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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN- Washington-. 
EDITED BY ) 
ORANGE JUD©, A. M. i 
PUBLISHED BY 
AliFEIV & Co., 189 Wate&’-st. 
VOL. xv .—No. 1 .] NEW-YORK, OCTOBER, 1855. [NEW series-No. 105 . 
i^^lTor Prospectus, Terms, &c., and. for 
Special and business Notices, please refer 
to last page. 
NEW KOUTE TO THE WESJ—CANADA AND 
WISCONSIN EAEMING, 
Having occasion to make a trip recently 
to Wisconsin, we were induced to take a 
route lately opened, from Toronto by Rail¬ 
road northwardly, past Lake Simcoe to the 
head of the Georgian Bay at Collingwood ; 
thence by steamboat through the Bay to its 
junction with Lake Huron; thence near the 
great Manitouline and some of the lesser 
islands that so profusely gem that magnifi¬ 
cent Lake, to Mackinac. The Railroad is 
new, yet leads through an old cultivated 
country to Simcoe. From this point north, 
the country is raw enough to satisfy the 
most inveterate sticklers for uncontamin¬ 
ated nature. 
The older settled lands are good, consist¬ 
ing generally of a fertile loam, with more or 
less inclination to clay, which in some cases, 
approaches to a very stiff soil. The portion 
of the land near the Bay, is of the most un¬ 
promising character, consisting of light sand 
and sterile gravel, spread out in an almost 
unvarying level, and covered with a dense 
growth of pine, hemlock, white and red 
cedar, and white birch. These forest trees 
generally skirt the shores of our western 
lakes and their tributaries north of 44°, 
though occasionally a fine growth of sugar- 
maple, hickory, and beach, (which more gen¬ 
erally prevail in the interior, and always 
indicate the finest western soils,) comes down 
to the brink of the water and stretch away 
inland as far as the eye can reach. These 
trees covered the slopes of a majestic hill 
near Collingwood, (which is said to be 1,200 
feet high, but did not appear more than half 
of it,) and extended entirely over and beyond 
its top, while scattered thickly through them 
were the clearings and buildings of the hardy 
pioneers. 
The view of the eastern shore on the 
tongue of land or peninsula, and the adja¬ 
cent islands lying between the Bay and Lake 
Huron, is by far the most beautiful we have 
yet seen in the northwest. This is attrib¬ 
utable to the varied and increased altitude 
of the shores, the islands which border, and 
the numerous bays and inlets which indent 
it, affording a continually shifting yet always 
picturesque view as the boat passes rapidly 
onward to her destination. One of these 
islands, called The Flower Pots, from its 
having two seemingly inverted rocks, (not a 
very unusual thing in a limestone region, 
which most of that country is,) that have ap¬ 
parently turned a somerset, and are now 
standing on their head, the base being much 
smaller than the apex. A wine-glass with 
its foot buried in the sand is not an inapt 
illustration of these little wonders. The 
bold chalky cliffs, not unfrequently over¬ 
hanging with their bristling heads of firs, 
the pure waters below, stud the shore both 
on the island and the main, and lend a pe¬ 
culiar charm to this new and attractive 
route. 
The farming in Canada has greatly im¬ 
proved since we were last through this por¬ 
tion of it, some years since. There are many 
excellent farmers in the Provinces. Nicer 
or more skilful or successful cultivation is 
not to be found in the States, than is exhib¬ 
ited on many of the Canadian farms. The 
products are such as are grown in central 
and northern New-York. There are fewer 
orchards, and a less number of well-bred 
horses, cattle and sheep than are seen among 
us; but the spirit of improvement is thor¬ 
oughly roused throughout the Provinces, and 
numerous fine animals attest the zeal, intel¬ 
ligence and liberality that have possessed 
our trans-lake cousins. Let any who doubt 
the progress of things there, visit the next 
annual exhibition, in October, at Coburg, 
Canada West, and he will see what would 
have astonished even a New-Yorker twenty 
years ago. 
The Government have encouraged the 
formation of a general, and numerous sub- 
Provincial agricultural societies, by various 
grants of money; and there is every indica¬ 
tion from their past history and present suc¬ 
cess, that they have become thoroughly in¬ 
corporated as one of the indispensable fea¬ 
tures of Canadian farming. They have 
already the nucleus of a respectable library 
at their rooms in Toronto, (soon to be again 
the seat of Government for the Provinces,) 
and there may generally be found, Professor 
Buckland and the Secretary, Mr. Thompson, 
engaged in the duties of forwarding the great 
agricultural interests of the country. 
Many of the rural population are emigrants, 
who bring with them their strong Scotch, 
English and Irish prejudices, which, like 
their brogue, is much harder to shake off in 
Canada than the United States. This is 
owing to the less number of schools, the 
more limited general intercourse, and the 
countenance they derive from the higher 
classes. A knot of Scotch or Irish settle 
together, and having little intercourse be¬ 
yond their own circle, and a great man or 
two to look up to, almost as obstinate or 
unintelligible as themselves, will hold on to 
their brogue, their quirks and their oddities, 
for two or three generations; yet had the 
same men settled any where in Yankee 
land, the natives would have almost as quick¬ 
ly dispersed their language and habits, as 
the confusion of tongues did the select citi¬ 
zens of ancient Babel. One can hardly un¬ 
derstand what many of those people are 
talking about. The Yankee pin, as they 
call it, is, however, rapidly supplanting the 
cumbrous Scotch iron implement, which re¬ 
quires fifty percent more team to draw it, 
and costs four times as much without doing 
any better work. The proprietors of a thriv¬ 
ing agricultural-implement warehouse in To¬ 
ronto informed us, that the trade in imple¬ 
ments imported from the United States, 
nearly doubled annually, so decidedly supe¬ 
rior in economy, lightness of draught, and 
efficiency, do they find them to such as they 
have heretofore brought from abroad. 
I found, very much to my surprise how¬ 
ever, that the recently so highly lauded re¬ 
ciprocal treaty, left an onerous impost on 
these necessary articles. Not a single effi¬ 
cient manufactory of this description of im¬ 
plements is to be found in British America, 
yet every one of these articles brought into 
the Provinces from the States, is subject to 
this exaction. The fullest selling price, too, 
is assumed for levying the ad valorem. 
The Collector informed us, as he compla¬ 
cently sipped his fragrant Macaboy, that 
several reaping machines had been seized 
the present season, although invoiced con¬ 
siderably above the manufacturer’s cost; 
but they happened to be somewhat below 
the usual selling price. If the Canadians 
need reciprocity in any thing, it is in pro¬ 
curing better tools to work with, and we 
hope the next time they achieve reciprocal 
treaties, they will make a free interchange 
of agricultural implements as thoroughly a 
sine qua non as agricultural products. 
The progress of agriculture in Wisconsin 
has been rapidly onward, as ever before 
since the settlement of this fine region. 
Population is pouring in to every portion of 
the State, and they conquer as they go. 
Farms are everywhere taken up and at once 
subjected to an intelligent tillage. The set¬ 
tlers are among the best farmers of our 
northern States and the north of Europe, 
who bring unusual intelligence, and superior 
habits of economy and application with them. 
We have always noticed that emigration, in 
