Friday, the 22nd of July, I left Brandon for Carberry, where there are three elevators. The district round is good for wheat- growing, but has been more subject to frost than other parts of Manitoba. From Carberry I went on to Portage la Prairie, where I stopped over night, and went on to Winnipeg the next morning. -r^ jsa»w-^>S,*p HMIM.liT (.K M,(, ,.. ,( KiivHIi;. "INMI'i;.;. rUE CMMTAI, ..K MAMT.IMA. 33 ot about 30,000, winch is every year rapidly increasine Manv sited inrdl: "'r^^' ^^'^°'" ' ''^^ --• -^"'-y -^ " surprised If u does not uiorease to 100,000 in another ten years hJ'.U ^^ '' '^""'^ '" '^'"^"^a' '^e">S 132 feet wide • alone t%r" " 'k^"^"' '°'' ^'^^ -"tinuous'stream o raffie' along ,t. 1 here are both electric and .rse street-cars. TIIIO \VI\\I|.|.;(; KX/IIIUTIOV. endance of people was much larger and .he exhibition t Jjt success than in any previous vear All fi,. i . ,'".'°" ^. S^fa'CT wilich are manv atfd We. ^cV f^o.d^i rr^thThi^orS and niany people could not obtain accommodation. The exhiWtTon : r' r; ,*™; '"" '"" P*-™ners i„ S 'shot yat^s. Heavy class horses in particular were a very good iM BriSif tr"",-"-'"" '"'''' '^""""'-' ^-I'iWtoLTeW ta Britain, the exhibition would compare with any. TIM; I'lHt'lAd: PLAINS. we!t'e!^'linrf^ '^7'' '" '''''' "P '''' ^-'^-ba and North- western line, I was fortunate enough to meet Mr R T r;i. u IS secretaiy and treasurer of the Westboume ftt'tl. r ^' '^^'^ also a shareholder. The presidenT::d I^^^^^^^^^^ Sanford, of Hamilton, Ont. The Sanford Ran h is s uatej a Westbourne, 18 miles north-west of Portage la Prairil J t e t i,. , p ^,, ,_ ^^^^^^^ toTe^fbrrin comp^:"? with senator Freeman Talbot, of Minnesota. Our convZnr; was a covered buggy with two horses. The drive takes la'cros; 34 MAMIOIIA .\M> "ir, NnlMII-WKST. f tlie Portage Plains, famous for their wheat. Tiie plains are 20 miles square, and are hounded on the north by Lake Manitoba and on tlie south by the Assiniboine River. fn all this stretch of country there is but one section uncultivated. < )n all sides we saw splendid fields of wheat. Senator Talbot, who was very familiar with Ontario and many of the Southern States, declared he had never seen such good crops before. On several farms we found the owners engaged in fallowing. The fallow was being ploughed for the first time, and the weeds woidd be over two feet high. ( )ne would think that it was almost impossible to plough them under, but a chain is extended from the breast of the plougli forward, which lays them flat, and the furrow covers them completely. These weeds act as a manure. Fallows are ploughed but once and har- rowed twice, or oftener if necessary. Fallowing is seldom resorted to imtil eight or ten crops have been taken off, and in several instances I heard of over twenty crops having been taken off the land in succession without fallowing or manuring. 'IIIK SANI'DIM) UANCM. We arrived at the Sanford Ranch at noon. The buildings are five minutes' walk from the railway station at Westbourne. The stables, which are well built of wood, will accommodate about two hundred horses, and the cattle sheds about the same number of cattle. About five miles west of this there is another ranch with buildings of the same dimensions. The stock are put under cover during the winter and fed on hay and oats ; also during the summer, when the flies are troublesome, they are brought into the yards at night, and smudge fires are kindled to keep the mosquitoes off. The Westbourne Cattle Company every spring hold an annual sale of horses. The prices realized at the last sale averaged $300 a team. The horses bred are from light Ontario mares, crossed with a French horse. This cross produces a class of horse weighing about 1,400 lbs., very suitable for the country. The cattle are pure bred Herefords and Polled Angus. After lunch wc drove out five miles to where haying was going on, by the edge of Lake Manitoba, which is the best hay country in Manitoba. The hay is about three feet long, and will cut from two and a half to three tons per acre. Haying is pursued in a very systematic manner. A rickcr is used at the stacks, and to this machine the hay is brought in with I ( KKi'our UK Ml,, p. ,t Kiicim:. .