ORIGINAL SETTLERS. 29 



British empire to which the small capitalist can emigrate. 

 A farmer with a growing family and a capital too small to 

 enable him to make a comfortable living in the old country, 

 is the very man to succeed in Ontario. I believe many men 

 of this class are under the impression that if they emigrate 

 they will have to settle down in the wilderness, and with 

 painful toil and privation hew themselves farms out of 

 the forest. This is quite a mistake. No immigrant pos- 

 sessed of a little means and with some knowledge of 

 farming need ever dream of taking such a course in 

 Canada. He can make far better use of his knowledge 

 and experience, and of his capital also, no matter how 

 small that capital may be. 



The original settlers in Ontario were not as a rule good 

 farmers. Even if they were, the process they pursued 

 spoiled them. They found land which when cleared of 

 forest produced splendid crops of wheat. So they grew 

 wheat year after year till the land would grow wheat no 

 longer. Then, when they discovered that in order to 

 make their farms reproductive it would be necessary 

 to farm in a more scientific way, many of them, instead of 

 taking the trouble to establish a system of rotation of 

 crops, flitted to other localities where they cleared new 

 farms on which they were able to repeat the process of 

 scratching the soil for wheat. Even at the present day, 

 although there are many good farmers in Canada, this 

 system is still pursued, and the consequence is that there 

 are always in the market numbers of farms, well situated, 

 with good buildings, fences, orchards, &c., the soil of 

 which, although temporarily unfitted for one particular 

 crop, is admirably suited for many others, and is capable, 



