Part 13

_Lumber_.--In spite of great improvidence, and of loss by fire, the forest wealth of Canada is still the greatest in the world. Measures have been taken, both by the provincial and the federal governments, for its preservation, and for re-forestation of depleted areas. Certain provinces prohibit the exportation of logs to the United States, in order to promote the growth of saw-mills and manufactures of wooden-ware within the country, and the latter have of late years developed with great rapidity. The lumber trade of British Columbia has suffered from lack of an adequate market, but is increasing with the greater demand from the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. A great development has also taken place in Ontario and the eastern provinces, through the use of spruce and other trees, long considered comparatively useless, in the manufacture of wood-pulp for paper-making.

_Crown Lands_.--Large areas of unoccupied land remain in all the provinces (except Prince Edward Island). In Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the so-called railway belt of British Columbia and the territories, these crown lands are chiefly owned by the federal parliament; in the other provinces, by the local legislatures. So great is their extent that, in spite of the immigration of recent years, the Dominion government gives a freehold of 160 acres to every _bona fide_ settler, subject to certain conditions of residence and the erection of buildings during the first three years. Mining and timber lands are sold or leased at moderate rates. All crown lands controlled by the provinces must be paid for, save in certain districts of Ontario, where free grants are given, but the price charged is low. The Canadian Pacific railway controls large land areas in the two new provinces; and large tracts in these provinces are owned by land companies. Both the Dominion and the provincial governments have set apart certain areas to be preserved, largely in their wild state, as national parks. Of these the most extensive are the Rocky Mountains Park at Banff, Alberta, owned by the Dominion government, and the "Algonquin National Park," north-east of Lake Simcoe, the property of Ontario.

_Fisheries_.--The principal fisheries are those on the Atlantic coast, carried on by the inhabitants of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the eastern section of Quebec. Cod, herring, mackerel and lobsters are the fish chiefly caught, though halibut, salmon, anchovies and so-called sardines are also exported. Bounties to encourage deep-sea fishing have been given by the federal government since 1882. In British Columbian waters the main catch is of salmon, in addition to which are halibut, oolachan, herring, sturgeon, cod and shellfish. The lakes of Ontario and Manitoba produce white fish, sturgeon and other fresh-water fish. About 80,000 persons find more or less permanent employment in the fishing industry, including the majority of the Indians of British Columbia.

The business of fur-seal catching is carried on to some extent in the North Pacific and in Bering Sea by sealers from Victoria, but the returns show it to be a decreasing industry, as well as one causing friction with the United States. Indeed, no department of national life has caused more continual trouble between the two peoples than the fisheries, owing to different laws regarding fish protection, and the constant invasion by each of the territorial waters of the other.

_Education_.--The British North America Act imposes on the provincial legislatures the duty of legislating on educational matters, the privileges of the denominational and separate schools in Ontario and Quebec being specially safeguarded. In 1871, the New Brunswick legislature abolished the separate school system, and a contest arose which was finally settled by the authority of the legislature being sustained, though certain concessions were made to the Roman Catholic dissentients. Subsequently a similar difficulty arose in Manitoba, where the legislature in 1890 abolished the system of separate schools which had been established in 1871. After years of bitter controversy, in which a federal ministry was overthrown, a compromise was arranged in 1897, in which the Roman Catholic leaders have never fully acquiesced. In the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, formed in 1905, certain educational privileges, (though not amounting to a separate school system) were granted to the Roman Catholics.

All the provinces have made sacrifices to insure the spread of education. In 1901, 76% of the total population could read and write, and 86% of those over five years of age. These percentages have gradually risen ever since federation, especially in the province of Quebec, which was long in a backward state. The school systems of all the provinces are, in spite of certain imperfections, efficient and well-equipped, that of Ontario being especially celebrated. A fuller account of their special features will be found under the articles on the different provinces.

Numerous residential schools exist and are increasing in number with the growth of the country in wealth and culture. In Quebec are a number of so-called classical colleges, most of them affiliated with Laval University.

Higher education was originally organized by the various religious bodies, each of which retains at least one university in more or less integral connexion with itself. New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba support provincial universities at Fredericton, Toronto and Winnipeg. Those of most importance[4] are:--Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S. (1818); the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B. (1800); McGill University, Montreal, Que. (1821); Laval University, Quebec, and Montreal, Que. (1852); Queen's University, Kingston, Ont. (1841); the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. (1827); Trinity University, Toronto, Ont. (1852); Victoria University, Toronto, Ont. (1836); the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont. (1848); the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man. (1877).

