MORANG'S ANNUAL REGISTER Physical of Canada Section I-CANADIAN AGRICULTURE The Dominion of Canada possesses an area of 3,653,946 square miles, with a population of 5,369,362. The British Empire, according to the latest available figures, has an area of 12,171,120 square miles, exclusive of Egypt and the Soudan-which are practically British dependencies and a population of 395,960,000. The area of the Provinces and Territories and Districts of Canada is very varied. Ontario has 222,000 square miles; Quebec, 347,350 square miles; Nova Scotia, 20,600 square miles; New Brunswick, 28,200 square miles; Manitoba, 73,956 square miles; British Columbia, 383,300 square miles; Prince Edward Island has 2,000 square miles. Of the North-West Territories, Assiniboia possesses 90,340 square miles; Saskatchewan, 114,000; Alberta, 100,000 and Athabasca, 251,300. The Yukon Territory is 198,300 square miles in area; the District of Mackenzie has 563,200 square miles; and the District of Ungava, 456,000. The area of the District of Franklin is unknown, and that of the Great Lakes which are included in Canadian territory is 47,400 square miles. The principal physical features of Canada are the Rocky Mountains and the Laurentian Range, the vast plains of the North-West, the fresh-water lakes, Hudson's Bay and the Bay of Fundy, the Mackenzie River of the far north and the St. Lawrence River basin. The lakes of the St. Lawrence system, with their connecting rivers and canals, constitute a complete navigable route from the head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 2,384 miles with an area of about 100,000 square miles. The great lakes of the northern part of Canada include the Great Bear Lake, 11,200 square miles in extent; the Great Slave Lake, 10,100 square miles; Lake Winnipeg, 9,400 square miles and Lake Athabasca, 4,400 square miles. The highest peaks amongst the Rockies are Mount Hooker, 16,760 feet; Mount Brown, 16,000 feet; and Mount Murchison, 15,700. Hudson's Bay is a large inland sea with an area of 350,000 square miles. The Bay of Fundy, which almost separates Nova Scotia from New Brunswick, is 170 miles long and from 30 to 50 miles wide. According to an estimate by Mr. George Johnson, the Dominion Statistician, the mountain belt of Canada is 600 miles in width, east and west, the prairie belt 1,000 miles, the woodland belt (including the great spruce forest and pulp-wood region) 2,300 miles. The following are the latitudes and longitudes of the capitals of the Dominion and the Provinces, with the addition of Montreal as being a commercial metropolis : Interests of the Country According to the Census of 1891-the figures for Agricultural 1901 not being yet available-the total area of land occupied in the Dominion was 60,287,630 acres; the improved land, 28,537,242 acres; the land under crop, 19,904,826 acres; the land in gardens and orchards, 464,462 acres; and that in pasture, 15,284,788 acres. The total land area of the Dominion is 3,048,711 miles, or 1,981,662,150 acres. At the time of the 1891 Census the proportion of the population engaged in agricultural pursuits was 411-28 out of every 1,000-the Provinces running from a proportion of 609-40 in the Territories to 214-55 in British Columbia. According to the Report of the Department of Agriculture for the year ending October 30, 1900: "About forty-five per cent. of the population of Canada are engaged in farming. A large number more are employed in pursuits arising out of agriculture. Among these are millers of flour and oatmeal; curers and packers of meat; makers of cheese and butter; and persons engaged in the transportation and commerce of grain, hay, live-stock, meats, butter; cheese, milk, eggs, fruit and various other products." The two special interests in this connection are dairying and the cultivation for the British market for almost all the products of the farm proper. During June, 1901, the Hon. Sydney A. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture, and Prof. J. W. Robertson, the Dominion Dairy Commissioner, visited Great Britain, and did something to extend information regarding Canada and its agricultural resources. On June 10th Mr. Fisher was interviewed by the London Morning Post, and expressed very hopeful views as to the progress of the farming industry. He described the Canadian system of agricultural education carried on in schools by the Provincial Governments and by the organizing of meetings and sending out of innumerable bulletins and reports on subjects connected with the farm under Dominion auspicies. "We have a system of Experimental Farms where we study the production, handling and utilization of crops and the feeding of animals.” Reports as to the result of these experiments were sent out to some 600,000 farmers. Much had recently been done in advancing coldstorage capacities, and the policy had been found most beneficial. "We have established a complete chain of such transportation from the creameries or butter-making factories to the ports. We encourage the building of local stores into which the butter can be put as soon as it is made, and we arrange for the running of refrigerator cars on the railways from all sections of the country to the ports. Then we to a slight extent bonus' cold-storage receiving depots at the ports. We also subsidize the steamship companies to put coldstorage chambers into the vessels which carry our products to England." In reply to an inquiry as to fruit crops, Mr. Fisher stated that apples were the largest, but that a considerable number of pears, peaches and grapes were now being shipped in cold-storage. The average export of apples during the past four years had been over a million barrels annually. Speaking on June 20th at a Glasgow Exhibition gathering, the Minister spoke strongly as to the position of Canada and Great Britain in this connection. "If in the Old Land here you have many mouths to feed, we in Canada have many acres and willing hands to supply the food, and we have tried to the utmost extent of our power, and are trying still, to provide it of the highest and