CHAPTER XII 



The Climate of the Canadian Prairies and Causes — De- 

 ductions from Plant Life — Causes of Aridity in Certain 

 Parts of the Prairies — Uniformity of Temperature 

 over a Great Area and Description of Air Currents 

 which cause this — suitability of the climate for 

 Wheat Growing — Conclusions. 



MY early studies, while on the farm, and when teaching, 

 were largely influenced by studying Humboldt's "Cos- 

 mos" and Lyell's "Principles of Geology." These two 

 books enlightened me a great deal, and, later, when I began to 

 lecture in Albert College, I had to lecture on physical geography, 

 meteorology, geology and botany. These four studies took 

 the most of my time and thought, and, having no teachers, I 

 formed my own opinions and enunciated them with great force. 

 My mind began to open as I taught and I constantly asked my- 

 self the question as to why such statements were made by the 

 authors, and, later, I asked my pupils in both school and college 

 the very same thing; in fact, at this stage of my life, I asked proof 

 for every statement made in books and lectures, and, I believe, 

 that is the cause of my want of belief in many of the statements 

 made to-day. 



In 1863, I had read a paper on Bog Plants and showed they 

 wanted coolness for their roots. At that time, it was generally 

 thought that heat was the great necessity, but, in studying the 

 life of Linnaeus, the great botanist, I found that he came into 

 notice while he was an assistant in a botanical garden, I believe, 

 in Holland. He saw an alpine plant drooping and almost dying 

 and he immediately got some ice and put around it and, at once, 

 the plant began to grow. The gardener thought he was going to 

 kill it by putting the ice around it, whereas it wanted the condition 

 in which it desired to live. In my plant studies, I discovered 

 that certain plants required heat at the roots and moisture above, 



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