-j^ u I u I.oKsos .ac-h of ti.c sweeps. Wa.^K^ons and horse ral. tins ts the fastest method possil)le. The rickers and lin-ee sw eps are very snnple machines, made n.ostly of wood, the 1 Oi the lot heme on v S^co nr /-r, -r • . 1 . • '^ ^ ^"^ ' ^^ ^^^- Iwo mowmcr niac 1 nes am as 3,000 t. iis. Ihe mnc men and eleven horses emph.ve.l will nut up as nutch as 40 tons of hay. at a cost of about $1 a ton. .S. • t Sanford owns over 80,000 acres of land throughout Manitoba I he d,stnct of Westbourne he acquired a large tract 7^ fj the Government for digging a drain seven miles long. OTMK,, i..,,niS IX niK WKST.U.niNK AM. ULAUSTOSK l. H. lUTCmii. .*J9 hundred pounds, or $138 per car ; and the rate on cattle from .Mon- treal to Glasgow is 45 shillings, or $10.80 per head, without insurance. I'lIK HAHNAKDO IIOMK. Uf Dr. Barnardo's Home at Russell one could say very much. The two days I spent there were amongst the most enjoyable of my trip. The Home is situated four miles from Russell and is a brand'i of the Doctor's extensive institutions in London. - It was founded four years ago, and under the able management of Air. Struthers has proved even more successful than anticipated. The boys, after remaining on the farm long enough to get accustomed to the' ways and work of farm life, are put out to farmers. As a rule they are verj- contented, and make good workers, but amongst such a lot It cannot but be expected that there are a few black sheep. Eight thousand acres belong to the Home, 400 of which are under cultivation. Over 100 head of mixed stock are kept, a dairy stock of 70 cows and also a flock of about 200 sheeix The buildings are excellent, the creamery in particular, wliich is replete with all modern improvements. Alilk is taken in liere from the surround- mg farmers, the price given being 70 cents per 100 lbs. This milk IS put through the separator on arriving at the creamery, and the skim-milk is returned to the producer. On an average all the year round 100 lbs. of milk will produce 4 lbs. of butter. The average price of this butter is 24', cents a pound. More milk can be taken at the creamery than at present received, and every UKlucement is held out to a farmer who would settle here and send his milk to the creamery. SAI/rCOATS. Taking the train at Binscarth again mv next stop was at Salt- coats m Assiniboia. The crops here had sufifered verv much from drought, and in many instances would not be worth' the cutting Several farmers were ploughing theirs in. Gophers, which are always plentiful in a dry season, had also done a lot of damage The Canada Settlers' Loan and Trust Compan^^ have brought a number of settlers into this district, many of whom commenced farming without any capital, the company advancing them money. Ab together the company have over 500 loans out here, averaging $350 40 MAMTllMA AM) T|||.; Xohth-WKsT. each. A mortgage is taken on stock, farm implements and furniture, and interest at the rate of 8 per cent is charged The company making these loans advise that the money be invested in stock. The settlers are chiefly from Yorkshire, England, the Orkney Islands, and Dakota, but all nationalities are represented amongst them. ^ There is a large creamery at Saltcoats, which turns out over a housand pounds of butter a week. Cream is gathered in from tanners m the surrounding country, and so much an inch is paid according to the quality. VOIilv TdX. From Saltcoats I went on to Yorkton, which is the terminus for tiie present of the Manitoba and North-western Railway It was meant to extend this railway this year, but financial difficulties have prevented the company from doing so. Several colonies have settled west of here along the proposed line. J heard a good deal of grumbling among them, as they had taken up the land on the promise that the railway would be extended. Mr. R. Semen, a capitalist of London, brought out a colony of l^oles, and settled them 24 miles north-west of Yorkton He has also himself taken up a section of land here. In return for paying their passage out and advancing them money to buy stock and provisions, they have to work for him at $15 a month till the loan