198 CLIMATE AND CAUSES 



while others wanted coolness below and heat above, and others, 

 again, dry soil and little heat. But our weeds seem to care noth- 

 ing for conditions — all they want is a chance to grow, which they 

 do whether the farmer desires them to do so or not. 



These things may seem simple, but they are worth reflecting 

 on for one can start from a premise like this and reach many a 

 happy conclusion. I made applications and said that heat by 

 day and cold at night seemed the two factors needed and made 

 other observations. I had read a paper at the Botanical Society 

 in Kingston and the Kingston "Whig," next day, in criticising 

 the paper, said that my application was the first time that they 

 had seen Tyndall's Heat as a Mode of Motion explained. 



When I went to Lake Superior in 1869, I saw many things 

 that opened my eyes regarding botany and, amongst others, I 

 found that the flora within 100 yards of the water was quite dis- 

 tinct from that three hundred yards away. The one was semi- 

 arctic and the other the usual flora of a cool, damp, country. I 

 deduced from this that heat and moisture were the two factors 

 that produced any climate in any place. I discovered this when 

 at the Lake and, in my later report in 1877, I stated it distinctly 

 and said that all that was needed was to drain the land and the 

 result would be more heat and less frost. Today, the region above 

 Lake Superior and a little west is noted for being in places excel- 

 lent farming land while, in my day, it was all swamp and muskeg. 



It will be seen that I was fully prepared for my trip with Mr. 

 Fleming in 1872 and also with Dr. Selwyn in 1875. I could talk 

 with confidence on what I saw and, in my book "The Great 

 North West," published in 1882, 1 wrote in my own ideas and those 

 of others. Following are quotations from it. 



"The general conclusions which I arrived at from my ex- 

 plorations of 1872 and 1875 were: 



1st. That, as there was but one flora common to the region 

 extending from 8 to 1 2 degrees of latitude, or as far north as 60° 

 and, as that flora required a high summer temperature for its 

 existence, the thermometer would be found to show a correspond- 

 ing temperature of heat throughout the whole district. 



2nd. That exceptional or special conditions must exist to 



