eee Pee 
NOTES ON MANITOBA. 155 
The general conclusions which I arrived at from my explorations 
of 1872 and 1875 were: Ist, That as there was but one flora com- 
mon to the region extending through from eight to twelve degrees of 
latitude, or as far north as 60°, and as that flora required a high 
summer temperature for its existence, the thermometer would be 
found to show a correspondingly even distribution of heat through- 
out the whole region. 
2nd. That exceptional or special conditions must exist to produce 
that high and even distribution of heat discovered as ranging over so 
great an area. 
These conclusions have since been established as facts by the 
recorded observations sent in from the Meteorological Stations at 
Winnipeg, Fort Mcleod, and Fort Calgarry in the south, and Fort 
Rae and Fort Simpson in the north. (See Meteorological Report 
for 1878.) 
In 1879 my attention was mainly directed to an investigation of 
the causes of the supposed aridity of the district lying to the south. 
I found a parched surface, dried and withered grasses, and in short, 
every appearance of the existence of such aridity ; but closer ex- 
amination showed that these indications were illusory. At the point, 
“ Blackfoot Crossing” lat. 50° 43’ where the consequences of aridity 
appeared the strongest, I came upon ground, broken up in the spring, 
bearing excellent crops of all kinds—oats being four feet high, while 
on the land outside the fence the grass was burnt up and all other 
vegetation withered. From this I argued that the rainfall in the 
district was evidently ample for the requirements of vegetation, but 
that, until the baked crust was broken, it could not percolate the 
ground as rapidly as it fell and so a great portion was evaporated by 
the dry atmosphere and lost. Thus the apparent aridity vanishes 
before the first efforts of husbandry. Next to the question of ari- 
dity was that of the high and even temperature of climate. On this 
point I simply accumulated data bearing on the observations of 
former years, all of which tended to prove that the great plain to 
the north-westward, and north of lat. 49°, extending along tle Sas- 
katchewan and other rivers between the 100th and 115th meridians, 
and the narrow strip of coast north of Montery, California, presen, 
decided features of difference from other districts of the American 
continent. These differences and peculiarities I shall now deal with 
sertatim. 
