92 THE PRESIDENTS ABDRESS. 



the Assiniboine, as compared with the popular ideas on tehse 

 subjects. 



Hitherto these districts have been regarded, by the majority of the 

 people of Canada, at all events, as most uninviting to settlers, not 

 merely by reason of their distance from civilized life, but from the 

 inhospitable nature ascribed to the climate, and the difficulty of 

 raising the roots and cereals grown in our more favored country. 



Even to the better informed amongst us, I think it will be a matter 

 of surprise to learn that the summer of Eed Eiver is nearly four 

 degrees warmer than the summer at Toronto, as ascertained by a 

 comparison of corsesponding observations ; and that in the district 

 of Assiniboia, wheat, oats, barley, Indian corn, hops, flax, hemp, 

 potatoes, and all kinds of garden vegetables, succeed admirably ; and 

 Professor Hind asserts that the potatoes, cauliflowers, and onions, he 

 has not seen surpassed at any of the Provincial Pairs. Prom the 

 statistics furnished by Professor Hind, there appears to be no doubt 

 of the perfect adaptation of the climate of the valley of the Eed 

 Eiver to the ordinary purposes of husbandry. 



It is true that the prevailing characteristic of the winter months 

 is long continued, intense cold, the temperature being 26 degrees 

 lower than the temperature of Toronto ; but, on the other hand, the 

 temperature in spring is only 2 ° 83 lower than with us ; that of the 

 autumn, 6 "^ 94 ; while the summer, as I before stated, shows an 

 excess of 3 ° 78 ; so that the mean of the spring and summer months 

 at Eed River is nearly one degree higher than the corresponding 

 months at Toronto. Added to this, the much greater rain fall, being 

 27 ° 74 inches more during the summer months than at Toronto, 

 produces a wonderful richness in the vegetation, and, combined with 

 the absence of late spring or early autumn frosts, renders the whole 

 district peculiarly favorable for agricultural operations. 



Now that the practicability of establishing a direct communication 

 between Toronto and the Eed River has been proved, the tide of 

 emigration must soon be directed to those vast regions, even should 

 the more magnificent scheme of Eailway and Steamer communication 

 to the Pacific and the rich gold fields of British Columbia be much 

 longer in realization. 



In the meanwhile, we in Canada are under no small obligations to 

 those gentlemen whose explorations have already furnished us with 

 so much valuable information, and I believe I am correct in stating 



