H 



A 



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16 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



VIII. The Census of 1822 



A census ^^ of the Red River Settlement taken in the 

 spring of 1822 throws an interesting light upon the state 

 of the colony ten years after its foundation. The human 

 population consisted of 681 persons, of which 2-34- were 

 men, 161 women, and 286 children, boys and girls being 

 exactly equal in number. There were 126 houses and 160 

 gardens. The livestock consisted of: 3 bulls, 45 cows, 39 

 calves and 6 oxen; 10 sheep and 1 ram; 12 pigs; and 78 

 horses. The seed sown in the spring of 1822, reckoned in 

 bushels, was as follows: wheat, 235^^(6; barley, 14:2"A2', 

 Indian corn, 12^%2 ; potatoes, 570; and peas, 17%. The 

 books numbered 81. The total value of the Settlement 

 was estimated at 4,620. Os. 5d., surely from our present 

 point of view a very modest computation. 



IX. Milling Operations 



In 1824, after a protracted struggle of twelve years, the 

 Scotch settlers reaped their first truly satisfactory crop of 

 grain. By this time the plow was being tried with consid- 

 erable success and greatly lightened the work of preparing 

 the seed-bed. The yields obtained were high, the returns 

 for wheat being forty-four from the plow and sixty-eight 

 after the hoe.^^ At harvest time, the wheat was gathered 

 with a sickle. It was then threshed with a flail and 

 ground into flour with a handstone known as a quern. 

 Several of these querns are still in existence, one being in 

 the possession of the Ogilvie Milling Company of Winni- 

 peg. Two others are at Loekport, one belonging to Mr. 

 John MacDougal and the other to Mrs. J. E. McAlister. 

 About 1823, the two-horse treadmill was introduced; and 



34 An unsigned abstract in the Selkirk Papers, spring, 1822. 

 '35 A. Ross, loc. cit., p. 78. 



