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 ISt'^t^ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttvtttttvttt T-jg 
 
 Food Zones of Canada; 
 
 TMr Extent and Capabilities. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. BEAUFOBT HURLBEBT, LL.D. 
 
 [Reprinted, by Permission, from the Colum^ts of 
 The Canadian Gazette, Lo7tdon, England.^ 
 
 1884. 
 
 [the right of reproduction is reserved.] 
 
 
 :±55 
 
7 
 
 Food Zones of Canada.- 
 
 THHIR EXTENT AND CAPABILITIES. 
 
 i!Y 
 
 J. BEAUFORT HURLBERT, LL.D. 
 
 \_Rcpmnted, by Permission, from the Coliunus of 
 Tim Canadian Gazette, London, England.] 
 
 1884. 
 
 (TllK RIGHT OK REl'RODUCTIO.N IS RKSERVKD.] 
 
Food Zones of Canada: 
 
 THEIR EXTENT AND CAPABIIJTIES. 
 
 One hundred years ago Englaiul exported wheat ; now she imports one- 
 half her consumption. During the last fourteen years the annual 
 consumption has been 22,500,000 quarters, and the home growth 11,500,000. 
 The present consumption is 24,000,000 quarters. From 1850 to 1870 she 
 consumed annually, on an average, wheat to the value of ^55, 500,000 ; 
 of this amount ^37,000,000 were produced at home, and ^18,500,000 im- 
 ported. From 1870-80 she consumed annually, on an average, wheat to the 
 value of £s7,soo,ooo, of which only ;^24,ooo,ooo were produced at home, 
 and ;/^33, 500,000 imported. Thus in the ten years between 1870-80 Eng- 
 land produced annually to the value of ^T 13,000,000 less, and imported 
 annually to the value of ;^i 5,000,000 more than she did in the previous 
 20 years, between 1850-70 — a difference against her of ^28,000,000 per 
 annum. During the last ten years the capital of the agricultural classes has 
 fallen in value to the extent of ^500,000,000 to ^600,000,000, and their 
 incomes ^21,000,000, and the loss is still going on with accelerated speed. 
 
 During the last ten years more than a million acres have gone out of 
 wheat cultivation, so that now fin 1882), if the population had remained 
 stationary, England would be in a position to feed three millions and a half 
 of people less than in 1872 ; but during that period her population has 
 increased 3,000,000, and in 1S82 she is forced to import wheat and flour to 
 feed six millions and a half more than in 1872. She grows less corn now to 
 feed 34,000,000 than she did forty years ago to feed half that number. 
 
 Her dairy farming, market gardening, and small rural industries, if not 
 rapidly disappearing, as some writers assert, arc greatly depreciated. Her 
 importation of meat, dairy produce, and vegetables averages ^45,000,000 per 
 annum more than it did ten years ago. In 1880 she imported 2,326,000 cwt. 
 of butter, valued at / [2,141, 000 ; 1,775,000 cwt. of cheese, valued at 
 ^5,000,000 ; ^10,000,000 of li'.c stock, and meat fresh and salted to 
 the value of ^16,429,000. 
 
 In 1880 the total consumption of bread-stuffs (grain, flour, potatoes, and 
 rice) wvis 340,000,000 cwt.; of this the home supply was 193,200,000 cwt., 
 and the imported 146,800,000 cwt. — the imports being to the whole con- 
 sumption as three to seven nearly. The consumption, the same year, of 
 meat-stufifs (beef, mutton, bacon, butter, and cheese) was 36,000,000 cwt. ; 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 of this tlic home supply was 24,500,000 cwt. and the iniporlcd 1 1,500,000 cwl. 
 — the imported to tiic home supply being as 23 to 49, and the imported lo 
 the total consumption as one to three. 
 
 In 1861 the value of food imports into Great Mritain per head was 
 ^i lis. iid. ; in 1871, £z is. 3d.; in 1880, £j) 4s. i id. Comparing the 
 five years from 1860-4 \\'th the five from 1875-9 — ^hc first five with the last 
 five of the twenty years from i860 to 1879 — we have the authority of .Sir 
 James Caird for the statement that wheat had increased 75 per cent., but the 
 price had fallen onl)' four per cent. Of barley the iniports increased 90 
 per cent., and the price had risen 10 per cent.; of oats the imjiorts in- 
 creased 122 per cent., and the price 14 per cent. 
 
 The increasing population, and diminishing power to feed that j)opu- 
 lation, must aggravate year by year, and to an alarming extent, England's 
 dependence upon foreign countries for her food supplies. This dependence 
 would be the more embarrassing should England be involved in a war 
 with a great maritime power. Whence is this defic-ency to be made up i 
 Every country of Europe from which Great Britain has drawn bread-stuffs 
 now consumes more and more of her own products. Southern Europe, 
 Australia, and many wheat-growing States of the American Union, are 
 subject to severe and protracted droughts during the agricultural months. 
 All these countries, moreover, are too far south to be depended upon for a 
 large and regular supply of wheat. Australia and California are, in addition 
 to their semi-tropical climates, nearly half the circumference of the globe 
 from the British Islands. 
 
