90 THEOUGH THE MACKEI^ZIE BASIN 



on the river bank above the Landing, Father Busson told me 

 that White Eussian and Eed Fyfe wheat had been raised 

 since 1881, and during all these years it had never been 

 seriously injured, whilst the yield had reached as high as 

 thirty-five bushels to the acre. Seeding began about the 

 middle of April, and harvesting about the middle of August. 

 He was of opinion that along the rim of the upper prairie 

 level wheat would ripen, but farther back he thought it 

 imsafe, and so no doubt it is for the present. Mr. Brick's 

 fine farm, opposite the Six Islands, and other farms also, 

 were a success, but, of course, all these were along the river. 

 With regard to the upper level, I heard opinions adverse to 

 Father Busson's, though, like his, conjectural. The incon- 

 siderable height above the sea (Lefroy, I think, puts the 

 upper level at about 1,600 feet), the prolonged sunlight, the 

 whole night being penetrated with it though the sun has set, 

 together with good methods of farming, will no doubt get 

 rid of frost, which strikes here just as it has in every new 

 settlement in Manitoba, and in fact throughout a great 

 portion of the continent. 



There were complaints, however, of a worse enemy than 

 frost, namely, droiight, which we were told was a character- 

 istic feature of those magnificent prairies to the north. The 

 wiry grass is very short there, something like the Milk River 

 grass in Southern Alberta, and hay is scarce. This drawback 

 will doubtless be got over hereafter by dry farming, or better 

 still by irrigation, should the lakes to the north prove to be 

 available. 



I have pointed out disadvantages which in all likelihood 

 will disappear with time and settlement by good farmers. 

 It is a region, I believe, predestined to agriculture; but, in 

 some localities, the rainfall, as has been said, is rather scant 

 for good husbandry, and, therefote, farming to the north 

 of the river, on the upper level, is not as yet an assured 

 success. To the south better conditions prevail, and thither 

 no doubt the stream of immigration will first trend. 



