PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ? CONVENTION". 119 



the country, especially among the agricultural states of the Middle 

 West. 



The United States is not by any means alone in furnishing settlers, 

 for the various European countries are sending large numbers, in some 

 instances entire colonies being made up of Germans, Poles, Hollanders, 

 and other nationalities, in this method helping to establish helpful and 

 social advantages. Japan, not to be outdone by other nations, is also 

 looking to the settlement of a large number of her subjects in these 

 provinces, unless the Government prohibits such a move. 



The Canadian Pacific Railroad is spending nearly $5,000,000 in the 

 construction of the largest irrigation project on the American continent, 

 putting under ditch nearly 3,000,000 acres of level land near Calgary, 

 in Alberta, these lands having come to them as a subsidy from the Gov- 

 ernment. Even now the work is well advanced, and next season per- 

 haps 500,000 acres will be under water. Sugar beets, alfalfa, and grain 

 will be grown on these lands, but fruit seems to me to be out of the 

 question. 



Xo matter how great may be the developments in other directions, 

 they must look for most of their fruit requirements from other sources 

 than Canada, and of all this great territory, there is only a very limited 

 area in southern British Columbia where fruits can be successfully 

 grown. 



So much has been said of the progress and future possibilities of fruit- 

 growing embraced by the Kootenay, Arrow and Okanogan lake regions, 

 that a few weeks ago I decided to take a trip through these sections and 

 study the conditions carefully, and I am just now returning from this 

 trip. 



I met two distinct surprises: one is the large number of varieties of 

 fruit, as well as the quality of fruits, produced in these sections; the 

 other being the extremely limited area which is adapted, or can be 

 used, for the culture of fruits of any kind. Nature has seen fit to give 

 these sections a climate which so differs from the country roundabout 

 that it is almost beyond belief. Surrounded on all sides by snow- 

 capped mountains, so rugged as to preclude any attempt to cultivate 

 in any way, these small tracts along the lakes and up the mountain 

 streams seem quite out of place in having a mild and temperate climate. 

 But little snow remains on the ground more than a few days at a time. 

 The principal lands which are now devoted to the culture of fruits, 

 or in fact ever can be, in these sections, owing to the mountainous 

 and climatic conditions, changing within short distances, are the nar- 

 row parcels of partially level land which lie between the lake shores 

 and the sharp incline of the mountains. Some of these parcels are 

 but a few hundred feet in width, and extend in long, narrow strips 

 parallel to the shores of the lake, while others lie along the course of 



