Farm Lanps AND Naturat RESOURCES. 27

market facilities now being realized, this naturally endowed area should
prove one of the choicest in British Columbia for the practical, energetic
man who decides to take up mixed farming for a living.

CATTLE-RANCHING.

Stock-raising has been carried on for many years in the northern section
of the area served by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, more particularly
in the Lillooet-Cariboo District, from which many fine beef cattle have
been shipped. It is estimated by authorities that the cattle in the districts
named to-day will run approximately 44,000 head. However, the amount
of unused range land in these sections is more or less limited at the present
time and new-comers would probably have to depend to a considerable
extent on their own holdings for range if they secured a footing in the
country. The production of early beef of notable quality will, in the opinion
of most people, see big development in a much newer area which is also

cS

FARMING SCENE NEAR ALEXANDRIA.

tributary to the Pacific Great Eastern Railway—namely, the Nechako Valley
lying between Quesnel and Prince George. :

There is a prolific seasonal growth of nutritious forage on unsettled
areas of these Crown lands which lie to the north, and they are for the most
part convenient to the railway. Being especially suitable for summer graz-
ing, it should eventually lead settlers to the production of beef from the
surplus of dual-purpose dairy cattle as well as from cattle of beef type.

For the reason that the hay-producing lands in this section of British
Columbia lie mostly along the valleys and are not in extensive or compact
bodies, the small-sized ranch must prevail; that is to say, with an average
of from 10 to 250 head of cattle. On a corresponding scale, sheep-ranches
with from 50 to perhaps 500 head for the farm flock and with one or two
bands of 1,200 head each where the range-sheep business is followed. The
smaller quantity of stock permits greater supervision in handling, while the