IS paid off. Several of these Poles are dissatisfied, and talk of break- ing the contract, although it seems to me to have been all in their favour. y\\ ()\V\ KAKM AT MOINT HOVAI,. In returning from my trip along the Manitoba and North-western Railway, I went out to Mr. Ronaldson's farm at Mount Royal where my own little venture was concerned, and spent ten days assisting in the harvesting. Self-binders are drawn by three horses and m some instances I saw them drawn by two oxen and one horse' Bmdmg twine costs 12 cents per pound, and an average crop of frorn_2o to 25 bushels per acre tak^s two pounds of twine to bind It. Stooks are generally made the same as in Eiijriand. but at several tarms I saw the sheaves set up round each other in a circle and cap- HKFOHT OF Mli. P. U. IMTCIIIK. 41 ped by two other sheaves. By the latter method it is claimed that the grain is not so much exposed to the sun, and gets fully matured after being cut. Stacks are made round or oblong, with from eight to ten loads in each, and good tops are put on, as stacks are never thatched, since the fall of the year is very dry, and threshing is usually done before the snow sets in. Threshing is often done on big farms from the stook, when enough men and teams can be got together. ]\Iany threshing machines weigh and record the number of bushels threshed. Wheat is put up in two-bushel sacks, which is a much more con- venient way of handling it than in the heavy four-bushel sacks used in Britain. On the cars it is carried in bulk. Traction and port- able engines are used for threshing, and occasionally there is still to be found a ten or twelve horse-power gear. The fuel chiefly used for firing is straw. It has to be fed in small quantities, and demands one man's constant attention. Straw is but little valued, and is often burned as soon as the thresher leaves the field. My crop on the Patterson farm turned out better than I expected. Some of the wheat yielded quite 25 bushels an acre, and the oats 40 bushels an acre. Close to the farm buildings near the river, where the land had been cropped for many years, it was dirty and the yield much less. Wheat is not the only grain that can be grown in Manitoba with advantage. I saw many samples of bariey, which was being used for feed, that would have brought a high price in the English market. A sample which I sent to England, grown by Mr. MacWatt of Glenlea, near Royal, that I might get a maltster's opinion of it, was highly thought of there. The follow- ing was my answer : " Bariey worth 38s. per qr. (of 8 bushels), more, if it was better dressed. We have been buying foreign bariey better dressed than your sample at 42s., but yours is the very class of ba-ley required for malting purposes." This barley was being fed to cattle, and what was being sold made 40 cents (2od.) a bushel. Had there been a larger quantity, which could have been exported to England, it would have been one dollar and five cents a bushel. Farmers here have never tried to grow bariey to any extent ; but in my opinion it would be a more profitable crop than wheat, as it can be grown in a shorter period of lime, often being sown in the beginning of June and harvested bv the middle of August. MWITOHA AM) TIIK \OI(||l-\V|.;sT. TKKUKKNK AND CAHMAN. Leaving Winnipeg again on the ist of September I took a trip down the Glenboro' branch of the Candian Pacific Railway Tliis hne goes in a south-westerly direction from Winnipeg past Head- ingly, the French settlement of Fannystelle, and out to Treheme l^roiii this hne also another small branch line 12 miles long runs to Carman. Here we stopped for an hour and had dinner To the south and west of Carman there is a fine wheat-growing country. At Ireherne stooks were to be seen in every direction. Several binders were still at work, and a few farmers were already stacking A number of farmers were down at the station to meet the train in search of men for the harvest fields. They were offering two dollars a da^- (8s. 4d.) and board. One man with whom I had some conversation told me he would give two dollars and a half (ids 4d ) a day for a good man. He had over 100 acres of grain lying cui. which he had done