92 NEW BRUNSWICK. 



that nine-tenths of the province is still forest ; nor is it to 

 be wondered at that a casual visitor, seeing this primeval 

 forest, should carry away with him the impression that 

 " New Brunswick is not a farming country." 



But this population, small as it is, does not live by 

 agriculture. Like the Americans, they look upon farming 

 as too slow a means of making money, and prefer occu- 

 pations which, together with greater risks, combine 

 quicker returns. Both these desiderata have hitherto 

 been supplied by the lumbering and shipbuilding trades ; 

 but, now iron ships are taking the place of wooden 

 ones, the lumber trade is depreciated, and farming, if 

 farming can be made to pay, must be entered upon 

 largely. 



The best way to judge what can be done is to look at 

 what has been already accomplished by the comparatively 

 few individuals who have devoted themselves entirely to 

 the cultivation of the soil. These men, so far from being 

 worse off than their neighbours, are invariably more 

 prosperous and well-to-do ; they cannot, it is true, amass 

 fortunes, but they can live well and comfortably, and 

 give their children a fair start in life. In travelling 

 through the province, if one sees a more than ordinarily 

 comfortable and prosperous looking homestead, one may 

 be quite sure that it belongs to a man who has stuck to 

 farming. This fact tends to upset the notion that New 

 Brunswick is not a farming country; and looking more 

 closely into the matter, comparing the crops grown here 

 with those of other countries, and weighing well the 

 drawbacks of climate and the difficulty of clearing the 

 land, I am led to the conclusion that at a future period 



