EAPID1TY OF VEGETATION. 425 



existence, and enables it to distance the weeds. Here 

 again the climate of Canada has an advantage over the 

 English climate. The frost kills the roots of the weeds 

 in winter, and one hoeing in the summer time in Canada 

 is as good as two in England. The sim dries the upturned 

 weeds and withers them. Hand-weeding can be dispensed 

 with altogether, and thus a vast amount of labour is 

 saved. 



The Canadian summers are decidedly hot. There is 

 never any danger of crops being lost for want of sufficient 

 heat and sunshine to mature them. The degree of heat 

 can be estimated by considering some of the crops grown. 

 In Canada West, Indian corn, that most beautiful and 

 most bounteous of cereals, grows well as a field crop (as a 

 garden crop it is ripened all over the Dominion). We 

 know that even in gardens at home this corn cannot be 

 ripened, as it requires at least one month of a higher 

 temperature than any English weather. Cucumbers, 

 melons, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes come to perfec- 

 tion in the open air all over Canada. Even in the vicinity 

 of Quebec all these may be seen ripening in the gardens 

 of the habitants. In Canada West grapes and peaches 

 do well in the open; and so would many other crops 

 which are but little cultivated at present, as, for instance, 

 tobacco and hemp. 



There are some advantages of the long Canadian 

 winters that may be called negative ones ; to the farmer 

 there is at least one positive one. I allude to the facilities 

 afforded by the frost and snow for hauling loads of all* 

 kinds, and transporting produce. The swamps, the rivers, 

 the creeks, and the lakes are all sealed up, and make the 



