9

The Prince George district centres on that city. It runs south along the
east side of the Fraser River to Redrock and west along both sides of the Nechako
River, extending north to the Salmon Valley and southwest to Mud River.

The soil of the district has been classified as a grey wooded type with a
texture varying from a clay to a sandy loam. It is naturally covered with a
forest growth which varies from light poplar to heavy pine and spruce. Topo-
graphy is level to undulating with few stones.

The most important land use is the growing of forage crops. These are
harvested mostly as hay or pasture and marketed through livestock. There has
developed in recent years an alsike seed industry. This is a crop which is well
adapted to existing conditions of soil and climate and the indications are that
as a farm enterprise it is likely to increase in importance.

The rolling terrain in the Bulkley valley near Smithers.

The Vanderhoof district is one of grey wooded and grey black transition
soils. Generally topography is favourable and stones are relatively few. The
annual rainfall is less by several inches than at Prince George. This gives rise
to important differences in land use, chief of which is the larger proportion of the
cultivated land devoted to cereal crops. Emphasis is nevertheless still on live-
stock as a source of farm income.

In marketing facilities the community is unique in that it possesses the only
grain elevator in the four districts. The town is quite adequate in other respects
also and provides the facilities usually found in a rural district.

The district at Francois Lake from which the farm records were taken is
20 to 45 miles from the railroad at Burns Lake village. It is reached by a govern-
ment ferry across the lake from the hamlet of Francois Lake. The community
is self-contained to the extent that it is provisioned by its own local stores, has
a co-operative seed cleaning plant and social facilities in the form of schools
and community halls.

The growing of forage crops, chiefly timothy, is the principal land use in
the district. The reason is that the crop is well adapted to the degraded black
soil and the natural conditions of climate and rainfall.

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