460 ILLINOIS AND UPPER CANADA. 



The positions which I have advanced regarding the farm 

 ing of the two countries, will appear evident from figures. By 

 consulting pages 1 17 and 375, it will be found that the expense 

 of bringing an acre of wheat to maturity in Upper Canada 

 amounts to $.24, exclusive of harvesting, thrashing, and market 

 ing the crop. The produce cannot be obtained earlier than 

 eighteen months after entering into possession of the land, 

 and will not exceed in general cases eighteen bushels per 

 acre. By referring to page 448 it will be found, that the 

 expense of raising a crop of Indian corn and wheat on the 

 prairies of Illinois is stated at 84.02, to which Si must be 

 added for fencing, making $5.02 for both crops, exclusive of 

 harvesting, thrashing, and marketing. The crops will be ob 

 tained in eighteen months after entry, and consist of forty 

 bushels of Indian corn and 22 j bushels of wheat, or, in other 

 words, the farmer, with about one-fifth of the labour or outlay 

 on an acre in Illinois, will obtain more than double the pro 

 duce he could get in the same time in Upper Canada. But if 

 the calculations were extended to the eighth year, the difference 

 of produce would still appear to be greater. During this 

 period an acre in Illinois would, with good management, con 

 tinue to yield nearly the same produce ; while the land in 

 Upper Canada, after yielding two successive wheat crops, 

 would be allowed to produce grass until the stumps rotted. 

 Grass is of little value in Canada, unless near villages where 

 there is a demand for hay, and it would be unfair to allow any 

 thing for the land remaining in pasturage for five years, as in 

 this state it would only be on a footing with the uncultivated 

 prairie. Then, during eight years, an acre of land in Upper 

 Canada would yield thirty-six bushels of wheat, and in Illinois 

 160 bushels of Indian corn and ninety bushels of wheat. 



The result of one acre does not fairly exhibit the real 

 advantages of Illinois. It has formerly been stated that 

 settlers in Canada seldom clear more than six or seven acres 

 in a year ; but to place things in a favourable view, I shall 

 suppose ten acres to be cleared, with assistance in logging and 

 burning. In Illinois an industrious settler would have little 

 difficulty, with the occasional assistance of a boy or two, in 

 cultivating fifty acres. On this data, the Upper Canada 



