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I t 6 STA] ITSP] INI A Resid yeait ofCi iDWi /J STANFORD'S EMIGRANT'S GUIDES. OAK AD As ITS PRESENT CONDITION, PROSPECTS, r AND RESOURCES, FULLY DESCRIBED FOR THE INFORMATION OF INTENDING EMIGRANTS. BY WILLIAM HUTTON, A Resident Ag^culturist in that Colony for the last twenty yeai*8 ; Author of the ** Prize Essay on the Agriouiture of Canada," ko.y &o. ; and now Secretary to the Govern- ment Board of Statiadce. LONDON: IDWARD STANFORD, 6, CHARING^CROSS. "r ' -,• ,; ,v.- ;'"■■ %:• 9^^^y-i:^r-irr -ftl •:ii;J;:SV ■■-•:■ CONTENTS. . -.- -i'? v/ >U ^ ■-• ■■i.r i'. ^,lr>■^'"-.'' i": :..,K ,ivvp-^k CHAP' IE] ■ f il ...iiO PAG] Canadian Climate and Seasons^Their Effects on Labour and Wages — Mineral Wealth of Canada— Timber avail- able for useful purposes , CHAPTER II. Oovemment Regulations affecting Land Sales— Value of Land — ^Validity of Titles — How to Inrest Money- Tools, Wearing-apparel, &c. — Cost of Farm Buildings- Labourers and Artifioen^ Wages — Routes to the New Districts, &c. — Who should Emigrate, and when — Pros- pects of Canadian life CHAPTER n. Results of Industry on Canadian Farms — ^Family Emi- gration recommended— A Picture of Canadian Progress —Colonization the feeder of a Nation's Wealth— Fea* tures of the Country CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE. )mparative progress of Canada and the United States I of America— Population Returns — Remittances home Iby Settlers — Value of Land and Produce — The Emi- grant's first step — Manufacture of Pearl- Ash and Pot- Ash — Clearing the Land — How to begin — After Pro- Igress — The future — Taxation and Expenditure — Men )f Capital — Roads — Railway Communication — Their fast benefits— Trade and Tradesmen in Canada . 62 THI CHAPTEE V. h '■-.: }/. ^mestic Animals employed in Canada — Farming and ravelling Cattle— The Wild Animals of the Forest — Canadian Fish . . « * . . . 104 CHAPTER YI. icational Establishments— Statistics — Ministers of Re- ligion— >How supported . . . . • .113 '.' , r :■ * ..»■ -K^'u;.! '?,:!'/; --■ i;^!» '../•^■*': v>*! IT ' - >:y ^'^-.:i* CHAPtEE I. i:m: ft '•4 :i^ a locality within reach of these manufacturers. They are very extensive consumers of our farm produce of almost every description. The immense number of teams HINT9 TO SETTLERS. of horses and oteti which they employ as long at the snow remains on the gronad, causes a very large consumption of hay and grain, ]lork, &c., which the farmer can no longer supply in the woods when the snow and the ice have disappeared, there being no roads by which wheeled vehicles can have access to their shanties, --v.; Intending settlers who have terrific ideas con- nected with ice and snow, ought to settle in the far west of Canada ; here they will not be much troubled with it. They may, perhaps, have rather more mud than in the more easterly parts, but this evil is in some degree remedied by the increased exertions which are made to provide good roads, and also by the extra amount of acreahle produce, which, per*- baps, enables them to pay more attention to the state of their roads ; but of this more hereafter. During the four winter months, December, Janu^ ary, February and March, the thermometer ranges, on an average, in Toronto (about the centre of the Upper Province) at 20 degrees of Fahrenheit, and during these four months, I venture to say, there are not seven days in any one year in which ladies may not be seen walking for pleasure and health in that beautiful city; and not two days to prevent thein in Quebec or Montreal. The air is clear and bracii^, and the snow is not attended with that moistening eifect which in this country gives such ^a idea of discomfort, in the shape of wet feet and garments. 6 EFFECTS OF SNOW. Snow, in Canada, instead of being the bugbear thai it is imagined to be by old country pe(^le, is, in fact, the delight of the inhabitants. No resident in Canada would voluntarily relinquish the snow-clad road, and the sound of the merry sleigh-bell, for the best carriage road that ever was made of Mc Adam's materials. *'^ "With all the pleasure and benefits, however, which we derive from the snow, there are disaa;antages when it tarries too long, which I ha e no desire to conceal. Our agricultural pursuits are often delayed too long in the spring, so that we have not time enough to sow our spring grain in good order, nor to prepare our land for green crops, as a good farmer would desire. ^ >:-.^-, ~i.t..x* -.^i: For three years, out of the nineteen, I have known the snow remain so long that we could not plough a furrow of land until the first of May, on which to sow our spring grain ; that is grain that will not bear the winter's frost (contradistinguished from winter grain, such as wheat and rye, which remain in the ground without being winter killed), and though on these occasions nature provides that the increased rapidity of growth somewhat atones for the late season, yet the farmer, in a general way, has not, in such late seasons, strength enough of team or of bands, to cultivate the quantity of acres which the extent of his farm requires. These three seasons were, however, exceptions to ITS DISADVANTAGES. the general course of nature. ' The average time for oommencing ploughing is, from the 20th of March to the 20th of April, always bearing in mind that within these two periods the season is earlier, as you proceed further west, and also hearing in mind that where I do not particularize localitiec I allinle to the central part of Canada West., i ^^..;.. : D There are also other disadvantages when the snow remains too long, and those chiefly connected with the condition of our cattle and horses. When our winters are very long we, of course, require much more food for our cattle, and, upon some occasions, there have heen scarcities of straw and hay, which have caused the loss of numbers of cattle, especially if the snow happens to be so deep as to prevent the oxen and cows from going to the bush to browse on the tops of the trees which are felled by the axeman, unless he too has been prevented by the depth of the snow. The winter of 1850 was the only one in which I knew this to be the case, during my resi- dence, and that winter the loss of life amongst the cattle was very extensive ; but this very circumstance has been the means of creating a very general and wide-spread desire, on the part of the farmers, to economise their winter feeding, by building warm houses for their cattle, by growing increased quan- tities of turnips, mangel-wurtzel, and closer, and by making freer use of chaff-cutting machines, which are very great economisprs of hay and straw ; but the 8 CANADIAN 80MM£RS. great exertion seems to be to provide waom houses ; ibr with these, three tons of hay or straw goes farther, and does much more good to the cattl^ than four tons given without shelter. ^ ^ r '- ^m. If we have then this evil, the effect of long and "vevere winters, we can provide the antidote, as there is no scarcity of timber for the purpose of building in any portion of Canada with which I am acquainted ; and straw-cutterSy as well as every other labour-saving machine, are to be had of the very best description, and at reasonable rates ; and the soil and climate are specially adapted for the growth of succulent root- crops, turnips, mangel- wurtzel, &c. >v » » iy^^,* v^»;,n*i In speaking of our summers, I may fairly state that they are in general too dry — the clouds do not drop fatness as they do in Great Britain. We are three, four, and sometimes five weeks together without a shower, and I think I have known even six weeks together without any but a sprinkling. Other summers, such as that of 1851, have been abundantly moist, with copious showers every three or four (^ays; but such summers as these are cer- tainly the exceptions. This, it is true, is a great drawback from our prosperity ; but the very same causes that will render our winters milder, will also render our summers moister. ^^ \i'Mit ttik k^t'Hf As the clearances become more extensive, the ran exhales more moisture, which must return to the ^artfa that gave it; and the. proof of this u clearly SftTN£88 OF eilMATK. 9 idiscernible by r? / fanner of five years stlkoding. Portions of his buakh-laod which continued swamp so long as the bush remained dense, hare, soon after being cleared, been converted into rich and arable land, even without the aid of artificial draining. The sun and air do their work, and the swampj placet become dry and fertile ; the land, too, that lies be- tween large bodies of water, is Jess affected with drought than land otherwise situated. The counties t>f Welknd, Lincoln, and Haldimandj for instance, lying between Lakes Erie and Ontario, suffer less from drought than any other portion of Canada West, except perhaps the most westerly portions having Lake Huron to the north, and Lake Erie to the south. Perhaps in these portions particularly, but I may say indeed in all Canada West, aU kinds of grain which are among the productions of the mother-country are cultivated with great success, and indeed very many of those descriptions of fruits and vegetabks which cannot be raised in Great Britain or Ireland without immense expense, and the care of professed gardeuv^^rs, attain without this aid a richness, and size, and height of perfecticn, entirely unknown on this side of the Atlantic. -^^ But, vnth these acknowledged disadvantages of too dry a climate, we have also advac^iges that in some degree compensate. For instance, the dryness, and what is in general termed the excellence of our climate, enables the 10 EFFECTS ON LABOUR. farmer to hardest and store his hay and grain crops at a lower acreable rate than the same description of crops can be harvested in any part of Great Britain or Ireland. Our wheat, for instance, though we pay 5« to 6« 3d currency per day to harvestmen, without reference to thje weight of the crop, can be safely housed in the barn at 6« sterhng per acre, including all expenses. ^^ .;v.,..i .