 The average product of wheat in the United States is i3"i bushels per 
 acre ; in France, 16 bushels ; in Russia, 5*4 ; in Austria, 14 ; in Italy, 
 I2'3 ; in Australia (1877, below ^he average), 5*4 ; in Canada, zo. Russia 
 and France produce each 240,000,000 bushels; Germany, 126,000,000; 
 Groat Britain and Austria, each 92,000,000; the United States (1880), 
 459,000,000 ; and Canada, 80,000,000. These quantities would give, for home 
 consumption, to Russia three bushels per head of her population ; to France, 
 ^Yz bushels ; to Germany, 27 ; to Austria, 2*3 ; to the United .States, 9 ; 
 to Canada, 18 ; and to Great Britain, 2*6. The only countries upon which 
 England can rely for her bread-stufifs are Russia, France, the United States, 
 and Canada. Five bushels per head are allowed in Canada for home 
 consumption. With this allowance, only France, the United States, and 
 Canada would have a surplus ; Russia has but three bushels, and Great 
 Britain 2'6 per head. But some of the Continental countries use, to a large 
 extent, rye, barley, and oats as a substitute for wheat. In 1840, the United 
 States produced but 80,000,000 bushels; in i860, 160,000,000; and it was 
 not until 1880 that we find such a large yield, 459,000,000 bushels, and this is 
 due chiefly to the cultivation of new fields bordering on Manitoba, but that 
 region, owing to severe protracted summer droughts and the thinness and 
 poverty of the soil, cannot permanently be depended upon for such a large 
 supply. There are besides some 25 States of the Union which do not pro- 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 clucc cnougli wheat for their own consumption. The exports of bread-stuffs 
 fell off from ^"47,6o2,<X)o sterling worth in 1880-1, to ^34,57y,cxx) in 1881-2, 35 
 per cent. 
 
 What promise does Canada, with her vast territories of virgin soil in 
 Manitoba, and for a thousand miles to the west and north-west, give for 
 supplying this deficiency? Railways are now rapidly penetrating that Cireat 
 Lone Land. The magistrate, the mounted police, well-organised municipal 
 and central governments have given security to lifo and property even far 
 beyond the reach of the railways. The blessings of education and Christian 
 ordinances reach every little community. Indeed, the missionary had long 
 occupied the entire field, and where through all the past nought else was seen 
 but the trapper and his pelts, there is now heard the sound of the church- 
 going bell, calling a busy, a thriving, a happy population to the temples of 
 their God. 
 
 In Manitoba the yield of wheat is 28'5 bushels per acre, under very 
 imperfect tillaife. The wheat, too, is heavier, and makes more flour, pound 
 for pound, than the wheat from any part of the United .States. Trustworthy 
 reports ha\e placed the yield as high as 60 bushels per acre where care had 
 been taken in the preparation of the soil. A farm of 62 acres gave 55 bushels 
 l)cr acre, weighing more than 60 lbs. to the bushel. This statement is given 
 on the authority of Mr. T. H. Schneider, of \Vii.i..peg. The product of 
 wheat in Ontario in 1882 was 41,648,196 bushels ; of this 32,352,402 bushels 
 were winter wheat. The yield per acre in the other Provinces of the 
 Dominion is probably as great as in Ontario, but this cereal is not cultivated 
 to the same extent as in Ontario, a larger percentage of the land being given 
 to the coarser grains, root crops, pasture s, and meadows. 
 
 If England should be engaged in i war with the United States, or with 
 one of the great powers of Europe, privateers would swarm over the seas, 
 intercepting her merchantmen. The contingency of war must never be for- 
 gotten in the forecast of a nation's future, and England makes all her calcula- 
 tions upon the assumption that she will be mistress of the seas. In a few 
 years Canada could supply the food deficiency of the British Islands. If 
 only a tithe of the fertile lands in Manitoba and the territories to her west 
 and north-west were under cultivation, they could furnish food for the 30,000,000 
 odd of her population. Port Nelson, on Hudson Bay, is nearer Liverpool 
 than New York, and Port Nelson is within 300 miles of Lake Winnipeg, the 
 centre of the fertile plains of the North-West. Two railways have been 
 chartered from Lake Winnipeg to the Bay, one to Port Nelson and the other 
 to Port Churchill. In the summer of 1881, preliminary surveys were made 
 over one of those routes. Both coasts would be British territory. No shelter 
 for privateers could be found north of the route from Hudson Bay to Liver- 
 pool ; from the south alone would her corn-laden ships be exposed to danger. 
 It would be the shortest and easiest line to defend. That route has been 
 used for 200 years by sailing vessels in the service of the Hudson's Bay 
 Compan)-. Agricultural products are heavy and costly of transit, and 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 shipments through Hudson bay would save 2,cxx) miles' inland naviga- 
 tion. 
 
 The productions of Canada arc mostly similar to those of Western, 
 North-Western, and Central Europe, the great staples being those of the 
 middle and higher parts of the temperate zones. The cereals, grasses, 
 root crops, and hardier fruits of Europe, find here, more than in any other 
 part of the American continent, their appropriate climates. The four 
 decennial censuses of Canada show that she produces per acre more 
 abundant and surer crops of the cereals, grains, grasses, and root crops, 
 and those of better quality, than any of the States of the Republic. This is 
 true of wheat, oats, barley, peas, rye, most of the ordinary root crops (as 
 potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, &c.), and the hardier fruits. The Canadian 
 census of 1851 shows that Canada even then produced one-sixth as much 
 wheat as all the thirty-one States and four territories, one-half as many peas, 
 more than one-seventh as many oats, more than one-fourth as much barley, 
 and nearly one-eighth as much hay as the entire Republic. 
 
