in North- Eastern America. 



7 



of them, yet two things are almost certain in this province — 

 jirst^ that wherever one of these three rocky formations comes to 

 day, good land and broad-leaved trees will be met with ; and 

 second, that the best land in the southern half of the province, 

 and the best-peopled settlements, are almost invariably situated 

 upon these rocks ; and at the same time the transitions are so 

 sudden as to leave no doubt, on any observing mind, that upon 

 the change in the geological structure alone are the changes in 

 soil dependent. 



The reader who is least familiar with the mode of settling a 

 new country will readily understand that it is usual, in every 

 district, to select, occupy, and cultivate the best and richest 

 land first, provided it be equally accessible. He will understand 

 it, therefore, to be in the natural course of things that many of 

 the oldest and best settled agricultural districts in A^ew Bruns- 

 wick are situated upon the rocks which I have described. 



But in speaking of fertility in a colony which, in the minds 

 of many in this country, is associated with the idea of long 

 winters, deep snows, and cold of intense severity, it may not be 

 out of place to specify, in intelligible terms, the amount of 

 productiveness which this fertility implies. By this means also 

 a practical idea will be conveyed of the value of the province to 

 the farming emigrant. During my stay in New Brunswick I 

 collected a valuable body of special information, in which I was 

 much assisted by the provincial authorities, in reference to the 

 actual produce per acre of the cultivated land throughout the 

 province. The average of the numerous returns obtained from 

 practical men gave the following as the yearly produce of land 

 per imperial acre throughout the whole of New Brunswick : — 



Wheat . . 18 bushels 



Oats ... 33 „ 



Rye . . . 18 „ 



Barley . . 27 „ 



Buckwheat . . 28 bushels. 



Indian corn . . 36 

 Potatoes ... 6 tons. 



Turnips . . . 11.^- 



We are not to compare these averages with those of our own 

 skilfully cultivated, well-manured, and generally high-farmed 

 country, but with the yield of land in other parts of North 

 America, if we wish to form a fair estimate of the comparative 

 position of New Brunswick as an agricultural country. Now", 

 leaving out New England, in which the soils are generally 

 of a less rich description, w'e may select New York, Ohio, and 

 Upper Canada, as among the most highly-esteemed regions of 

 North America, in an agricultural sense. The following table 

 exhibits the average produce of land in these several regions 

 compared with that of New Brunswick : — 



