Canadian Agriculture. 
433 
vation involves surface draining bv cutting ditches 22 vards 
apart, 3 feet wide at the top, 2 feet 9 inches deep, and sloping 
to a widtli of 1 foot at the bottom. Three or four years subse- 
quentlv the land is ploughed in ridges of 6 to 8 feet wide, sown 
with oats, and seeded down with timothv grass and clovers. 
On the marsh lands that have not been dyked the grass is cut 
and drawn on to the higher slopes to cure, and is stacked on 
rude platforms which, supported by piles, stand several feet 
above hijh-water mark, so that when the tide is in they look 
like so many hav-laden rafts. Each platform, of which some- 
times as many as a hundred mav be counted from one spot, 
carries a ton or more of hay, which is carted into the farmyard 
as required in winter, and there used in conjunction with 
ordinary hav, straw, and roots. 
Ordinarv dvke lands sell for from lOZ. to 30/. per acre, but 
I saw some verv excellent ones in the Cornwallis valley which 
had been sold at from 40/. to 80/. In the fertile country around 
Grand Pre there is rich meadow-land, much of it worth 50/. to 
75/. an acre. 
Longfellow has left us a very graphic picture of this, the 
classic land of Evangeline : — 
" In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Bisin of Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the little village ot Grand Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, 
Givin:; the village its name, and pasture to flocks without number. 
Dykes, that the bands of the farmers had raised with labour incessant. 
Shut out the turbulent tides, but at certain seasons the flood-^ates 
Opened, and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er the meadows. 
West and sooth there were fields of flax, and orchards, and cornfields 
Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain, and away to the northward 
Blomidon rose." 
Arri\-ing at Grand Pre on a glorious autumn morning, I 
realised the wondrous fidelity of this description. 
Of the 11,000,000 acres of land in Xova Scotia about one- 
half are regarded as fit for cultivation, but unfortunatelv I have 
not been able to acquire much recent statistical information 
of agricultural interest. The Province has no Department of 
Agriculture, though there is a somewhat irresponsible Board 
of Agriculture to w hich the Provincial authorities seem content 
to relegate any subjects affecting the farming industries. The 
last report of the Board stated that there were ninetv-two agri- 
cultural societies in the Province, embracing 5064 members, 
that the subscriptions amounted to 1307/., and the Government 
grant to 1367/. Nearly all the societies reported some action 
for the improvement of stock. 
