92 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



The average per cent of cleared land for the 1,171,614 acres in- 

 vestigated was 1 1 .4.* The township of Minden leads in the percentage 

 of land devoted to farm purposes, with Somerville, Marmora, Chandos 

 and WoUaston next in order. Neglecting these five, which for special 

 reasons will always remain farming townships, and those where too 

 small a portion lies within the watershed for arriving at a fair propor- 

 tion (Anson, Herschel, Hindon, Ridout), we find that the typical con- 

 dition in the forest townships is 8 per cent of cleared land. The 

 assessors' figvires would give a smaller percentage, and figures of land 

 really adapted to farming, stiU less. 



Details of Farm Distribution 



A brief description by townships will serve to present the "typical 

 state of affairs in attempting to farm soils which are much better 

 adapted to forest use. 



1. Hastings county — ^Referring to the Forest Distribution map ac- 

 companying this report and beginning in the east, the Hastings road, 

 with the townships of Lake and Wollaston on the west and Tudor and 

 Limerick on the east, — an early colonization road — ^presents to-day a 

 picture of more abandoned farms than occupied ones. Lake township is 

 almost without settlement. Cashel contains one small settlement in the 

 south-west. Tudor and Limerick, though thinly settled, contain but 

 little agricultural soil. Wollaston, with the exception of the Ridge 

 settlement, is farming a ridge of sand. The western portion of Faraday, 

 embraced within this watershed, possesses considerable settlement, 

 despite the unsuitable character of the soil. This is largely owing to 

 accessibility to railway transportation in three directions — Bancroft, 

 Deer Lake and Coehill. Much of this township is patented under the 

 Mining Act. 



2. Peterborough county — The Wollaston sand ridge extending wdst 

 through Chandos furnishes that township its best farming area ; the 

 farms in southern Chandos are rough and stony. Methuen, with one 

 road running down the eastern portion, has a few farms in the north, 

 one settler at Sandy Lake near the centre, and two small settlements 

 (Oak Lake and Vansickle) in the south-east, on limestone areas ; the 

 remainder of this barren township is totally uninhabited. The re- 

 maining townships of Burleigh, Harvey, Galway, Cavendish and 

 Anstruther form a block provided with three roads, the Burleigh, 

 Buckhom and Bobcaygeon, running northerly. Farming in Burleigh 



*This calculation omits the practically unsettled townships of Bruton, Dudley, 

 Eyre, Guilford (in part), Harbura, Harcourt and Havelook, to the extent of 173,932 

 acres. The inclusion of these would bring ttie percentage still lower. 



