FARMS. MINERALS. 63 



improved or run-out farms in the settlement, and pushing 

 back farther in the forest. 



The wages of agricultural labourers in the Ottawa dis- 

 trict are ruled by the lumber trade. Where the latter is 

 flourishing, wages are high, and vice versa. At present 

 a labourer hired by the year, gets from $10 to $12 per 

 month with board. Without board, but with free house, 

 fuel, patch of land for garden, about $18. On the latter 

 terms a man and wife can be hired for about $25 per 

 month. These wages are rather below the average, as 

 the lumber market is somewhat depressed at present, and 

 consequently a number of men who usually earn their 

 living in the woods are now competing with emigrants for 

 farm labour. 



Excellent iron ore is found in Ontario. But there is no 

 means of smelting it on the spot. It is therefore sent to 

 the United States, where it is manufactured, and then 

 returned to Canada as pig iron or in the shape of iron 

 tools and implements. This should not be so. There is 

 both iron and coal in abundance within the Dominion. 



Both silver and copper in large quantities are found on 

 the shores of Lake Superior. 



But more valuable than either of these are the petro- 

 leum wells. Some of these wells in the county of Lamb- 

 ton yield 100 barrels of crude oil per day. And the wells 

 of Canada West, as at present worked, yield over 10,000 

 barrels per week. The oil region of Ontario is supposed 

 to be very extensive, and the supply is apparently inex- 

 haustible. The capital now employed in the trade is 

 upwards of 2,000,000/. 



In the British Islands there is plenty of money and very 



