12 DRY FARMING 



the value of the Western Canadian wheat crop between 

 fifty and one hundred million dollars. 



The climatic conditions, at least in the first few years 

 of land cultivation, are among the chief causes of poor 

 crops, and unfortunately they are largely beyond man's 

 power to change. This, however, is but another reason 

 why our climate should be better understood. If we can- 

 not change its undesirable features perhaps we can avoid 

 them; if it has any favorable aspects perhaps we can 

 take greater advantage of them. A knowledge of the 

 essential facts concerning our climate should enable us 

 gradually to choose more suitable crops and to adapt our 

 rotation and management practices to the climatic condi- 

 tions that have been fixed for us and that cannot be 

 altered by us. 



5. The Factors of Climate. The term "climate" means 

 the sum total of the atmospheric conditions that make 

 up our "weather". Weather is "the condition of the 

 atmosphere at a given time or over a limited period", 

 while climate is a more general term meaning the average 

 condition of the weather for the different seasons of the 

 year. 



The chief determiners of climate are latitude, altitude 

 and relationship to large bodies of water, forests and 

 mountain ranges. It is sufficient here to say that ours 

 is a "continental" or inland climate, in a northern lati- 

 tude, and far removed from the moderating influences 

 of large bodies of water, but influenced considerably by 

 our nearness to the Rocky Mountains, and by gradual 

 variations in altitude ranging from less than 1,000 feet 

 in the east and far north to more than 4,000 feet in the 

 upper parts of the foothills. 



