SCOTCH FARMERS AT LACHINE. 289 



morning, and I began to feel my summer clothing too 

 light for the Canadian autumn. After breakfast, I 

 drove out to Lachlne with a Mr Somerville, a practi- 

 cal Scottish farmer, long settled in the country, who has 

 a farm of 300 or 400 acres on the banks of the St 

 Lawrence, opposite the rapids of Lachlne. He and his 

 neighbour, Mr Penner, are farmers of the old Scotch 

 school, who bid you " lay the land dry, then clean and 

 manure — make straight furrows, clean out your ditches, 

 take off the stones, and plough deepishy With these 

 good mechanical principles. Industriously carried out, 

 they have greatly surpassed the French Canadian far- 

 mers ; and with the possession of good Ayrshire stock, 

 and the growth of a few turnips, and of mangold- 

 wurzel, which does well even with the early winters of 

 Lower Canada, they have raised good crops, extended 

 the arable land of their farms, and kept up Its condition. 



The soil on this part of the Island of Montreal, which 

 lies low, and along the river, is of a blackish colour, 

 generally very rich — of a loamy character, and easy to 

 work. It Is drained by open ditches and cross-furrows. 

 TUe-dralnlng, hitherto untried, Is Indicated by the local 

 circumstances of soil, climate, and physical position ; 

 and although here, as in the State of New York, the 

 cost may appear large when compared with the total 

 value of the land, and the increase of price which, after 

 tile-draining, would be obtained for it in the market, 

 yet, if from the cost be deducted the annual outlay which 

 must be incurred to keep the ditches and cross-furrows 

 open, the actual expense of the permanent tile-drainage 

 will rapidly disappear. When a man settles on such 

 land, therefore, as requires the maintaining of open 

 ditches — with the view of retaining it, say only ten to 

 twelve years — he will, in most cases, find his pecuniary 

 profit greater at the end of the term, although the price 



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