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IV.-NATIONAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

Canadian
Agricultural

Expansion

The latest official figures (1910) as to Canadian land suitable for cultivation showed a total of Resources and 358,835,190 acres of which 238,000,000 acres were in Western Canada with at least 50,000,000 of these fitted for growing wheat. There were estimated to be, in 1909, 575,000 farmers in the country with a total population dependent upon agriculture of 3,775,000; an investment in this basic industry of $2,440,000,000 and a yearly agricultural revenue of $700,000,000; agricultural exports worth about $150,000,000 annually.* According to Mr. Archibald Blue of the Dominion Census Bureau, the total value of Canadian field crops, computed from average prices, was in 1860 $96,701,643; in 1880 $158,403,533; in 1900 $205,071,914; in 1909 $532,992,100. Wheat in the first year named totalled 28,212,760 bushels at $31,852,206 and oats 41,129,421 bushels at $14,559,815; in the second year wheat had a production of 32,350,269 bushels valued at $38,652,763 and oats of 70,493,131 bushels at $25,448,020; in 1880 wheat stood at 55,572,368 bushels worth $34,850,010 while oats were 151,497,407 bushels valued at $41,120,812; in 1909 wheat had leaped up to 166,744,000 bushels worth $141,320,000 and oats to 353,468,000 bushels worth $122,390,000. From 1860 to 1880 the total value of all field crops increased 63.80 per cent.; from 1880 to 1900 by 29 46 per cent.; from 1900 to 1909 150 90 per cent. The official figures of production in 1910 were as follows:

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NOTE.-Estimate in House of Commons on Mch. 15, 1909, by W. D. Staples, of Macdonald, Man.

Much of the enormous increase between 1900 and 1910 was, of course, in the Western Provinces. The area under wheat, oats and barley in what are now the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta was, in 1900, 3,491,413 acres and in 1910 13,809,300 acres; the total production was respectively, 43,251,661 bushels and 277,021,000 bushels. Taking the Dominion as a whole there was a decrease in values of field crops, 1909 and 1910, totalling $25,800,000 with an increased area of 2,700,000 acres. This was owing very largely to the drouth in the West during July, 1910, which greatly reduced the harvesting. Potatoes in the country generally showed an increase of $3,000,000 in value; turnips and other roots a decrease of $3,000,000; hay and clover, a decrease of $9,500,000; fodder corn an increase of $4,800,000. According to official estimates published in January, 1910, the average value of farm lands in Canada was $38.60 per acre; the average wage of farm-help (including board) was, in the summer season, $33.69 per month for males and $19.08 for females and per annum it was, respectively, $336.29 and $206.08. The total value of farm animals on June 30, 1909, was $558,789,000 as against $531,000,000 in 1908. The following table gives other particulars during four years:

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Other agricultural statistics and details may be briefly summarized. The export of apples fluctuates greatly but for the year ending Mch. 31, 1910, the figures were 1,604,477 barrels, valued at $4,417,926, as compared with 998,618 barrels in 1907 worth $2,702,623, and 1,577,285 barrels in 1904 valued at $4,529,500. Of the shipments in 1909-10 543,847 barrels went from Montreal and 663,186 barrels from Halifax; only a small proportion was in cold storage. The Cheese trade, after showing a tremendous expansion for years-reaching in 1906-7 the total value of $26,160,856 has since then been gradually declining and was in 1909-10 $21,607,692 in value. As to Butter the export in 1908 was $1,068,703 in value and in 1910 $1,010,274. The muchdiscussed question of prices in Hog products was dealt with in an Agricultural Department Bulletin of April, 1910, when the average monthly prices per 100 lbs. for dressed hogs, paid by the George Matthews Company, Ltd., at their factories in Hull, Peterborough and Brantford, were quoted as representative and accur

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LOADING CATTLE AT C.P.R. YARDS IN WINNIPEG, 1910.

ate. Tabulated and averaged for nine years (Apl. 1 to Mch. 31) they were as follows: 1901-2 $8.98; 1902-3 $8.90 1-2; 1903-4 $7.71 1-2; 1904-5 $7.51 1-2; 1905-6 $9.04 1-4; 1906-7 $9.52 1-2; 1907-8 $8.53 3-4; 1908-9 $9.08 1-3; 1909-10 $11.35 1-4. The two following tables are of importance as showing the trend of Canadian agricultural trade during the past decade and in 1910:

I. CANADIAN EXPORTS OF WHEAT AND FLOUR.

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II. TRADE IN FARM PRODUCTS WITH UNITED STATES.*

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It may be noted here that the United States in 1909 imported Farm products valued at $639,000,000 and exported $903,000,000 worth a decrease of $151,000,000 over 1908. As to other details of Canadian agricultural trade it may be said that in the fiscal year 1899 the total export of cattle from Canada was 211,847 in number and $8,522,536 in value; in 1910 it was 157,396 and $10,792,160 respectively. Between 1900 and 1910 the export of animals and their products decreased from $56,148,807 to $53,926,515. Packing-house products under export decreased from $13,415,655 to $9,940,585 and wheat rose from $11,995,488 in

• These figures are taken from United States Department of Agriculture Statistics.

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