110 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



with his exchange. The exception is one of a gentleman who 

 has money at his disposal, and who has been here but a short 

 time, who, I have heard, takes off his hat, and blesses God that 

 ever He brought him to such a garden of Eden as this. A sub- 

 sistence can be procured here ; but it is by incessant labour : 

 the land is in general infertile, and the season of preparing the 

 ground for the summer's crops so exceedingly short, that a 

 man can do but little with his unassisted exertions. We 

 cannot usually harrow our fall-ploughed land until May is 

 considerably advanced, on account of the frost in the ground, 

 and the consequent wetness. Then, there is all the grain to be 

 sown, and the potatoes to be planted, during the remainder of 

 May and a small part of June, or no return can be expected. 

 The summer is s^ort, though warm ; early frosts frequently 

 destroy or greatly injure the wheat before it is ripe, and often 

 quite cut off the buckwheat and potato plants. I have 

 known severe night-frost as early as the twelfth of August, 

 doing incalculable injury. It is not an uncommon thing for 

 potatoes to be frozen and spoiled in the ground, before they 

 can be secured in autumn. Weeds, smut, rust, and flies are 

 full as pernicious here as in other places, and all tend to di- 

 minish the farmer's means of existence. The extreme seve- 

 tity of the winter, the thermometer frequently falling more 

 than 20° below zero, sometimes more than 30", is another 

 inconvenience severely felt by the poor farmer. The tending 

 of his cattle, and the cutting and drawing of firewood, are 

 sufficient to occupy nearly all his time in the short days of 



winter. The advantages are, freedom from tithes and 



taxes, a pure air, healthy climate, excellent water in abund- 

 ance, and the prospect of gradually but slowly increasing his 

 comforts, and leaving an inheritance for his family. Whether 

 these outbalance the disadvantages, I can hardly tell. If a 

 farmer in England finds that with all economy he gi'ows 

 poorer, and thinks he could put up with these evils, and 



