in Alberta, with average yields per acre at the rates of 20.02 bushels in Manitoba, 23.70 in Saskatchewan and 26.49 in Alberta. In these provinces spring wheat is almost universally sown, except in Alberta where fall or winter wheat is also sown to a considerable extent. Summer fallowing for wheat is a practice that has gained ground in the North-West Provinces. Land ploughed and otherwise tilled, but left unseeded during the summer, is sown with wheat in the succeeding autumn or spring. Wheat on summer fallow land yielded, according to the North-West census of 1906, from 2 to 8 bushels per acre more than that sown on other land. Summer fallowing is, however, subject to one drawback: the strong growth which it induces is apt to retard the ripening of the grain. Canada is clearly destined to rank as one of the most important grain-producing countries of the world. The northern limits of the wheat-growing areas have not been definitely ascertained; but samples of good wheat were grown in 1907 at Fort Vermilion on the Peace river, nearly 600 m. north of Winnipeg in lat. 58.34 and at Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie river in lat. 61.52, more than 800 m. north of Winnipeg and about 1000 m. north of the United States boundary. As a rule the weather during the harvesting period permits the grain to be gathered safely without damage from sprouting. Occasionally in certain localities in the north-west the grain is liable to injury from frost in late summer; but as the proportion of land under cultivation increases the climate becomes modified and the danger from frost is appreciably less. The loss from this cause is also less than formerly, because any grain unfit for export is now readily purchased for the feeding of animals in Ontario and other parts of eastern Canada.
Suitable machinery for cleaning the grain is everywhere in general use, so that weed seeds are removed before the wheat is ground. This gives Canadian wheat excellent milling properties, and enables the millers to turn out flour uniform in quality and of high grade as to keeping properties. Canadian flour has a high reputation in European markets. It is known as flour from which bakers can make the best quality of bread, and also the largest quantity per barrel, the quantity of albuminoids being greater in Canadian flour than in the best brands of European. Owing to its possession of this characteristic of what millers term “strength,” i.e. the relative capacity of flour to make large loaves of good quality, Canadian flour is largely in demand for blending with the flour of the softer English wheats. For this reason some of the strong Canadian wheats have commanded in the home market 5s. and 6s. a quarter more than English-grown wheat. At the general census of 1901 the number of flouring and grist mill establishments, each employing five persons and over, was returned at 400, the number of employes being 4251 and the value of products $31,835,873. A special census of manufactures in 1906 shows that these figures had grown in 1905 to 832 establishments, 5619 employes and $56,703,269 value of the products. There is room for a great extension in the cultivation of wheat and the manufacture and exportation of flour.
In the twelve months of 1907 Canada exported 37,503,057 bushels of wheat of the value of $34,132,759 and 1,858,485 barrels of flour of the value of $7,626,408. The corresponding figures in 1900 were—wheat, 16,844,650 bushels, value, $11,995,488, and flour, 768,162 bushels, value, $2,791,885.
Oats of fine quality are grown in large crops from Prince Edward Island on the Atlantic coast to Vancouver Island on the Pacific coast. Over large areas the Canadian soil and climate are admirably adapted for producing oats of heavy weight per bushel. In all the provinces of eastern Canada the acreage under oats greatly exceeds that under wheat. The annual average oat crop in all Canada is estimated at about 248 million bushels. As the total annual export of oats is now less than three million bushels the home consumption is large, and this is an advantage in maintaining the fertility of the soil. In 1907 the area under oats in Ontario was 2,932,509 acres and yielded 83,524,301 bushels, the area being almost as large as that of the acreage under hay and larger than the combined total of the other principal cereals grown in the province. Canadian oatmeal is equal in quality to the best. It is prepared in different forms, and in various degrees of fineness.
Barley was formerly grown for export to the United States for malting purposes. After the raising of the duty on barley under the McKinley and Dingley tariffs that trade was practically destroyed and Canadian farmers were obliged to find other uses for this crop. Owing to the development of the trade with the mother-country in dairying and meat products, barley as a home feeding material has become more indispensable than ever. Before the adoption of the McKinley tariff about nine million bushels of barley were exported annually, involving the loss of immense stores of plant food. In 1907, with an annual production of nearly fifty million bushels, only a trifling percentage was exported, the rest being fed at home and exported in the form of produce without loss from impoverishment of the soil. The preparation of pearl or pot barley is an incidental industry.
Rye is cultivated successfully, but is seldom used for human food. Flour from wheat, meal from oats, and meal from Indian corn are preferred.
Buckwheat flour is used in considerable quantities in some districts for the making of buckwheat cakes, eaten with maple syrup. These two make an excellent breakfast dish, characteristic of Canada and some of the New England states. There are also numerous forms of preparations from cereals, sold as breakfast foods, which, owing to the high quality of the grains grown in Canada and the care exercised in their manufacture, compare favourably with similar products in other countries.
Peas in large areas are grown free from serious trouble with insect pests. Split peas for soup, green peas as vegetables and sweet peas for canning are obtained of good quality.
Vegetables are grown everywhere, and form a large part of the diet of the people. There is a comparatively small export, except in the case of turnips and potatoes and of vegetables which have been canned or dried. Besides potatoes, which thrive well and yield large quantities of excellent quality, there are turnips, carrots, parsnips and beets. The cultivation of sugar beets for the manufacture of sugar has been established in Ontario and in southern Alberta, where in 1906 an acreage under this crop of 3344 yielded 27,211 tons, an average of 8.13 tons per acre. Among the common vegetables used in the green state are peas, beans, cabbage, cauliflowers, asparagus, Indian corn, onions, leeks, tomatoes, lettuce, radish, celery, parsley, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash and rhubarb. Hay, of good quality of timothy (Phleum pratense), and also of timothy and clover, is grown over extensive areas. For export it is put up in bales of about 150 ℔ each. Since 1899 a new form of pressing has been employed, whereby the hay is compressed to stow in about 70 cub. ft. per ton. This has been a means of reducing the ocean freight per ton. The compact condition permits the hay to be kept with less deterioration of quality than under the old system of more loose baling. Austrian brome grass (Bromus inermis) and western rye grass (Agropyrum tenerum) are both extensively grown for hay in the North-West Provinces.
The almost universal adoption of electrical traction in towns has not led to the abandonment of the breeding of horses to the extent that was at one time anticipated. Heavy draught horses are reared in Ontario, and to a less but increasing extent in the North-West Provinces, Live stock. the breeds being mainly the Clydesdale and the Shire. Percherons are also bred in different parts of Canada, and a few Belgian draught horses have been introduced. Good horses suitable for general work on farms and for cabs, omnibuses, and grocery and delivery wagons, are plentiful for local markets and for export. Thoroughbred and pure bred hackney stallions are maintained in private studs and by agricultural associations throughout the Dominion, and animals for cavalry and mounted infantry remounts are produced in all the provinces including those of the North-West. Useful carriage horses and saddle horses are bred in many localities. Horse ranching is practised largely in Alberta. There are no government