^**«y4. "We are very seldom, indeed, obhged to move the shocks, or go to any expense in unbinding or moving the grain, other than the mere cutting down, binding, and dravring in. ^ ^-'^ ' ' '^ ' f^iik;^ - Two men, one cradhng and the other binding, will complete two acres of heavy wheat in a day; ,and fully one-third of the best wheat of the Upper Province can be carried to tbe barn as soon as it is bound in sheaves, without having to undergo the operation of stocking even. I do not say that that proportion is so carried, but that it might be with safety, and a very large portion is so carried off the very cradle, p^vj »»)?i!* /i^tiut *RK,ij,iio:'>» i-'y-c'-'/si *»■»• !>».!«?»: »»i.' , Our hay, too, is ready for putting into hand-cocks the same day that it is cut, and can be drawn in good order to the barn or stack in two days following, thus saving an immense amount of labour, which would be necessary if the weather were unsteady or damp — and there is also some waste always attendant upon damp. This saving of labour is truly, in Canada, a very material point, where we pay 4a currency per HATf-HAEVEST. 11 day for mowers, and 5s to 6s Zd for harvestmen in the grain-field. One reason why graio-harrestmeB have higher wages than mowers is, that the season heing short, the winter-grain all over the country comes nearly at the same time, and the harley-harvest follows very close, and consequently there is a great demand for harvestmen at that season. ' The grass, and peas, and oats, on the contrary, will keep without much injury for a f^W days uncut; and hy thus extending the time of hay-harvest, in*> creases the supply of labour in this branch of harvest* husbandry. • u---,x^^4ikukik:^\.^ ■ . The expense of cutting meadow is about 29 per «cre mth us, whereas here it is probably 3* 6rf sterling per acre; but I have no desire to conceal the fact, that though the acreable price of cuHiiqf meadow is much lower with us than with you, yet the price per ton comes rather higher. The expense of saving is about the same price per ton in both countries, our warm climate balancing your low wages. Your acreable produce is, probably, two tons per English acre, whilst ours does not exceed \\ tons on an average. I have often seen and had two tons per English acre, but IJ is about the average of the country, and for this the average price is 35« cnr^ rency per ton, the same weight as your ton — 20 cwts. of 1 12 lbs. We have an advantage, probably, in cor price per ton being higher than yours. On our old and well-cleared lands we make very 12 OLD SETTLGB FARMERS. free ase of the horse-rake, gathering cleanly and Well with one horse and one man fully ten acres in a day, and raking the ground to our entire satisfaction. We have admirable labour-saving machines, and we makd free me of them. We have also introc'uced within the last two years, reaping-machines of a very superiof description. One pair of horses and eight men will with great ease cut down and bind up and stook ten acrcaof fine wheat, having thirty bushels to the acre i nnd so beautifully is the work done, that you do not see a head of wheat lost, and the stubble is as level as a floor. This instrument (like the horse-rake) cannot, of course, be used to advantage where there are stumps or stones ; but last harvest it was exten- mvely and successfully used in the Upper Province coBbngst the old settled farmers. *^ **^^ii v*^*^ ^ ^* • Some of you will probably ask what I call an old mttUd farmer. In reply to this I may state that many of our townships, such as those along the navi^ ^ble waters, have been settled partially for thirty, Ibrty or fifty years. On my own farm, in the Bay of Quinte, the man is still living, and not an old man, who cut the first tree on it, about forty-five years ago ; and this is perhaps the average age of the clearances on the front next the navigable waters : one of twelve or thirteen years, however, in Canadian par- lance, would be called an old clearance. No clearance loses its title to new till the stumps are pretty well rotted out, and this requires nine DOUBLE CROFFINO. 13 years to effect^ even with the most industrious. Haid wood stumps, such as beech* maple, oak, iron-wood«. elm, &c.» rot out in that period, pine stumps will remain much longer sound, and reqmre to be under-^ mined and burned out with the aid of other wood. ^ It is too much the custom to tax the virgin soil^ too severely by double cropping, and when the richj^ ness of the top vegetable moulu is exhausted or deN> teriorated. the farmer too often finda that the subsoil is not as fruitful as he expected, and for this mosfe^ natural reason — that the wide-spreading roots of the. mighty forest trees have made their natural and un* ceasing demands for nurture on the soil that aur* rounds them. . ^' . The roots of trees must be fed in Canada as. well as in any other country, and no wise farmer will exhaust the vegetable supersoil so that it will not improve the subsoil when incorporated with it. It ia much easier to keep land rich when you find it so, than to exhaust and then be obliged to recruit ifr. People are generally very much mistaken when they) talk of the inexhaustible riches of the virgin soil, and much more so when they practise severe cropping to avail themselves of these boasted riches. It is killing the goose for the golden eggs. n I do not wish you to understand by this that the Tirgin soil is not rich, but merely that its riches should not be exhausted before the plough comes to b* uaed^ 14 yfxms OF LABOUR. \i:t wliich is generally not till about six years after the first clearing of the land. • Having here connected my observations on the Climate of Canada with the subject of Wages of La^ hour, with which it has a close affinity, as I have shown by comparing the facilities of harvesting and haymaking in Canada with those of Great Britain, Mid the smaller acreable cost of labour in the foimer country on account of its climate, I may pursue the subject of wages of labour, which is a very interesting one to every individual of every rank contemplating emigration to that happy land ; whether he be capi- talist, farmer, merchant, manufacturer, mechanic, or labourer. »^ t Canada is the country perhaps above all others / where the diligent practical man, no matter to which f of these callings he belongs, reaps an ample reward for his industry. ' 4W* , Wages of labour, in fact, are so high that none but working men, in the wide sense given to that word, can possibly prosper— mere overseers cannot brefithe in our atmosphere. ■ " %\^^=;^>::^.>;.i.^4iu'i4..,.,. The chief profit that the farmer makes is by doing his own work by himself and family, and thus not only saving outla}' of cash for wages, but earning those wages for himself ; thus, for instance, the man who hires another to do his work, say at 58 per day, •nd remains idle himself, loses the 5a which might MINEEAL WEALTH. 15 have been the reward of his personal industry, and is tempted by that very idleness to spend still more ; and his neighbour, perhaps, who performs his own work himself, is 10* richer than he when night comes. ■i.Wfi^t'MM'mnmiii^'-mt Mii^ ■ It is thus that Canadian farmers, who are a most industrious class, soon accumulate means to pay for their holdings and render them freeholds.n^* «* In the Upper Province there is scarcely such a thing known as a tenant-farmer; we are almost all our own landlords, or working our way up to that proud position ; not one farmer in 500 pays rent so There may be some of my readers who may wish to know something of the mineral wealth of Canada. I will not enter into details, but merely show that Canada is not deficient in the treasures of the mine, as well as of the forest and the inland sea. « r We have Gold-fields of considerable promise within a very few miles of Quebec, near the Chaudiere Falls, in the county of Sherbrook, and on the property of the British American Land Company, the shares in whose stock have risen nearly cent per cent, owing to the prospect of finding gold, as well as to the contem- plated railroads, which next year will intersect » large portion of their lands. There has also been gold found on the shores of Lake Superior, at a place called Prince's Location* 'We have also a great abundance of very rich )6 MINSRAL WZALTHf, iron-ore in the county of Hastings* m two township^! called Madoc and Marmora^ where tbere are works erected, and in the latter place in very excellent working order. The Company owning them is at ^ present looking out for a purchaser, or persons to j lease them, their capital being too limited to carry them on to advantage: excellent iron-ore is also to I be found on Lake Huron, and in very many pl^c^ ; IB t^ Lower Province. :.. .-^.u.t^fi.'i'mii^j •'ii:„-'t^s^-< There are also many very valuable copper-mines i on Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and the stock \ of the Montreal Mining Company has lately risen I from 6d per share to 26s 6d, and promises to afiford large profits to the shareholdersihiofr ^jo Y«fn nod i' We have also lead mines, and zinc and ochres of aH colours, and soapstone and lithographic stones, and sandstone, and a never-failing supply of gypsum and shell-marl for manures and plaister good enough for statuary, and most beautiful descriptions of mar- bles — ^white, black, brown, gray and mottled, varie- gated green and white and verd antique: potters' clay and fullers' earth, and even agates and jasper, and rubies and sapphires, and amethysts and ribboned chert for cameo? have been found on the shores of Lake Superior and elsewhere ; and many other de» scriptions of minerals have been mentioned by Smith as abounding in Canada. Limestone is the general substratum of all Canada West. ' ii:..