18 
THE CANADIAN PROVINCIAL CATTLE SHOW AT HAMILTON. 
nature and lias never bee* disturbed by the hand of 
man. I am anxious to state this fact in express 
terms, in order to set those right who have been led 
to believe that every inch of land in the empire, 
however bleak and barren, is under cultivation, 
having given way to Chinese industry and skill! 
I myself, before I visited China, was under the 
same impression ; but the first glance at the rugged 
mountainous shores soon convinced me of my er¬ 
ror. Unfortunately, our opinions of a distant un¬ 
known country are apt to go to extremes, either 
fancying it entirely barren, or else a paradise of 
fertility. 
The soil of the valleys or plains varies quite as 
much in different provinces as it does in the hills. 
The level of these valleys or plains is generally 
very low ; in many instances below that of the 
rivers and canals. In the south the soil consists of 
a strong stiff clay mixed with a small portion of 
sand, but containing scarcely any vegetable matter 
or humus. This is its composition about Canton 
and Macao, and in fact over all the provinces of 
the south, unless perhaps in the vicinity of large 
towns, where its natural character has been altered 
to a certain extent by the influence of manure. 
Where the hills lose their barren character, four or 
five hundred miles to the northward from Hong¬ 
kong, a visible change takes place also in the soil 
of the valleys and plains. In the district of the 
Min, for example, instead of being almost entirely 
composed of a strong stiff clay it is mixed with a 
considerable portion of vegetable matter, and is an 
excellent strong loam, not unlike that which we 
find in some of our best wheat lands in England and 
Scotland, and capable of producing excellent crops. 
As a general rule it may be observed, that the 
lower the valleys are, the more the soil approaches 
in its nature to the stiff clay of the south, and vice 
versa. For instance, the Shanghae district is seve¬ 
ral feet higher above the level of the rivers and 
canals than that of Ning-po, and the soil of the lat¬ 
ter consists more of a stiff clay and has less vege¬ 
table matter in its composition, and is far from be¬ 
ing so fertile as the cotton district of Shanghae. 
THE CANADIAN PROVINCIAL CATTLE 
SHOW AT HAMILTON. 
On a bright autumnal morning early in October, 
I left home on a visit to the Hamilton Cattle Show, 
having been warmly invited thither by my friend, 
the Hon. Adam Ferguson, now President of the So¬ 
ciety Crossing the Niagara, opposite my own 
residence, to Waterloo, on the Canadian shore, I 
followed the river down sixteen miles, over a level, 
yet fertile country, tolerably cultivated in the old 
fashioned Dutch way, to Chippewa, two miles 
above the Falls. The scenery along the river.thus 
far is quiet and beautiful. The banks are raised 
from six to fifteen feet above the water, which 
flows in a full, broad stream of great clearness and 
purity, spreading from half a mile to a mile in 
width, and smooth as a polished mirror. The 
Canada side of the Niagara was settled during the 
Revolutionary war—of course an old country in 
America. Its agriculture is pretty much stationary ; 
yet bearing abundantly of all the cereal grains, the I 
grasses, Indian corn, and roots. The farm stock is! 
mean enough. The cattle, sheep, and hogs wretch - 1 
ed, and the horses only so-so. Of poultry, they 
keep any quantity—the farmers’ wives being pro¬ 
verbial along the Canada shore for their poultry, 
eggs, and butter. Fine orchards of excellent ap¬ 
ples line the river banks—a real redeeming qualify 
to their usual lack of enterprise ; and owing to the 
vicinity of the river, the fruit is never cut off by 
spring frosts, giving.them constant, and with rare 
exceptions, full annual crops. 
Passing Chippewa, a little village two miles 
above the Falls, the country varies somew r hat in 
character, the soil growing more sandy—it being a 
clayey loam above on the river, and the cultivation 
rather improving. At and about the Falls, is the 
village of Drummondville, lying upon the celebrat¬ 
ed battle grounds of Lundy’s Lane and Bridge- 
w'ater—a rare and beautiful spot. The village in 
itself is pretty and neatly built, with several fine 
houses scattered about the neighborhood. Alight, 
warm, sandy loam furnishes a soil of surpassing 
excellence for all kinds of northern fruits, which 
flourish in the highest perfection. Along the road 
lying through Stamford, which is a continual vil¬ 
lage for three miles beyond Drummondville, are 
seen the finest fruit trees. Many old peach trees 8 
to 10 inches in diameter, and which I was assured 
were full thirty years old, were breaking under their 
loads of fruit; and apples and pears hung in the 
bending orchards in the fullest luxuriance. Indeed, 
there is no finer fruit region in America than the 
shores of the Niagara, on both sides, from Lake 
Erie to Ontario, when properly cultivated. But the 
peach below the table land or mountain, five or six 
miles distant from the Falls, where the wdiole 
country descends abruptly from the Erie to the On¬ 
tario level, some 300 feet in height, is more luxu¬ 
riant than near Lake Erie, owing to a higher tem¬ 
perature and an earlier spring. 
Descending: the mountain, through the remark¬ 
able gorge so particularly noticed in the geological 
notes of Professor Lyell, and which by the way is 
a most picturesque and beautiful passage—the little 
hamlet of St. David’s occurs on the main road, run¬ 
ning west from Queenston, on the Niagara, to 
Hamilton. Taking this road, which is well McAdam- 
ized for several miles, I passed St. Catharine’s, a 
village of some 4 or 5,000 inhabitants, on the Wel¬ 
land Canal, and d’stant some six miles from Lake 
Ontario. The lands all along on this road are emi¬ 
nently fine, yielding wheat, corn, and all the lesser 
grains, roots, grasses, and fruit in the highest per¬ 
fection. The agriculture too is quite good. All 
the way from Queenston to Hamilton these remarks 
will apply. The soil is chiefly a strong loam run¬ 
ning into varieties of clay and sand, but univer¬ 
sally rich and durable. Immense quantities of 
apples loaded the orchards all along the road : good 
buildings were frequent; and the whole country 
wears The appearance of prosperity and comfort. 
Farms are worth from $30 to $50 per acre ; but few 
are disposed to sell—a capital indication in a farm¬ 
ing community. 
At St. Catherine’s, passes the Welland Cana 1 
which connects the lakes Erie and Ontario, floating 
steam and sail vessels of 400 tons bu*rthen. With- 
| in sight of St. Catharine’s, it descends the mountain 
! by a course of about 30 locks, making a descent o 1 
some 300 feet to the Ontario level. It is a stupen- 
