68 COLONEL coomb's FARM. 



forms the International boundary. The soil and country, 

 after we crossed the river, immediately became of infe- 

 rior quality, and the settlers appeared to be both needy 

 and indifferent cultivators. 



They were chiefly French Canadians, brought here 

 to work at the saw-mills ; and who, seven years ago, on 

 the failure of this employment, squatted on the pieces of 

 land they now occupy. Freehold grants of land on the 

 Upper St John were withheld by the Government, till 

 about a year ago, when the disputed boundary question 

 had been settled. 



At a distance of twelve miles we came to Colonel 

 Coomb's farm, the first piece of good land of any extent, 

 upon the bank of the river, which we had yet passed. 

 The hill-tops on each side of tlie road and river were 

 generally covered with soft wood; but farther inland 

 the land was said to be better adapted to farming pur- 

 poses. It is generally upland of second quahty, a sort 

 of third-rate soil. 



Colonel Coomb's farm contains 1025 acres, of which 

 80 only were cleared. Of these, 50 acres consist of 

 high intervale or terrace, of a light-coloured clay loam, 

 occasionally sandy, as is the case with nearly all the 

 higher terraces. This intervale land he valued at £15 

 an acre, the cleared upland at £3, and the whole farm 

 at .£'1200 to .^'ISOO. On the Intervale I walked through 

 beautiful crops of potatoes, oats, and Indian com. The 

 heads of the Indian corn were large, and fully formed, 

 but had not yet escaped from their sheath. It was 

 sown on the 28th of May, and the crop I saw would 

 yield 50 or 60, though the average is only about 30 

 bushels an acre. It generally ripens here. 



On the poorer soil of the upland, buckwheat is sown, 

 and yields 35 bushels. This grain has been everywhere 

 very extensively cultivated in New Brunswick of late 

 years, and since the wheat has become so precarious a crop. 