^,^^,s,0 With regard to the products of our forests, the CAN^DXAK TtUBER. If unbounded supply >of the Ttluable, the ornameutal, and the beautiful descriptions of timber which our woods produce, is too well known to require more than a passing comment. In an Essay on the Vegetable World, as contributing to the Great Exhi- bition, Professor Forbes, of King's College, London, says, ** The Black Walnut of North xlmerica is a rich purple-brown hue, but little used by cabinets makers in this country. Its capabihties are well shown in the chairs and tables made of it, exhibited by the Canadians, and highly creditable to their taste and skilL" It can be obtained in Tery large planks, and he might have added, in very great abundance, as in the western portion of Canada West, there are tens of thousands of acres, having a very large proportion of woodland consisting of trees of this kind of timber, of immense growth, especially the country of Lambton and the Huron tract Latterly, the Americans have been very anxious to procure it, not having any of their own, and it is so abundant, that th^y can procure it at about £3 for everjr 1000 superficial feet, counting the foot twelve inches square, and one inch thick, and the export of it is likely to become a very extensive trade. Our beett and most beautiful furniture in Canada is made of it» and it even supersedes mahogany. : The Hickory is also a tree of the walnut tribe, remarkable for its excellence and toughness, though not, perhaps, .£01;^ its heauty* It was exhibited at c 18 SAW MILL9* the World*8 Fair, .in the shape of axe and tool handlei^ and was much admired ; being so tough, the handles of tools can be made lighter and more handy than with any other wood, not even excepting White Ash. We have also a very large supply of Bird's-Eye Maple, so called, from the polished wood resembling bird's-eyes, and which I have seen in large quantiti^ condemned to the log-fire, along with other very valuable woods, such as Rock Elm, White Oak, White Ash, Black Cherry, Bass, or White wood, (the Lime-tree of this country), and Black Birch and Black Oak and Beech, and many others, ruthlessly dragged to the mighty pile to be burned, to make room for the growth of human food. .;.,. .u> ..: . ; Timber, however, has of late become a much more valuable article, and there is not now the same ruth- less destruction that there used to be. The saw mills of thfi country, now so wonderfully increased in number and power, supply a demand for the best descriptions of timber, for which the manufacturers find a very ready sale in the United States, and the railroads will, in their formation^ create some diim&rid, as well as in the facilities of furnishing supplies to other consumers^ which they will everywhere t J ^t/T*n - :-w---,- :*»L'«t** ■ present. .=^ ....» ,. This is a \ery impc^rtant feature in the advance- ment of Oar^^da, that our splendid forests containing the timbers I have named above, as well as red and white Fine to an unlimited extent^ and also Tamarac ▲XIIIOAN DBMANBk 19 (dr La^cb) and Cedar, both red and white, and many other varieties which I have not enuTnerated, are now yielding a return to the manufacturer (or lum- berer), which could not have been even imagined 30me five years since, so greatly has the demand increased, an-•-:• • ■-- - '..- ^-^ '11' -..mM# The Birch.— There are two or Jhree varieties of this; one the Canoe Birch (Betula papyracea), so called from its being made by the Indians into canoes ; this tree is only found in the north ; the wood of all is highly prized for fuel. We have also the Chesnut (Castanea Americana), bearing an excellent fruit, and the wood producing good charcoal. The Beech, red and white, (Fagus ferruginea and Americana), affording excellent fuel, and a very tough and compact wood. The Iron- wood (Ostrya Virginica), called also IIop-Horn- beam, from its flowers resembling those of the hop ; the wood of this is amazingly heavy, and used for the heads of mallets and other purposes. We have various Willows and Spruces (Abies). Hemlocks (Abies Canadensis), a beautiful tree attaining a height of from sixty to eighty feet ; wood not good, but the bark valuable for tanning. The Black Spruce 22 GIAKT TBEE8. m in* (Abies nigra), equally large and extensiyely used in fihip-building, and almost always for spars ; from the young branches of which is made the spruce beer. The Balsam Spruce (Abies Balsamifera), from the trunk of which exudes a turpentine, Tulgarly called •* Balm of Gilead.'* The Larch or Hachmatah (Laris microcarpa), attains one hundred feet in height : also used in ship-building. The Cedar • (Cupressus).— Of the white variety excellent char- coal is made, and the red is very durable ; used for ship-building, and for posts and rails ; the berry \b used in the manufacture of gin. The Sassafras (Laurus Sassafras), a fine aromatic, and producing an alterative medicine. The W^ild or Bird Cherry (Cerasus Yirginiana) attains an enormous size ; the fruit small, and only useful as an infusion ; the wood highly prized for furniture. In the south-west, the Safran (Asimina triloba) is occasionally to be met with ; it is a small tree, but produces a fruit which resembles the Banana in shape and flavour. •'\ y V • II i •^■yt'^M^ '■• 'l^s.\ K ' ! r > • I I ) • . M i" •• w,. , • ' '■; f7 ■ H eleme r'i,»:r ; B that i . /> (4 } » H bougV ;r.n^f vft-J H acres, LAND SALES.- '^ 2a f a ft * i^i.; CHAPTER 11. i^' „;.,;; •I.GifiJ. Government Regulations affecting Land Sales— Value of Land — Validity of Titles — How to Invest Money — Tools, Wearing- apparel, &c. — Cost of Farm-buildings — Labourers and Arti- ficers' Wages — Routes to the Nev Districts, &o. — Who should Emigrate, and when — Prospects of Canadian life. ^ Before proceeding to any details respecting the culture and management of Canadian farms, it will be very desirable that some information be afforded to the intending settler as to the price of land in dif- ferent localities, the circumstances influencing the value of the same, as well as the suitability of various* districts for especial purposes, and other matters which, though they may appear trivial in the eyes of some, will be found by experience to have an un- mistakeable importance to the emigrant when he finds himself on the other side of the Atlantic. To begin with land, one of the most important elements in emigrant calculations, I may mention, that the smallest quantity of land which can be- bought of the Government in the colony is 100 acres, except in a few localities where fifty acres are 24 PEJCE OF LAKP. sold for the performance of certaia settlement dnties, and on condition of actual residence thereon ; in these cases the adjoining fifty acres is reserved for ten years, to enable the holder of the first fifty acres to purchase the remainder of the half lot. The general upset price is 8* currency, or 6s 6d sterling per acre for the best Government lands ; but there are abundance of very excellent lands to be had at from Is 6d to 4s currency, or Is 3d to 3s 6d ster- ling per acre ; and there are very many lots in the possession of private individuals which cannot be purchased under 35* currency, or 30* sterling per acre ; and I have seen wild land sold for £3. currency, or\^*2. \0s sterling per acre, in excellent situations. There is no difficulty whatever in ascertaining the validity of titles to private lands. In the county town of every county there is a registrar^ by whom every transaction affecting the title to each lot must be registered, in order to make it valid ; and prioriti/ of registry secures the title, even if the owner had previously disposed of the property to another party. The expense of searches in these offices is only U 3d sterling for each search. : . ' - . The cost of clearing a field of heavy timbered-land in the usual Canadian fashion, leaving the larger stumps, three feet high, above the ground, and cut- ting all under six inches diameter level with the ground, and burning all the cut timber off, and building a substantial f^nce eight feet high, t.e. with CO.ST OF CLEAfliyG. 25 fifeven rails not less than four incbes at the thinnest part, and also riders at 6aeh corner to keep the wind from blowing the fence down, and in fact leaving the field ready for wheat-sowing, amounts to. j£3. 15« or £A, currency, say £S. os sterling per acre— not so much as it would cost in England to manure and prepare old land for the wheat-crop ; and it should be remembered, that when a summer-fallow is pre- pared for wheat in England, it is only for that crop and partially for two succeeding ones; but when a new fallow is prepared in Canada — it ranks in the farmer's assets for ever at the value of its cost of clearing, as when once a field is cleared and burned off and fenced, it is so much reclaimed from the forest, and with good management not likely to re- quire manuring or fencing for fourteen or fifteen years — it will, in fact, be improving every year ac- cording as the stumps rot out, when it will become gradually level, and subject to the same tillage as the old lands of other countries. This cleared land is raised in vnlue to the extent of the cost of clearing and fencing, and will generally sell freely for that sum extra the price of the same land wild. '«w' UH The best lands generally cost most in clearing, more particularly heavy pine-lands. ;,..... ,.,>i A capitalist, on arrival, ican see by charts and maps what lands are open for sale, so far as Government lands are concerned. If he require information about lands of private individuals, he must find out to whom 111 26 CROWN LANDS. ft m I. ■■ m !!