Of these McGill (see MONTREAL) is especially noted for the excellence of its training in practical and applied science. Many of the students, especially in the departments of medicine and theology, complete their education in the United States, Britain or Europe.

Most of the larger towns and cities contain public libraries, that of Toronto being especially well-equipped.

Of the numerous learned and scientific societies, the chief is the Royal Society of Canada, founded in 1881.

_Defence_.--The command in chief of all naval and military forces is vested in the king, but their control rests with the federal parliament. The naval forces, consisting of a fisheries protection service, are under the minister of marine and fisheries, the land forces under the minister of militia and defence. Prior to 1903, command of the latter was vested in a British officer, but since then has been entrusted to a militia council, of which the minister is president. The fortified harbours of Halifax (N.S.) and Esquimalt (B.C.) were till 1905 maintained and garrisoned by the imperial government, but have since been taken over by Canada. This has entailed the increase of the permanent force to about 5000 men. Previously, it had numbered about 1000 (artillery, dragoons, infantry) quartered in various schools, chiefly to aid in the training of the militia. In this all able-bodied citizens between the ages of 18 and 60 are nominally enrolled, but the active militia consists of about 45,000 men of all ranks, in a varying state of efficiency. These cannot be compelled to serve outside the Dominion, though special corps may be enlisted for this purpose, as was done during the war in South Africa (1899-1902). At Quebec is a Dominion arsenal, rifle and ammunition factories. Cadet corps flourish in most of the city schools. At Kingston (Ont.) is the Royal Military College, to the successful graduates of which a certain number of commissions in the British service is annually awarded.

_Justice and Crime_.--Justice is well administered throughout the country, and even in the remotest mining camps there has been little of the lawlessness seen in similar districts of Australia and the United States. For this great credit is due to the "North-west mounted police," the "Riders of the Plains," a highly efficient body of about seven hundred men, under the control of the federal government. Judges are appointed for life by the Dominion parliament, and cannot be removed save by impeachment before that body, an elaborate process never attempted since federation, though more than once threatened. From the decisions of the supreme court of Canada appeal may be made to the judicial committee of the imperial privy council.

AUTHORITIES.--The Canadian Geological Survey has published (Ottawa, since 1845) a series of reports covering a great number of subjects. Several provinces have bureaus or departments of mines, also issuing reports. The various departments of the federal and the provincial governments publish annual reports and frequent special reports, such as the decennial report on the census, from which a vast quantity of information may be obtained. Most of this is summed up in the annual _Statistical Year Book of Canada_ and in the _Official Handbook of the Dominion of Canada_, issued at frequent intervals by the Department of the Interior. See also J.W. White (the Dominion geographer), _Atlas of Canada_ (1906); J. Castell Hopkins, _Canada: an Encyclopaedia_ (6 vols., 1898-1900); _The Canadian Annual Review_ (yearly since 1902), replacing H.J. Morgan's _Canadian Annual Register_ (1878-1886); Sir J.W. Dawson, _Handbook of Canadian Geology_ (1889); George Johnson, _Alphabet of First Things in Canada_ (3rd ed., 1898); A.G. Bradley, _Canada in the Twentieth Century_ (1903); _Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada_ (yearly since 1883); R.C. Breckenridge, _The Canadian Banking System_ (1895); A. Shortt, _History of Canadian Banking_ (1902-1906); Sir S. Fleming, _The Intercolonial_ (1876); John Davidson, "Financial Relations of Canada and the Provinces" (_Economic Journal_, June 1905); _Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, passim_, for valuable papers by H.M. Ami, A.P. Coleman, G.M. Dawson, W.F. Ganong, B.J. Harrington and others; also articles in _Canadian Economics_ and in the _Handbook of Canada_, published on the occasion of visits of the British Association. (W. L. G.)

