774 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



active farm cultivation, giving therefore no warrant for the limit- 

 ing of the wheat area to the southern part of the province. Mr. 

 Davis quotes a line here and there about southern Alberta in order 

 to convey the impression that that part of the country is good for 

 nothing, whereas, while it is essentially a ranching and dairying 

 country, producing a most luxurious and nutritious growth of na- 

 tive grasses, with a bountiful supply of water for irrigation pur- 

 poses, by which means most satisfactory crops of grain and fodder 

 are produced, it has never been contended that it is particularly 

 well adapted for wheat-growing; but, on the other hand, Mr. Davis 

 carefully omits all mention of northern Alberta, and has no room 

 for the following remarks about it which appear on the same page 

 of the handbook: "Northern Alberta is essentially an agricultural 

 district; . . . the principal advantages of the district will insure 

 settlement by immigrants who desire to engage in grain farming. 

 . . . The rainfall in northern Alberta during the summer months 

 is sufficient to insure good crops." Concerning the district of Sas- 

 katchewan, Mr. Davis quotes a remark about some of the wooded 

 portion being unsuited to the immediate requirements of settle- 

 ment, as if it applied to the whole district, and deliberately omits 

 the following: " The southern half of the district " (Saskatchewan) 

 " is traversed from east to west by the Saskatchewan River, and the 

 valley of this important stream, with the country immediately adja- 

 cent thereto, has long been famed as a desirable field for immigra- 

 tion." "With reference to precipitation, Mr. Davis has so garbled 

 his extracts as to convey the impression that the handbook states 

 that over the greater part of the Northwest the rainfall is not suffi- 

 cient for the pursuit of agriculture, whereas what the book really 

 says is, " So far as the Canadian Northwest is concerned, out of 

 about two hundred million acres of land between the Red River of 

 the North to the Rocky Mountains, available for agricultural and 

 pastoral purposes, not more than about one fourth, or fifty million 

 acres in all, require the artificial application of water." 



Mr. Davis's attempts to prejudice the interests of the North- 

 west by remarks on the severity of the climate do not need serious 

 attention; the experience of the inhabitants and the annual pro- 

 duction of the country speak for themselves, and it is well under- 

 stood that mere thermometer readings afford little indication in 

 themselves of the nature of a climate, and that temperatures unen- 

 durable in some countries are enjoyable, salubrious, and advan- 

 tageous in. others. It seems difficult to believe that Mr. Davis ever 

 wrote the following sentence, but having written it, it would be 

 well if he would take it to heart : " Truly ' honesty is the best pol- 

 icy ' in the employment of statistics, whether by scientists, by plain 