 The census of 1861 was still more favourable to Canada. She then 
 produced more than one-sixth as much wheat, nearly as many peas, one- 
 fourth to one-fifth as many oats, and one-third as much barley as the 
 thirty-four States and seven territories. 
 
 The census of 1870 and 1880 is more favourable to the Republic in the 
 one article — wheat — as large tracts of new lands had recently been brought 
 under cultivation west of the Mississippi, and bordering on Manitoba. The 
 wheat in those territories, like that in California, is sown chiefly in the 
 autumn, and ripens before the drought and heat of summer. But that region 
 is unfavourable for the coarser grains, grasses, and root crops, from the 
 deficiency of summer rains. In addition to these droughts, the soil is too 
 thin and sandy to make it permanently a good wheat country. 
 
 Anyone acquainted with the agricultural products of Europe, and with the 
 climates adapted to them, will at once see the cause of this. The parts 
 of Europe north of the parallel of 45° (and Canada goes to 42°) embrace 
 the British Islands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Belgium, Hol- 
 land, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Northern Italy, most of France, and 
 Russia. The whole of the American Union, east of the lakes, is south of 
 45°, except that part of Maine surrendered under the Ashburton treaty. 
 Very small portions of Wisconsin and Michigan, and part of Minnesota, 
 are north of this parallel. If it be said that America is very different in 
 climate from Europe, we answer, that that difference is unfavourable for 
 the United States and favourable to Canada, as the facts stated below 
 will show. America, it is said, is colder than Europe. It would be 
 difficult to state the climatal conditions of the two Continents more 
 loosely and erroneously. From the influence of the tropical currents of 
 ocean and air, the western coasts of both continents are warmer than the 
 eastern ; but the summer temperatures, which are of chief importance in 
 agriculture, are higher, as we get a little from the Atlantic coast, in 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 America than in Kurope, and too high throughout the Uiited States 
 for the great staples of the temperate zones. The summer of tlie British 
 Islands is from 57° to 62" Fahrenheit, the summer of lUinois is 13^ higher 
 than this ; Ohio, from 70" to 74' ; and Iowa still higher, 72" to 78^ ; Kansas 
 and Missouri liij^hcr still. 
 
 But high temperatures and a burning sun are not the only enemies with 
 which the agriculturist so far south has to contend. The want of rain is 
 another and even more grievous defect in the climate in those parts of the 
 United States ; for high summer temperatures, with heavy rains, are con- 
 ditions of climate favouring tropical plants, but high temperatures without 
 rain are destructive to all vegetation ; and high temperatures with an 
 insufficiency of rain give only imperfect crops. Those parts of the States 
 lymg west of the Mississippi resemble Palestine, Arabia, Persia, Syria, 
 and Turkistan. Both regions are similarly situated on the Cortinents, both 
 are in the zones of the summer droughts, high temperatures, arid winds, 
 and rapid evaporation, but with this important feature in favour of the 
 Asiatic countries — they lie near the ocean and Mediterranean Sea, which 
 render the atmosphere more humid, and modify the droughts. 
 
 Nor would the effects of the want of summer rains be fully stated without 
 reference to the rapid evaporation in countries situated like those named. 
 In England the evaporation in summer is from 40 to 60 per cent, of the 
 rainfall, leaving from 60 to 40 per cent, in the soil, affording moisture to plants 
 while working its way slowly to the rivers. In Baltimore (bt. 39° 18'), although 
 near the ocean, the evaporation in summer is double the rainfall. Inland, 
 in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, and the whole region thence to the Pacific, 
 the evaporation is much more rapid than on the sea coast. These States, 
 too, lie east of the great desert and semi-deserts, stretching from the 98th 
 meridian (the western boundary of Iowa and Minnesota) to the Pacific. The 
 prevailing winds in summer on this part of the Continent, being from the 
 west and south-west, blow almost uniformly over the .States lying eastward 
 and north-eastward, and being arid burning winds, parch the land and 
 wither up every green thing. Minnesota and Wisconsin are less, but only 
 less, affected by these winds, for they border on those inland seas, whose 
 waters, froni their great depth, being cool even during the summer months, 
 check the evaporation and increase the rainfall. 
 
 We need not here refer to some portions of the middle States, winch, 
 from their altitude or other causes, have cooler climates, or to California, 
 where the winter and early spring are favourable to the grow^Ii of wheat, but 
 not for the other grains, the grasses, or roots. We ^.<i not dealing with 
 exceptional cases. The greater portions of the StT.les east of the Mississippi 
 lie too far south for the great staples of the lemperate zones. As a general 
 rule, the grasses (the timothy, clover, &c., and grasses that make our 
 pastures and meadows) fail south of latitude 39° east of the Mississippi, and 
 even to lat. 50° west of it ; and where the grasses fail, the dairy, the sheep, 
 and herds of cattle, with all their accompanying blessing?, must be given up 
 
Ban 
 
 ( « ) 
 
 as a chief element in fainting ; for tlic wild prairie grasses of tliose regions 
 when ploughed up cannot i)e reset, and therefore are of no \alue as culti\able 
 grasses. 
 
