14 



cropping without manure, which is often practiced 

 on the clay lands of both Upper and Lower Canada. 



The valley of the Thames, together with the rich 

 alluvial flats which extend from it northward to the 

 North Branch of Bear Greek, and southward nearly 

 to the shore of Lake Erie, is remarkable for its great 

 fertility, and its luxuriant forest growth. The soil is 

 generally clay, with a covering of rich vegetable 

 mould, and is covered in the natural state with oak, 

 elm, black-walnut and white-wood (Liriodendron 

 tulipifera) trees of large size, together with fine groves 

 of sugar-maple. Towards the mouth of the Thames, 

 and on the borders of Lake St. Glair is an area of natu- 

 ral prairie of about 30,000 acres. It lies but little above 

 the level of the lake, and is in large part overflowed 

 in the time of the spring floods. The soil of this 

 prairie is a deep unctuous mould, covered chiefly 

 with grass, with here and there copses of maple, 

 walnut and elm, and with willows dotting the surface 

 of the plain. Numbers of half-wild horses are pas- 

 tured here, and doubtless help to keep down the 

 forest growth. The characters of the surface are such 

 as to suggest that it had been at no distant period 

 reclaimed from the waters of the adjacent lake. 



In no part of the province have skilled labour and 

 capital been so extensively applied to agriculture as 

 in western Canada, and the result is seen in a gene- 

 ral high degree of cultivation, and in the great quan- 

 tities of wheat and other grains which the region 

 annually furnishes for exportation ; as well as in the 

 excellent grazing farms, and the quantity and quality 

 of the dairy -produce which the region affords. This 

 western portion of the province, from its more 

 southern latitude, and from the proximity of the 

 great lakes, enjoys a much milder climate than the 

 other parts of Canada. The winters are compara- 



