Another northward step of about fifty miles brings us (far away in eastern Alberta) to Fort McMurray (lat. 56.7°), on the Athabasca River; and concerning Fort McMurray it is recorded that “Professor Macoun, on the 8th of September, 1875, saw tomatoes, cucumbers, wheat and barley under cultivation, together with all vegetables found in kitchen gardens of Ontario. He spent ten days there, and obtained specimens of wheat and barley which have astonished everyone to whom they were exhibited. Many of the ears contained one hundred grains, and the weight of both wheat and barley was nearly ten pounds above the ordinary weight per bushel. These grains had been raised on soil comparatively poor—very poor for the district—and lying only a few feet above the level of Lake Athabasca.” So here we are over two hundred miles to the north of Edmonton, and reports of vegetation tend to become more, instead of less, satisfactory. Next we jump an interval of about a hundred and fifty miles, and pause at Fort Chipewyan (lat. 58.7°), where, I learn, Professor Macoun obtained in 1875 fine samples of wheat and barley, the former weighing 68 lbs. to the bushel and the latter 58 lbs. He learnt that at a French Mission, two miles above the Fort, oats, wheat and barley were all cut by the 26th of August. But a still more remarkable fact has to be recorded. The Rev. D. M. Gordon was in a position to say that samples of wheat and barley raised at Fort Chipewyan were sent to the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, where they won a medal in open competition with the world. Let us take a further stride, to a point some two hundred miles further north—to Fort Providence (lat. 61.4°). Here we are about one hundred miles north of the northern boundary of Alberta; and perhaps this is as good a place as another to mention that the province of Alberta is considerably larger than France or Germany. Please note how far we have travelled—Fort Providence is over seven hundred miles north of Calgary. And what do we find at Fort Providence—Polar bears and perpetual frost? Not a bit of it. Listen to this quotation from a report by Mr. Elihu Stewart, who, as superintendent of forestry for the Dominion of Canada, visited those northern lands in 1906: “On July 15th, the garden at Fort Providence contained peas fit for use, potatoes in flower, tomatoes, rhubarb, beets, cabbages and onions. Besides vegetables, there were cultivated flowers and fruit, such as red currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and saskatoons. But most surprising thing of all was a small field of wheat in the milk, the grain being fully formed. This was stated to have been sown on May 20th, and it was harvested before July 28th—slightly over two months from sowing.” Oh, the marvellous potency of the long days of sunshine. What a rush there will be for the Great North Lands—that agricultural El Dorado—when the world understands their value.