 The temperatures of the summer months are those of chief importance 
 in agriculture and horticulture. The winters have no unfavourable effect 
 upon plants, for the maturity of which, the summers are long enough and warm 
 enough • nay, the intervention of winter;: such as prevail throughout Canada, 
 w ith the temperature low enough to secure a covering of snow, is good both for 
 the plant and the soil. The frosts of \\inter, too, leave the land in a very 
 friable state, and in better order than an)- number of ploughings could make it. 
 The winter grains, the grasses, the roots of trees and shrubs, are protected 
 from the wind and the su , the soil, too, being covered with snow till the 
 sun is warm enough to start vegetation, is not dried up, as we find it in the 
 Western States and in Southern Europe, in late winter and early spring. 
 Then the gradual melting of the snow fills the earth with moisture, so neces- 
 sary for the germination of seeds and plants. The rains of spring and early 
 summer follow ; these favouring circumstances, accompanied by moderate 
 temperatures, render Canada, as a grazing and grain-growing countrj-, 
 immeasurably superior to Southern Europe and to the United States. 
 " Canadian wheat," says Marshall, " is one of the finest in the world ; oats, 
 barley, maize, and other grains yield excellent crops." These grains, with 
 the rich pastures and meadows, herds of horn-cattle, sheep, and horses, are 
 not the great staples along the shores of the Mediterranean, as in Canada. 
 
 After the cool months of spring and early summer, ^o favourable for the 
 hardier grains and grasses, the high temperatures of July and August mature 
 even sub-tropical plants throughout the valley of the .St. Lawrence, and far 
 up into the NorthWest. The melon, pumpkin, squash, tomato, cucumber, 
 &c., coiv.e to great perfection in the open air. Hence the great variety of 
 vegetable products in Canada, from the tender plants of tropical and semi- 
 tropical origin to the hardier ones of the middle and higher temperate zones. 
 In countries such as those of Southern Europe and the Western States, the 
 ground had been dried by exposure to the sun and winds before the warmth 
 of spring starts vegetation. This is often followed by great heat, summer 
 droughts, arid winds, and rapid evaporation, parching the land and withering 
 the plants Besides, climates favoural^Ie for the orange, lemon, and such 
 tropical fruits and plants as find a genial home aroi'nd the shores of the 
 Mediterranean, a' e destructive of others even more valuabL. 
 
 The long and severe winters of Canada are, by strangers, supposed to 
 be almost insuperable obstacles to keeping large herds of cattle. We 
 cannot here discuss the question farther than to refer to tho facts already 
 stated of the more luxuriant growth in Canada of the grains, grasses, and 
 root crops, and that Canadian farmers keep more stock than American, 
 that immense numbers of horn -cattle, sheep, and horses are exported every 
 year to the United States, and that hay from low down the .St. Lawrence is 
 sent, more than a thousand miles, to Chicago, on the borders of the great 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 prairies of the \Vesl. In Northern and Xorlh-Westein Europe, even where 
 tiiere may be no snow, grasses gro'" very httle, or not at all, during that part 
 of the year covered with snow in Canada ; and it would no doubt be better 
 both for the soil and plants in those countries had they a similar pro- 
 tection from the winds and sun of winter and spring. 
 
 Marshall, in his work on Canada, published ten years ago, sa)s he 
 found " excellent Durham, De\on, anil Ayrshire cattle, Cotswold and 
 Leicester sheep, Essex, Suffolk, and other well-known breeds of pigj, and 
 muny excellent draught and road horses. I was not prepared," he says, 
 " for the evidence of such widespread interest in this branch of the farmer's 
 occupation, and such general excellence of results as I found here." 
 
 In this connection it should noi be forgotten that the chief grazing and 
 grain-growing countries of Europe are in the higher parts of the temperate 
 zone, a 'id must, from similar causes, be in corresponding [)arts in America 
 — in other words, in Canada. 
 
 Tlie length of winter in such climates, it is often said by Europeans, 
 limits very much the period of outdoor operations. Professor Johnson 
 c[uotes the opinion of sixty-two experienced farmers to this effect — that the 
 fr(^sts of winter open and make friable the soil to such a degree that the 
 labour expended upon it goes much farther than in England ; that one 
 ploughing is, in fact, so far as the mechanical loosening of the soil is cpn- 
 V jrned, equal to two in countries without such frosts ; that the rains in 
 Canada falling more in short showers than in protracted rains, as in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, the number of working days is greater in the spring 
 months in the former than in the latter country ; that the rapidity with 
 which crops come to maturit) leaves a longer period for ploughing and 
 outdoor work, both before the seed is sown and after the crops are reaped ; 
 that by stabling and keeping together the stock, more manure is saved ; 
 and finally, there is much work which can be far better done in winter than 
 in summer, as the felling and cutting of trees, so much easier with the 
 frost in the wood, clearing the land, hauling manure to the remoter parts of 
 the farm, fencing and wood from swamps and places difficult of access in 
 summer, conveying produce to market at distances with a speed and in 
 quantities which would not be practicable on wheels, and many other things 
 known only to those living in such countries. 
 
