482 OFFICIAL JOURNEYS. 
maintained outdoors and thrive remarkably well until the December shows come. 
A small shelter-shed for the pigs is provided on each plot. 
The visit to neighbouring farms impressed members with the magnificent crops 
and attractive homesteads. The Alberta farmers have been gradually turning 
- from ‘straight’ wheat-growing to mixed husbandry involving the introduction of 
livestock. Stock are now to be found on a large proportion of the farms. An 
excellent flock of Oxford Down sheep on a 160-acre holding was inspected during 
the afternoon, and also a herd of 500 pigs and 40 Ayrshire cows on a 1200-acre farm. 
The visiting members were entertained to luncheon by the City of 
Edmonton at the Macdonald Hotel, when they were welcomed by the 
Mayor, and to dinner in the evening by the University of Alberta in the 
University dining-hall. A public evening meeting was held in the 
Convocation Hall of the University, when the members were welcomed 
by President H. M. Tory, and short addresses were delivered by Sir John 
Russell on Eighty Years of Wheat Growing, by Sir William Beveridge on 
The Economic Outlook in Great Britain, and by Dr. J. 8. Flett on The 
Functions of a State Geologist. An informal conversazione was also held 
in the University before the members left at night to rejoin the trains. 
Botanical Excursion, Edmonton—Banff—A party of botanists left the main 
excursion at Edmonton and, leaving the city in the morning of Sunday, August 24, 
travelled by motor-cars to Calgary (205 miles). The Dominion experimental farm at 
Lacombe was visited on the way, and the party was entertained to tea by the Director. 
Occasional timbered hollows varied the monotony of the prairie, and the view of 
Red Deer in its river valley was also a welcome contrast. Calgary was reached 
between 10 p.m. and midnight. The next morning (August 25) was spent in Calgary, 
and after luncheon the party set out for Banff, 87 miles distant—a fine ride towards 
the mountains, first across prairie-land, with extensive oat crops and patches of 
grazing land in the hollows; then through more undulating ground with low woods 
into the foot-hills, and then the National Reserve and the magnificent mountain gorge 
through which the Bow River runs from the Banff Valley. i 
The night was spent at the Middle Springs Camp on the slope of Mount Sulphur, 
800 feet above Banff. Next morning (August 26), after a visit to the Alpine Club 
above the camp, whence magnificent views of the valley and its encircling mountains 
were obtained, the party motored to Storm Mountain Camp, at the head of the Bow 
River Valley, 1000 feet above Banff, and shortly after took the trail through the 
woods up Boom Mountain to Boom Lake, at the foot of the Boom Mountain glacier. 
The lake and its surroundings recall Lake Louise on a small scale. After two hours 
of botanic investigations along the lake-shore came a walk back down the trail and 
a short ride to Storm Mountain Camp, where the night was spent. On Wednesday, 
August 27, a ten-miles’ drive over the watershed between Alberta and British 
Columbia to Marble Canyon was followed by a walk up a forest trail along the 
Vermilion River to a bluff which afforded a fine view of the river gorge. Some of the 
party visited the old Indian paint-pots, the ochre-beds which supplied the war-paint ; 
others ascended the mountain, following a snow-slide, to the scree. On returning, 
Major Robertson, the engineer of the new Windermere Road, led the party for a ride 
of twenty miles along the valley, indicating various view-points with fine vistas of valley 
and mountain. The night was spent at Marble Canyon Camp. On Thursday, 
August 28, the party motored to Lake Louise, and then walked up to the moraine 
and the foot of the glaciers; a number of interesting alpine plants were gathered. 
The night was spent at Middle Springs Camp, and next morning (August 29) the 
botanists joined the main party at Banff Station. The excursion was most enjoyable 
and profitable, and a large number of interesting plants were seen and gathered. 
Hearty thanks were extended to Prof. F. J. Lewis, of Edmonton University, who 
arranged the excursion, to his colleagues and friends who generously lent their cars, 
and to Mr. West, the Bursar of the University, and the three students who drove 
the cars and kept them in condition; also to Mr. Sanson, Director of the Banff 
Museum, who led the party on some of its walks. 
Sunday, August 24.—The trains reached JASPER (2323 m., 3470 ft.) in the 
morning. Here the members were guests of Sir Henry W. Thornton, K.B.E., 