•■ iV they belong riear the spot ; but frequently even this information can be given in the " Crown Lands' Office," as they can tell to whom the Crown patents were issued. A capitalist can settle on unsurveyed lands ; and when they are surveyed, the fact of his having pos- session gives hira a right of pre-emption (or being the first to purchase). A purchaser of surveyed Government or Canadian Campany lands, is detained only a day or two before obtaining possession. If the lands are those of a private individual, much depends upon the dis-* tance of his residence, and his willingness to oblige. In the Upper Province only mines and minerals, or rather the right to one-third the net proceeds of mines and minerals, is reserved to the Crown. In the Lower Province there are many other reservations to the Seigniorsi many of whom hold under the French law. The charges upon the land advance in proportion to the state of cultivation, and the demands of the locality for improvements in roads, bridges, &c. Wild land is generally rated at one halfpenny to three farthings per acre per annum, and cleared lands, having houses, barns, &c. on it, from 'Sd to 6d per acre per annum. The land is assessed every year by sworn assessors chosen by the people them<« selves, and the amount required is equally assessed on all according to the value of their property. j^i TAXX8 IK CANADA. 2f The extent of the taxation depends upon the expense of maintaining the gaol, roads, bridges, public officers, &c., and also to the number of free- schools in each locality. The taxes, for example, on my farm of 250 acres (175 cleared, and 75 ^ild) ar« £5» 5s per annum, or £4, 10s sterling. There tan no other taxes, nor are there tithes. We suffer no oppression vfhBtev^r in the shape of taxes. What we pay we get full value for in the shape of improTed roads and bridges, and excellent free-schools ; and every land^holder has a vote in the nomination of the persons to expend even the small amount of taxes which we pay — occasionally, we are taxed extra for the building of school-houses, or of town-halls for the transaction of public business within our own locali'^ ties; but these extra taxations, from their nature, seldom occur. The best way for intending settlers to take out money other than what may be required for travel- ling expenses, is to deposit it in any well-known bank and take a certificate of deposit, which can be cashed at the full rate of exchange in any town in Canada east or west. •- •• ^ .««»? English shillings are worth Is 3d currency in the payment of small amounts, but are not a legal tender over 50*. Sovereigns are worth 24* 4c?, and bills on London at sight, or certificates of deposit, are worth rather more than 24* 4d per ;€, as are also Bank of England or of Ireland notes — but \hej might be ■■• f (('■ 't %■■ n LAXD UNDER- TILLAGE. lost, whe* eertifieWes of deposit would be perfectly § ^(e, ' id\ -.Pivi't iiiC-^Mfl! ?!.;;) ••itf. iiKT;' ,■< • JHJS ■^*T^I^ -' I woulcl not bi'inff out any goods for sale. I would not take out any farming- stock or furniture, but I would carry with me all the bedding and wearing- apparel that. I had on hand, rather than sell at a sacrifice. There is no extra charge for freight to the emigrant, and these articles are generally speaking dear. I would not buy a large stock of clothes, because farmers and their wives and daughters soon l«arh to nianufacture their own winter clothing suitable for the climate, and only very light clothing is re- q aired for the summer. ?> ;By far the larger portion of the cleared land is under tilkge for two reasons — 1 st. Because there is ^o much pasture in the woods and on the partially cleared lands, that to maintain the proper number of stock they do not require to have much cleared land under pasture. And 2ndly. Because every farmer requires so much straw and hay for the winter main- tenance of his stock, that he is obliged to have as large an extent of his cleared land as possible under grain crops. There are, in fact, no portions of Ca- nada that can be called grazing districts. Near towns, of course, there is a greater extent of pasture to sup- ply the inhabitants with milk, but in towns there are generally distilleries and breweries which afford winter food for the cows. r ■ i jn* :: o< Cheese and butter almost always bring remunc- EARMING profits; 2^. rating prices, but the length of the winter renders it very difificult to have a dairy farm as contradistin*^- guished from a grain farm, the straw is so necessary for winter keep. Beef does not pay so well as butter and cheese, but sheep well kept pay remarkably well; "With regard to leasing or renting farms from year- to year, I may inform the reader that occasionally af farm may be had at a yearly rent^ — many more now than could be had five years ago. The plan of rentH ing farms is on the increase, but so long as the faci- lities of purchasing land on long credit, and annual payments of small instalments, with interest, are so great, it cannot be expected that many persons mi^ hire farms at a rent. The usual rent for farms, with dwelling-bouses and barns and sheds erected on tb^m, is from 5s sterling to \os sterling per acre for the cleared land, charging nothing for the wild land, and granting the privilege of getting fire-wood for the tenant's own consumption. ■ '. .i ? r' o; ; on^ i As to the rate of profit to be looked for from farming operations generally, it depends so much upon the skill, industry and economy of the farmer j and the quality of the land on which he settles, that it is a difficult point to determine^ Perhaps the best statement I can give is, that a settler is quite sure of being well rewarded for his industry, if industrious^ and in the ratio of his industry being well directed. He will also have a fair return for whatever capitij he expends judiciously en his farm^ . ^,1 ii* iJft^ v^<> m FARM BUILDINQS. '•!! Failures of crops are by no means* conriTMott. I hxLve known fields of wheat entirely cut off by the weevil, and also by the Hessian fly ; bat these are insects of passage, and not destructive to any great or general extent. I have never known general fai- lures of ail the crops, though there are sometimes partial failures of one particular crop. ^ ' •;.? r vv' The cost of farm buildings is a point worthy of Log houses cost from £5. to £50., according to size and finishing ; one costing this latter sum would be roomy and very comfortable — 36 feet by 20, and H stories high, and divided into four or five apart- ments. l^V T'^' ■':-.: ^ ,..;-"^ ^{\'s^i:^'lb . A frame house costs from £75. to £300 ' ' ^*- A frame barn, 24 feet by 48, costs about £48. — £l. per foot being the general cost, if 16 feet high in the post and 24 feet wide. The threshing-floor in the centre is generally 20 feet by 24, laid with 2-inch pine plank, the rest of the floor not being laid unless required for a stable. A loff barn costs about £20., but these are now very seldom built, as they do not last very long, and saw-mills are so abundant that fanners can have their logs sawed in almost every locality. The sawed lumber makes better and more lasting bams than the logs unsawed. ^''^ ^^^^^^ The wages of skilled artificers and others form, of i»urse, items of consideration in the farmer's outlay. Carpenters, Masons, &c., when emplo}ed by the day. A&TIPXCEHEs' WA.OSS. dl have 68 3^ currency, or 5« sterling per day^ boarded and lodged. If by the month, which means twenty* six working days, they are paid from 20 to 22 dolr lars, i. e. £5, to £5, lOa currency, or £4,. 10« to £5. sterling per month, boarded and lodged ; if no( boarded and lodged, about 1 s sterliqg per day more. This is, in fact, the general wages for nearly all artir ficers. Whitesmiths are paid rather more. Labourers wages vary in summer from £2. 1 0« to £4, per month currency — £2, to a£3. 5« sterling per month, boarded and lodged. In winter about 10# sterling less. If employed by the day in harve^ time, they get from 3s to 6s 3d, and even 7s 6d per day in certain places, boarded on the best that is to be had. Bailway and canal labourers have 3s 9d per day, boarding themselves. ? 4,^^^ In cities and towns the wages of women vary from lOs to.25« sterling per month, boarded, and in country places the average is about \5s per month ; but a good cook'^will get 30s to 35s sterling per month in the cities. Washerwomen get from 2s to ^ per dozen pieces, or \0s per month foar washing far one gentleman . , , _ ^,. , . , , ^ ^^ j^- ., , . ^^„ ^, The best route to Upper Canada is decidedly by Quebec. The luggage is put on board a steamer at Quebec, for the Upper Province, and has not to be reshipped till the emigrant arrives at his destination : the passage is cheaper, and there is no trouble about extra freight; or luggage, or customs' dues.^ k ■I .; m lABOUBfcRg* PAMILIT.S. ' ^SBy a late Act, the emigrant tax is 5s (4* sterling) per head for eacli adult who arrives, having had the sanction of the Government for leaving his native country, and 7s 6d (6« sterling) if he has not had that sanction ; children ahovc 3 and not 1 6 are half- price, and infants free ; sick people are well taken care of in the hospital hy skilful physicians ; and in case of the death of parties, their money effects are carefully preserved for their heirs or relatives. Where there is any contagious disease on board, the vessel remains in quarantine till relieved by the competent ^health officer. '•»* .tl ; ,.r, ' . -...^ - I would not advise labourers or artisans to take their tools with them, unless they have good ones '4hat they cannot sell except at a sacrifice. The American tools are generally much better adapted for the work in Canada than British made tools. ' ^ The wives and c children of agricultural labourers iusually find employment iu cultivating the large gar- dens which their husbands and fathers can almost idways have, or they can spin or knit woollen stock- ings, or plait straw hats, and can always find profitable employment at home when not at school ; but they 'iought to be seiit to school very regularly while young, >^a&|When they become strong their labour is so valu- able as to make it quite a temptation to parents to ikeep them from school..