 The northern limit of wheat is about 58° north latitude ; in Norway it 
 ripens as high as latitude 64", and in Sweden to 62', but is not much culti- 
 \ated beyond 60', and falls oft* gradually in the east. 
 
 In the interior of the Continents it matures north of latitude 60', where 
 the summer temperatures are at 60^^ Fahrenheit, with one month at 63'. On 
 western coasts, especially in the higher latitudes, in addition to low 
 temperatures, the growth of wheat is restricted by a too humid atmosphere, 
 and by the prevalence of fogs and clouds. 
 
 Sir John Richardson ("Arc. Exp.," vol. 2, p. 207) says that wheat is grown 
 with success in latitude 60' 5', near the borders of Great Slave Lake. 
 
( lo ) 
 
 Bishop Tachd found it growing up to 62' on the same lake, and further west 
 it will mature at a higher latitude. It grows freely on the Saskatchewan 
 (lat. 54"), and luxuriantly in the valleys of the Assiniboine and Red Riversj 
 often producing, with imperfect tillage, 40 bushels to the acre, and grown 
 in successive crops for twenty years on the same fields. This region i:?, 
 says IJlodget, the seat of the greatest axcrage yield of wheat on the conti- 
 nent, and probably in the world. ("Can. Pacific, Desc. ofKoute," 1876, p. 33.) 
 "Two-thirds of the Peace River region (extending to latitude 60°) is fit 
 for wheat." (Prof. Macoun's evidence, 1876.) Even near the southern 
 shores of Hudson Bay, at Fort Moose, " where the soil is a cold, wet clay, 
 with a level, undrained surface, wheat accidentally sown was found to ripen," 
 (Beirs "Rep. Geol. Survey," 1877.) 
 
 Hence the immense areas in the North-West in Canada favourable for 
 wheat. South of the Northern limits, where wheat has been found maturing, 
 east of the Rocky Mountains and west of Ontario, there are some 950,000 to 
 1,000,000 square miles in these north-west territories of Canada. This 
 immense area of 600,000,000 acres lies in a similar position on this Continent, 
 and with climates almost identical with the best wheat countries of the 
 Old "Vorld — the western, northern, north-western, and central parts of 
 Europe, It lies, too, in the valleys of the great rivers of the northern half 
 of the Continent— the Saskatchewan, Assiniboine, Red, Winnipeg, Peace, 
 Athabasca, and Mackenzie, with probably a larger percentage of tillable soil 
 than any equal area in the Old World. 
 
 Even to this vast area we must add at least another 200,000,000 
 acres — over 300,000 sc[uare miles — of wheat land in old Canada, covering the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward 
 Island, British Columbia, and Vancouver.* Wheat and other grains, it 
 must be remembered, produce more per acre, with surer crops, in the higher 
 latitudes and near their northern limits. 
 
 Deducting from these 800,000,000 acres the usual allowance for 
 mountainous districts and cold soils — this latter to include all north of the 
 summer isothermal of 63°, which reaches the parallel of 62^ in the interior 
 — there would still remain a practically boundless area of the best wheat land 
 on the Continent. 
 
 In stating the Northern limits of these plants, it is not, of course, 
 assumed that they can be profitably grown at such high latitudes, although 
 they usually produce surer and better crops near their Northern limits ; the 
 reference is made to show the area adapted to their culture. 
 
 Great Britain, one of the most favoured regions for wheat, has a summer 
 of about 60" to 62^; London has 61' 9'; (jlasgow, 60"; Swansea, 62°; 
 Dublin, 60" : Liverpool, 57^, 6' ; and the central counties of England 62°. 
 Canadian summers, necessarily varied o\er such a vast region, have 
 
 • The area of these Provinces is 700,000 square miles, to the northern limits of which wheat 
 grows. It embraces some of tlie best wheat land on the Continent. We include in our estimate less 
 than half. 
 
( II ) 
 
 nearly the same temperatures as the best wheat districts of the old world 
 — from 60" to 70". Halifax has 60' 8' ; Fredericton (New Brunswick), 64" 
 8'; Quebec, 69"; Montreal, 70" 8'; Toronto, 64° 8'; Manitoba, 67" to 70'; 
 V'ancouver, 61° 5'. 
 
 The cultivated cereal grains and grasses come to us through the cool, 
 humid, equable climates of the west of Europe, and thrive best and 
 almost exclusively in similar districts on this Continent, which are North of 
 the United States. 
 
 The statements made in reference to wheat apply to barley, rye, and other 
 small grains, except that these go into colder and more hun^d climates by 
 nearly five degrees of mean temperature. They bear colder summers, 
 poorer soils, and shorter periods of growth. Barley is the most flexible, 
 ripening its grain in the short summers under the Arctic circle on the West 
 of Norway, and going nearly as far on Mackenzie River in North America. 
 Oats bear cool, humid climates better than wheat, and upon poorer soils. 
 
 Barley occupies the most northern limits of grain culture, ripening at 
 70' north latitude in Lapland, at 67;^^ to 68^ in northern Russia, and 
 68" in the eastern parts. On the north-west coast of Europe it does not 
 go so far north, as the mean temperature of the summer months falls, and 
 the climate, through excessive moisture, is less favourable. It extends from 
 the north of Scotland to the Shetlands, but seldom ripens properly. 
 