best qualities so that your people will be tempted by their palate and taste, as well as by their Imperial spirit and Imperial aspirations, to buy their food within the bounds of the Empire." The agricultural exports of Canada in 1891 were Agricultural $5,254,028 to Great Britain, $7,291,246 to the United States, and $1,121,584 to other countries. In 1900 they were $21,674,965 to Great Britain, $2,041,110 to the United States, and $3,800,534 to other countries. The export of animals and their produce in 1891 was $20,991,143 to Great Britain, $4,316,979 to the United States, and $659,619 to other countries. In 1900 it had risen to $49,881,630 to Great Britain, $5,326,750 to the United States, and $940,427 to other countries. The total of all farm produce sent to the Mother Country was, therefore, $26,245,171 in 1891, and $71,556,595 in 1900. The total to the United States had, meanwhile, decreased from $11,608,225 to $7,367,860. Trade and In 1901 the export of agricultural products-the produce of Canada-was $17,337,633 to Great Britain, $2,907,969 to the United States, and to other countries $4,535,884. Of the latter some of the countries in the British Empire took half. The exports of animals and their produce in 1901 were $49,186,025 to Great Britain, $5,331,657 to the United States, and $977,629 to other countries. Adding together, as above, the agricultural and animal products, the total going to Great Britain in 1901 was $66,523,658, and to the United States, $8,239,626-a decrease in the year of five millions to the Mother Country and a small increase to the United States. The total export of all farm products (including animals, etc.) was $39,634,599 in 1891, and $80,276,797 in 1901. As between Great Britain and the United States the following table of the chief exports, compiled from the Trade and Navigation Returns for 1901, will indicate the value of the respective markets: There were two items of export-horses, $328,125, and hay, $383,168-recorded as sold to South Africa, which were so obviously sold to Great Britain for war purposes that they might very properly have been included in the above figures. In this connection it may be said that the export of agricultural and animal produce in 1901 to countries of the Empire other than Great Britain amounted to a total of $3,079,860. Agriculture in Ontario The annual Report of the Ontario Bureau of Industries, which appeared during the summer of 1901, gave elaborate statistics concerning the general condition of Provincial agriculture. The total value of farm land in Ontario had shown a steady decrease from 1891 to 1899, but it had risen from $563,271,777 in the latter year to $574,727,610 in 1900. Including, however, the value of buildings, implements and live stock, the decrease had ceased in 1897, and the increase proceeded from $905,093,613 in that year to $974,814,931 in 1900. The value of farm buildings in 1900 was $219,488,370; of implements, $57,324,130; of live stock, $123,274,821. The statistics of wool showed, in this year, 957,307 fleeces of 5,805,921 pounds weight, and $894,112 in value. There had been comparatively slight variations in the product and its values during the preceding decade. There were 216,734 colonies of bees in the Province, with a value (including outfit) of $1,139,559, and a value per hive of $5.26. Poultry numbered, on July 1, 1900, 9,541,241, and were valued at $2,727,363. There were 890,933 turkeys, 398,890 geese, 457,072 ducks, and the rest scattering. There were 3,164,287 poultry sold or killed during the year, and valued at $1,176,740. On July 1, 1900, there were 1,771,641 hogs in the Province, worth $9,598,153. Those sold or slaughtered during the year were 2,056,049 in number, and $15,800,799 was received for them-an average price per head of $7.69, as against $8.68 in 1895. The number of sheep was 1,797,213, and the value $7,711,496. Those sold or slaughtered were 690,058 in number and $2,872,609 in value. The cattle numbered 2,429,330, and were valued at $56,320,810; those sold or slaughtered were 560,893 in number and valued at $18,017,989. The horses numbered 617,309, valued at $46,916,999; the great portion being working animals. Those sold during the year were 47,926, valued at $3,774,480, or an average price of $79. There were 2,694,600 acres of pasture ground in the Province, 339,411 acres of orchard and garden, 10,687 acres of vineyard. The number of fifteen-year apple trees (or over) was 6,518,048 and the product 36,993,017 bushels. The number of trees under fifteen years was 3,430,670. The chief productive counties in this respect were Elgin, Grey, Halton, Hastings, Huron, Kent, Lambton, Lennox, Norfolk, Northumberland, Oxford, Perth, Prince Edward, Welland, Wentworth, York and the Island of Manitoulin. The number of acres under hay and clover was 2,562,566, the production 3,133,045 tons and the market value $26,568,222. The aggregate of all the field crops was 8,794,953 acres valued at $114,758,761, or $13.05 per acre. There were 24,728,525 bushels of mangel wurzels, worth $1,978,282, or $36.27 per acre; 59,330,395 bushels of turnips, worth $5,933,040, or $37.90 per acre. Other crops were as follows: The number of acres of assessed rural land was 23,568,104, of which only 840,022 acres were non-resident. There were 13,297,206 acres cleared, 7,127,363 acres of woodland and 3,143,535 acres of swamp, marsh or waste land. The cheese factories in operation during the year were 1,173 in number, the cheese made was 127,789,543 pounds, the gross value was $13,023,025, and the amount paid to patrons for their milk was $11,682,470. The number of creameries. in Ontario was 308 in 1900 as against 74 in 1893; the quantity of butter made was 9,041,468 pounds, worth $1,819,290; the average price was 20 cents per pound, and the amount paid to patrons for their milk was $1,589,291. The wages paid to farm labourers in 1882-1900 averaged $157 per annum in yearly engagements, and amounted to $155 in 1900. Without board the rate was, respectively, $250 and $248. There are two important Dairymen's Associations in Ontario |