PREPARING SEED-GRAIN 267 



1907 from start to finish was exceptional, not typical. 

 It proved such a ruling factor in the history of my 

 experiment, occurring as it did at the critical 

 moment, that it is essential it should be faithfully 

 recorded. It is seldom, however, that the entire 

 wheat crop raised in the prairie provinces escapes 

 without a scratch of early frost here or there ; this 

 is hardly to be wondered at considering the enormous 

 expanse of land included in these provinces. The 

 failure of the 1907 crop was not caused by early 

 frost but through the belated spring and lack of 

 sun in July and August. The whole season was in 

 strongest contrast to the sun-blessed perfect seasons 

 of 1905 and 1906, which years caused a leap in the 

 development of Canada's prosperity, proving again 

 that the farmer is the god in the car of this nation 

 of most brilliant promise. To return to the closing 

 days of March 1907, the record of my diary reads : 



" March 29. — Good Friday. A bright but bitterly 

 cold day, the wind seeming to blow from every 

 quarter and absolutely piercing. Two men called 

 in search of a job. Spent most of the day as I spent 

 Christmas Day, trying to keep the cattle off the 

 remnant of hay which with care will easily pull us 

 through the seeding month. Temper distinctly 

 milder on these occasions, but horribly tired and 

 rather down-hearted. The weather is trying one 

 just now far more than in the worst of winter days, 

 when at least nothing mattered but oneself. 



" March 30. — Cleaned seed. Very cold. Hard 

 frost and wind. 



"■March 31. — Bitter piercing wind. Hard frost 

 and Easter Sunday — the greyest Easter I have ever 