 In North America barley ripens well at Fort Norman in latitude 65°, 
 400 miles north of the Orkneys and thfi capital of Sweden, and 350 miles 
 north of the capitals of Xorway and Russia. As barley will mature five 
 degrees farther north than wheat, no doubt when these northern countries 
 in Canada shall have been cleared of the forests, and the land drained, 
 barley and other food plants will, in the new world, ripen as far north as in 
 the old. On the Peace River, in latitude 58° 9', longitude 116", barley sown 
 on the 8th of May was cut on the 6th of August, 90 days. The grain 
 was large and of beautiful colour. (Macoun's Geol. Rep., 1875-6, p. 159.) 
 
 The summer of Yukon, west of Mackenzie River, under the Arctic circle, 
 is 59" 7', with a July at 65^ 7'. These temperatures are high enough and 
 the summer long enough to ripen barley. 
 
 The northern limit of rye in Norway is 67', in Sweden 65° to 66', in 
 Russia 63° to 64°, following the same curve as oats. In Siberia, rye is 
 grown up to the northern limits of corn culture, and in the north-west of 
 Canada it is also found to ripen as far nonh as barley ; but we have not 
 the data to justify us in fixing its northern limits. 
 
 As barley and rye ripen four to five degrees farther north than wheat, 
 there are at least half a million of square miles more land adapted to these 
 grains than to wheat in the North-Western Territories of the Dominion. 
 
 Oats are grown to the extreme north of Scotland, in latitude 58" 40' ; in 
 Norway to 65° ; in .Sweden to 63/2° ; therefore not quite so far north as rye. 
 In Russia the northern limits seem to coincide with those of rye. Their 
 culture extends southwards to the northern parts of France, but not much 
 
 J 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 south of Paris (latitude 48° 50'). In North America wild oats are found 
 growin;^ too, near the northern limits of pjrain culture. Macoun found 
 oats in latitude 56° four feet high, barley of ncarl)- ecjual growth, wild grass 
 three feet. (Geol. Rep., 1875-6, p. 154.) 
 
 The polar limits of the potato are beyond those of barley in Scandinavia, 
 and advance into Iceland, where barley cannot be grown. In putting the 
 northern limits of the potato and turnip a degree or so higher than barley, 
 we still keep within their climatic range. Turnips will go to even a higher 
 latitude than the potato, but the other vegetables here named will not grow 
 50 far north. As these vegetables can be used when but partly grown, they 
 may be cultivated in higher latitudes, and in short summers, where they 
 will not ripen, and farther north than even the coarser grains. Hence the 
 immense areas in Canada over which these food plants may be grown. 
 
 Sir A. Mackenzie says "that in 1788 a small spot was cleared (lat. 
 58 45', long. 117°) at the Old Establishment (Fort Vermilion.^), and sowed 
 with turnips, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. The first grew large, and the 
 others thrived well." (Can. Pac. Ry. Rept., 1879, P- S'-) On the Peace River, 
 near the Rocky Mountains, at latitude 56 30', potatoes, onions, carrots, 
 cabbages, and other vegetables grow in the gardens, and at this date (22nd 
 July) "potatoes planted 28th April were of very fair size, and fit for use, 
 growth extremely rapid, thermometer 80" at noon ; was informed that in 
 1874 there was no frost from ist May until 15th September (107 days). 
 In 1875 sowing commenced in the last week of April." (Geol. Rep., 1865-6, 
 p. 152, by Macoun.) 
 
 The apple, like the cereals, has its proper home north of the summer 
 isothermal of 70° in the cooler parts of the temperate zone, the areas of 
 summer rains. In warmer climates the fruit is inferior in quality, although 
 of good size. The southern and south-eastern parts of the United States 
 are too warm for the apple ; and the regions of summer droughts through 
 all the central parts of the Continent west of the Mississippi — the treeless 
 region — have climates destructive to the apple-tree ; for a climate where 
 deciduous trees will not grow could not be favourable for the apple-tree. 
 
 A writer in the New York Graphic, of October nth, 1876, referring to 
 the Canadian show of fruit at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, in 
 1876, says: — "The finest show of fruits is made by the Fruit Growers' 
 Association of Ontario, Canada." A distinguished American pomologist, 
 from Illinois, writing of the fruits at the Centennial, in 1876, says: — "De- 
 cidedly the best show, taking into consideration variety, quality, number, 
 and taste, is from Ontario, Canada. 
 
 "The exhibit occupied two tables, each 200 feet long, with 1,480 plates 
 of apples, 200 of pears, 290 of plums, 173 of grapes, 26 of peaches, 86 of crab- 
 apples, and 20 of miscellaneous fruits, nuts, &c." 
 
 Marshall, in his work on Canada, after visiting an agricultural show 
 which represented only the country around London, in Ontario, says : — 
 " Upwards of a hundred varieties of apples were exhibited. For cooking 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 there were the Cayuga, Red Streak, or twenty-ounce pippin, an imposing 
 fruit measuring over fifteen inches. The Alexander, of glorious crimson ; 
 the Red Astracan or snow apple, so named from the whiteness of its pulp ; 
 the Gravenstein, Baldwin, and others. P'or dessert there were the Fameusc, 
 the streaked St. Lawrence, the Spitzenberg, the Seek-no-farther of gold and 
 red " (p. 76). " The Canadian apple is the standard of excellence " (p. 7), 
 
 " Even in California, the orchard of the Union, the superiority of the 
 Canadian apple was, to my surprise, confessed. Vast quantities are ex- 
 ported to England and sold as American, their nationality being lost. 
 