himself with a binder, and now only wanted a man to help him cart it. OLKXnOHo'. I spent two days at Glenboro' driving round the country. Two nnlestrom here live the Messrs. Steele, whom I hn , met at the Winnipeg Exhibition. They came to Glenboro' te.i ^•ears ago, and bought a section of land from the Canadian Pacific Railway They have now several hundred acres under crop, and also rent some of their land to another farmer. They keep a nice lot of stock, tneir Ayrshires especially, with which they took the champion prizes at the Winnipeg Exhibition, being very good. The Glen- boro district has some of the earliest land in Manitoba, the soil being rather lighter .than the average. At the station there are four elevators. I have already made some notes on the elevators of the countrA'. During the wheat-buying season one man is em- ployed at the elevator, and one man to buy the wheat The cleaning machinery, which is driven by steam, is on the most im- proved modern system. One man, besides attending to the engine can take in, weigh, clean, and put aside 4,000 bushels a day' Throughout Manitoba there are about 346 elevators, and the average cost ot building one is $12,000. IfKPoUT (»K Ml(. P. li. HITCIIIIC. 4.'? TIIK \VA\VAM:.SA DISTHK'I'. lM-(ini (ilcnlioro' I toolc the train again to .Methven, and thence drove across ci )iuitr\ to Wawanesa. Four miles south of the town is Mr. Leslie Smith's farm. Air. Smith was one of my fellow judges at the Brandon show, and had invited me to go and stay with him. He left Aberdeenshire, Scotland, five years ago, on being hired to take out some pure bred stock to Ontario. He had a pass by which to return, but became convinced that he could get on much better in Canada, and accordingly remained. He worked in Ontario for two years, came to Manitoba in 1889, and rented the Painkcith Farm, which belongs to Mr. Williams, of Toronto, who owns four sections in the Wawanesa neighbourhood. Mr. Smith had this year 500 acres in crop, 400 of which were in wheat. Last year, 1891, he threshed out 9,600 bushels of wheat, which he sokJ at 75 cents a bushel. He also owns half a section of land adjoining, which he uses for his stock. It runs alongside die Tiger Hills, and diere is plenty of shelter and fine spring water on it. This land he bought at $10 an acre, but would not take $20 an acre for it now. Other large fanners in the Wawanesa district are Mac- kenzie, Lyle, Routledge and Robertson. The last named came out from Haddingtonshire, Scotland, ten years ago, and homesteaded his i^resent holding. Last year he went home and brought out three Clyde stallions. This year he intends going home for more, and will also bring a number of breeding pedigree mares with him. From the hill above Wawanesa four small but fast growing towis with elevators at each can be seen, namely, Methven, Stockton, Rounthwaite and Wawanesa. Taking train at Wawanesa I went by the Northern Pacific co Brandon and thence by ^he Canadian Pacific Railway back to Win- nipeg. At Brandon I again visited Mr. Sandison's farm. He was just finishing cutting, having had fifteen binders at work ; this year he expects to thresh out 75,000 bushels of wheat. The favourite binder used throughout the country is that made by the Massey- Harris Company. I was informed by Mr. McBride, a member of the company, that they had sold over two thousand of these ma- chines throughout Manitoba and the Xorth-west Territories this year. 44 MAMTOHA AM) TIIK NOIiTM-WKST. CONCMDIM; OH.SKHVATIONS. an Js3 fi ' ^" 'P'^^ '°"'^"^^^ '^>' ^ ^^^^ ^^"^••al remarks an some final impressions concerning the country. The area of N^t tester r- '^""' ""^^- ^'^^ ^^^- '^-^ - the In SS^nt^ Th •" """''' '" "'■'" °^ "'^5,252 square miles. in 1882 part o this immense country was divided into four lar^e iTl^" ' , iTT' ^°°'""' ^''''''^''' 95.000, SaskatcheZ 114,000, and Athabasca. 