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adaptability of the district for the growth of certain varieties of cultivated plants, 
He asserted that this botanical test was the only true criterion by which the agri- 
cultural status of any district should be judged. In the North-West every species 
of plant was found to have its particular habitat as regards soil and moisture. 
This fact had been realized by the members of the Geological Survey, for in the 
last report Prof. Bell had stated that “the information derived from a study of 
the distribution of trees and shrubs, and of the flora generally in any district, 
affords one of the most certain means of judging the climate for agricultural 
purposes.” Such a test had been applied by him in his explorations of the Peace 
River country during 1872 and 1875. Many excursions off the direct line of 
travel were made in descending the river, and all the species of plants noted, 
with the exception of three, were similar to those of Ontario, whence he deduced 
that the summer climate of the Peace River region was similar to that of Ontario, 
aud that the same cereals which came to perfection in the latter place would do 
so in the former. Actual cultivation had since fully proved the truth of that 
deduction, The previous season he had visited the Cypress Hills region, and 
received unfavourable impressions of it on account of the number of Rocky 
Mountain species of plants growing there. He at once concluded that the district 
would not ripen cereals, and further obseryation justified that conclusion. With 
reference to the large tracts of alkaline lands, so generally denounced as sterile 
and incapable of cultivation, he explained that their apparent aridity and want 
of vegetation was nearly always due to causes which cultivation of the soil would 
remove. Holland, principally an old sea-bottom, was noted for its fertility, and 
salt marshes when reclaimed from the sea, as in the Basin of Minas, were known » 
to form the best pastures in the world, although salt lands were said to be regions 
of sterility. Yet he knew that on the alkaline soil, even where the cactus and 
sage-bush grew, the grass was always cropped short by the cattle, and from his 
observations he believed them to be some of the best pasture lands in the world. 
On these soils also seaside plants, such as the cabbage, grew in great luxuriance. 
Passing on, the lecturer alluded to the warm and cold soils of the vast interior, 
and stated that nearly all the prairie uplands were covered with a warm soil, and, 
from the nature of the flora, he was positive that frosts would never do serious 
injury in these localities. The river silts and clays produced plants that were 
boreal in their tendency, as contrasted with the southern plants found growing on 
the uplands ; and in the river valley crops invariably suffered from frost. The 
farmers were rapidly learning this fact, and, ayoiding the loamy lands of the 
