343 
SKETCHES OF CANADA. 
SKETCHES OF CANADA. 
Kingston .—There is not much in, nor about 
this town to excite the attention of an agricul¬ 
tural traveller. It is situated at the northeast 
corner of Lake Ontario, in latitude 44° 15', up¬ 
on a formation of blue limestone that affords a 
very abundant, cheap material for building, as 
may be seen in the numerous handsome edifices 
in and around the city, which is said to con¬ 
tain 13,000 inhabitants, counting the large mili¬ 
tary force stationed here, and all that are in, or 
• ought to be in the penitentiary, and including 
all the suburbs. It is in appearance and man¬ 
ners of the people, very English, and some of 
their customs are very unlike those of our Yan¬ 
kee notions. For instance, the times of eating 
—breakfast at 8 o’clock, lunch at 12-£-, dinner 
at 5, and tea at 8. This custom, also, prevails 
at Toronto and many other places. 
I before remarked that the Canadians have a 
sort of fancy for showing off in one extrava- 
gantly-fine public building—a sort of Mormon 
Temple. In this particular, Kingston has made 
a display of the grandest order in her mar¬ 
ket house. It is built in the form of a T, the 
front 240 feet, two stories high, with a large 
dome in the centre, affording room enough for 
all the courts and public offices the city will 
require for five centuries. The end of the pro¬ 
jection, or bottom of the T, is also two stories, 
surmounted by a balcony and clock, and if it 
stood alone, would appear like a large building. 
The long intervening building is the butchers’ 
market above, and sundries in the basement. 
The whole is of beautiful, hammered stone, and 
certainly presents an imposing appearance. 
There are, also, several very hgndsome stone 
churches, court house, jail, barracks, nunnery, 
Catholic seminary, hospitals, storehouses, and 
dwellings, and a little north of the city, fronting 
the bay, the extensive buildings and walls of 
the penitentiary stand out in bold relief to warn 
the honest man to remain so. Upon the other 
class, it has but little effect, for “ A rogue’s a 
rogue for a’ that.” 
The whole front of the town is fortified in 
such a manner, that the whole Yankee nation 
never would be able to take it-until they 
made the attempt. Two routes of navigation to 
Montreal are open from here, one by the river 
and canals of the rapids of the St. Lawrence, 
and the other by the Rideau Canal and the Ot¬ 
tawa River. 
There is very little wheat raised around 
Kingston, notwithstanding its limestone soil. 
And I believe very little, if any produce, is ex¬ 
ported. Grass seems to be the principal crop ; 
but if I may judge from the few cattle I saw 
alive, and the carcasses in market, both cattle 
and sheep are of the small order. Horses are 
not generally so good as at Toronto, and I fan¬ 
cy there are few places where they are. Oats 
are a considerable crop, and are now, August 
20th, being harvested, and I suppose will be 
eaten by some other animals beside horse 3, as 
I saw several signs of “ oat meal for sale.” Bar¬ 
ley is also grown largely, or else it must be 
imported; for certainly, it is much used after 
being reduced to a liquid form, to which is ad¬ 
ded a few hops. And I wish it to be distinctly 
understood, that I am not of the opinion that 
this is the only drink made use of by the Cana¬ 
dians. I certainly do believe the prevailing 
habit of excessive drinking is one, if not the 
cause of want of energy to improve the agri¬ 
culture and manufactures of the province. It 
is a misfortune that rests incubus like upon the 
great body of the people; and I do most re¬ 
spectfully suggest to agricultural societies, to 
offer premiums to all farmers who will dispense 
with the use of all intoxicating drinks upon 
their farms, as one of the means best calcula¬ 
ted to arouse a spirit of improved agriculture. 
Another important consideration should be to 
induce farmers to read. This may be done in 
some degree by giving agricultural papers and 
books with all premiums, and to all who be¬ 
come members, as is now the case to a limited 
degree. 
I met, at Kingston, with Mr. Marks, the acting 
president of the Colonial Agricultural Society, 
a very respectable and worthy individual, no 
doubt, but altogether too much of the “ ancient 
and honorable fraternity” of Auld Lang Syne, 
for a station that requires vigor of body and 
intellect, and a little “ book knowledge,” to in¬ 
fuse a spirit into the farmers that no amount of 
money which parliament may grant will ever ac¬ 
complish. One of the curious things one sees 
here, contrasting with towns in the states, is the 
military, pacing up and down before one’s 
house, as sentinels, or in squads, at every cor¬ 
ner, or occupying many a bar room, or drinking 
shop, of which there is no scarcity. I wit¬ 
nessed the march of somewhere near a thou¬ 
sand of “ Her Majesty’s Rifles,” through the 
street, on Sunday, going to church; all stout, 
athletic young men, and I could not help think¬ 
ing what an amount of human food might be 
produced by the well-directed labor of all these 
eaters of the bread of idleness. 
A Big Dairy Farm .—While leaving Kings¬ 
ton, one of the Thousand Islands we passed, 
was pointed out as a very extensive dairy farm, 
owned by a Kingstonian, upon which my in¬ 
formant stated, the owner keeps two hundred 
cows. Whether the number stated is correct, I 
cannot say. It only seemed large, because it 
was in Canada. In New York or Ohio, I should 
not have doubted nor wondered.* From the 
yards, spouts are made to conduct the milk to 
broad tin vats in the milkroom. The land upon 
these islands is very level and thin upon its lime¬ 
stone foundation, and of but little value for 
any other crop than grass. The marks of im¬ 
provement are very primitive, so far as seen 
from the boat in passing. Solon Robinson. 
To Prevent Oxen from Hauling or Crowd¬ 
ing.— -It is only necessary to lengthen the yoke 
to break oxen of this vicious habit. In some 
instances, particularly in lumbering with heavy 
teams on the road, we have been obliged to 
make yokes 12 to 18 inches longer than those 
ordinarily worn. 
* Afterwards I was informed the true number is 130, 