122,000 square miles. This large trac o country is well watered. The principal lakes are Lake Winni- iVtr-lT"" ""'''' ^^^^ Winnipegosis, 2,030 square miles, Lake Mamtoba, 900 square miles, and the Lake of the Woods Winnipeg's chief watering place, containing thousands of islands) 1,500 square miles. '' A Provincial Legislature of 40 members for Manitoba sits at Wniijipeg, and one for the North-west Territories at Regina In the Dominion Parliament Manitoba is represented by three ^tter, the Hon. Edgar Dewdney, being a member of the Dominion Government , with the portfolio of Minister of the Interior The fn'much the'" '"' '°"" are governed by a mayor and coiporatioi of Zr ! ""'"""' ^' ^" ^"§^^^"^- The educational system of 1 e ountry IS very good. Public schools are to be met wfth all over the province. Education is free, the cost of maintenance being provided for partly by local taxation and partly by the revenue derived from lands set apart for this purpose by the Par- lament of Canada, which are administered by the Depitment of the Interior of the Federal Government apartment of an JaraVtn """T^"' agricultural societies all over the country, and at all towns of any importance 10 to 20 acres are fenced in for bv enabhnt^h ""^"''^^"^ competition amongst the farmers, and by enabling them to come together and exchange ideas. In a new aZSed "''°''''"" °' ''^ ^"^^^^^"^^^ ^ '^-* '^ ^- -" KKI'OliT (IF MH. P. li. lilTCHIK. 45 The following- is the estimated acreage under each crop and the average per acre in Manitoba (this report is received by the Govern- ment from over 400 different points throughout th province) :— Acrcy Averajfc yield, l)tisli('ls |pcr acre. 'I"(jtal vic'M. Wheat Oat.s . . . ]5arley Peas . . Flax , . , .S75,il!)0 ;«2,!»74 !I7,(;44 l,71.s 22 07 48 1() 32]!» 2.S00 17 05 111, 333, 097 14,371,167 3, 143,100 r)0,324 2!»,2!ll There have been 143,919 acres freshly broken this year. The number of threshing machines in the province is 1,180. Autumn, or the fall as it is called in Canada, begins about the middle of September, and lasts till the end of November. This is the pleas- antest time of the year, the weather being comfortably cool, and mosquitoes having retired from troubling man and beast. At the end of autumn, the Indian summer comes, lasting several days, and then winter sets in. The winter months are December, January, February and March. About Christmas and during January and February the temperature is sometimes as low as 40 degrees below zero, but this intense cold, if unaccompanied by wind, is not felt to be extreme, o\ying to the dry atmosphere of the North-west. Many people from the Old Country say they much prefer the dry winters of the North-west to the damp winters of Britain. Snow falls to an average depth of 15 inches. All sorts of amusements go on during the winter, such as dances, surprise parties, curling matches, skating and tobogganing. Curling is the great winter game of the country, every small town having its rink, most of them being covered in. At the curling bonspiel at Winnipeg last year, 136 rinks competed for prizes. The playing was carried on night and day, as there were not enough rinks to accommodate the plavers. Spring sets in about the beginning of April. This is the farmer's busy season, for the good results of eariy seeding have been proved 46 MAMICI.A AM) Till.; Nol(T,l-U DST. over and over again. The su.nnKT niontlis are May Tune lulv August, and the beginning „f Sept .nber. The t /c 1'^ e s..netnnes registers <.ver 90 degrees in the shade, dth ug ca" nut say I ever felt it i., be hotter than in ImilW-u d T. ? .;■.....«,,,,,,,,.. , ,, „,, „,„;,:;'^tttH„;;;.: ■ i? ;: s, , , dul I feel mdiucd to sk-q, „i,l,o„e a blanket Tlmnder- m nte '"","■'■' '".=" '*'"*•' "" ™'"»" '!"ri"g the wi, J. O ,. T , '■""''" '">■ '""*'■'' '■■<"" «>« of Manitoba a of the ca„ses o this ditlerenco is to be found in tl.e arm ,,^ I "'""^ """' '""'>' — ">» '"""cr conntry d, ri t^ -- as those „sed in H.t.land ,.,t a XrfJ Wsrei','"': ,t'^ =::^a::rLi^]a';— ^^^^^ «::^:°'Si:^,rih-:^^::dr:-f= of 33 feet be.ng sown a, a stretch, and an aven.J oT^'a,™ s tims sown .n a dav. sometimes as n„,eh as ,00 befng dm^ I ■fficn.t to prononnce which is the best metltod. Ion part ' on tne season. I would advise anv new comer to shidvl,„ .1 best and most successful fanners in the di tr'ct 1 1, s 7 ! work- their land, and let him d. likewise ave made a tuh ■on as to the cost of ^.rowing and marketing; an ac e of whe« lid the tncome therc'ron,, but it must be understood that some of mv n« co\t rt T" '™"V™"-' P"-- --' i" realit/tb work does iiKt these sums, after allowing- interest for his money invested and Bood w,ages for bis work. The following is my calc',latL*i t by HKI'OKT ,i|.' Ml,. ,., |(_ KITCIIIK. 