 "The grape thrives well, raspberries, strawberries, black-berries or 
 brambles, cranberries, cherries, and other fruits, currants, plums, grapes, 
 apples, &c., grow wild. Orchards everywhere thrive " (p. "]"]). 
 
 In 1862 the Royal Commissioners of the International Exhibition of 
 London, asked from the representatives of all the countries at the exhibition 
 a collection of fruit from their respective countries, to be shown in the gardens 
 of the Royal Horticultural .Society of London. It became the duty of the 
 writer, as a commissioner from Canada, to make the collection from this 
 country. He wrote to the Fruit Growers' Association of Upper Canada for 
 a collection, but it being too early in the season for that society to .- id the 
 fruit, the local Horticultural Society of Hamilton, a town at the head of 
 Lake Ontario, 1,260 miles from the Atlantic, sent a collection. The officers 
 of the Royal Horticultural Society reported that this show of apples was 
 the finest they had ever had from any one country ; and the chief countries 
 of Europe and the United States had collections at the Royal Horticultural 
 Gardens in that year. 
 
 In Europe the apple ripens in latitude 64°, and thrives well up to 60". 
 The area in Canada over which it could be cultivated would equal that of 
 wheat. The pear will not mature so far north, but thrives well wherever 
 tried throughout the valley of the St. Lawrence ; and in British Columbia, 
 north of 50°, attains to a great size — eleven inches in circumference. It is 
 also grown in Manitoba. Wild plums and cherries are evei^where found 
 throughout the valley of the St. Lawrence, and up to high latitudes as far as 
 the deciduous forest trees extend ; the black cherry especially growing to 
 a large tree, two and three feet in diameter and sixty to seventy in height, in 
 the southern part of Ontario. The red cherry is a smaller but more hardy 
 tree. The wild yellow egg-plum was found in Upper Canada, on its first 
 settlement, of a size which would be considered large amongst cultivated 
 plums at the present time, the trees being more than a foot in diameter. 
 Where the native plum and cherry were found growing spontaneously we 
 may assume that the climate and soil are favourable for such fruits, and ex- 
 periment has proved the correctness of this inference. The analogy of Europe 
 would justify us in placing the northern limits of these two fruits as high as 
 the parallel of 60'. 
 
 Canada is on the northern limit of the peach-growing zone, yet in favour- 
 able seasons immense crops have been produced over large areas in the 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 southern and south-western parts of Canada. The fruit, too, is of excellent 
 quality, large, and delicious. 
 
 The climatal condition of Canada will he better understood by reference 
 to the influence which the currents of air and ocean have upon both continents, 
 and by comparing western coasts with western, eastern with eastern, and 
 interior divisions with interior. 
 
 The warm currents of air and water falling upon western coasts, and 
 aorial currents passing over the continents, elevate the temperatures of 
 the western parts of the continents, while the cold currents pressing upon 
 eastern shores lower the temperatures there. 
 
 The mean temperature of the Gulf Stream in the Gulf of Mexico is 
 80" Fahrenheit ; its maximum temperature is 86 , or 9" above the ocean 
 temperature due the latitude. Increasing its latitude 10°, it loses two 
 degrees of heat, and after running 3,000 miles towards the north, still 
 preserves the temperature of summer. With this temperature it crosses 
 the fortieth degree of north latitude, and spreading out for thousands of 
 squarfe leagues over the cold waters of the ocean, does much to mitigate the 
 rigours of winter in Europe. When it strikes the British Islands it divides 
 into two parts, the main current going to the Polar Sea, the other entering 
 the Bay of Biscay. 
 
 It has been estimated that the quantity of heat discharged over the 
 Atlantic from the waters of the Gulf Stream in winter would be sufficient 
 to raise the whole column of atmosphere which rests upon France and 
 the British Islands from the freezing point to summer heat. Every western 
 wind which blows (and the pre\ailing winds are from the west, or from some 
 point near the W. or S.W. in this part of the ocean) crosses the Gulf Stream, 
 and carries with it a portion of its heat, discliarging it in its passage over 
 Europe. The isothermal lines of 60" and 55", starting from the parallel of 
 40° on the American coast, run in a north-easterly direction, retaining 
 nearly the same oceanic temperature on the European side in latitude 55* 
 and 60° as exists on the American coast in latitude 40°. 
 
 In the Pacific there are tropic and arctic currents like those in the 
 Atlantic, and from similar causes. The Japan stream, or Kuro-Siwo — black 
 stream — a name derived from the deep blue colour of its waters, flows from 
 the south-east of Asia in a north-easterly direction, falling upon the 
 western coast of North America. This stream, flowing many thousand 
 miles further than the Atlantic 'tropic current, is not so hot nor its littoral 
 waters so cold as those in the Atlantic, but it spreads over the entire Pacific 
 coast of Canada. These two currents in the Pacific— the arctic and 
 tropical — produce similar effects to those in the Atlantic ; the one warming 
 the western coast of North America in high latitudes, and the other 
 cooling the eastern shores of Asia. 
 
