6 



Windsor and Annapolis, a distance of about 60 miles. In 



passing through that valley a few weeks ago I was struck with 



the enormously increased cultivation of fruit in the last 30 



years, having resided there previous to that time. Then the 



largest orchards did not cover more than three acres, and few, 



if any, farmers produced more than 100 barrels for shipping. 



At the present time numbers of orchards are covering 10, ^0, 



30, 40, 50 and some as high as 100 acres of ground, and still 



they are planting. It is not too much to prophesy that the 



young men of the present generation will see that whole valley 



a vast orchard of apples, plums and peaches, combined with a 



large growth and cultivation of all the smaller fruits. It is 



strange, too, that prices 30 years ago seldom reached more than 



$1.50 per barrel for apples, while last season the crop reached 



nearly one half a million barrels and the prices realized about 



double what they did in those days. Now, while the portion 



of the province to which I refer has made the most rapid 



strides, what have we done in the other great branches of 



agriculture, viz., stock raising and dairying ? Thirty years 



ago the cities of Halifax and St. John, as well as the smaller 



towns, were supplied with their beef, pork, mutton and poultry 



by the farmers of Nova Scotia ; to-day a large part of these 



articles are imported from the other provinces. Surely this is 



wrong. With our splendid grazing country and soil well 



calculated to raise all the coarser strains, we should not. only 



supply our own market with beef, mutton and poultry, but 



we should take a share in the export trade of Canada. England 



is a large importer of meat and provisions of all kinds. In 



1884 Canada exported to Britain 82,217 head of cattle, 121,- 



304 head of sheep, 7,707 cwts. of pork, 254,442 cwts. of bacon, 



and 50,576 cwts. of ham. In 1895 cattle increased to 96,460 



head, and sheep to 215,508 head. All these shipments were 



from Ontario and Quebec, — not a dollar's worth from Nova 



Scotia. In 1895 England imported cheese to the value of 



