PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 117 



itmbia, but also the new fruit country, which is being discussed so much, 

 which embraces the territory adjacent to Kootenay, Arrow and Okano- 

 gan lake regions, in southern British Columbia. 



The motto ' ' See America First ' ' has been taken up with much vigor 

 by many organizations in the United States, and it has developed the 

 fact that one can find as grand scenery and as beautiful mountains, 

 right in our own country, as can be found at the end of long and expen- 

 sive trips abroad. 



I doubt not that similar results may be realized as to our future mar- 

 ket for both fresh and cured fruit, if properly exploited, right in our 

 near neighbor Canada, and such exploitation would cost less, and the 

 results be vastly greater, than could be attained by such countries across 

 the water, as France or Germany, which in years of plenty have little 

 need for our fruit productions, while Canada will always be a good cus- 

 tomer. It is not when crops are so short as they have been the present 

 year that new markets appeal to fruit men, although even this season 

 the prices were so much higher than in former years that it had the 

 effect to curtail sales as to volume very much. 



The rapid settlement of any neAV territory near us, especially where 

 fruit can not be grown to any great extent, seems to me has a special 

 interest, and we must be alert to gain every advantage possible from 

 such conditions. 



This paper will deal more particularly with what is known as the 

 "Canadian Northwest," and while east of the province of Saskatchewan 

 takes at the present time much more of our California fruits than the 

 three provinces mentioned, I shall not include them in my investigation. 



We have been prone to look upon this great Northwest Territory as 

 vast stretches of mountain and prairie land, valuable in the most part 

 for hunting and trapping, and of late used to some extent for grazing, 

 not considering it seriously as a great agricultural section, which it 

 really is ; in fact, I had very much the same idea, until in quest of better 

 health I made the trip up there, spending upwards of four months, 

 and found I was mistaken. The area embraced by these provinces is 

 nearly 700 miles from north to south, and 1,100 miles from east to west, 

 or an area of nearly 770,000 square miles, and it is safe to say that one 

 half of this vast area is suited to agricultural uses and will rapidly 

 come under cultivation, while the other one half includes mountains 

 and lakes. 



Think of an area of two and a half times as large as the State of Cali- 

 fornia, fertile soil, level or undulating and well watered, and what this 

 will mean when it is settled, as it will be, at no distant day, with a family 

 on an average to 160 acres. But you say, it is so far north, what can 

 you grow? True, it is north and far north, at that; but, even so, cli- 

 matic conditions seem most contradictory. At more than 700 miles 



