APPENDIX 1.

133

fertility as to admit of profitable farming. We should
not, however, deal justly were we to pass over the
oreat north countrv lying beyond the boundaries of
Saskatchewan and Alberta without a few words of
sxplanation.
The 155 million acres of land in Athabasca, and a
large slice of the 340 million acres in Mackenzie, will
no doubt prove important factors in the future development
 of Canada, but what proportion of these vast
districts will be capable of the profitable growing of
crops is as yet a matter of conjecture. There are,
however, some proofs available showing that it is
possible to grow cereals to some extent in portions of
these remote districts of which our knowledge is so
fragmentary.
The writer has received samples from Dunvegan,
on the Peace River, in Athabasca, 414 miles by latitude
 north of Winnipeg, of Ladoga wheat, plump
and well matured, weighing 64 Ib. per bushel; oats
weighing 40 to 42 lb. per bushel; six-rowed barley,
52 lb. per bushel; and spring rye weighing 56 lb. per
bushel.
At Fort Vermillion, further down the Peace River,
also in Athabasca, 591 miles north of Winnipeg,
Ladoga wheat has been raised weighing 6o lb. per
bushel ; oats, 412 lb.; six-rowed barley, 51% lb.; and
spring rye, 57% lb. per bushel.
From Fort Providence, in Mackenzie, 710 miles
north of Winnipeg, have come good samples of oats
and spring rye; but the quantities received were
too small to permit of their weight per bushel being
determined.
From Fort Simpson, 818 miles north of Winnipeg
by latitude, Ladoga wheat has been obtained which
weighed 624 1b. per bushel. In this instance a small
percentage of the grain was injured by frost. This is
the furthest point north from which samples of cereals
have been received. The time between sowing and
harvesting in these far northern districts is in some