WANT OF SKILFUL FARMERS. 197 



to carry it on. In the former sense, farming upon land 

 of average quality in ay be said to be profitable in all 

 the settled parts of North America. The industrious 

 man who tills his own land is able to place and keep 

 himself and his family in comfortable independence. In 

 Great Britain and Ireland, it has hitherto as certainly 

 been profitable in the second sense. It has kept the 

 farmer s family, and, besides returning a fair interest 

 upon money expended in improvements and labour, has 

 enabled him to pay a rent to his landlord besides. 



Now, in New Brunswick, those who are anxious to 

 see agriculture advance feel the want, and desire the 

 immigration, of farmers possessing both knowledge and 

 capital. But the prevailing opinion is, that it will not 

 pay to farm with hired labour that is to say, that in 

 this province farming is not a profitable investment for 

 capital. I have already alluded to my personal inquiries 

 upon this point, and to the answers I received at various 

 places during my tour both in the provinces and in the 

 States. I will here present a brief digest of all the infor 

 mation I was able to collect upon this important practical 

 point. 



If the crops be large and the prices good, and yet 

 farming is not profitable, in our English sense, it must 

 be that the cost of production is too great. Now, in 

 New Brunswick human labour is the principal, almost 

 the sole, item for which money is paid. Skill and 

 method may no doubt diminish the present cost of feed 

 ing stock of all kinds, and make the same amount of 

 human labour go farther in all branches of rural affairs ; 

 and supposing these to be possessed and applied by the 

 farmer, human labour is the only element which in this 

 province materially affects the cost of production by the 

 hands of others. It is in fact so said in the province 

 itself u With the present high price of labour, it is 

 impossible to farm profitably by the hands of others.&quot; 