^^ ;j, vi^i^^ \ •i^mi * r i,„ H - r ' The kind& of mechanics or artizans most in request are bricklayers, stonemasons, carpenters, joiner*, ca- ;^ THE BEST ROUTE. 33 binet-makers, wheelwrights, waggon and coach-makers, blacksmiths, whitesmiths, tinsmiths, coopers, shoe- makers, tailors and foundry men. ' The best time of year for emigrants to arrive in Quebec is early in May, as they are more likely to get employment then, and^ can plant potatoes and sow spring grain upon any land they may obtain, which will be a great assistance in bringing their families through the following winter, — feeding a .:jih- S, .^,.1 cow, hog, poultry, &c. The settler having made choice of his destination before he leaves this country, which it is alwi^S wisest to do, is immediately instructed by the chief emigrant agent employed by Government at any of the ports, as to the best route, and there is no diffi- culty, as steam 'Vessels go direct to almost all the ports on the River St. Lawrence, the Bay of Quinto, and the four gr^at lakes — Ontario, Erie, St. Clair and Huron. If going to an inland county, he will be put ashore at the port whence access to that county is to be best had. The Government emigrant agent having a knowledge of every county in Canada, will instruct him where to disembark, provided he has fixed on the county to which he will proceed. If going to work at the public works, the emigrant agent will, in a similar manner, advise him. - r To the reader who may be disposed to put the question ''Should I emigrate?*' I would reply , if your circumstances, or those of your family, are such D 34 THE LAND OF THE WEST. a •■»'■ m Ii; w that you are really desirous to improTe them by steady, sober industry, and if you feel that your cir- cumstances are in need of improvement, and that you are willing to work to effect that improvement, then leave home and take a wider field for your con- templated industry, where there is more elbow-room, and less- chance of your jostling your neighbours, and a much more certain and more ample reward of industry than in more crowded communities. ,.,,it>f To that land of the West, which more than any other country is calculated to secure to the indus- trious man, the pure gold of competence, health, contentment, happiness. Where you will escape the contaminations of reckless and desperate adventurers, who themselves outcasts from society, are now crowding to the regions of perhaps more attractive, but certainly less pure gold ; more enticing, perhaps, but certainly containing a hundred fold more alloy. Come to the British West, where true Britons find a more congenial home, which day by day becomes more dear to them. Society which will go far to reconcile you from any separation from friends or ,relatives ; a cHmate which though perhaps presenting new features to a European, is singularly healthy and exhilarating ; a language which is your own ; a liberty, civil and religious, unparalleled in the world. A land whqse youthful history pourtrays an advancement in improvement altogether uusur- ipasaed by any other country. Cities and fowns A COMPABISON. >»- K ^ 35 which not only rival, hut exceed, in rapidity of growth and prosperity, the far-famed cities of St. Louis, Cincinnati, and every other city in the United States of America, A land where (though only now in its infancy) universities and colleges and schools, are thrown open freely to every creed, the former superintended by most eminent professors from Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, and the latter ably taught by both male and female teachers, trained in a Normal school that has already acquired a world- wide renown. ■,:."■.' ^'.. f.i tw.V .1, 'V>1r .*; 1 ».*: fif A land which although it cannot yet number sixty years since it was primeval forest, will, in three short years more, be traversed through its its length and breadth by railways of superior build ; and already, with its inland seas and majestic rivers, possesses the most extended, the safest, the finest, and in every way the best water communication in the world. Without drawing any illiberal or invidious com- parison between the Eastern and Western Colonies of Great Britain, this I may safely and truly assert, that to the man of small capital, and to the labourer, the Western possesses greater advantages than any other country. -^ To the man who is now only a tenant, no matter how good his landlord may be, there is a very strong inducement, and it is this — ibat without any means whatever but a stout arm and a willing heart, he can, 36 THE CANADIAN FREEHOLDER. [Ill' I"* ■4-I r. I' f It in five years, be himself a landlord, the owner of one hundred acres of beautiful and productive land, without having to pay so much as one shilling for it for ever after. - ' ' '^ If afraid he cannot effect the purchase and the improvements iny?v^ years, he will find hundreds of landholders who will give him ten years. The Canada Company, and many other companies and many private individuals, give this length of time, and a man can always pay foi it sooner if he please. To be the freeholder of one hundred acres of good land is, indeed, a high privilege, and is ever keenly felt to be so bv him who has hitherto heen only a tenant, and perhaps ai ti nant at the will of another, from year to year. ' .,: I 5,»: '.1 i \ r * ' *rf : l:^^ ' ■'■ i :«> ,'i I ".'> UC''', .,>., i < „JF^»} FAMILY I ;DU8TRY. 37 , in :, -.''b: V.' •■?' ■*! ■>u -,P "{•' CHAPTER III. Results of Industry on Canadinn Farms -7 Family Bmigration recomniendecl— A Picture of Canadian Progress— Colo- nization the feeder of a Nation s Wealth— Features of the Countiy. " ■ ". ... ,.*; :^*r :.U: ^ih>^f That my readers may be enabled to judge as to the probability of their own success iu Canadian farming, I will relate some few of the numerous cases of good fortune which I have known attend the exertions of settlers in that country. 'f^t "^:\T I can give many instances where, by the combined industry of father and sons, two hundred acres have been paid for, and the freehold secnred in three years, off the land itself, without any extra pecu- niary aid. And there are numberless instances of yearly occurrence where one individual has paid for one hundred acres of improved land, from the pro- ceeds of his own industry in five years, havuig nothing to commence with but his axe, and not only has he the land paid fqr, but thirty or forty acres cleared, and a house built, and perhaps a log-barn and cow-house, and all this from his own unaided labour. Where he requires a second or a third hand to 38 HOW TO SUCCEED. I- 4 •^1 : lii *■■ ■ i¥ If raise his house, or gather ia his harvest, he has to chaoge work with his neighbours, giving them time for what they give him ; and not unfrequently you will see the wife or daughter " pitching" the hay or the sheaves in harvest time, and I have often also seen women helping to roll in the large logs for burning. - .: ,..? One farmer who settled in the county of Hastings, came there with his axe and nothing more, worked on his own land when he had earned some pork and flour by hiring to another farmer, cleared eight or ten acres ; put up a log-house, bought a cow or two; married, had twelve sons and six daughters, brought them all up comfortably ; built a large and comfort- able house and outhouses, and planted an orchard, costing in all ^600 ; purchased two hundred acres for each son as he reached the age of twenty-one ; gave him an outfit of horses, oxen, cows, sheep, and furniture ; and told me not very long ago, that he paid for the last two hundred acres, for the twelfth fion, making two thousand four hundred acres alto- gether. I remarked to him, being an old neighbour, that now I supposed he would be going to buy some for the girls. No, said he, I buy for my boys, and other farmers will do the same, and it will be farmers* sons that will be likely to marry my daughters. This is the custom amongst the old Dutch inhabitants of the country. ^..iM Here was an instance of great success from the CANADIAN WEALTH. 39 united labours of an industrious familj. Many of these young men, I know, are most comfortably situated, and this family is just an example, though on a large scale, of what may be seen in all the o|4 settled counties of Canada West.^}?;; -^i^Aii^Ki}^ ^i^jIIv^ I giro another example. — A near neighbour was put upon one hundred acres of wild land, with a yoke of oxen, an axe, a barrel or two of flour, and some pork, given to him by his father, who was an old soldier, being land which he had drawn for services in the army. On the one hundred acres he built a log-house ; married, reared five sons and three daughters ; owns now two thousand acres of first* rate land, worth £6000, and has ^2000 out at interest; all accumulated by his own and his family* t exertions as a farmer, having no other calling or occupaticr .,,,.,, Both of theac men are near neighbours of mine, and are old settlers in the country. Their history it that of tens of thousands of others, the ugh not on quite so extensive a scale as to size of family or suc- cessful industry, ri-' ta 'im-A^ ■i-y n t '^u^.