AGRICULTURE

Canada is pre-eminently an agricultural country. Of the total population (estimated in 1907 at 6,440,000) over 50% are directly engaged in practical agriculture. In addition large numbers are engaged in industries arising out of agriculture; among these are manufacturers of agricultural implements, millers of flour and oatmeal, curers and packers of meat, makers of cheese and butter, and persons occupied in the transportation and commerce of grain, hay, live stock, meats, butter, cheese, milk, eggs, fruit and various other products. The country is splendidly formed for the production of food. Across the continent there is a zone about 3500 m. long and as wide as or wider than France, with (over a large part of this area) a climate adapted to the production of foods of superior quality. Since the opening of the 20th century, great progress has been made in the settlement and agricultural development of the western territories between the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia. The three "North-West Provinces" (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) have a total area of 369,869,898 acres, of which 12,853,120 acres are water. In 1906 their population was 808,863, nearly double what it was in 1901. The land in this vast area varies in virginal fertility, but the best soils are very rich in the constituents of plant food. Chemical analyses made by Mr F.T. Shutt have proved that soils from the North-West Provinces contain an average of 18,000 lb of nitrogen, 15,580 lb of potash and 6,700 lb of phosphoric acid per acre, these important elements of plant food being therefore present in much greater abundance than they are in ordinary cultivated European soils of good quality. The prairie lands of Manitoba and Saskatchewan produce wheat of the finest quality. Horse and cattle ranching is practised in Alberta, where the milder winters allow of the outdoor wintering of live stock to a greater degree than is possible in the colder parts of Canada. The freezing of the soil in winter, which at first sight seems a drawback, retains the soluble nitrates which might otherwise be drained out. The copious snowfall protects vegetation, supplies moisture, and contributes nitrogen to the soil. The geographical position of Canada, its railway systems and steamship service for freight across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, are favourable to the extension of the export trade in farm products to European and oriental countries. Great progress has been made in the development of the railway systems of Canada, and the new transcontinental line from the Atlantic to the Pacific, passing through Saskatchewan via Saskatoon, and Alberta via Edmonton, renders possible of settlement large areas of fertile wheat-growing soil. The canal system of Canada, linking together the great natural waterways, is also of much present and prospective importance in cheapening the transportation of agricultural produce.

Crops

Of _wheat_ many varieties are grown. The methods of cultivation do not involve the application of so much hand labour per acre as in Europe. The average yield of wheat for the whole of Canada is nearly 20 bushels per acre. In 1901 the total production of wheat in Canada was 55-1/2 million bushels. In 1906 the estimated total production was 136 million bushels. The total wheat acreage, which at the census of 1901 was 4,224,000, was over 6,200,000 in 1906, an increase of nearly two million acres in five years.

Up to the close of the 19th century, Ontario was the largest wheat-growing province in Canada. In 1900 the wheat acreage in Ontario was 1,487,633, producing 28,418,907 bushels, an average yield of 19.10 bushels per acre. Over three-quarters of this production was of fall or winter wheat, the average yield of which in Ontario over a series of years since 1883 had been about 20 bushels per acre. But the predominance in wheat-growing has now shifted to the new prairie regions of the west. A census taken in 1906 shows that the total acreage of wheat in the North-West Provinces was 5,062,493, yielding 110,586,824 bushels, an average in a fairly normal season of 21.84 bushels per acre. Of this total wheat acreage, 2,721,079 acres were in Manitoba, 2,117,484 acres in Saskatchewan, and 223,930 acres 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 lb 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.

Live stock.

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, 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 stud farms. The total number of horses in the Dominion was estimated on the basis of census returns at 2,019,824 for the year 1907, an increase of 609,309 since 1901.

Cattle, sheep, swine and poultry are reared in abundance. The bracing weather of Canadian winters is followed by the warmth and humidity of genial summers, under which crops grow in almost tropical luxuriance, while the cool evenings and nights give the plants a robustness of quality which is not to be found in tropical regions, and also make life for the various domestic animals wholesome and comfortable. In the North-West Provinces there are vast areas of prairie land, over which cattle pasture, and from which thousands of fat bullocks are shipped annually. Throughout other parts bullocks are fed on pasture land, and also in stables on nourishing and succulent feed such as hay, Indian corn fodder, Indian corn silage, turnips, carrots, mangels, ground oats, barley, peas, Indian corn, rye, bran and linseed oil cake. The breeding of cattle, adapted for the production of prime beef and of dairy cows for the production of milk, butter and cheese, has received much attention. There is government control of the spaces on the steamships in which the cattle are carried, and veterinary inspection prevents the exportation of diseased animals.