.THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



85 



English people have ever been pioneers on both land and sea. And in 

 British Africa, at least, the page of history is still wet with the writing 

 of their splendid daring. For if, on the other hand, the Voortrekkers, 

 in search of new homes, have carried forward civilization from Table 

 Mountain to the turbid water of the Limpopo; the English explorers have 

 crossed the trackless waters of the Soudan, till they reached the eternal 

 snows of Ruwenzori. To you, therefore, pioneers of the new West, I 

 bring you greetings from the pioneers of British Africa. Gentlemen, 1 

 count it a signal honor to have been permitted to address this Congress, 

 for I am assured that your deliberations will do much, not only to ad- 

 vance the material welfare of that great region which reaches from the 

 Missouri to the Grolden Gate, but will promote those lofty ideals of true 

 liberty, friendship and humanity, which have ever been the flashlights of 

 this great Republic." 



CHEERS FOR TRANSVAAL. 



GOVERNOR BROOKS (presiding) : "Three cheers for Dr. Macdonald 

 from the youngest state of the oldest empire. 

 (Three cheers were given Dr. Macdonald.) 



CANADA. 



W. H. Fairfield, representing the Department of Agriculture of the 

 Dominion of Canada. 

 Address to Congress: 



"It gives me great pleasure to have the privilege of addressing this 

 assembly. Canada could not afford to miss the opportunity of profiting 

 by what you people can teach us, as was realized by our Minister of Ag- 

 riculture, and Dr. William Saunders, the Director of Experimental Farms, 

 for the Dominion. 0:f course we ha\^e to acknowledge that there is no 

 part of Canada quite so dry as certain parts of the states — at least in 

 the matter of rainfall. I don't want to judge the climate by any re- 

 marks as far as aridity is concerned. 



"From the way some people talk, down here, I infer that you think we 

 Canadians are within hailing distance of the North Pole. You are rather 

 disappointed that our representative is not a fur-clad Esquimaux, and are 

 wondering in your hospitable souls, whether we would prefer whale blub- 

 ber or caribou steak for dinner, and you politely conceal your skepticism 

 about our soil being thawed out long enough in the year to do dry or any 

 other kind of farming. 



"Now to speak for Canada, is a pretty big order. You know that we 

 occupy more on the map than the States, and there is considerable room 

 without considering the portion supposed to be fit only for fur-bearing 

 animals and eternal snows — though even that, as the Englishman said 

 about the buckwheat cakes, is not 'half so nasty as it looks.' 



"I am going to speak, however, about a comparatively small part, 

 which comprises an area that lies immediately east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains or of the British Columbia boundary, extending east some six hun- 



