86 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



dred miles and north from the boundary about three hundred miles. As 

 to climate, there is room for considerable variety in this area. Last 



Climatic Conditions in Alberta. 



week, we had in Souther Alberta, (which is yocally known as the Bonaua 

 Belt) a couple of days, where the themometer went up to 62 above zero. 

 Up north of Edmonton, it does not get quite so w^arm in the winter, and 

 we sometimes get a dip too far the wrong side of zero for comfort, but 

 it does not last. I may as well confess right here, that we don't raise 

 bananas in Southern Alberta, but up at Fort Vermillion, some 350 miles 

 north of Edmonton, Alberta, which is again about 300 miles north of 

 Lethbridge, (my home in Southern Alberta) they have raised tomatoes. 



Canadian Crops. 



Here in the immediate vicinity of Fort Vermillion, on the Peace River in 

 Northern Alberta, 35,000 bushels of good wheat was raised last season, 

 besides oats and barley. So you see, we are raising wheat as much far- 

 ther north of the international boundry, as is Springfield, Illinois, north 

 of New Orleans. 



"Now as to what we are doing in dry farming: In the southern por- 

 tion of this area I have defined, it was considered for a number of years 

 that the rainfall was too light to allow general farming to be carried en 



Experimental Stations. 



successfully. Some 20 years ago, the Dominion Department of Agricul 

 ture established an experimental farm in the eastern part of Saskatche- 

 wan. Mr. Macay, the superintendent of this farm, found that there was 

 sufficient rainfall to produce two crops in three years, and his method of 

 culture is as follows: 



Biennial Cropping. 



"The land is plowed in May or June, which, by the way, is our wet 

 season, and ciean summer tillage is practiced for the rest of the season, 

 wheat is sown early the following spring. This crop is cut high, so there 



Save the Snow. 



will be plenty of stubble left to catch all the snow possible. In- the spring 

 all this stubble is burned off, and wheat, and occasionally oats is sown 

 immediately on the land without plowing After this crop is taken off, 

 the land is again summer fallowed The rainfall at Indian Head is 15 



Precipitation. 



inches. At ^he time the experimental farm was established, the settlers 

 were becoming so discouraged, that they were moving out, much the 

 same, as was the case in western Colorado, and western Nebraska and 

 Kansas in the early 90's. This same locality has the distinction now of 

 being one of the heaviest country wheat shipping points on the Canadian 

 Railway system. Farther west, in the country lying east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, or in Southern Alberta, the rainfall is slightly less, and the 

 country was considered good only for stock raising. 



