Page 156 - SST Class 07
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Info Bits
Info Bits available, as near the rivers. The chief varieties of
trees are alders , willows and poplars .
The word ‘Prairie’ is originated from a Latin word The western areas near the Lake Winnipeg
‘Prata’ meaning meadows. experience rainfall more than 50 cm and are
Topography suitable for farming. Therefore, a number of crops
are grown here, such as maize, wheat, soybean,
The prairies are plains or gently sloping hilly areas
cotton and alfa-alfa.
covered with grasses. There are no high
Contour ploughing and
mountains here, due to which the winds have no strip cropping are practised
obstruction. It results in less amount of rainfall,
in order to prevent soil
less than 50 cm in a year. The prairies are mostly
erosion because there is no
covered with tall grasses, as tall as 2 metres high, natural barrier for the
because the rainfall is not enough to support trees,
winds. A wheat farm in prairies
but this much rainfall is
quite enough for grasses. The wheat farms are very extensive, sometimes as
The grasses have long large as 1,000 hectares. The farmers are rich. They
roots which take moisture use machines for all types of agricultural activities,
from the soil. Since the including sowing and harvesting. Some of the
grasses have existed here important farming machines include harvesters,
for a long time, the soil is A grassland in prairies combines, threshers, tractors, harrows, seed-drills
fertile. etc. They use wagons and trucks to carry their
produce to the market.
The two important rivers in the prairies are the
Mississippi in America and the Saskatchewan in The produce is much more than needed in the
Canada. They, together with their tributaries, country, so both America and Canada export
provide water to the prairies throughout the year. wheat to other countries, chiefly European
countries. As such, the prairies are known as the
Climate
granaries of the world .
The prairies have extreme type of climate as they
are located in the interior of the continents in the
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middle latitudes and absence of any high Info Bits
mountains. Winters are severely cold, with the The wheat plant and bamboo plant are grasses.
temperature going as low as –20°C; while the
The eastern areas are drier and experience less
summers are quite warm with the temperature
than 50 cm rainfall. These areas have grasslands
going as high as +21°C. A thick sheet of snow
covers this region in the winters. A local wind, which are suitable for grazing, so the chief occu-
pation in these places is cattle-rearing. Large cattle
called Chinook , blows here. This wind is warm
and melts the snow, thus making grasses available farms are called ranches . Extensive grasslands
to the animals for grazing. The rainfall, being less provide sufficient grass for the animals to graze.
The chief species of cattle reared are goats, sheep,
than 50 cm per year, is not enough to support
trees, but is enough to support grasses. horses and pigs. These animals are reared for milk,
meat, skin and wool. These ranches are looked
F ind Outind Out after by sturdy men called
Why do the prairies experience sudden change in cowboys . It is a common sight to
temperature? see these cowboys riding horses
in farms. The ranches are suitably
Occupations
adapted to meet all needs of the
The prairies are treeless for the most part. Some cattle. In addition to grasses, corn
Cowboys in a
trees grow in those regions where water is and oat are fed to the cattle. prairie farm
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