WHEAT 15 



Scotland and Ireland also grow wheat ; but the quantity 

 produced is small. 



Canada. As the traveller from Eastern Canada enters the 

 Prairie Provinces in the winter time, and gazes out from the 

 carriage windows on the apparently limitless expanse of 

 monotonous snow, it is difficult to imagine a more dreary 

 scene. Later on in the season, however, these same level 

 plains present a very different appearance : north and south, 

 and east and west, as far as the eye can see, they are covered 

 with ripening grain, for this is indeed the land of wheat, and 

 here lies our hope for the future. 



The first of these provinces is Manitoba (area 73,732 square 

 miles). The winters here are very cold, but the summers are 

 hot, and the grain ripens before the frost can injure it ; the 

 rainfall is moderate, but sufficient, and the soil is a rich, deep, 

 alluvial loam. 



Saskatchewan, larger than Manitoba, has in the south-east 

 a similar climate and soil, but in the south-west suffers 

 occasionally from insufficient rain ; her yield of wheat is, 

 however, greater than that of Manitoba. 



Alberta, situated on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, was 

 at one time considered unsuitable for the production of wheat 

 owing to lack of rain. It has, however, been found that by 

 means of irrigation (here easy on account of the slope of the 

 land, and the numerous streams flowing down from the 

 mountains) wheat can be grown very successfully. The plains 

 here are about 3,000 feet above sea-level, but the mild Chinook 

 wind blows over from the Pacific, and makes the cold less 

 intense than it is farther east. 



In these provinces there are three chief lines of railway, 

 the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk Pacific, and the 

 Canadian Northern. The latter has built short branches west 

 and north of Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. The grain 

 is sent by rail eastwards as far as Lake Superior, whence it 

 is sent by water to Europe. When the railway from Winnipeg 

 to Hudson Bay is built it will be possible in the summer 