** H*di But to give examples of more recent settlers. A man of tli. name of Elwart, came to me with- out a shilling in his possession, or clothes of any kind that were not patched all over. I hired him at eight dollars, or ^I. 12« pterhng, per month, after- wards increased to ten dollars, or £2. per month ; found him at the end of the year a valuable man^ m II r^ :{■■■ 40 RE9ULT OF ECONOMY. ml 'HI nil h, raised his wages to twelve dollars, or £2, 8« sterling per month, and kept him in all eighteen months, at the end of which time he had accumulated j£34. in addition to an abundance of comfort Able clothing. After eighteen months he left me, and hired as a lumber man out in the woods, that is one who pre- pares the timber for the British market, and draws it to the rivers out of the woods, in order to float it in large rafts down to Quebec. Being an excellent teamster, he was paid sixteen dollars per month, or £3, bs sterling, boarded, and afterwards £3, lbs sterling, per month. In five years he saved, aflei* supporting and clothing himself, upwards of JS200., and when I last saw him, he said he had just got the deed for ever of a fine farm of two hundred acres in my county, partially cleared, and with some build- ings. ♦ - :. .J: •-V..'iSV., This man could neither read nor write, nor had he any peculiar gift, but that of persevering industry and seal for his master*s welfare, and honesty, and sobriety and economy. There is not a good labourer here that could not * do nearly as well as this man if he bad the same good properties. . ^^Hifi.ia? Wages are quite as high as ever I have known them in Canada. The men on the railroads and public works are receiving from three shillings to four shillings sterling per day, to board themselves. Very oftnn you see advertisements such as this : '* One thousand Labourers wanted, to whom a dollar FAMILY EMIGKATION. m' a-day will be given ;'* about 4« 2d sterling ; bill these are not the description of labourers that acciji« mulate means or purchase property ; they are the least respectable class, and generally spend all they earn. It is the farm labourers who generally accii-^, mulate, though the lumberer has just as good ax^ opportunity, and fewer temptations, being generally in the depths of the woods, where there is no pos- sibility of spending money, if ever so much inclined to do so. They are as much shut out from tempta- tion as the sailor whilst at sea. ^ »>* !<..•«.,' ;., .*s| k#Y^ But it is unnecessary to dwell on the advantages that Canada p esents to the steady labourer. It is emphatically the country for the labourer ! Ht'*j|«*5 If it be so, some of you will say, it cannot be for the farmer who hires the labourer. I will grant the validity of this argument if the farmer be no l: FIELD FOR THE PIMGENT. 4^ the barn, be done by one individuaV howerer w^ inclined. So that independent of social enjoyment, or aid and comfort in tim^ f sickness, or the thou- sand advantages of hourly occurrence which kind neighbours and friends freely reciprocate, there iB a real advantage in having an accumulation of stren^h. Men can always effect more by joini exertion than by the same amount of time and strength expended in separate individual effort. Therefore it is wise fi: relations and neighbours to migrate together, and they are always sure of procuring, if not adjoining^ at least neighbouring lots. * .-uiMijU??- i.-! ?^(rA«A> ** Large as are the numbers/' says Mr. Lillie^ ''who are flocking annually to our shores, I have often wondered when looking at the advantages which Canada offers to the virtuous and the dili* gent, that they should not be very much larger. Such may command almost anywhere they please to locate themselves all the substantial comforts of life, with a fair measure of exertion. Who are the owners of our largest and handsomest and best stocked farms ? Generally speaking, men who have procured and improved them by their own labour ; many of whom you find in all the older parts of the country living like patriarchs, surrounded by their children to whom they have given inheritances* v.^ r?rAj' -^^6^1 " For example," says he, ** I was myself intimately acquainted a few years ago with an old gentleman thus situated in Flamboro' West (where there are '- % I If I 1% f I . 44 ^^.i- ROUGHING IT. •yfi-?.; :A<«-!r . many others in similar circumstances), whose pro- perty consisted when he came into the country of nothing more than the axe which he carried on his shoulder, with a moderate supply of clothes for him- self and his young wife, and who, ere he could procure a place to lie down and sleep, had to make himself a tent by throwing a blanket over a few boughs which he cut from some of the trees in the yet unbroken forest. This man was now the owner of a beautiful and well-stocked farm, with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of lifie." '' • Again he continues : — " Meeting some time ago with a countryman of my own who had occupied a respectable position at home, and whom I found living in a hmdsome stone-house with all the evi- dences of comfort around him, and in the enjoyment of the respect of his neighbours, I remarked to him, * I suppose you do not regret having come to Canada.* * Oh, no !' was his prompt reply. * It has, to be sure, been pretty much of a struggle all the time, but I have brought up seven sons, to four of whom I have given farms, and I hope by-and-bye to be able to provide them for the rest.' His time of residence in the country had been, I believe, twenty- seven years." Such instances are indeed very common, but you hear them sometimes complaining that Canada is not the country for a farmer, though surrounded with all these comforts. It is often most amusing to hear their complaints On one occasion I re- CANADIAN GRUMBLERS. 4e collect a most determined grumbler telling me, that there was nothing but ruin and decay. I quietly turned round, and asked him how much he would take for his farm. He said, seven thousand dollari^— about ^'1500 sterling. I insisted, for amusement sake, that six thousand would be enough for it, but he very indignantly declared he would not take one farthing less than seven thousand dollars — ^i750. currency. Yet this man had been put on that farm in a perfectly wild state, with scarcely a tree ciit upon it, and with very little else than a yoke of oxen and an axe ; and though he had reared a family of teii children in comfort, and established two of hit sons on go-jd farm's, and had realized ^1500. he would have led a stranger to suppose that farniing was a most ruinous business. This man was a very near neighbour of my own, and I have watched his progress from year to year. In 1849 he built a most beautiful house, having a most delightful view of the Bay of Quinte, and in excellent taste, with about twelve rooms in it, at a cost of upwards of ^400. It gives one every idea of comfort to see him driving his well-clad daughters in his most comfortable four- wheel pleasure-carriage, with beautiful horses and silver-mounted harness, and vet this man is for ever grumbling and declaring that there is nothing to be made by farming. We have abundance of such poor men as these — poor in spirit, who think little of being in possession of splendid farms constantly im- 46 • SCOTCH INDUSTEY. ■U.t 11 itC If ■ M ■■If r^' proyiog, and good houses, and good cattle, and good constitutions, and good health, and every thing good, but a sense of gratitude to the Giver of all this good. Are Biieh men as these much to be pitied? What would they have been possessed of had they remained in Great Britain ? Would they have had one foot of ground that they could have called their own ? ,.,\. Again, I give you the history of my next neigh- bour, an old Scotchman, who came to Canada from Aberdeen in 1 8.35. He had been a blacksmith, and had realised about ^61000 by industry and inheritance — he purchased the next farm to mine, 200 acres, for £h per acre currency ; he had, therefore, enough left- to buy his horses, cows, &c. He had two sons and three daughters. He bought a farm of 300 acres for his eldest son for ^66 .50, built a nice house in town for a widowed daughter, and the property he has accumulated is now worth nearly ^4000. He ^as an old man when he came out, but he says he might have laboured long enough and sair enough in Auld Reekie before he could have earned what he now has. "But,** says Smith, in his admirable work on Canada, " as an example of the success that usually attends exertions properly applied in Western Canada, we may repeat an anecdote told to us by an eccentric friend, the truth of which we can vouch for. The story cannot be better told than in his own words : -^I vas standing,' said my friend, *one day about M...T. AX ANECDOTE. 47 four years ago by the rlTer-side, watching the steanv^ boat which had just arrived on her upward trip* While she was taking in wood and discharging cargo, tbe captain drew me aside and pointed out some of his passengers, whom he was taking up the river in search of a new home. Led by the glowing descrip* tions continually published of the United States, they had left Englaud and emigrated to the far West, Illinois or Wisconsin, I forget which. After remain- ing there until they had lost all the little property they had taken out with them, worn out with sick- ness, and worse still with that hope deferred which maketh the heart sick, they determined to make their way to Canada, in hopes of finding amongst their own countrymen, that sympathy and assistance they had in vain sought among a nation of strangers. The couple were still young, but had added years to their ages by the trials they had undergone. As they stood upon the deck of the boat — strangers in a strange land, spiritless, moneyless, almost hopeless — the man looked gloomily about him and spoke in melancholy tones, the wife held down her head and said nothing. ** * The captain asked if I could do anything for them. I turned over in my own mind what I could make of him, and as I had just finished my new mill I determined on making a cooper of him ; so I told the captain to put them and their traps ashore, and going to the man I told him to step ashore. I am 48 HOW TO MAKE A COOPER. iT'? ' -■,'■'< |r.- , , , .■ I'?' I:. looking out for a cooper, said I — you are just the man I want, so step ashore and I'll give you employ- ment. He looked at me in astonishment. 