284 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



June 



home consumption. We sent to Canada in 1855, 

 $2,711,954 in grain, most of which was corn, of 

 which we shall continue to send large quantities, 

 and import a much smaller amount of oats and 

 peas, to our mutual advantage. Apples are an im- 

 portant item of our exports from this valley, and 

 the demand, which exceeds the supply, is yearly in- 

 creasing. 



To show the importance of the Canadian trade 

 to New England it is only necessary to name a 

 few articles. We sell of hardware generally, in- 

 cluding all kinds of tools, $ 1,323,440 — of machinery 

 $327,928 — being more than received from all oth- 

 er countries, of both items ; of boots and shoes 

 $561,840, nearly all— of leather, $306,904— of hats 

 and caps other than fur, $213,208 — and of books, 

 $400,988, while England sends $115,716. The 

 yearly amount of these six items is $3,134,308, and 

 the table may be extended to embrace every article 

 of our manufactures. 



The following quotation from the market re- 

 ports of Toronto, the largest city of Canada West, 

 and the present seat of government, will hardly 

 sustain the assertion that Canada produces all ag- 

 ricultural products in greater perfection than the 

 "States." 



"Beef, Canadian, is quoted at $5 to $5,50 per 

 100 lbs., and American at $6 to $6,50. Of choice 

 Christmas beef, a good supply from the other side 

 has been imported by Mr. MuUaney. They bring 

 as high as $9 to $10 per 100 lbs." The quotation 

 is from a late Toronto paper. The words "other 

 side" refer to western New York. 



To show that our neighbors in Canada may 

 sometimes grumble, and that the fault-finding is 

 not all on our side, I will give you a short extract 

 from the annual address of the President of the 

 Upper Canada Agricultural Association, at Toronto, 

 in 1853. 



"It is astonishing to look at the number of arti- 

 cles for which we are indebted to our neighbors 

 across the line, all of which we could and ought to 

 make for ourselves. They furnish us with a large 

 quantity of the axes which we use ; many of the 

 carpenters' and coopers' tools ; most of the brooms 

 with which our houses are swept ; the scythes with 

 which our hay and grains are cut ; rakes with which 

 they are gathered ; in many instances, the machines 

 with which they are threshed ; the forks with which 

 our manures are spread ; the pails with which our 

 dairymaids collect their milk ; and latterly, the 

 very bags in which our wheat is carried to the 

 mills. They furnish the picks and shovels with 

 which our canals are made and our railroads are 

 formed ; the spades with which our gardens are 

 dug, and the hoes with which the weeds are kept 

 down ; and often the seeds with which they are 

 sown. To them, also, we are indebted for most of 

 cur books ; and for a large portion of the coarse 

 grey cottons now in use, not to mention other man- 

 ufactured articles which are largely poured in upon 

 us." 



After carefully comparing our commercial rela- 

 tions with Canada — our great advantage in the car- 

 rying trade over a country whose only outlet is 

 closed by ice one half the year, I can hardly con- 

 ceive how we can come to any other conclusion 

 than that the Reciprocity Treaty is mutually ad- 

 vantageous, and what it was intended to be, recip- 

 rocal. Instead of faultfinding, may it not be bet- 

 ter to adopt the language of the President of the 



Upper Canada Agricultural Association, and the 

 President of the Board of Agricultural delegates to 

 attend the exhibition of the United States National 

 Agricultural Society, at Boston, in 1855. After 

 speaking of the urbanity and kindness with which 

 they were received, and making a complimentary 

 report, occupying nine large pages, they close by 

 saying : 



"Tlie undersigned sincerely rejoice in the rapid 

 progress which our American neighbors are mak- 

 ing in the development of the arts and sciences. 

 Every conquest of mind over matter, every eluci- 

 dation of occult laws, is a step gained in the illim- 

 itable path of human progress, and tends to improve 

 man's condition on earth. Man here is in a gre^t 

 gymnasium where he is undergoing a course of 

 training ; and while he cannot hope to search to 

 the utmost the laws of nature, he is acquiring 

 modes of thought which will fit him for other and 

 higher discoveries." 



Long may the harmony and kindliness of feeling 

 which now happily subsist between the people of 

 the United States and Canada, remain uninterrupt- 

 ed. Thus we shall enhance our mutual prosperity 

 and happiness, and add important contributions to 

 the stock of human knowledge. Champlain. 



Burlington, Vl., Jan., 1857. 



PLANTING GROUND. 



What reasons ought generally to decide a far- 

 mer to plant certain portions of his land, in prefer- 

 ence to planting others ? If you ride a few miles, 

 you will occasionally see steep, gravelly side-hills 

 planted, while ample, level fields near by are not 

 cultivated, but left to bear a scanty crop of grass. 

 You will see the teams dragging heavy, wet manure 

 one and two miles, to distant fields which are no 

 more suffering for cultivation than dozens of acres 

 adjoining the barn-yard. 



Now, why is this so ? These men desire to be 

 prudent. They are saving of money, but waste- 

 time, which is money. They will not come with 

 their teams and help you in this busy season for 

 less than $1,25 to the man, and the same for the 

 team, each day. Y"et it is clear that one-half of 

 the labor of planting might be saved, sometimes, if 

 honest farmer Digwell would only sit back from 

 the supper-table, some early spring evening, and 

 say to his man and boys, who have got to help on 

 the work, and therefore will like to be considered 

 in the laying of it out, "Boys, Patrick, where had 

 we better have our potatoes this year ? Where 

 had we better plant our corn ? Come, it's time, 

 'the paper' says, to be making our plans for spring 

 work." A dialogue like this might be supposed 

 to follow : — 



Patrick is of asocial turn, and, as he works hard, 

 is often thirsty. "Ah ! captain, that ould field afar 

 down is a lonesome place, and its not aisy, either, 

 to find a cool drink there, sometimes." 



"Yes, I know, Patrick ; but then farmers mustn't 

 be over particular about such things." 



"I don't see any use in carrying so much ma- 



