98 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



Taking province by province in the order in which they were 

 visited. Prince Edward Island first claims attention. A very large 

 proportion of the cattle seen by the Commission, were kept for 

 purposes of dairying. As a rule, the animals favoured by the 

 dairy farmer are not those most useful for the production of the 

 best beef, so that branch of the cattle industry is not energetically 

 followed in a dairy district. There are in Prince Edward Island a 

 great variety of breeds and crosses. Jerseys and other Channel 

 Island breeds, Grade-Durhams or Shorthorns, Holsteins and Ayr- 

 shires, with some nondescript crosses, of all colours, shapes, and 

 ages were seen grazing together. Many of these were no doubt 

 suitable for the purposes for which they were kept, but generally 

 it may be said that the production of any large quantity of beef 

 f\ a high quality could not be expected from such animals as were 

 been on the short visit paid to the Island. We were informed, 

 however, that there were many of the farmers in other parts of the 

 province who had pure bred herds of the various breeds from which 

 bulls of good pedigree could be secured, and that many really good 

 native-bred cattle could be seen at the various summer exhibitions 

 or cattle shows held in the towns of the Island. With an average 

 rainfall of about 35 inches, grass and fodder, straw and roots, should 

 be, and really were on the occasion of our visit, plentiful, and on 

 many farms luxuriant. We were informed that about fifteen years 

 ago it was the general practice for every small farmer to fatten 

 from three to four good three-year old steers in winter, and two or 

 three in summer. This is now done by comparatively few. Though 

 some good fat cattle are still brought out about Easter, the general 

 quality has deteriorated ; fattened, cast-off dairy cows having 

 taken the place of some of the steers of the earlier period. At 

 present there is an export trade done with the inferior quality of 

 cattle, and quite a considerable number of beef cattle of better 

 quality are imported into Charlottetown from Ontario for local 

 consumption. 



There are signs of a slight revival of the beef production, and 

 quite recently some good bulls have been imported, with the view 

 of, in some degree, resuscitating that branch of agriculture. 



In Nova Scotia, as in the greater part of Eastern Canada, con- 

 ditions are especially suitable for dairy cattle, and these conditions 

 are largely taken advantage of. The mining, manufacturing, fish- 

 ing, and lumbering industries have developed more rapidly 

 1 For nine months only. 



