40 whole of it is oceupied by cultivable lapa’ So far as our incomplete knowledge of the country will allow us to draw any conclusions it may be said that the northern limit to which cultivation of the land may proceed in a large way is the line formed by Great Slave lake, Mackenzie river to the mouth of the Liard river, and Liard river up to the mountains. This is approximately along the line of latitude 61 degrees north. North of this line excellent crops of garden vegetables (Plate V) and barley have been raised along the valley of the Mackenzie at Wrigley and Norman, and even as far north as Good Hope on the edge of the Arctic circle. Similar crops might be grown in favourable localities in the country back from the river. In general, however, it may be said that the greater part of this portion of the basin inland from the streams is made up of spruce muskegs with little or no drainage and a permanent frost only a few inches beneath the surface, which would make farming impossible. South of Great Slave and Liard river is an area within the Mackenzie basin covering about 200,000 square miles of the Great Central plain, which from the operations that have been carried on for years at the various trading posts of Fort Nelson, Fort Liard, Simpson, Providence, Resolution, Fort Smith, and Fort Vermilion, we know to be capable of supporting a population mainly by - agriculture wherever the soil is suitable. Parts of this region are no doubt too high above sea-level and other areas are low-lying spruce muskegs incapable of drainage, and cannot be considered as possible agricultural land. How great a part of this 200,000 square miles is to be considered unsuitable it is impossible to say, but it is no doubt large. The best part of it is believed to be that portion immediately adjoining the Peace river and its tributaries, especially Smoky river, and referred to generally as the Peace River country. ' Within the limits of the Peace River country it has been edtinitited that there are areas totalling in all some 10,000,000 acres of prairie or slightly wooded country on which crops of vegetables and hardy grains can be successfully grown. The remainder of the country is more heavily wooded with poplar, spruce, or jackpine, and although the soil and climatic conditions are similar to those which obtain in the prairie portions it will necessarily be more difficult to clear - and much longer before it is taken up by settlers. Of the Peace River region the northern area which centres about Fort Vermilion is:apparently the most generally favourable for agriculture. Though more than two degrees farther north than Peace River Crossing, where so much settlement is now going on, the climatic conditions seem to be somewhat more favourable, due no doubt,to the lower altitude, the country about Vermilion being about 1,000 feet above the sea and the plateau behind Peace River Crossing at least 1,000 feet higher still. Fort Vermilion is the centre of a small farming community in which virtut ally all the vegetables, wheat and other grains, and meat necessary for the sup- | port of the community are produced. Only a small proportion of the arable land is, however, cultivated, because lack of transportation facilities prevents the farmers from getting their produce to a market. : In the upper Peace River region an active immigration of settlers has been going on for the last few years. Land is being taken up about a number iof centres, mainly about Grande Prairie, Spirit River, Peace River Crossing, and Dunvegan. Both farming and ranching are snocessfully carried on and since the entry of the Edmonton, Dunvegan, and British Columbia railway into that region in the summer of 1915 the settlers are able to sell their produce in the