 Through the agency of these two currents in the Atlantic, the western 
 countries of Europe are much warmer than the eastern parts of America 
 in similar latitudes ; the difference being about eight degrees in latitude 
 
( '5 ) 
 
 •n 
 
 a 
 
 41"; eleven and a lialf in latitude 51"; and twenty-five in latitude 58". 
 Similar causes in operation in the Pacific Ocean '/ive an equal elevation of 
 the temperature of the western coasts of America over the eastern coasts 
 of Asia in the same latitudes — the arctic currents chilling the one and the 
 tropical currents warming the other. 
 
 From Vancouver, in latitude 490 to Sitka in 570, the summer temperatures 
 are as high and as uniform as in the west of Europe, except where the 
 vicinity of mountains may modify the normal conditions of climate. Sir 
 John Richardson says "the climate of Sitka" (on the Pacific coast) "is 
 much warmer than that of Europe in the same parallel." (" Arc. Ex.," vol. 2, 
 p. 279.) The isothermal of 60" for the three summer months rises as high 
 as latitude 63^ east of the Rocky Mountains in the valley of Mackenzie 
 River. Yukon, west of Mackenzie River, and within the Arctic circle, 
 latitude 67", has a July of 65° 7', and an August of 60 . 
 
 In comparing the well-known regions of the Old World with the less 
 known corresponding parts of the New, western coasts with western, eastern 
 with eastern, and intcrior'divisions with interior, we find a remarkable simil- 
 arity in the climates of Uie two continents. The United States are similarly 
 situated on the North American continent, with China on the Eastern ; in 
 latitude, in position on the continents, they are the same, and in climates 
 similar. Canton, in China, lat. 23", has a summer temperature of 82" ; and 
 Key-West, in Florida, lat. 24"" 32', a summer of 82' ; Pekin, lat. 40°, has a 
 summer of 76', which is only two or three degrees above that of Philadelphia, 
 of the same latitude. Nagasaki, Japan, and Charleston in South Carolina, 
 in the same latitudes, have summers of 80° ; London in the west of Europe, 
 and Vancouver in the ^\'est of North America, in similar latitudes, have the 
 same mean summer temperatures, al^out 61" and a half ; Sitka, in lat. 57°, 
 Sir John Richardson says, has a climate much warmer than Europe in the 
 same latitude. The climates of the interior are warmer in summer and colder 
 in winter than those on eastern and western coasts, but are somewhat similar 
 (Ml both continents, being, however, warmer on the Red, Saskatchewan, and 
 Mackenzie Rivers, than in the same parallels on the eastern continent. The 
 isothermal of 65' for the three summer months, crosses the Red River in 
 latitude 50". and rises on the Mackenzie to latitude 60". 
 
 The summer rains, too, throughout Canada, are similar to those in 
 Europe in the same latitudes from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, being 
 somewhat uniform during the agricultural months, but more copious in 
 Canada. 
 
 South of the boundary between Canada and the United States, west 
 of the Mississippi, are the areas of summer droughts, a rainless, treeless, 
 desolate region, similar in position on this Continent, and in the character 
 of the country, to the desert areas of the Old World— the one beginning 
 on the western coasts of Mexico and California, and extending to British 
 America on the north, and over half the Continent eastward ; the other 
 beginning on the western coast of Africa, near the same latitude as the 
 
( «6 ) 
 
 American desert, and extending north-eastward, or east by north, over 
 Africa, Palestine, Turkistan, and Manchu Tartary, 9,000 miles in the direc- 
 tion of the prevailing winds. 
 
 Those regions of summer droughts cover about one-half the area of tlic 
 United States. In addition to the absence of summer rains, we have the 
 authority of trustworthy and impartial witnesses — American writers — for 
 the statement that a large percentage of that part of the Continent has soils 
 so deeply impregnated with saline matter that crops could not be grown by 
 irrigation even if it were possible to get water. That entire area must there- 
 fore be comparatively worthless as a grazing and grass-growing region, 
 and for crops which recjuire the summer for their growth and maturity. 
 
 If we turn to the north, from this region of summer droughts to that of 
 summer rains, and moderate temperatures in the agricultural months, we 
 find the greatest contrast. The native grasses are found in Canada at 
 higher latitudes than it is possible to grow barley ; but assuming that the 
 northern limits of barley will also be those of the cultivable grasses, there 
 would be in the Dominion an area of at least two millions (2,000,000) of 
 square miles, or more than twelve hundred millions (1,200,000,000) 
 of acres, to the northern limits of which native grasses are found. The 
 luxuriance of these native grasses, to very high latitudes, is shown by those 
 regions being the chosen pastures of the bison and deer. These higher 
 latitudes, too, taking Europe as our guide, will be the chief home of the ox, 
 the sheep, and the horse. Deducting from these twelve hundred millions of 
 acres such percentage as is found, say, in Europe, unsuited to pastures and 
 meadows — and these lands lie chiefly in the valleys of great rivers, with 
 a small percentage of poor soil — there would still remain a practically 
 boundless area of the best grass lands on the Continent. 
 
 Cassell & C'iM!/\Nv, Limited, Belle Sauvage Works, Lonoox, K.C. 
 
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