Grasshoppers are an infliction which is not very frequent nor very greatly feared; the spring floods are annual torments for which no remedy has yet been adopted. They cause the farmer much annoyance and serious loss. The deposit left upon the land which has been inundated frequently lessens its fertility for a season. There is a remedy which would cure all this, or better still which would prevent the mischief altogether. A lightning-rod guards the farmer's house and barns from injury by the electric fluid. A proper and general system of drainage would shield his fields from the destroying flood when the snow melts in the spring and the streams are swollen to a great height. The Government of the Province have a comprehensive scheme of drainage in contemplation. If it were carried out and if it proved effectual, the wealth of the Province would be vastly augmented, the waste now produced by the floods being incalculable.

The Red River cart is a relic of Manitoba in the old time which is destined to follow the buffalo and be seen no more. Indeed, it cannot outlast the buffalo, because buffalo hide is one of the chief materials used in its construction. The cart is entirely made of wood and buffalo hide, no metal being employed or required in its construction. It was an ingenious device of the first settlers who, having no iron at their disposal, had

56

Manitoba Homesteads.

to contrive to dispense with it. Such a cart costs $10; it is light as well as cheap, and a heavier load can be drawn in it by an ox over the soft prairie than in a cart of another build. With one of these carts carrying a load of half a ton, a yoke of oxen, a plough and a few other implements, the Manitoba farmer is equipped for tilling the soil. Farming on the prairie is very different work from farming in the backwoods of Canada. It has been aptly and truly said, "Where the Ontario farmer ends, the farmer of Manitoba begins." The latter has merely to plough the prairie, sow the seed and wait till his grain is ready to be reaped; he has neither trees to fell, nor land to clear.

Any citizen of the British Empire can get a farm in Manitoba on very easy terms. The Canadian Homestead Act provides that he may secure 160 acres of land on paying an office fee of $10, living there three years, erecting a dwelling on it not less than 18 feet long by 16 feet wide, and cultivating a part of the land. On complying with these conditions, he becomes the absolute owner of the land. His task is not hard. He may grow a crop the first year of occupation which will reimburse him for all his outlay. Should he have cattle, they can graze free of cost on the prairie grass and be fed in winter on hay which he obtains for the trouble of cutting and

curing it. In order to succeed he must start with capital; the minimum sum which he ought to have on beginning to farm is $500; the larger his capital the greater his chance of success. In any case he must make up his mind to endure some privations, to eat very plain food, to sleep little and work very hard. Should he be diligent in toiling with his hands, he may count upon being in comfortable circumstances at the end of five years and a rich man at the end of ten. The fault will be his own if he fail. Nature has done everything for the Manitoba farmer that nature can do for any farmer, and it rests with him to do the rest. The Manitoba farmers whom I visited and with whom I conversed are so conscious of this as to indulge but seldom in the grumbling which is the failing of the farming class. I found them more ready to express thankfulness than to find fault. It was their rule to use nearly the same form of words in which to convey their reply to my question as to what they thought about the country as a whole, the phrase being "Manitoba is the finest land that God's sun ever shone on,'

1

1 Among the many pamphlets, Blue Books and works relating to Manitoba which I have read, none contains a more interesting and valuable account of its early history than a book entitled Red River, by Mr. J. J. Hargrave, published at Montreal in 1871.

CHAPTER IV.

MENNONITES AND ICELANDERS IN MANITOBA.

Their

THE emigration of the Mennonites from their Russian homes near the Sea of Azoff to new ones near the Red River of the North, is an interesting fact in contemporary history. These Mennonites are German Protestants who reject infant baptism, who will not bear arms or take an oath. ancestors took refuge in Russia a century ago because they were not allowed to practise their religion in Western Prussia. They found an asylum in Russia where the edicts of successive Emperors allowed them to till the soil and live in peace. It was decreed, however, that the immunity which they had enjoyed from military service should terminate in 1871; hence, they had either to submit to the conscription or leave the country. The majority chose the latter alternative.

A large number of Mennonites emigrated to the United States, settling in Nebraska and Kansas.

A small body went to Brazil, suffered much and returned to Russia after undergoing great privations and after being the objects of English charity during their stay at Southampton, on returning from Brazil, and till permission to reenter Russia was granted. While the exodus was in progress, Mr. Hespeler was commissioned by the Canadian Government to proceed to Russia and suggest to the Mennonites that Manitoba would be a suitable place for them. A few Mennonites had settled in Ontario, had prospered, had grown rich and were disposed to succour their unfortunate brethren in the dominions of the Czar. They agreed to become sureties to the Government of Canada for the repayment of any sum which it might be necessary to advance to the Russian Mennonites by way of loan. The amount lent by the Government was $80,000, at 6 per cent. interest, repayable in eight years.

Before deciding to leave Russia for Canada, the Mennonites sent three agents to survey the land and empowered them, if satisfied with it, to select a tract for settlement. These agents reported very favourably of Manitoba, and they chose two places one to the East, the other to the West of the Red River, as suitable for their brethren. The Canadians were not impressed with the penetration of these agents, because the