106 EUKAL LIFE IN CANADA 



But forestry and orcharding touch merely the fringe 

 of the application of this principle of adapting the 

 system of farming to the nature of the land. An analy- 

 sis of the soil of the Eed Kiver Valley, made at Eotham- 

 sted, in England — where soils are known as nowhere 

 else — reveals that the plains of Manitoba, the objective 

 point of the migrations of the buffalo of old, are best 

 suited to grass. And grass, plain grass, is king; and 

 neither wheat nor corn nor cotton. Grass conserves, 

 protects, enriches the soil. Grass in abundance spells 

 good crops for years to come. Grass is the foremost 

 crop in extent, the greatest revenue producer of the 

 world. It, too, in turn, needs to be adapted to fittest 

 use. In Lanark County, Ontario, Drummond, with 

 level, rich soil and good roads, is best fitted for dairy- 

 ing; Dalhousie, with rolling hills and fertile valleys, 

 is the natural home of beef cattle, while Burgess, with 

 its large, rougher farms, is an ideal home for sheep. 



Adaptation to soil, climate, and all conditions, must 

 become the fundamental condition of all husbandry. 

 An American authority puts the case well : " In a 

 rough way the American farmer has done precisely 

 this. The wheat belt, the corn belt, the cotton belt, the 

 sugar-beet belt, the fruit belts, are the result of this 

 adaptation. In the future, however, an approximate 

 or rough adaptation will not answer. It must be accu- 

 rate, scientific. The number of cultivated crops is sure 

 to increase rapidly. New varieties will demand special 

 environment. Competition between lands will force 

 the best use of every acre. Minute conditions of soil- 

 texture, slope, drainage, rainfall, frost-line, sunshine, 



