March 1883. 



The Profp-ess of the New Dominion. 



351 



|>lo of tlio 



Spain, to 



i;il('i,ii;li (1(!- 



'■lin, whose 



;o crowded 



now only 



i;i<>'(' of a 



wildornoss, 



ish sottle- 



I Virginia, 



IS fonnded 



isliiiian of 



ii arc scat- 

 t of t(Mri- 

 pcr, iron, 

 and stone 

 1 Ijo found 

 Dominion, 

 national 

 J stage of 

 in ion Go- 



oxainple 



employs 

 <1 eflicient 



, to ex- 

 L' mineral 

 and there 

 1 valnal)le 

 e lo time. 

 ")Cotici ex- 

 id are not 

 'or many 

 aordinary 

 :liem. It 

 t on the 

 lie coast, 

 ing valu- 

 pply the 

 fuel, and 

 shi[)ping 

 ver and 



islands, 

 on, seem 

 y no in- 

 ure com- 

 'haps in 

 3al of an 

 1 as lig- 

 'ed over 

 •th-west, 

 borinjxs 

 the best 



quality. At present Canada ex- 

 ports coal and other minerals to 

 aliout the value of a million pounds 

 annually — hut an insi^tiilicant sum 

 compared with the amount that 

 her undeveloped treasures must 

 eventually realise with a t^reator 

 expenditure of capital, and the 

 more rapid protrress of the country 

 from Ca[)0 IJreton to V'ancouviM-. 



The agricultural capahilities of 

 Canada are very valuable, and form 

 the piinci[)al siuirce of her wealth. 

 The forests still cojitinue to supply 

 a Iarg(^ atnounl of timber to the 

 Knglish and Ameiican maikels — 

 the total annual value of the ex- 

 port being soM)e live million pounds 

 sterling; but the rapid destruction 

 of the pine throughout Canada 

 must in the course of a few years 

 materially diminish the importance 

 of thi.4 branch of industry. xVccord- 

 ing as tlie value of the forest de- 

 creases, capital and industry must 

 be devoted to a larger extent than 

 at present to manufacturing pur- 

 suits, and consequently give a still 

 greater stimulus to the production 

 of the agricidtural disti'icts. In 

 all the provinces agriculture is a 

 profitable pursuit, though in cer- 

 tain parts of the maritime pro- 

 vinces and of Quebec, where the soil 

 is rocky and the climate very vari- 

 able, tlic farmer has always led a 

 stern life, though not more stern 

 than tliat of the people on tiie 

 bleak hills of Massachusetts and 

 New Jlampshire. In the interior 

 of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wiclv, bv the side of rivers and 

 streams, especially in the valley 

 made famous by the pen of Long- 

 fellow, rich farming lands are found 

 to gladden the heart of tlie indus- 

 trious agriculturist. The wliole of 

 Prince Edward Island has soil fit 

 for 'A garden, capable of producing 

 all the cereals and roots in abun- 

 dance — potatoes forming one of the 

 chief exports to the United States 

 and even to England in times of 



scarcity. Tarts of the old province 

 of Quebec are very mountainou.", 

 but even there we find a large area 

 of valuable gra/ing-lami, and liter- 

 ally "cattle on a thousand hills." 

 The l)est lands exist in the oldest 

 seltlcil districts, by tlic^ .St. Law- 

 rence, liichelieu, St. Maurice, and 

 other rivers, where the traveller 

 may see for miles and miles the 

 innumeral>le fences of the remark- 

 ably narrow lots, stretching to the 

 waterfront. This feature natu- 

 rally attracts the attention of a 

 stranger, and is explained by the fact 

 that the sidxlivision of the farms 

 among tlie members of a family, 

 in accordance with the I'^rench law 

 of property, has cut up the coun- 

 try so as to present series upon 

 series of parallelograms. Very tine 

 farms exist in the English section, 

 generally known as the Eastern 

 Townships, where some of the iin- 

 est cattle in the world are raised 

 on large stock-farms, and find sale 

 at enormous prices in the United 

 States. Eut the [)rovince of On- 

 tario surpasses all other parts of 

 the Dominion in its agricultural 

 wealth. With a territory for the 

 most part level, with an extremely 

 rich soil, with a climate less rigor- 

 ous and more ecpiable than any 

 other section, Ontario has neces- 

 sarily become the richest province 

 of Canada. Her wheat crop ex- 

 ceeds that of most States of the 

 American Union, and supplies food 

 not only for her own people but for 

 thousands in JCiigland. The far- 

 mer of Ontario, who is thrifty and 

 industrious, is one of the happiest 

 men in the empire, producing as he 

 can all the necessaries and many 

 of the luxuries of life, and living 

 as lie does in a community which 

 affords him the protection of well- 

 administered laws and well-ordered 

 government. However large his 

 surplus crop he need never want a 

 market, either in the many cities 

 and towns which have grown up 



