23 



taken at once ; all these have to be filled with people before we push 

 fresh settlers ahead. Let us combine our efforts, condense our means 

 and action, and try to make prosperous these places that we already 

 occupy. 



"With the aid of right-thinking men, we shall be able, I trust, to 

 prepare new swarms ; to those who propose to become settlers due 

 notice must be given. They should start in the fall, all together, to 

 make the cut of the undergrowth [efferdochage] ; and, especially, word 

 should be passed when the time arrives to go up with the family to 

 take possession of the new estates, to burn the bush, and to make the 

 first sowings. In company — and in large companies — our country- 

 man is always happy, and w^orks with emulation. Do not let us any- 

 longer allow him to exile, to isolate himself. Let us do for our set- 

 tlers what the C. P. R. does for those in whom it is interested. 



In drafting the list in each parish of those who wish to take up 

 new farms, we may perhaps, at the same time, gather in some who 

 intend to emigrate to the States, or who are returning thence ; there 

 are many of the latter this year. "We shall then have a sort of regis, 

 ter which will show us the elements we have to guide and protect. 



Re-peopling. 



To fill up the vacancies left by emigration in our old parishes, to re- 

 pair the losses, to fill up the outlines. I have long been anxious to 

 obtain a list of the abandoned farms, what price is asked for each, if 

 they can be rented for ten years, with right of purchase by the tenant 

 at any time during the lease ; how they are off for house and farm 

 buildings, for water and firing, total acreage, how much under the 

 plough, etc. I am succeeding in getting this information. This will 

 be made known to the clubs, and through them to the country. It 

 will be useful to those who wish to take new farms, and to those who 

 intend to return to the country. 



More than one man, who knows how to farm properly, may thus at 

 once fit himself for beginning a paying business without having to 

 undertake the long and arduous task of the settler, the struggle with 

 the forest, the encumbrance of stumps, the distance from market. 

 And the parish, by degrees, will repair its losses, and children will 

 be born that will replace those it has lost. The heart of the country, 

 the old parishes, will be sound and strong ; the extremities will of a 

 surety feel its good effects. 



