1 855.] 



CANADA WEST.— INFORMATION FOR INTENDING EMIGRANTS. 



267 



tion," have directed their attention to the Saturniic, with a view to 

 their acclimation. M. Nickles says : — 



"Since the muscardine has made so great ravages among the mul- 

 berry silkworm, there has been an attempt to introduce other kinds of 

 silkworms. I have already spoken of the Bombyx of the Ricinus. It 

 is now proposed to acclimate three American species of Bombyx ; the 

 Ciicropia whose larvfe feed on leaves of the willow and may be fed also 

 on the plum ; the Luna, an elegant species of a green color, which 

 lives on the Liquidambar, and which will also eat the leaves of different 

 species of walnut; the Polyphemus, a large Atlacus, of a brownish 

 gray color, which feeds on the apple, oak, beech, &c. These three 

 species are abundant in the woods of Louisiana, Georgia, and South 

 Carolina. Their silk is of inferior quality; but it costs so little to 

 obtain it, that the acclimation of the species is regarded as desirable 

 on the score of economy." 



It may be a novelty to some of the members of the " Society for Ac- 

 climation," to find that the three magnificent insects alluded to in the 

 foregoing paragraph are found in Canada, one species in great abun- 

 dance ; and the question of using their silk for textile pui-poses, has 

 not only been suggested, but actually tried on a small scale, and found 

 quite practicable. 



Cauaila West — Inrurmatiou for lutcutluig E^inisraiitSo 



Mr. Commissioner Widder has recently published a fourth edition 

 of a little pamphlet containing answers to questions respecting the 

 climate, soil, husbandry, state of education, &.C., in \Yestern Canada- 

 The former editions have been widely circulated in the United Kingdom 

 and in Germany, The very remarkable changes, however, which have 

 occurred in Canada during the last three years, by the construction of 

 railways and the introduction of foreign capital, have rendered it 

 advisable to prepare a new and revised edition, extended to the present 

 time. 



In the preface to the new edition, Mr. Widder alludes to the general 

 condition of the Province in 18.5.5, and draws an encouraging picture 

 of the stability of its present prosperity and the certainty of future 

 rapid advancement, 



IXTRODUCTIOtf TO FOURTH EDITION. 



" During the last three years, a combination of circumstances has 

 caused a most extraordinary change in the relative position of every- 

 thing. The price of land, of labour, of provisions,. — in fact, of every- 

 thing, has advanced. The inducing causes have, no doubt, been most 

 materially the introduction of railroads, — the demand for labour arising 

 from them, — the large amount of money disbursed for the works, and 

 ■also brought to this Province for investment, — together with the high 

 prices obtained for the past two years' harvests ; to which must be 

 added the large emigration from Europe, and of settlers from the 

 United States, seeking this Province as their adopted home. 



"Those events continued to stimrdate great progress in our aifairs, 

 until the effects of the Russian war acted upon the money market in 

 England, and were more deeply felt in Canada, superinduced upon the 

 very large importation of goods from Europe and the United States, 

 and the great depreciation in the price of lumber. 



" A check was given to our Railway Works — and Remittances for 

 investments became limited. No monetary crisis, however, arose from 

 these occurrences — they merely caused a suspension in our I'apid 

 advancement. At the same time, the wealthy condition of the farmers, 

 and the groat demand for produce, advanced the prices of their pro- 

 ductions, and that of Wild Land, and of all Real Estate, and affirmed 

 the substantial position which the Province has acquired. It may be 

 said we are simply pausing for breath, after the recent excitement, 

 and that we are about recruiting ourselves for a new start in our 

 career ; which it is believed will be a more permanent and important 

 one, in its results of positive pi-ogress and prosperity, than has hitherto 

 been witnessed. But this state of transition throws embarrassment 

 around the desire to give perfect data and unchangeable prices, such 

 as is desired in a work of this description ; for a continuance of tho 

 war, the scarcity of money, and the suspension of our public works, 

 or bad harvests, may seriously affect the data given ; on tho other 

 hand, a contrary position of tlioso affairs, would place this Province 

 in a most extraordinary state of prosperity. Nor should it bo forgotten 



that we are about reaping the advantages of an extended commerce 

 with the United States, through the Reciprocity Act ; which cannot 

 fail to be of great importance to us. 



