GERANIUM 



2102 



GERANIUM 



board's report, issued in 1909, established the 

 feasibility of the canal and submitted details 

 for a waterway 440 miles long, with a mini- 

 mum channel of twenty-two feet. The canal 

 would begin at the mouth of the French River, 

 in the northeast corner of Georgian Bay, follow 

 this river to Lake Nipissing, then pass through 

 a number of small lakes to the Ottawa River 

 and down the Ottawa valley to Montreal. 

 There would be twenty-eight miles of canal 

 excavation, sixty-six miles of channel dredging, 

 and 346 miles of lake and river. The plans 

 call for twenty-seven locks of a minimum 

 length of 650 feet, with a clear width of sixty- 

 five feet and a depth of twenty-two. The 

 total fall from the summit, east of Lake 

 Nipissing, to the Saint Lawrence at Montreal 

 is 659 feet. The minimum water supply in the 

 summit basin would permit twenty lockages 

 a day throughout the season of about 210 days. 



The canal would shorten the water route 

 from Montreal to Lake Superior ports by 282 

 miles, and from Montreal to Lake Michigan 

 ports by 270 miles. The cost of this under- 

 taking is estimated at $125,000,000. Before 

 pledging itself to the expenditure of this vast 

 sum, the Dominion government determined to 

 investigate the commercial feasibility of the 

 canal, and in a general way the relation it 

 would have to the transportation problems in 

 Canada. For this purpose the Georgian Bay 

 Canal Commission was appointed in 1914. Its 

 preliminary report appeared in 1916. W.S.E. 



GERANIUM, jera'nium, a hardy, flowering 

 house or garden plant cultivated throughout 

 America and Europe, but originally a native 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a grateful 

 plant, and in almost any soil, with plenty of 

 water, sunshine and but little care will send 

 forth its shrubby, leafy stems and red, pink 

 or white flower clusters from a tin can as 

 readily as from an expensively-prepared bed. 

 In some places, California especially, this or- 

 namental plant grows almost like a little tree. 

 Geraniums are popular for their brilliant flow- 

 ers and beautifully-marked fragrant foliage. 

 The leaves of the rose geranium are especially 

 fragrant and are often used to flavor jellies. 

 The ivy leaved geranium, with its trailing 

 habit, shiny leaves and loose flower clusters, 

 is a favorite for window boxes. 



A species of wild geranium popularly known 

 as crane's-bill) is found wild in parts of the 

 United States, Canada and Europe. It has 

 beautiful leaves and magenta flowers, which do 

 not last long, however, when picked. Its root 



is used in medicine as a stimulant. The alfil- 

 aria, common in the Pacific coast region, where 

 it is used for forage, is a genus of geranium. 



THE GERANIUM 

 As a house plant. 



ideal winter-flowering 

 it adapts itself 



The geranium is an 

 plant for the home, since 

 readily to condi- 

 tions found in 

 the ordinary liv- 

 i ng-r oom . If 

 plants are ob- 

 tained which 

 have not been ex- 

 hausted by 

 blooming during 

 the summer, that 

 ie, whose buds 

 have been re^ 

 moved as they 

 appeared, they 

 will with little 

 care blossom in 

 profusion from 

 January to June. 

 The housewife 

 who sees that her 

 geraniums have 

 a sunny location 

 and enough water 

 to keep them con- WILD GERANIUM 



stantly moist at the roots may enjoy her 

 indoor garden throughout the winter months. 



