300 
Canadian Agriculture. 
2s. per lb. This is partly attributed to the high price of dairy 
cattle ; the number of these was, however, largely increased 
during the season. The manufacture of cheese has not yet 
commenced in Alberta, but several enterprising farmers intend 
to embark in this industry next summer. Indeed, with its 
rich, sweet, and luxuriant grasses, and its innumerable streams 
of pure cold water, I can see no reason why Alberta should not 
develop into a first class dairy farming country, nor why 
Calgary should not become one of the great cities of the 
Dominion. I must thank Mr. F. Cochrane for considerable 
information, which he was kind enough to give me when I 
was at Calgary. 
Life on the Prairies of the North- West. — The prairie, whether 
flat or rolling, is less uninteresting than might be imagined. On 
the level prairie it is possible to get a conception of the immensity 
of the blue vault overhead, such as can be obtained nowhere else, 
not even on the sea, for the contrast between earth and sky is more 
marked on the prairie than on the ocean. But one duty seems 
imperative on the prairie farmer, at least it should be — and that 
is the planting of trees. They can be obtained cheaply enough, 
and a few put in every year would, even in half a dozen years, 
immensely improve the appearance of the now treeless plain. 
They would also act as conservators of moisture, and, besides 
breaking the force of the wind, would afford grateful shade in 
the summer and shelter in the winter to both man and beast. 
Although various species of clematis, buckthorn, maple, black- 
thorn, bramble, rose-briar, and white-thorn grow in one part 
or another of the prairie, and might no doubt be combined into 
hedge rows, yet these latter are undesirable, as they would 
afford facilities for the accumulation of snow-drifts. Hence, as 
a lover of the picturesque in agriculture, I advocate the practice 
of tree culture on the Canadian prairies ; every tree that is 
planted will constitute a potential source of wealth, and ere 
long it might be said of the North-VVest prairies as it is of 
Nebraska : " The bleak naked surface of this prairie Statfe has 
become diversified with myriad groves which relieve the 
monotony of the landscape and refresh the eye with the beauties 
of woodland growth, while they form a barrier against the 
winds, and are developing into valuable preserves of timber." 
Indeed, Professor Brown, of the Ontario Agricultural College, 
looks forward to the time when the North-West will be in a 
position to constitute, by annual wood-thinnings, a jsource of 
revenue, and, with this object in view, he advocates — 
" 1. The establishment of two or more stations as nurseries throu<jhout 
the North-West, with houses for labourers and foremen, and enclosures suitable 
for production of trees, both from seed and by purchase. 
