348 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
part of the province of Assinaboine, we found aconstant succession 
of forest belts alternating with beautiful grassy prairies. In this 
part of the province of Assinaboine there are a succession of great 
terraces or steps, following each other in succession to higher alti- 
tudes as we proceed westward. The largest timber belts appeared 
to be along the crests of these great waves on the plain. This 
charming admixture of prairie and forest certainly is a wonderful 
advantage to the country, furnishing timber, shelter and diversity 
of scenery to the settlers. Three hundred miles west of Winnipeg 
we passed through forest so dense that the sun’s rays could never 
reach the ground. The trees are small, but they grow with remarka- 
ble density upon the rich soil. It was a source of continual wonder 
how these forest belts have maintained themselves against the 
prairie fires which must have ravaged over this country from time 
immemorial. Yet the trees are there, and their presence is the most 
positive evidence that the climate is distinctively moist. The last 
considerable timber belt as we go westward was ten miles wide, just 
east of the great Regina prairie. 
The station of Qu’Appelle, over three hundred miles* west of Win- 
nipeg, is situated in the midst of a naturally forested section. I 
had supposed after we reached Regina that this would surely be the 
end of the timber, but then for one hundred miles westward here 
and there over the prairie could be seena grove of aspen rising 
above the prairie level. In fact, to a point as far west as Moose Jaw, 
four hundred miles west of Wiunipeg, it was a surprise to find the 
country cultivated and raising luxuriant crops, and the writer was 
told by a number of persons well informed in regard to the climate 
that if the Canadian Pacific road had been built thirty or fifty miles 
north of its present location, the country could have been farmed 
every mile of the distance between Winnipeg and the Rockies, over 
eight hundred miles. 
The railroad appears to have paid great interest to tree planting. 
At the experimental farm at Indian Head, three hundred fourteen 
miles west of Winnipeg, we find magnificent crops and plantations 
of trees, which were a delight to the eye anda plain indication of 
the capacity of the country for tree growing and agriculture. But 
here again we find the tree growing methods applied by the railroad 
and the settlers distinctively different from those in vogue in Minne- 
sota and the Dakotas. All trees are planted very closely together 
for mutual protection and to shade the earth from the sun and dry- 
ing winds. Nota weed or blade of grass is permitted to grow, the 
ground between the trees being carefully cultivated at intervals 
throughout the season. The result is that at Indian-Head, Regina, 
Moose Jaw and other points, surrounding the railroad depot are 
beautiful parks of green trees instead of the Sahara of dust and 
weeds which we too often find around American railroad stations. 
Close planting and frequent cultivation are responsible for the fact 
that the writer did not see a dead tree ordead branch or unhealthful 
tree in any tree plantation on these great plains. 
West of Moose Jaw the country becomes considerably drier, and 
we noted the appearance of varieties of grass peculiar to dry cli- 
