238 
Canadian Agriculture. 
Canadian prairie, though undoubtedly low, are yet tolerable. 
All over the prairies the air in winter is dry, and hence is 
physically different from the humid atmosphere which is asso- 
ciated with our insular position in this country. The dry air 
of the prairie performs for a man in the winter the services of a 
blanket ; it cannot, any more than the blanket, bestow heat 
npon the man's body, but it can, equally with the blanket, pre- 
vent the dissipation of the warmth of the body. No doubt, if 
the winter temperatures of Manitoba and the North-West were 
associated with humidity at all approaching that of our English 
atmosphere, the effect would be well-nigh intolerable. Last 
autumn Professor Glaisher, in travelling across the prairie, made 
a series of observations with the dry and wet bulb thermometer. 
At Portage la Prairie the dry bulb registered 80° and the wet 
bulb 67°. The next day, at Swift current, the readings were 
91° and 72° respectively. In fact, throughout the journey there 
was a difference between the readings ranging from 10° to 19°. 
To this low percentage of moisture in the air is attributed the 
peculiar hardness, or flintiness, of the wheat grown in Manitoba 
and the North- West, a property of the grain which renders it 
peculiarly valuable in milling operations. 
The Report of the Department of Agriculture and Statistics 
of the Province of Manitoba for the year 1882 is specially 
valuable, in that it contains the results of eleven years' meteoro- 
logical observations, from 1871 to 1881 inclusive. The record 
would extend back to earlier dates, but that the observer, Mr. 
James Stewart, had the misfortune to lose everything at the 
time of the Red River Rebellion. From the years recorded, 
I have selected, quite at hazard, the year 1879, and constructed 
the following table, an examination of which may prove of in- 
terest, it being remembered that the freezing-point is at 32° F.: — 
Temperature Observed at Winnipeg, 1879. 
January . . 
February ., 
March 
April 
May . . 
June .. 
July .. .. 
AugxiBt 
September 
October 
November 
December . . 
Mean. 
Mean 
JIaximum. 
Mean 
Minimum. 
Tlighcst 
Jfaximum. 
Lowest Minimum. 
Mean 
I Height of 
liarometer. 
Degrees. 
Degrees. 
Degrees. 
Dcprws. 
Deprees. 
Inches. 
- 2-3 
7-7 
- 14-3 
29 • 5 on 2Gth 
- 34-3 on 14th 
29 -1918 
- 5 '2 
5-3 
- 18-1 
28-0 on 2l8t 
- 43-6 on 26th 
29-2971' 
14-2 
27-0 
- 1-6 
50-0 on 30th 
- 22-4 on 16th 
29-145f^ 
40-1 
50-7 
28-1 
71 ■.5 on 21st 
- 10-3 on 3rd 
29-2120 
53-5 
6G-4 
41-4 
78-5 on 28Ui 
28-3 on Gth 
29-1880 
64-5 
75-7 
51 1 
88-3 on 3rd 
33-0 on 1st 
29-025(; 
C7-9 
80-7 
r,G-3 
93-0 on 12th 
48-4 on 29th 
29-0375 
64-2 
7()-4 
.52-0 
87 -.5 on 9th 
40 '3 on 20th 
29-0784 
51-3 
fi5-3 
38 G 
77-.') on 4th 
22-3 on 24th 
29-1536 
44-4 
57-2 
31-2 
88 -5 on Gth 
5-2 on 30th 
29-0663 
20-5 
29-4 
100 
48-4 on 0th 
- 10-3 on 20th 
29- 1650 
-12-8 
- 4-8 
- 24-1 
17' 4 on 31st 
- .50 -.5 on 24th 
29-3210 
