CHAPTER XL 



Montreal. —New churches. — Ruins of the Parliament House. — Scotch 

 farmers in the Island of Montreal, — Soil near Lachine.— Its produce 

 per acre. — Cultivation of hops.— Price of land. — French Canadian 

 farms and farming.— Bad farming at home.— Bad farmers forced to 

 emigrate. — Clerical obstacles to the settlement of Protestant farmers 

 in Lower Canada.— Apples and cider of the island. — Hedges of 

 English and American Thorn. — Valley of Lachine. — Importance of 

 a better practical husbandry in Lower Canada. — Interest of an 

 established clergy in promoting its introduction. — Interest they have 

 in the land. — Yet progress has generally been slowest where the 

 interest of the clergy is the greatest.— Importance of agricultural 

 instruction in the country schools, especially in agricultural principles. 

 —How they should be taught.— Desire to introduce such instruction in 

 Lower Canada.— Patronage of the Roman Catholic clergy.— Excursion 

 to St Hilaire.— St Lawrence and Atlantic railroad. — Wmter shelter 

 for cattle, — Mode of making butter, — Maple sugar manufacture in 

 Canada and the adjoinmg States,— Mode of procedure. — Produce of 

 single trees. — Profit of Maple-groves. — Soil of the valley of St 

 Lawrence.— Tile-drainage upon its stiff clays, — Pigeon or stone weed, 

 its prevalence,— What its history teaches. — Inferior breeds of pigs and 

 cattle.— Bellffiil Mountain.— Pilgrimage Stations.— Beautiful view of 

 the St Lawrence flats,— Exhaustion of this formerly fertile region. — 

 Seignorial tenure of land.— Reserved rights of the seigneur. — 

 Reserved rents a grievance. — Sherbrooke. — Lands of the " Canadian 

 Land Company," in the eastern counties, — Their progress and 

 present inconveniences. — Tile-draining at Montreal. — Voyage to 

 Quebec— The Ottawa River and District.— Its rising importance- 

 Proportions of British and French in Montreal.— National, political, 

 religious, and municipal parties in the city.— Diflaculty in satisfying 

 such a population.— Wisdom in changing the seat of government. — 

 Why the British members from Upper Canada voted for the Rebellion 

 Losses Bill. — Explanation of one of their number. 



Sunday J 2Sd September. —I attended morning service in 

 an Episcopal chapel in Montreal. It was well per- 



