14 FOOD PRODUCE OF THE PROVINCE. 



enough for Its own consumption ; but Dr Gesner states, 

 that not a fiftieth part of the surface is cleared of timber, 

 and that not a hundredth part is in cultivation.* 



Now, one hundredth part of the whole area is about 

 95,000 acres ; and supposing this to produce, at the same 

 rate as the cultivated land of Great Britain — of which 

 each 170 acres supports 100 inhabitants — they would 

 raise food for about 60,000 inhabitants. But the surface 

 of Nova Scotia is not so well cultivated or so productive, 

 as a whole, as Great Britain. Its 95,000 cultivated acres, 

 therefore, do not support so many as 60,000 of its people. 

 On the other hand, it is certain, from the quantity of food 

 actually imported, that more than 60,000, or one-fifth of 

 the population, must be maintained by what the province 

 itself produces. I conclude, therefore, that Dr Gesner's 

 estimate of the proportion of the province which has 

 already been brought into cultivation is largely understated. 



Again, according to the estimate of Dr Gesner, not 

 more than one-half of the population is employed in 

 agriculture, the rest being engaged in lumbering, fish- 

 ing, &c.t That is, each person employed in agricul- 

 ture raises less food than is necessary to support two 

 people — since there is a large importation of American 

 flour. But, in England and Scotland, only one-fourth 

 of the population is engaged in, or dependent upon, 

 agricultural employment ; that is, each person occupied 

 In tilling the land raises food for four people. Hence 

 Nova Scotia is not made to yield half so much food as 

 Great Britain, In proportion to the number of people 

 employed in agriculture, if Dr Gesner Is nearly right as 

 to the number so employed in Nova Scotia. 



I think he can scarcely be under the truth in estimating 

 the agricultural population at one half of the whole. We 

 are compelled, therefore, to conclude, either that the land 

 in general Is not grateful for the labour expended upon 



* Industrial Economy of Nova Scotia, p. 23. t Ibid., ji. 24. 



