1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



27 



noise of the omnibusses (every one of which he 

 thought would be upon him) so frightened him, 

 that he started off in a run and never stopped until 

 he got into Green Pai-k. — London Papa: 



For the New England Farmer. 



"COL. KEEDHAM'S ADDRESS." 



Mr. Farmer: — In your last paper you have an 

 article with the above caption on our reciprocity 

 treaty with our cousins in Canada. 



Although I have a great respect for Mr. Sena- 

 tor Foot, who is my early and long-continued per- 

 sonal friend, and fully agree with him on liis course 

 generally, both as Representative and Senator in 

 Congress, I cannot believe that he voted against 

 the "Reciprocity Treaty" for any other reason than 

 to comply with a resolution passed by the Legisla- 

 ture of Vermont, introduced for no other reason 

 than party effect. 



The Colonel is more poetical than practical when 

 he talks of the effect of the treaty — that "labor in 

 Canada costs little more than one-third of what it 

 does in New England, that the soil is much more 

 productive than the soil of New England," &c. — 

 Take Lower Canada, or Canada East — commence 

 on its western border and follow the St. Lawrence 

 three hundred miles. With the exception of land 

 on the Ottawa, above and below Montreal, the Rich- 

 elieu at Sorelle, the St. Slurice at Three Rivers, 

 and St. Charles at Quebec, the whole country, with 

 few exceptions, has a cold, unproductive soil, where 

 the Colonel's "Durhams" would scon dwindle to 

 small "Canadians." 



In no part of New England can as poor soil be 

 found. In fact. Lower Canada, as a whole, is great- 

 ly inferior to New England, in the productiveness 

 of her soil 



It is true, that in many parts of Lower Canada 

 labor is cheaper than in New England, but in such 

 places they export little or nothing, and live main- 

 ly on pea soup to support their own dense popula- 

 tion. The Lower Canadian, in many places, leaves 

 his home regularly every season, works for farmers 

 in Vermont and New York during the haying sea- 

 son, and returns in time to secure his own small 

 crops. If the Colonel will make a personal exam- 

 ination among this class, he will find agriculture in 

 a very primitive state, in most places, and that 

 one New England man, with his improved machine- 

 ry and tools at $2 per day, may be cheaper than 

 the Canadian, with the tools he uses, at 50 cts. 



In many places he will find the shoemaker, tail- 

 or or clothier unknown ; he may find white or black 

 sheep with wool of the coarsest texture, which is 

 mixed, spun and woven in a very ancient manner, 

 and the only fulling-mill known, a large trough 

 square at one end on, or in which the operator sits 

 and with bare feet kicks against the cloth placed at 

 one end until fulled to a proper thickness. Will a 

 Canadian girl, working in this manner, living on 

 pea soup and receiving 6d per day, be likely to ri 

 val her Lowell sister who receives her dollar ? 



There are portions also of Lower Canada which 

 present a different aspect. I am only describing 

 the only portions where labor is cheaper than in 

 New England. 



Canada West, or Upper Canada, has a fine soil, 

 but as a whole not superior to New England, and 

 DO part of it superior for growing wheat to Ver- 



mont, when our land was as new as hers. Here 

 may be found all the elements of New England 

 society, and labor is at a premium quite as high as 

 in New England. 



Let us look at the iiractical effect of the treaty. 

 We exported of articles enumerated in it to Cana- 

 da in 1855, $7,725,572 35; of this sum,$2,711,- 

 953 90 was for grain. On this amount the duties 

 under their last tariff would have been $373,273 33 

 saved our citizens by the treaty. 



I have no time to extend these tables ; but if you 

 choose to spare a column of your paper, I will, as 

 soon as 1 can find time to prepare them, send you 

 full tables of our trade with Canada; exports and 

 imports, duties, &:c. This must convince any one 

 that liberality is the best policy, and that our Cana- 

 dian trade is in favor, and not opposed to the true 

 interests of the farmers of New England. 



For near thirty years a portion of my business 

 has been, and still is, with Canadians ; I have been 

 three or four weeks yearly among them. During 

 this time there has been a complete revolution, both 

 in their feelings toward us and in business inter- 

 course, and though Canada may be a small place, 

 "away up north," but little larger in territorial 

 limits than the whole United States, exclusive of 

 California, their markets may be worth looking after 

 by New England. Champlain. 



Burlington, JVov. 3, 185Q. 



.Remarks, — Send us the figures, Mr. Champlain ; 

 we believe they always tell the truth, except in 

 election returns. It is best that there should be 

 no jealousies between us and our Canadian friends, 

 a,nd a statement of the facts in the case may pro- 

 duce the most amiable feelings. 



TO KEEP CELEEY. 



Many, especially amateurs, experience much dif- 

 ficulty in keeping this delicious vegetable during 

 the winter. Where it has been grov/n in beds, (as 

 it always should be in small gardens,) nothing more 

 is necessary than to cover it as it stands with a good 

 thick coat of coarse manure ; and it can then be 

 dug at any time during the winter when it may be 

 wanted. Where it has been grown in single trench- 

 es, it should be taken up and placed in a bed pre- 

 pared as follows : Dig out the earth two spades 

 deep and of any convenient width ; lift the plants 

 from the trenches with the earth adhering to the 

 roots ; put in a row of plants three or four inches 

 apart, and throw some earth against them ; then 

 another row six inches from the first, and so on, fill- 

 ing in the earth to the tops of the plants as you 

 go along. When all the plants are in, cover the bed 

 with a thick coat of coarse manure, straw, or litter 

 of any kind; manure, however, is to be preferred. 

 From such a bed the plants may be dug at any 

 time during the winter. The bed may be made of 

 less depth, but the plants will not keep as well un- 

 less the winter should prove mild. It is best, how- 

 ever, in all matters of this kind, to be prepared for 

 the worst. It is not always, however, pleasant in 

 winter to dig celery from a bed out of doors, and if 

 a cool, airy cellar is at hand, the plants may be kept 

 in good condition by placing them upright on the 

 floor, and covering them with earth or sand, r.s di- 

 rected above. — American Jlgricxdturisl. 



