UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 11 



told Mm he was quite mistaken with regard to the 

 climate. I said the thei-mometer was very rarely four 

 or five degrees below zero in the winter season, and 

 during the coldest days not more than ten degrees. 

 During the summer the thermometer ranges from sev- 

 enty to eighty-five degrees. In Massachusetts, the 

 thermometer is from ten to twenty degrees below zero, 

 and more in the coldest days ; and in the summer the 

 mercury ranges from eighty to over one hundred de- 

 grees. Mr. Stevens said he had no idea Newfound- 

 land possessed such a climate. I told him it was per- 

 haps the healthiest climate in the world. No fevers 

 of any kind are generated in the country. Not a 

 frog, toad, lizard, snake, or any other venomous rep- 

 tile, has ever been found in the island. 



In all my subsequent interviews with some of the 

 leading men of this country, I found that whenever 

 Newfoundland was the subject of conversation, they 

 invariably carried in their minds the idea that it formed 

 a part of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

 I recollect, in a conversation with the Hon. Edward 

 Everett, on the meeting recently held in Portland for 

 the purpose of forming a railroad from the States 

 through the British Provinces, Mr. Everett began to 

 speak of the great advantages Newfoundland would 