47 iloiighiii, absolutely require, and the in- terest soon mounts up. The result is that some lose heart and give up. Implement agents sell implements on very easy terms or ap- parently so. Their terms arc a third cash, tbo balance to be paid by instalments over a period of three years, with interest at 8 per cent. Many settlers think that these are easy and favourable terms, for they do not have to pay much at a time, and they do not realize what the interest will come to. I I'.eard of several cases in which a man bought a self-binder on such terms the first year he came to the coimtr)', only having fifteen or twenty acres to cut ; whereas he could have got the use of one from a neighbour for a much lower figure than the interest he would be paying on the machine. Implements are not taken care of as they should be. On many farms I saw self-binders and mowers left out in the fields exposed to the weather all the winter. In some cases the canvasses were not even taken otl' the binder. New settlers beginning short of capital shot Id borrow no more money than absolutely required, 5 the fire- so nutcli ey arc set ss of the less dan- land and fhe cause ng along he match red yards te, as the z\p. An- out, and ne of two been the 2 country leen leav- lion been kvho have ;heni at a mcsteads. id the in- and give Tis or ap- 3 be paid : at 8 per Die terms, ot realize in which ; came to ; whereas • a much machine. 3n many ; exposed 3ses were short ot" required, MKPOIIT OV MK. I-. I!. niTCIIIi:. 49 and the sanic rcstriclion shcnild he made as to thdr purchases. Economy is the first way to success in this country. The need of more stock in the ccjuntry is folt. They would eat up inferior grain, and the price for low grade grain, if marketed in the form of i)()rk, beef, or nnnt..n, would pr^ve three times as valuabl^i (o the producer. I have often been asked in mv journey through the country such (piestions as : " Where is the best place to settle ?" and " What are the best parts of the country ?" These are rjuestions which I have not been able to solve mvself. I found successful farmers in most districts that I visited, wlu) declared that they had been all over the country, and thought that the place they had chosen was the best, and that they had no wish to change. Up at Kflmont(jn and Prince Albert there is a lovclv country, and though slightly broken for purt>lv agricultural purposes, no" better place could be desired for mixed farming ; whilst down on the plains you can plough a furrow for miles without a break. For any one with some capital no better districts could be selected than those at Neepawa, the Portnop Plains, Brandon, Glenboro', V\'a- vvanesa, and other poi= m S .ndiern ^fanitoba. Round Win- nipeg there is a great deal of vacant land held by siiectators. Some of it is wet. but could easily be drained, and I question very much if one could do better than settle near the city. The land can be bought cheap, and being so near the principal town of the country, is sure to advance in value. The proximity to the best market is also a great advantage. The amount of capital that I con- sider neressary to start a fami successfully is £200. Many have started with less, but it is not to be recommended, as it always neces- sitates borrowing, which is a serious handicap. The class of men most wanted in the country are farmers with capital from £200 upwards. Agricultural labourers will command from $20 to $25 a month and board all the year round. Female domestic servants are in great demand all over the country, and will obtain high wages. Householders have great difificulty in keeping servants, as women are scarce, and there is a great demand for wives. Ten to eighteen dollars a mcMith with board is their wage. In concluding this report, I wish to thank all the people, and they are manv. who have shown me kindness and have furnished me with information in travelling through