1 am no cooper, said he ; I never worked at the trade, and know nothing about it. Pooli ! pooh ! said I, don't tell me, I know better, come ashore. I tell you I am no cooper, said he. Nonsense, man, come ashore, I tell you you are a first-rate cooper ow/y you don't know it! So I got them ashore and the boat started. ** * Now, said he, you have stopped me on my way and got me here, and I do not see that 1 can do any- thing for you, or how I am to get a living. — Why what do you want 1 — In the first place we want a house to shelter us, then we want something to eat. — There is a house (said I), pointing to one, you can take possession of it ; there is a store, you can get meat and grocerieej :here ; there is the mill, you can get flour there, and I dare say your wife can make it into bread, and then you can go to work. — But I have no tools ! — Go to the store and get them ; in short, I determined to make a cooper of him and I succeeded. You see that neat white cottage on the hill, that is his — that building beside it is his work- shop. He now employs several men ; he is out of debt, has purchased the lot adjoining his premises, and is worth at least a thousand dollars (^250).* Our friend laughed heartily when he told the story, and well be might. All honour to the man who COLONIAL ADVA.NCBM£NT. '49 • would step out of his way to relieve t fbllow-cr^ature in distress, and start him on his way rejoicing — he may well he proud of the result. We found his state- ment correct, and more than that we chtdned tha man who was made a cooper against his wiU a6 a subscriber to our work.'* . .,;,.,.; ,m, ^ * wml There are many valuable and wealthy settlers who have enfered into trades and occupations with which thjy were not originally acquainted, but to whicli circumstances directed their attention and pointed to them the opening. There is employment iu every line of busin jss, and each may adopt the one most suited lo his taste or means. . i .i.u We have varieties of instanced of this. School- teachers become successful store-keepers. Tinkers become owners of large foundries and implement manufactories. A cobler becomes the owner of • large shoe-warehouse, and a justice of the peace into the bargain. I have known a butcher's boy become a wealthy distiller ; and a baker's boy, who in my own time used to carry a few cakes for sale in a basket, become a large mill-owner and giiin-merchant. I have known several cases of millers' boj s becoming wealthy store-keepers ; and, in fact, instances of rapid advances are innumerable without the aid of inherit- ances, but merely by persevering industry and care. I might also have mentioned that I have known some lawyers, who might have been called young lawyers when I went to Canada, bedome most emi- I 50 (^ENEBAL PROGRESS. I : iJ'- 1^ ik- nent judges of the Queen's Bench ; and I cannot give you a more truthful account of the progress of most of the towns in Canada, than by quoting the address of one of these very judges to the grand jury at the Coburg Assizes, in January, 1852. He addressed them in the following terms: — »' «• ♦ iv*^ ri^>(>tf., ** On the first occasion of my delivering a charge to the jury of this place, I cannot refrain from a reference to my earlier acquaintance with this part of the Province. - - = ' r " Thirty- two years have elapsed since, on my arrival in Canada, I became a resident here. I am almost led to doubt the correctness of my recollection of the past, in view of the evidence of the present. At that time, from the eastern to the western extremity of the then district of Newcastle, there was not a solitary wharf along the shores of the Lake. The towns of Coburg and Port Hope together did not contain as many houses as are now to be found in the worst settled streets of either ; while, I verily believe, the population of those two towns now •equal, and probably exceed, the population of the whole district at that period. Saw mills and grist mills, though things of absolute necessity, were -thinly scattered where occasion most called for them, but there were, to the best of my recollection, •^**it two mills that manufactured flour to be sent to another market, and every foot of lumber that was sawed was used in the immediate neighbourhood, ni ti EDUCATIONAL INStlTUTtONS. 61 *' An occasional schooner might drop her anchor to land an emigrant family, or a few bales of merchan- dise, or to carry away a load of flour ; and at a long distance off might now and then be seen, the funnels and smoke of the old 'Frontenac,' as she prosecuted her thrli;e a month voyages from Kingston to York and Niagara, and back again, touching nowhere by the way* There was a church in course of erection at Coburg, but at the period to which I allude, I do not remember one building which was exclusively devoted to public worship, from the river Trent t/^- the western extremity of Darlington, (about 100 mi \ The mails were carried on horseback, excepting in winter, and even then quite uncer- tain, there was not a single public conveyance. The roads ! ! you must have travelled to be able to appre- ciate them ; nay, even between the place where wre are now assembled, and what had then just begun to be called 'Coburg,' there was a swamp all but impassable at some seasons of the year. **0f educational institutions there was the district school and a few common schools, of which the best perhaps that can be said is, that they were better than none at all. Of those comforts of life which habit makes almost necessaries, there was not always a sufBciency, the hour for the cultivation of refinements had not yet arrived, and of many luxu- ries which now abound there was no supply. Look at the advancement that has taken place ! Wharves ^ BENEFICIAX CHAjfGES. ?:€ i! M andh^ -hours daily, almost hourly, visited hy all de- scriptions of vessels which navigate Ontario. Roads connectir these couuties vrith those that adjoin, and fac* iting internal trade and communication, and grcwmg commerce, of which the export of our products, raw or man^^ifactured, forns a large pro- portion. Schools for general education, for which the wise policy of the legislature has received extensive afrplication by the hearty co-operation of the people^ Postal communications of increasing number and facility, to which, recently, the telegraph has added its lightning speed. A population becoming greater in ratio beyond the most sanguine expectation, almost beyond belief, and what I trust may, in some sort, be taken as a favourable indication of further advance, numerous edifices from which ascend to heaven the mingled voice of prayer and praise ; all these amply establish the beodicial changes wliich years have made. " Such arfe, indeed, subjects of just and hearty congratulation, as well as subjects of fervent thanks- giving to the Almighty Giver of all good, and I trust I may be permitted thus to allude to them, not the less, that within the period I have spoken of, the stranger youth, who found in this neighbourhood hi« first home in Canada, has been blest, in the course of years, with that success and advancement which enables him in mature age, to address you from this seat/' ' v.i. : •:?, i ^:si'iu.:> :m m \i .^^ LABOUE AND CAPITAL. 63 This from one of our enlightened and excellent judges of the Queen's Bench, Judge Draper^ is surely strong testimony of the vast improvement of our beauteous colony. ,'•■.-' '■• 7'*rs .> r^-* •» ij»-r^i«« '». *>:i f : .*>* :HtJ'\' Some of my readers may possibly complain, thitt by inducing farmers and labourers to leave this land for a colony, I am assisting to remove capital and labour that might be employed more beneficially at home. I am not of that opinion. I think it could not be employed more beneficially here than in Canada, in any sense of that word, whether to the individual or the community. Wealth is produced in oui' colony, not by large investments of capital removed from employment at home, but by the labour of the emigrant on the virgin soil of a fruit- ful territory. His individual happiness and pros- perity is wonderfully increased, and if true of an individual it is also true of a community. naiv';iBiO But even if it were true that extensive emigration would absorb a large amount of the surplus capital of the mother country, it does not necessarily follow that any injury would be thereby occasioned. Capi- tal will find its own level, and it is impossible to retain it at home if a more profitable investment can be found for it abroad ; the verv circumstance of its spreading over a wide surface in the Coloniea^ shows that it is pent up too narrowly at home. ,;^r>. It is surely much better that it should be em- ployed in adding to the strength and prosperity of 54 MACAULAY ON COLONIZATION. M *-;!» the empire by fostering her colonies, than be vested in foreign loans or foreign labour, for the advantage of foreign countries. . ^ . v. The prodig'V'is amount of British capital now diffused over e States of the Union (probably thirty millions of pounds sterling), might be much more advantageously employed in giving birth to settlements, and stimulating increased prosperity within the bounds of our own empire. And at the present moment Canada Bonds are of higher value than those of any foreign country under the sun ; Canadian Six per Cents being at £\7* premium. The cause of the prevalence of foreign investments is the want of knowledge of the superior stabihty and prosperity of our beautiful Colony. ** I tell you (says Mr. Macaulay), that in those Colonies which have been planted by our race, the condition of the labouring man has long been far more prosperous than in any part of the Old "World. Every wher . the desert is receding before the advance- ment of the flood of human life and civilization, and the industrious classes never endure those privations which in old countries too often befal them. And why has not the condition of our labourers been equally fortunate ? Simply, as I believe, on account of the great distance which separates our country from the new, unoccupied, and uncultivated fertile part of the world, and on account of the expense of traversing that distance. ' ^ ' /i??,f • / ;Vt ■ f;&-*'»EE TRADE. .;..., ^^ ,/ "■ .