NOVA SCOTIA 3 



Blomindon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the mountains 

 Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic 

 Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station descended. 



In no part of the world do apples take more kindly to the soil 

 with such uniformly good results as in this beautiful region. Hali- 

 fax, the capital city of Nova Scotia, at the eastern gateway of the 

 Dominion, sitting on the shores of one of the most magnificent of 

 the world's natural harbours, is the most convenient centre whence 

 the whole province and the strikingly beautiful island of Cape Breton 

 are easily accessible by steamship and rail. 



General Hardy in his book remarks very truthfully : ' In the 

 fields and uplands of a thoroughly cleared district (of Nova Scotia) 

 the new-comer from England is scarcely reminded of a difference 

 in the scene from that to which he has been accustomed. In the 

 pastures he sees English grasses, with the buttercup, the ox-eye 

 and the dandelion ; the thistle and many a well-known weed are 

 recognized growing by the meadow-side, with the wild ro'se and the 

 blackberry as in English hedgerows. Though the house-sparrow ' 

 (alas ! too abundant since these words were printed) 'and the robin 

 are missed, and he is surprised to find the latter name applied 

 everywhere to the numerous red-breasted thrushes which hop 

 so fearlessly about the pastures, he finds much to remind him of bird 

 life at home. Swallows and martins are as numerous, indeed more 

 so ; the titmouse, the wren, and the goldcrest are found to be 

 almost identical with those of the old country, the former being 

 analogous in every respect to the small blue tit, and many of the 

 warblers have much in common with their Transatlantic repre- 

 sentatives. The various birds of prey present most striking simi- 

 larities to those of Europe. The wasp, the bee and the house-fly 

 present no appreciable difference, nor can the visitor detect even 

 a shade of distinction in many of the butterflies. 



' The seafaring man arriving from Europe will find even less 

 of divergence amongst the finny tribes and the sea-fowl on these 

 coasts, and indeed will not pretend to detect a difference in most 

 cases/ 



Mr. Rudyard Kipling's chance epithet (in one of his rhymes), 

 ' Our Lady of the Snows,' had the effect of giving Canada a great 

 deal of misrepresentation among folk that do not know her well. 

 Of course, there is a vast dissimilarity in the climate of different 

 portions of Canada. The mean temperature, for instance, of Dawson 

 City is as different from that of Halifax as that of St. Petersburg 

 is from that of Paris. In Nova Scotia the average mean tempera- 

 ture is about 41 '5, with upwards of forty per cent, of bright sun- 

 shine in the year. Lying between the same parallels of latitude 



