380 TOWNSHIP OF NICHOL. 



the midst of a forest country, and who is to tend his thrash 

 ing-machine ? 



The data of an agricultural statement must be very fluc 

 tuating at all times, as the influence of the season aifects the 

 quantity and quality of produce, and consequently prices. 

 Mr Fergusson assumes 25 bushels of wheat per acre as the 

 produce of new cleared land, but the results of my enquiries 

 and observation, including chance of mildew and imperfect 

 cultivation from stumps, do not warrant their being rated 

 higher than 18 bushels, per acre. It appears odd that he 

 should fix the price of wheat in Nichol at 4s. 6 d., when he 

 quotes the Niagara price at 4s. 3d., and it would require 

 9d. per bushel to bring wheat from Nichol to Lake Ontario, 

 where it would meet the same market as Niagara. At the 

 time he wrote, Nichol wheat could not be worth more than 

 3s. 6d. per bushel, Halifax currency. But the price of wheat 

 in Canada is regulated by the prices* of Britain. The ex 

 pense of sending wheat from Nichol to Britain, by way of the 

 St Lawrence, including ensurance, freight, merchant s profit, 

 and many other charges, will amount to nearly 4s. 3d., Halifax 

 currency, per bushel, and it may be worth in London 7s. 3d., 

 which makes wheat worth about 3s. at Nichol. 



Having exposed Mr Fergusson s statement, one of my own 

 may perhaps be expected, but nothing satisfactory of the sort 

 can be framed. The expense of clearing, fencing, and sowing, 

 depends on the nature of the timber, and varies from L.3, 10s. 

 to L,5 per acre. The succeeding wheat crop, also, varies 

 from 12 to 25 bushels per acre, and prices from Is. 6d. to 5s. 

 per bushel. Generally speaking, money is not rapidly made 

 by clearing forest land, while patient industry seldom fails of 

 being ultimately remunerated. 



The township of Nichol is not, however, such a situation 

 as I would make choice of, being situated too far to the north, 

 and too distant from water-carriage. Supposing the carriage 

 or teaming of wheat, as it is called in the language of the 

 country, from Nichol to hike Ontario costs 9d. per bushel, 

 ..and that two successive wheat crops are taken from newly- 

 cleared land, yielding 20 bushels each per acre., the carriage 



