NOVA SCOTIA 3 



Blomindon rose, and the forests old. and aloft on the mountains 

 Sea-fogs pitched tlu-ir u-nts, and mists from the mighty Atlantic 

 Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station descended. 



In no part of the world do apples take more kindly to the soil 

 with such uniformly good results as in this beautiful region. Hali- 

 fax, the capital city of Nova Scotia, at the eastern gateway of the 

 Dominion, sitting on the shores of one of the most magnificent of 

 tin world's natural harbours, is the most convenient centre whence 

 tin- whole province and the strikingly beautiful island of Cape Breton 

 are easily accessible by steamship and rail. 



General Hardy in his book remarks very truthfully : ' In the 

 tic-Ms and uplands of a thoroughly cleared district (of Nova Scotia) 

 the new-comer from England is scarcely reminded of a difference 

 in the scene from that to which he has been accustomed. In the 

 pastures he sees English grasses, with the buttercup, the ox-eye 

 and the dandelion ; the thistle and many a well-known weed are 

 recognized growing by the meadow-side, with the wild rose and the 

 bl.u kberry as in English hedgerows. Though the house-sparrow ' 

 (alas ! too abundant since these words were printed) 'and the robin 

 are missed, and he is surprised to find the latter name applied 

 where to the numerous red-breasted thrushes which hop 

 rlessly about the pastures, he finds much to remind him of bird 

 home. Swallows and martins are as numerous, indeed more 

 so ; the titmouse, the wren, and the goldcrest are found to be 

 identical with those of the old country, the former being 

 Ljous in every respect to the small blue tit, and many of the 

 have much in common with their Transatlantic repre- 

 The various birds of prey present most striking simi- 

 larities to those of Europe. The wasp, the bee and the house-fly 

 present no appreciable difference, nor can the visitor detect even 

 i >hade of distinction in many of the butterflies. 



' The seafaring man arriving from Europe will find even less 

 >i divergence amongst the finny tribes and the sea-fowl on these 

 oasts, and indeed will not pretend to detect a difference in most 



Mr. Rudyard Kipling's chance epithet (in one of his rhymes), 

 Our Lady of the Snows,' had the effect of giving Canada a great 

 1 misrepresentation among folk that do not know her well, 

 urse, there is a vast dissimilarity in the climate of different 

 "it inns of Canada. The mean temperature, for instance, of Dawson 

 itv is as different from that of Halifax as that of St. Petersburg 

 from that of Paris. In Nova Scotia the average mean tempera- 

 un> is about 41-5, with upwards of forty per cent, of bright sun- 

 liinr in the year. Lying between the same parallels of latitude 



