94 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of horticulture. The larger fruits are not successfully grown, 

 but many of the small fruits are produced in abundance. The 

 people are everywhere fond of flowers, and the long days and 

 abundance of sunshine in the summer months give a wealth of 

 bloom to many annuals and hardy perennials unknown in eastern 

 climates. 



Westward of Manitoba lie the four organized territories of the 

 Canadian Northwest — Assiniboia, with an area of eighty -eight 

 thousand square miles ; SaskatcheAvan, one hundred and one thou- 

 sand ; Alberta, one hundred and five thousand ; and Athabasca, 

 one hundred and three thousand. These great divisions extend 

 from the western boundary of Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains, 

 are partly traversed by railways, which have opened up the 

 country for settlement, and a sparse population of from fifty 

 thousand to sixty thousand people is scattered here and there 

 throughout this very large area. The love of trees, shrubs, and 

 flowers is universal on the plains, and luxuriant gardens full of 

 bloom are frequently found among the settlers. In the country 

 to the north lie the unsurveyed and but partly explored districts, 

 occupied only, as yet, by widely distant trading posts and occa- 

 sional settlers, but mainly in possession of Indians and fur- 

 traders. In this wide expanse are included the districts of Un- 

 gava, Keewatin, Franklin, Mackenzie, and Yukon, comprising 

 in all about a million and a half square miles, exclusive of the 

 water areas. 



The most westerly province, British Columbia, includes three 

 hundred and eighty-two thousand square miles and has a popula- 

 tion of about one hundred and twenty-five thousand. In the busy 

 mining districts not much attention is paid to horticulture, but 

 west of the Coast Range of mountains, where the climate is mild 

 and genial, much like that of England, fruits and flowers grow in 

 profusion. There the holly, laurel, rhododendron, and yew 

 flourish with the apple, pear, plum, and cherry, and, in some 

 localities, the peach. In those parts of the province between the 

 Coast Range and the Rockies there are many fine valleys, some 

 of which have not sufficient rainfall to admit of the successful 

 cultivation either of grain or fruit without irrigation. There are, 

 however, many mountain streams available for this purpose and 

 on some of the ranches very fine apples are grown. The taste for 

 flowers is almost universal, and the long, mild season permits of 



