LETTING OF FARMS. 275 



never came into the possession of those for whom they 

 were intended. The claims, prospective rights, or war- 

 rants of the children of the loyalists, for 200 acres each, 

 were in great numbers transferred to other parties for 

 small sums of money, and thus came into the hands of 

 persons — often speculators — who have not themselves 

 hitherto possessed the ability or the intention to bring 

 them into cultivation. 



Such unlooked-for occurrences as this are to be classed 

 among the other unanticipated consequences which have 

 followed from grants of land made in Canada, often with 

 the best intentions — consequences to be regretted, and 

 which may retard, but, it is consolatory to think, cannot 

 prevent the growth and prosperity of this rapidly rising 

 colony. 



The land in Upper Canada is generally cultivated by 

 its owners, as in the United States. In the Gore Dis- 

 trict, which lies at the head of Lake Ontario, and con- 

 tains land of the best quality, only about one in tv/enty 

 is let to a tenant. In the newer settled districts, the 

 system of letting in shares is most common ; if the land- 

 lord gives only the land, he has a third — if he finds stock 

 also, he gets two-thirds. In the older settled districts, 

 money-rents are common, and leases of seven years are 

 granted, with restrictive conditions as to cropping. Good 

 wheat-land, not within ten or twelve miles of a town, 

 lets at two dollars — about 2 J bushels an acre. 



In the table given in a preceding page, it will be seen 

 that the quantity of barley grown in Upper Canada — 

 half a million of bushels — is comparatively small. The 

 produce of this grain is not, however, as in Great Bri- 

 tain, any test of the amount of fermented liquors, and 

 especially of ardent spirits, which are manufactured and 

 consumed. I have already stated, in reference to the 

 Indian corn of the Western States, that distillation was 

 one of the outlets by which the excessive produce of this 



