572 BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



horticultural school at present in the province, but a 

 department of horticulture is planned for the College 

 of Agriculture and will no doubt be equipped in the 

 near future, but at present the only instruction given 

 is through qualified practical horticulturists sent out 

 by the Extension Department to address meetings 

 throughout the province. X. N. WILLING. 



Alberta. 



Alberta (Fig. 662), is the farthest west of the three 

 prairie provinces of Canada. Its eastern boundary is 

 the 110th parallel of longitude, and its western bound- 

 ary for about 500 miles north is the summit of the 

 Rocky Mountains; and beyond this point, its western 

 boundary is the 120th parallel. 



662. Alberta. 



From a climatic point of view, the province naturally 

 divides itself into four principal regions, southern 

 Alberta, central Alberta, northern Alberta, and the 

 foothills or highlands district. The latitude of the 

 northern part of the province is offset to a great degree 

 by its lesser elevation. 



Northern Alberta may be said to be that part of the 

 province lying north of a line drawn east and west 

 through Athabasca Landing. The whole of this dis- 

 trict is still practically unsettled, although people are 

 going in; a few small older settlements are scattered here 

 and there about the fur-trading posts, and all the com- 

 mon garden vegetables, as well as farm crops, are grown 

 at these places, as far north as 400 miles beyond Edmon- 

 ton. Wild currants, gooseberries, strawberries, rasp- 

 berries, and saskatoons or Juneberries are plentiful 

 throughout the region. The country is more or less 

 bush-covered or park-like, and is, in this way, protected 

 from the winds that sweep over the open country in the 



south. In view of what has been accomplished in fruit- 

 growing in the south, at a higher altitude and under 

 wind-swept conditions, it is reasonable to expect that at 

 least some of the hardier apples and crabs will in time 

 be grown successfully in the far north. The soil of 

 northern Alberta is a deep black humous loam, and its 

 very richness constitutes a danger from a horticultural 



Eoint of view. There is usually an abundance of rain- 

 ill, and the difficulty with fruit trees under such con- 

 ditions is to get them matured-up before winter. X 

 reports are at hand as to attempts at growing fruit in 

 northern Alberta. The distance from the railways is <i> 

 great that plants are usually dried out before reaching 

 their destination, but as railways are now being pushed 

 north, it will doubtless not be long before promising 

 results will be secured. 



Central Alberta may be said to comprise the region 

 lying south of northern Alberta as far as a line drawn 

 through Red Deer to Provost near the Saskatchewan 

 border. Its soil, climate, and other features are similar 

 to those of northern Alberta, although the altitude in 

 the central part of the district is greater, rising at 

 Lacombe to over 2,900 feet. It is the oldest settled 

 part of Alberta, and is covered with well-handled farms, 

 whose owners, having been some years in the country, 

 have had time to make experiments in fruit-growing. 

 Apples have been produced near Edmonton, Ponoka 

 and Red Deer, and crabs have been grown at the Do- 

 minion Experimental Farm at Lacombe and also at 

 Calgary. Small fruits are grown successfully all over 

 the district. The influence of the difference in altitude 

 is very marked in this territory, as ornamental trees, 

 such as the soft maple (Acer saccharinum) and the 

 American basswood (Tilia americana) are hardy in 

 Edmonton, while they are a failure farther south at 

 higher altitudes, and with similar soils, shelter, and 

 rainfall. 



The Highlands of Alberta may be described as the 

 country south of the Red Deer River, east as far as a 

 line drawn north of Gleichen on the main line of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway, and thence running south- 

 west to Stavely on the Calgary and Macleod line, and 

 from that point south to a point north of Cardston, 

 and thence east through Spring Coulee. Its western 

 boundary is the boundary of the province. This is the 

 highest part of the cultivable land of Alberta, rising to 

 a height of over 4,000 feet. A very small area of the 

 northern part of this region is wooded, the remainder 

 being open and often wind-swept prairie, with the addi- 

 tional harassment in the south of the warm chinook 

 winds. In appearance, this southern section is not 

 unlike the country east of it, while it is still in the "dry" 

 belt, with a rainfall reaching in certain places at times 

 over 20 inches. It has a little more precipitation than 

 southern Alberta to the east of it. This increased pre- 

 cipitation causes longer and thicker grass, and this 

 growing and dying down for generations has left a 

 richer soil, which in turn encourages late growth in 

 trees. This, coupled with the often shorter season be- 

 tween frosts, incident to its higher altitude, will proba- 

 bly preclude the possibility of apple-growing becoming 

 general in the higher districts unless in favored spots. 

 The hardier varieties of small fruits do well in this 

 region, and at Cardston, 12 miles from the United 

 States boundary line, at an altitude of approximately 

 4,000 feet, apples have been grown by a number of 

 persons. At Joe McFarlane's ranch about 6 miles from 

 the Livingstone Range of the Rocky Mountains, at an 

 altitude of over 4,000 feet, Hyslop crabs have been 

 ripened. These successes were in sheltered situations; 

 and while this district may never become known 

 as apple-producing, still these cases serve to show 

 what may be done in isolated instances in which 

 conditions are favorable, and may be accepted as an 

 indication of what may become more general in yeara 

 to come. 



