CHAPTER VIII. 

 PREPARING PARK BELT LAND FOR ITS FIRST CROP 



The southern part of each of the Prairie Provinces is 

 an open plain, for the most part free from trees. On 

 the northern border of this treeless region the character 

 of the vegetation changes until an intermixture of trees, 

 shrubs and open prairie is found which gives to the 

 landscape an added beauty and suggests the name by 

 which it is commonly known, the park belt. 



109. Location and Extent. — The southern edge of this 

 belt touches the international boundary line near the 

 eastern boundary of Manitoba and passes generally in a 

 northwesterly direction, reaching its most northerly 

 point in the western part of central Saskatchewan, from 

 which point it turns gradually southward until 

 it touches the foot hills of the Rocky Mount- 

 ains in southern Alberta. No clearly marked boundary 

 between the prairie and park belt exists. In some of the 

 prairie area there are places where "scrub" and even 

 small "bluffs" may be found. Likewise in the park belt 

 there are frequently found large areas of open prairie. To 

 the north of the park belt very little open prairie is 

 found, the vegetation is more dense and the trees are as 

 a rule larger than in the park belt. The width of this 

 intermediate zone or park belt varies from a few to many 

 miles. 



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