ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA Hid 



the Eastern provinces has been showing, even in late years, a steady 

 increase. In 1901, 18,568 emigrants entered Eastern Canada. 

 During the nine months ending 31st December, 1907, 119,829 

 emigrants entered Eastern Canada. But we hesitate to suggest 

 the east, on the ground that, though it is more homelike to Scotch- 

 men than the western prairie, the gold does not lie so near the 

 surface. Money is not so quickly and so easily made. Besides, 

 while the tendency of population in Eastern Canada is partly to- 

 wards the town, which might be withstood, it is partly also towards 

 the west, which seems irresistible. The men of the east have been 

 smitten with the western fever, and the stream of life in Canada is 

 ever setting stronger westward. Between 1901 and 1906, no fewer 

 than 166,611 Easteril Canadians went west to the plains. We feel 

 that while a Scotchman might with advantage settle in the Eastern 

 Provinces, he would ultimately go with the stream. This movement 

 will not last for ever. The west is to be filled up, and in that day 

 the east will have her chance. This much, however, may be said for 

 settlement in the east even now. The fruit-grower for whom 

 wheat-growing has no fascination, might settle, for example, either 

 in the Annapolis Valley or in the Niagara Peninsula. If he has a few 

 hundred pounds he could get agricultural land and himself turn it 

 into a fruit garden. If he has a few thousand pounds he could 

 buy planted out land. But he should do neither without first 

 making the most exhaustive inquiry possible on the spot. He must 

 needs also be an expert, with a scientific knowledge of soil cultiva- 

 tion and fruit culture, for the fruit-growers of Nova Scotia and 

 Ontario know their business well. It might also be an advantage, 

 although many Canadians deny this, if he knew dairying as well as 

 fruit-growing, and combined these branches of agriculture. Their 

 conjunction would help him to keep up the fertility of the soil, 

 which is difficult where no stock is kept and where no manure is 

 available. 



The Call of the West 



It is to the west we would particularly direct the attention of the 

 intending emigrant. There is room for him there, although emi- 

 grants are pouring in. Between 1901 and 1907, 530,895 emigrants 

 went to the North- West Provinces. It is quite a mistake, however, 

 to suppose that everyone will succeed in the west, though there are 

 few kinds of farming more simple than wheat-farming. There are 

 men who will not succeed anywhere — men who will always be 

 hewers of wood and drawers of water. If a man has no ambition 

 and no ability to be anything else than an agricultural labourer, 

 Canada is not the place for him. He may have more wages while he 

 is working than he would have here, but he will have less regular 

 employment. He will have longer hours during the summer months, 

 and, everything considered, he will not be better off in Canada than 

 in Scotland. But if a man has ambition and abihty, if he is deter- 

 mined — having as a ploughman placed his foot on the lowest rung 

 of the ladder — to reach the top as an occupying owner, Canada is 



