TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



849 



jrea, or about 25,000,000 acres, }-et it ia claimed that, owirij? to favourable 

 climatio conditions, within this area a greater variety of crops can bo grown with 

 profit than in any other equal area of the American continent, thus rendering it 

 peculiarly adapted to the pursuit of a mixed husbandry, which it is claimed is, in 

 the loiifT run, always the most profitable. In support of these claims, figures taken 

 from tlin last census returns for Oanadf and the United States are cited, and by 

 them it is shown that, even when placed in juxtaposition with the seven largest 

 producing States, in each of seven cereals, Ontario, notwithstanding she is tlms 

 brought into competition with twenty-two States, succeeds in securing a first place 

 ,13 a producer of barley, and peas, and beans ; a third place as a producer of oats and 

 buck-wheat ; a fifth for rye ; and a sixth for yield per acre, and an eighth irj quan- 

 tity, for wheat ; thus obtaining an honourable position in six out of tlie seven — a 

 pitioii unattainable by any State in the Union — while the great State of Illinois 

 only obtains three firsts and a second, and then disappears from the comparison 

 altojretlier. Figures taken from the reports of the Ontario Bureau of Industries 

 and the Illinois .Jtate Returns for the year 1S82 are nisi) given, showing that in the 

 vield and value of yield per acre, the crop of wheat, barley, oats, rye, corn, buck- 

 wheat, and potatoes in Ontario so largely exceeded that of Illinois in that year as 

 to make an aggregate difference of over ,!?15,000,000 in favour of the Ontario farmer, 

 equal to ;J?47 per head of those engaged in agricultural pursuits, while the 

 Washington returns show a still larger balance in his favour. 



Figures are also submitted showing that during the ten years ending witli 1880 

 the production of the dill'erent fruits had increased from 100 to 2«)0 per cent., and 

 that the manufacture of wine from the grape was rapidly increasing: while the 

 opinions of eminent pomologists are cited to prove that Ontario's display of fruit 

 at the centennial in 1870 ' was the most instructive and comprehensive exhibit of 

 fruits ' made at that exhibition. 



Stock-raising is then referred to, and it is claimed that the climate of Ontario 

 has proved itself favourable to the development of healthj' and vigorous animals, 

 while the awards gained by Canadian stock-raisers at the great Christmas shows 

 at Chicago prove that Ontario bred and fed cattle and sheep can more than hold 

 their own with those of the prairies and great corn-growing States. 



With regard to the future, it is pointed out tliat less than 11,000,000 of the 

 25,000,000 acres under consideration is returned as ' cleared,' while even in the 

 county of York, in which the capital of the province is situated, 20 per cent, is 

 still ' uncleared.' 



In conclusion, the writer calls attention to the statement of the Hon. D. A. 

 Wells, that, ' north of Lakes Eric and Ontario and the Kiver St. Lawrence, east of 

 Lake Huron, south of the forty-sixth parallel, and included within the Dominion 

 of Canada, there is as fair a country as exists on the American continent — nearly as 

 large in area as New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio combined, and equal if not 

 superior as a whole to those States in agricultural capacity. It is the natural 

 habitat on this continent of the combing-wool sheep, without a full, cheap, and 

 reliable supply of the wool of which species the great worsted manufacturing 

 industries of the country cannot prosper, or, we should rather say, exist. It ' ; the 

 region where groAvs the finest barley, which the brewing interests of the Uiiited 

 States must have if it ever expects to rival Great IJritain in its present annual 

 export of over eleven million dollars' worth of malt products. It raises and grazes the 

 finest cattle, with qualities especially desirable to make good the deterioration of 

 stock in other sections, and its climatic conditions, created by an almost encircle- 

 ment of the Great Lakes, especially fit it to grow men. Such a country ia one of 

 the greatest gifts of Providence to the human race, better than bonanzes of silver or 

 rivers wiiose sands run gold.' 



8. On the Agricultural Eesources of Nova Scotia. 

 By Major- General Laurie, D.G.L. 



The first settlements in Nova Scotia were established for military reasons, and 

 early settlers were mainly Loyalists from the United States— mostly professional 



1881. ' 3l 



