CHAPTER V. 



AGRICULTURE IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



The Soil Neglected False Kepresentations as to its Value 

 Delay in Development of Interior The Geological Survey 

 sets Things Eight Fertile Kiver Valleys Farm Products 

 in 1891 Domestic Animals. 



VEN up to a comparatively recent period, 

 the inhabitants were so busily engaged in 

 the fishing industry that no attention what- 

 ever was paid to the cultivation of the soil, and those 

 who most profited by the arduous labors of the fisher- 

 men, in order to keep them huddled along the rugged 

 coast, assiduously taught them to regard the interior 

 of the island as a hopelessly barren waste, unfit for 

 the occupancy of man. That this is not the case has 

 been clearly demonstrated by the geological survey. 

 According to its reports, there are in the valleys on the 

 weastern coast 1,320 square miles "perfectly capable 

 of being reclaimed and converted into fairly produc- 

 tive grazing and arable land," and these valleys are as a 



(44) 



