Canadian Agriculture. 
425 
mainland by Northumberland Straits, For a space of three 
months in the winter the presence of ice renders communication 
with the mainland difficult and uncertain. The climate is less 
ioggy and less changeable than in the two other Maritime 
Provinces. The surface of the island is slightly rolling, and is 
covered by a bright red loam of uniform character and marked 
fertility. The land is nearly all cleared ; there are few manu- 
factories on the island, and it has been called the garden of the 
Dominion, visitors flocking there in great numbers in summer. 
The history of Prince Edward Island is instructive. Soon 
after the peace of 1763 it was divided into townships, and 
granted, by means of a lottery, to a number of persons, many 
of them officers of the army and navy who had served in the 
war. Conditions were attached to these grants, of quit-rent, 
of reservations for churches and wharves, and particularly of 
settlement. But most of the grantees had no intention of 
settling. Many sold their grants, and the lands of the island 
gradually fell into the hands of a few people who did nothing 
to improve them, but remained in England, waiting to profit 
by the labour of the actual settlers. Properly, these grants 
should have been cancelled for non-fulfilment of the conditions, 
but they were not ; the fertility of the island attracted numbers 
of settlers, and it was soon very generally under cultivation ; 
but as the leases ran out, the absent landlords raised the rents. 
Then arose numberless disturbances, the pioneers who had 
brought the wilderness under cultivation not being able to 
understand the correct principles of property and land tenure. 
Among these settlers were eight hundred Hijjhlanders taken 
out by the Earl of Selkirk, and they soon became prosperous 
farmers. The land question continued to agitate the minds of 
the people for years, until, in 18G0, the Government appointed 
a Commission which valued the rights of the absent proprietors, 
and recommended their purchase by the Government, with a 
view to re-selling to the tenantry ; the British Government, 
however, disallowed a Bill for promoting this object. Shortlv 
afterwards another Bill was passed and allowed, under which 
the Government acquired the proprietors' rights, and thus put 
an end to further agitation. The Government acquired 
843,981 acres, and in 1882 only 142,011 acres remained not 
taken up. Of this area 67,000 acres was indifferent forest 
land, so that only 75,000 acres remained under lease to tenants 
who had not purchased. In this manner was Prince Edward 
Island converted into a country of proprietors from a country of 
tenant far^ners.* 
* 'Handbook of the Donainion of Canada, 1S84.' 
VOL. XXI. — S. S. 2 F 
