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t II Vs 1V\JU XVI T VI uu VVIUIUUU “I » v» ^ •••• Jindeed, it is not needed. Wheat grows ' at Fort Garry, at the -eastern extremity of the Belt; and at Edmonton, 800 milesdistant, near the western extremity, it grows with equal luxuriance, and yields 30 to 50 bushels to the acre—in some instances even more. Maize ripens atRed River and Fort Ellice ; and, doubtless, at Carlton and Edmonton, but I have no actual knowledge that it has beeu tried there. The root crops I have never seen equalled in tins country.: Potatoes get to an immense size, and yield enormously. Turnips often attain a weight of 16 or 17 | pounds apiece. Flax, hemp, tobacco—a,ll I grow well. All the cereals appear to flourish equally well. Fruit trees do not seem to have been introduced into the settlement, but as plums, strawberries, and gooseberries grow wild, I imagine all the hardier English fruits would grow there.The herbage of the prairies is so feeding that corn is rarely given to horses or cattle. They do their hard work, subsist entirely on grass, and are most astonishingly fat. The draught oxen resemble prize animals at a cattle show.The horses we took with us we turned adrift at the beginniniDg of the winter, when suow had already fallen—they had been overworked and were jaded and thin. In the spring we hunted them up aud fouud them in the finest condition, or rather too fat. The soil on La Belle Prairie, where we built our hut for the winter, was four feet deep and free from rocks or gravel-^the finest loam.* The climate . is that of Canada, or perhaps rather milder. The summer is long and warm, the weather uniformly bright and fine, wtyh the exception of occasional showers—a wet day is almost unknown. I The winter is severe and unbroken by I
Newspaper Details
Victoria Vancouver Daily Evening Post
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
Wed, Jan 24, 1866
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 29 Jul 2020
Other Publications Near Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria General Conference Daily Bulletin
Victoria Evening Telegraph
Victoria New Westminster Times and Vancouver Island Guardian
Victoria New Westminster Times
Victoria Vancouver Daily Standard