the country. It seems 50 MANITOBA AND THE NOUTII-WEST. to me that I have been on a visit among friends rather than strangers, for everywhere I was treated with great kindness and hospitaHty. P. R. RITCHIE. October ist, 1892. Appended hereto is a Summary of the Regulations under wliich lands may be taken up as Homesteads in accordance with the provisions of the Dominion Lands Act. than ; and :e. diicli 1 the SUMMARY OF HOMESTE .M) KEGUL^VTIOISrS. All even-numbered sections of Dominion Lands in Manitoba or the North-west Territories, excepting 8 and 26, which have not been homesteaded, reserved to provide wood lots for settlers, or other purposes, may be homesteaded by any person who is the sole head of a family, or any male over eighteen years of age, to the extent of one quarter-section of 160 acres, more or less. KNTHV. Entry may be made personally at the local land office in which the land to be taken is situate, or if the homesteader desires he may on application to the Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, or the Com- missioner of Dominion Lands, Winnipeg, receive authority for some one to make the entry for him. A fee of $10 is chargd for an ordinary homestead entiy ; but for lands which have been occu- pied an additional fee of $10 is chargeable to meet inspection and cancellation expenses. IIOMKSTKAJ) DUTIKS. Under the present law homestead duties may be performed in three ways, and on making application for entry the settler must declare under which of the following conditions he elects to hold his land : — 1. Three years' cultivation and residence, during which period the settler may not be absent for more than six months in any one year without forfeiting the entry. 2. Residence for two years and nine months anywhere within two miles of the homestead quarter-section, and afterwards actual residence in a habitable house upon the homestead for three months at any time prior to application for patent. Under this system 10 acres must be broken the first year after entiy ; 15 additional in the "V^' Vv 5S HUM.MAKV OF IIOMKSTEAI) REGULATIONS. second, and 15 in the third year ; 10 acres to be in crop the second year, and 25 acres the third year. 3. The five years' system under which a settler may reside any- where for the first two years (but must perfect his entry by com- mencing cultivation vdthin six months after the date thereof,) breaking 5 acres the first year, cropping these 5 acres and breaking 10 acres additional the second year, and also building a habitable house before the end of the second year. The settler must com- mence actual residence on the homestead at the expiration of two years from date of entry, and thereafter reside upon and cultivate his homestead for at least six months in each of the three next succeeding years. APPLICATION FOU PATENT may be made before the local agent or any homestead inspector. Before making application for patent the settler must give six months' notice in writing to the Commissioner of Dominion Lands of his intention to do so. When, for convenience of the settler, application for patent is made before a homestead inspector, a fee of $5 is chargeable. A SECOND HO.MK8TEAI) may be taken by any one who, on the second day of June, 1889, had received a homestead patent or certificate of recommendation countersigned by the Commissioner of Dominion Lands upon application for patent made by him, or who had earned title to his first homestead on, or prior to, that date. rNFOHMATTON. Newly arrived immigrants will receive at any Dominion Lands Office in Manitoba or the North-west Territories information as to the lands that are open for entry, and from the officers in charge, free of expense, advice and assistance in securing lands to suit them ; and full information respecting the land, timber, coal and mineral laws, and copies of these Regulations, as well as those respecting Dominion lands in the Railway Belt in British Columbia may be obtained upon application to the Secretary of the Depart- ment of the Interior, Ottawa ; the Commissioner of Dominion Lands, Winnipeg, Manitoba; or, to any of the Dominion Lands ' Hi agents in Manitoba or the North-west Territories. r