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valleys, preferred the dry exposed prairies formerly neglected, but now found to 
be incomparably superior, for the growth of cereals, to the lower but cooler lands. 
It was found that on the warmer soil of the prairies the crops ripened three 
weeks earlier than in the river valleys and the colder lands of Manitoba. Hence, 
the second prairie steppe, beginning one hundred miles west of Winnipeg and 
extending to the Saskatchewan; would be found far superior to Manitoba for the 
growth of cereals, because there a certainty of at all times ripening the crops was 
assured. Although summer frosts might occassionally make their appearance in 
the valleys, there were none, or scarcely any, on the level plateaux. Last year 
crops put in after the 15th June had been injured by frost, but only severely in 
the valleys. With regard to rain, little fell before the crops were planted, but 
after that there was an ample fall to secure their full growth. The lecturer then 
enunciated an important botanical law, as accounting for the well-known heavy 
crops of grain secured so far north. This was the law of wonderfully increased 
reproduction as plants approached their outer, or northern, limit. Hence, the 
cereals grown in the districts alluded to,so near the extreme northern limit, were 
found to be more prolific than those grown anywhere else. Ordinarily, on an ear 
of wheat grown in Ontario each fascicle contained but two grains. In Winnipeg 
they averaged two and a-half, at Prince Albert four, and at Edmonton nearly five. 
When it was taken into account that the heads also increased in length, it was 
not difficult to understand that the same number of stalks that would produce 
fifteen to twenty bushels to the acre in Ontario would yield twenty-five bushels 
at Winnipeg, and from thirty to forty bushels farther north. As regarded the 
grasses found in various parts of the country, the same species grew under the east- 
ern base of the Rocky Mountains as were found farther east, and commonly sup- 
posed to be inferior in quality. The only difference was, that on the dry plains of 
the south hardly any grasses produced large crops of seeds, so that the fodder 
afforded by the natural drying up of the grasses was richer in nutriment, nearly 
equalling first-class hay. The “ buffalo grass,” incorrectly named “ wild oats,” did 
not, as often stated, harm either sheep, horses or cattle. Referring to Capt. Pal- 
liser’s assertion, that the country near the Red Deer Lakes was barren, he 
explained that this was due to buffalo and deer having eaten the district bare. 
In 1879 the same tract of land was covered with waving grass, but not a 
quadruped was to be seen there. The land which had supported millions of 
buffaloes could assuredly not be called barren, but could feed cattle for the English 
market, and also supply the wheat, flax and hemp so largely imported from 
