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H.—29b

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The Province of Saskatchewan has an. area of 161,088,000 acres, but its total land area is only 155,764,000 acres, of which 76,216,863 acres have been surveyed and 13,520,490 acres are under cultivation. Of the surveyed area 26,000,000 acres are under homesteads, 5,400,000 acres under pre-emptions and purchased homesteads, 15,177,063 acres granted to railway companies, 2,000,000 acres for forestry, 9,100,000 acres are now available for entry. The value of land has increased fully 25 per cent, within the last two years. The average price of improved land runs from £4 12s. to £6, and for unimproved from £3 to £4 10s. per acre. The prices depend more on the situation of the land than on the quality, land in older-settled districts and nearer to a railway being naturally more expensive. It is said two-thirds of the province is admirably adapted to sheep-raising, and every encouragement is being given to those desirous of taking up this work. The English Down breeds are preferred, on account of their hardiness, prolificacy, and early maturity. Helpful Bulletins. —The departmental printing-office turns out a continuous supply of leaflets and bulletins, mostly printed in large type, and of a size suitable for posting up with the idea of catching the eye. The Saskatchewan Department of Agrioulture issues a sheet of "Ten Dry-farming Commandments." Wherever a particular crop is considered profitable a leaflet is issued giving the most precise information as to its production. A live-stock market, bulletin is issued regularly, giving the average ruling prices of cattle, sheep, and pigs in, say, Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto, St. Paul, and Chicago. Or it may be that a warning leaflet will be issued concerning some dangerous weed or thistle, with an accompanying coloured cut of the weed and a word about its eradication. " The Advantages of Early Fall Cultivation " was the heading of one wall-sheet which illustrated by diagrams the increased yields that, had actually been recorded in field experiments by early as against late ploughing and disking. In another direction the Department assists farmers, and gets in touch with him by means of posters: this is in securing labour for the farm, a direction in which no fee is charged. The farmer is asked in a prominent poster to send word of the class of man he requires, and the Department does the rest. "Better-farming " Trains. —The "better-farming" trains of Canada are a direct means of educating farmers by placing before them the best specimens of stock or crops that can be obtained, and lecturing to them on tin.- particular branch of farming in which they are engaged. A farming train, consisting of eight or more cars containing, say, a field-crops section, demonstration section, a domestic-science section, and a boys' and girls' section, will visit eighteen railway-stations in a week, spending three hours (9 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. lo 10 p.m.) at three stations per day, the stations being selected not necessarily consecutively, but with an eye to getting in touch with all the farmers, particularly in the more newly settled portions of the country. The Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture ran " better-farming " trains in the summer of 1914, and it was such a, great success that the experiment was repeated in 1915. In view of the nature of the province and the shortage of feed in 1915 it was decided to lay emphasis on soil-tillage, crop-production, and weed-control, and these phases of farming were dealt with very thoroughly in the form of demonstrations and discussions by leading authorities who accompanied the train. The very thorough manner in which the " farming trains " are advertised represents only one small ..branch of activity in what must lie a huge Government Printing Office. Handbills and posters are distributed broadcast, giving the date and hour at which the train will reach each station. The railway companies also offer single fares for the return trip from any station within twenty-five miles of a demonstration station. A train that traversed the south-western portion of Saskatchewan in 1915 was equipped with four sections. The first section included two lecture-cars in which leading agricultural authorities dealt with various phases of soil-cultivation and crop-management, each address beingfollowed by a discussion of problems arising out of local conditions. A domestic-science section included two cars—one for demonstration and addresses on women's work in cooking, sewing, home nursing, poultry-raising, and so on; and the other (in charge of a matron) where the younger children were looked after during .the demonstrations. The third section consisted of a ear containing models of farmsteads and farm buildings, the proper location of shelter-belts, and so on; while models of various farm appliances were also shown. A boys' and girls' section, which oompleted the train, provided an hour and a half lecture on western birds and insects, illustrating with lantern-slides in life colours all the common insect pests and the useful and useless birds. The value of farming-trains, however, is not. limited to one or two sections of farm-work. In some cases the farmers are induced to bring their stock forward during each visit, and an expert explains good and bad points, and indicates the best direction in which selection should be pursued. Needless to say every train carries an abundant supply of free leaflets and bulletins on farm topics. Each train also carries a "sleeper" and a "diner" for the accommodation of the lecture staff, 'lite personnel of the lecture staff changes from week to week, and during the itinerary a part of the programme is taken by some well-known authorities on agricultural subjects. The trains in one tour travelled two thousand miles and were scheduled to stop at 133 stations, some of them sidings with barely the traces of a village. The attendance at the first thirty-six meetings was about ten thousand persons, and it is reckoned that the persons served by the train number thirty-eight thousand. Agricultural Instruction Funds. —Through the medium of the grant received from the Dominion Government under the provisions of the Agricultural Instruction Act it has been

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