" With reference to the imports, the following statement, from the 

 otBcial returns, will prove extremely interesting, as showing the very 

 great increase in the trade of the Province during the past four years, 

 and its great power of consumption of goods induced by its prosperity : 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF IMPORTS, 

 Exhibiling in contrast the Value and Amount of Duties collected on 

 Goods entered for consumption in Canada, during the yearslSoQ, 18.5), 

 1852, 1853, and 185i, respectively. 









TALtlE. 







^VUENCE IMPORTED. 



1S50. 



1.S.51. 



1852. 



1S53. 



1854. 



Gre.it Britain 



N. American Colonies... 

 West Indies 



£2,407,980 



96.404 



i:ii2 



1,548,715 



91,303 



£3,012,033 



109,242 



3,406 



2,091,441 



142,574 



£2,667,783 



120,238 



1.278 



2,119,423 



lu2,«99 



£4,fi'^^j'>S0 



15S.164 



869 



2,945,536 



268,507 



£5,740.832 



168.778 



668 



United States 



3,883.274 



Other foreiiju countries 



338,777 





4,245,517 



5,358,097 



6,071,023 



7,995,359 



10.132,331 







Duty on the above 



615,694 



737,439 



739,203 



1,028,676 



1,224,751 



" To any one in Europe who may have been sceptical of the necessity 

 or advantages of railways in this Province, or that they could be sup- 

 ported, with a prospect of a fair return on the capital invested in them, 

 a most convincing argument is set forth in the Returns of the Great 

 Western Railway Company of Canada, opened in January, 1854, which 

 show that the revenue for the six months ending in January last, 

 amounted to £192,719. 



" The views adopted in Europe, upon railroads, are not applicable 

 to this country. There, railroads are the consequences of the require- 

 ments for quick and cheap conveyance of a dense population, and of 

 its manufactures and productions ; here, railroads are self-creative of 

 support, by raising population, — through opening up a new and fertile 

 country, which transmits its productions, in return for the supplies of 

 its wants. 



" The effects of railroads upon the prices of produce, will prob.ably 

 be, to equalize them throughout the Province; whilst it can scarcely 

 be expected they will reduce the cost of living, in the towns and ports 

 where the railroads have their termini and depots for exportation and 

 importation. The requisite shipping, the great trade and commerce, 

 combined with the docks for ship-building, and manufactories, that 

 will necessarily arise, will induce a consequent increased permanent 

 and transient population, who must be supplied, and can well pay for 

 their wants. Such has been the effect upon the cities of New York and 

 Boston, and other places similarly situated. As to real estate, it must, 

 from the same causes, be afTectcd in a like manner, in the towns and 

 ports ; whilst farm lands will, in every manner, bo greatly benefited 

 by railroads. About five years since, tlie price per acre for lands in 

 tlie Genesee Country, and other parts of the Stjite of New i'ork, was 

 from £12 10s. to £18 lOs. ; they are now selling at £18 to £25 per 

 acre, including the ordinary farm-buildings ; these are cleared lands, 

 but the value of the timber would have been greater than the cost of 

 clearing. The prices of wild lands, in Upper Canada, have undergone 

 a very great advance, during the past three years ; but, circumstanced 

 as this Province is, and considering its comparative small amount of 

 population, it will not, perhaps, be taking a too sanguine view, if wc 

 anticipate, that we shall, in a year or two, approach the prices now 

 paid in the State of New York, for lands in this section of the Province 

 enjoying an equally fertile soil, and having the like facilities of rail- 

 road and water communications. 



" It has been well observed by Professor Johnston in a recent article 

 of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, on tho 

 relations of Geology to Agriculture in North America, that the Penin- 

 sula of Upper Canada, encircled by Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, 

 has a much wider expansion of those happily combined soils, which 

 are so eminently distinguished for tho growth of the finest quality 



