384 
Canadian Agriculture. 
western plants into the Eastern States. They are well up to the spirit of the 
age : they travel by railway. The seeds are trans])orted, some in the coats of 
cattle and sheep on the way to market, others in the food which supports 
them on the journey, and many in a way which you might not suspect, until 
you consider that these great roads run east and west, that the prevalent 
winds are from the west, that a freight-train left unguarded was not long ago 
blown on for more than one hundred miles before it could be stopped, not 
altogether on down grades, and that the bared and mostly unkempt borders- 
of these railways form capital seed-beds and nursery -groixnds for such plants." 
As regards the composition of the arboreal vegetation of 
British North America, the same high authority adds : — 
" The Conifera? native to the British Islands are one Pine, one Juniper, and 
a Yew ; those of Canada proper are four or five Pines, four Firs, a Larch, an 
Arbor-VittT, three Junij^ers, and a Yew ; fourteen or fifteen to three. Of 
Amentaceous trees and shrubs. Great Britain counts one Oak (in two marked 
forms), a Beech, a Hazel, a Hornbeam, two Birches, an Alder, a Myrica, 
eighteen Willows, and two Poplars — twenty-eight species in nine genera, and 
under four natural orders. In Canada there are at least eight Oaks, a Chest- 
nut, a Beech, two Hazels, two Hornbeams of distinct genera, six Birches, two 
Alders, about fourteen Willows and five Poplars, also a Plane tree, two 
Walnuts, and four Hickories ; say forty-eight species, in thirteen genera, and 
belonging to seven natural orders. The comparison may not be altogether 
fair ; for the British flora is exceptionally poor, even for islands so situated. 
But if we extend it to Scandinavia, so as to have a continental and an 
equivalent area, the native Conifera; would be augmented only by one Fir, 
the Amentacea3 by several more Willows, a Poplar, and one or two Birches j 
no additional orders nor genera," 
The extent of land under cultivation in Canada is at present 
about 22,000,000 acres, besides about 7,000,000 acres under im- 
proved pasture. The average size of Canadian farms is, according 
to Professor Brown, of Guelph, a little under 150 acres. The 
average annual gross value of produce is Al. 12s. per acre over 
all the Provinces, the extremes being SI. 12s. and 3/. Clear 
profit, after paying for labour, maintenance, interest on capital, 
and other charges, may be put at an average of over 12a-. per acre. 
The average farm carries live-stock to the value of 1/. 12«. per 
acre. The annual taxes upon land consist of a township rate, a 
school rate, and a county rate, amounting in all to an average 
of 5d. per acre. Land is being actually occupied at the rate of 
380,000 acres per annum, and reclaimed at the rate of 100,000 
per annum. Within recent years wheat-production has in- 
creased at the rate of 70,000 acres per annum. The population 
is still essentially an agricultural one, for there are not many 
large aggregations of non-farming classes in any part of the 
Dominion. The annual value of produce per acre is very 
considerably less than from the older cultivated lands in 
England, and the annual expenditure per acre, including 
labour and fertilisers, is remarkably low. 
The general characters of Canadian farming are somewhat 
distinct in the different Provinces. Ontario agriculture is of 