^ v*< Science, however, has abridged, and is abridging that distance. Science has diminished, and is dimi- nishing that expense. Already New Zealand is nearer for all practical purposes than New England was to the Puritans who fled thither from the tyranny of Laud. Already the coasts of North America, Halifax, Boston, or New York, are nearer to England than, within the memory of persons now living, the Island of Skye, or the County of Donegal, were to London. And do not imagine (says the same elo- quent speaker), that our countryman who goes abroad is altogether lost to us. Even if he go from under the protection and dominion of the English flag, and settle himself among a kindred people, still he is not altogether lost to us, for, under the benig- nant system of free-trade^ he will still remain bound to us by close ties. '* If he ceases to be a neighbour, he is still a bene- factor and a customer. Go where he may, if you will but uphold that system inviolate, it is for us that he is turning the forests into corn fields on the banks of the Mississippi ; it is for us he is tending Lis sheep, and preparing his fleece in the heart of Australia; and in the meantime, it is from us he receives the commodities which are produced with vast advantage in an old society, where great masses of capital are accumulated. His candlesticks and his pots and pans come from Birmingham ; his knives from Sheflieldr, the light jacket which he wears in summer comes from Manchester, and thf ■"(y^f-''-^*''",;^^" U UNCLEARED 1,A'ND, K good dotli coat which he Weard in winter, coities from Leeds ; and, in return, he sends us hack what he produces in what was once a wilderness ; the good flour out of which is made the large loaf which the Englishman divides amongst his children.*' s;,i ^:*tfc»t# It is just the same if he he settled anywhere in Canada. The settler there becomes a much larger consumer of British manufactured goods than if he had remained at home. He is enabled to bring up his family in comfort, and acquire for them a certain It independence, and the more children, he has the better ; the larger men's families are, if only they have common industry, the greater will be the ratio and the speed of their success. How different this is from the state of matters in Great Britain, I leave the reader to infer. - - > . .^.: The average value of wild uncleared land in the Upper Province, including Crown Lands, is probably 10« per acre currency, or Ss sterling. Some of it being at 20s or even 2ds per acre, and I have seen it sold for £3. There is, however, a great deal to be had now of excellent quality, and in good situa- tions at 4 #, currency per acre. ' '; ,';, s^irl; liiJ That is the Government price up to a certain mark in the western boundary of the County of Hastings, somewhere ii?w the centre of Canada West. From that line west, the Government price is Ss currency per acre. '.■ ■■ -»• — .-•^- .^ ...... .,. i,i.i-.jij, tjr.c>n» ]i w This fact shows that there must be a strong public feeling that the lands and climate of the Western !•• WBSTBEN LANDS. 57 parts of Canada are the best and most highly prized. There are millions of acres in Lower Canada that can be purchased at la 6d currency per acre. The reason for drawing that line of de^iarcation seems a just one, as many of the lands of the northern part of that country are very rocky and full of iron ore, and not likely to be settled for many years to come ; and the land on the west of that line is of a superior character, and beautifully watered with such a grand continuous line of lakes, that even now steam- boats are plying on them, and before long the ingress and egress to and from these fine lands will be much facilitated ; and every settler will naturally prefer the locality where there is water* communication and water-power in abundance. ^ x. i • .. 4. Lit' m. But let me not be misunderstood whilst explaining the reasons why the Government of Canada made that the line for a marked distinction in the priee of their wild lands ; I am far from holding the opinion that there are not millions of acres at 4« per acre quite as good in value as those sold by the Govern- ment at 8«— yes, and in every particular quite as desirable for the settler if he be an agriculturist. ^^***» Along the entire length of the Ottawa and its numerous tributaries, there are to be found the richest possible lands in the most desirable situa- This district which is now occupying so large a share of public attention, deserves perhaps some special notice. The following extract, from a iiv^ws- 58 VALLEY OF THE OTTAWA. f^ ■i paper published at Bytown, will convey some idea of a locality, known perhaps to many only as having suggested Moore's exquisite "Canadian Boat-song;", and the same river, which, when visited hy him, bore nothing on its bosom but the frail and tiny barks of the Indian and Canadian voyageur, now proudly car- ries down a freight in one article alone of nearly one million and a half of iponmh in \al\ie : — - *, . " The valley of the Ottawa contains an area of about 80,000 square miles, nearly equal in extent to the island of Great Britain. The river Ottawa com- mences its course in the northern highlands of the, Hudson's Bay territory, runs through Lake Temis- caming, and after a course of about 750 miles, flows into the St. Lawrence at the foot of the island of Montreal. ** Its volume of water is immense, and during the spring months probably exceeds that of the St. Law- rence at the Falls of Niagara. During its course it receives numerous tributaries exceeding in size the largest rivers of Great Britain. One single branch, the ' Gatineau,' drains an area of 12,000 miles, equal to about one-quarter the area of England and Wales, On the banks of the Ottawa are the largest pine-forests in the world, accessible to the markets of Europe or the Northern and Eastern States ; nearly the whole of its course is below the 47th parallel of latitude (that of Quebec), and it is estimated that in its valley there are more than thirty millions of acres capable of successful cultivation still belonging to the LUMBER TRADE. 59 ea of iving ng;" bore Province. There is a general impression that wheat is the great article of Canadian produce, but this opinion is far from accurate. The trade returns of last year show, that of our aggregate exports lumber is by far the most important item ; and, in fact, that compared with the other great classes into which our exports are subdivided, viz. products of the mines, the seas, agriculture aud manufactures, the products of the forests exceed all the re&t by the large amount of 56207,000. ••.V^S-li " Total exports per trade returns of 1 852 2,824,630 Of which products of the forest . . 1,5 1 5,878 "/- »'•• Excess of products of the forest . '* Amongst the productions of the forests, however, are classed furs and ashes amounting to 216,361 Total export of lumber .... 1,299,517 1,308,752 207,1 2d 1,515,878 ** Tiie distance from Montreal to Lake Huron by the Ottawa and Nipissing is little more than 400 miles." , ♦. . Amongst the numerous incidental advantages which the Province derives from the lumber trade, one may be named of no small importance — the enormous fleet of merchantmen which annually arrives at Quebec 60 IMPROVEMENTS OF WORKS. It f:;' for the parpose of transplanting it to England re- quiring for its supply large quantities of Western produce; and the very beneficial effect of the lum- bering establishments in the Ottawa district in the encouragement of agriculture, will be fully apparent from the following extract from a letter addressed by the house of Messrs. J. Egan and Go. to the Govern- ment agent, and published with other returns by order of the Legislative Assembly of the Province. After entering into a detail of their own personal expendi- ture in the improvement of their works, amounting to upwards of 5630,000. they add — " We give constant employment to about two thousand men, at an average rate of wages from ^14 to ^16 per month and board, who consume about six thousand barrels of pork, and ten thousand bar- rels of flour. We employ about sixteen hundred horses and oxen during the winter, which consume about sixty thousand bushels of oats and provender, and twelve hundred tons of hay. The oats at an average cost of 2s 3d per bushel of 34 lbs. delivered, and hay £4. per ton, which is the means of giving employment to hundreds of farmers in the valley of the Ottawa," ; ^^ . r =; '■"-.;.■'•> •'■ - Other houses, it should be remarked, have made a much greater outlay than Messrs. Egan and Co. ; and we find from the same parliamentary return, that the house of *' Gilmour and Co." had up to that date expended the sum of je58,843. in improvements, and .i. CANADIAN SCSNEUY. 6i that of " Hamilton, Brothers," a sura of a^l 1 9,628. ; and the total amount expended by private individuals in saw-mills and other works, was not less than ^331,723. ^ The scenery on this majestic river is indescribably beautiful — studded with islands, clad with timber of luxuriant foliage, and abounding in rapids and cas- cades, it must become as attractive to the tourist as it is to the settler. The falls of the " Chats " a ad the '* Chaudiere *' may in beauty, if not in size, vie with those of any other country, and the soft and sweet scenery of its lakes, in which the water is pecu- liarly glassy and beautiful, afford, with their iee^ly indented bays and countless islands^ a charming com- bination of the picturesque. ^ '4 tt^-':it-' S i ' 1 < ' .)-/ .'.,-i n' I' ifiij'j i ifVf '.f I ■\ ^ fci', ■ ^ ^ y^ -■ " •■ ■•••,'' n^'i'H ■• -^ I ;.Hi ;■ * CHAPTER IV. Comparative prog^ress of Canada and the United States of Ame- rica — Population Return& — Remittances home by Settlers — Value of Land and Produce— The Emigrant's first step — Manufacture of Pearl-Ash and Pot- Ash-^ Clearing' the Land — How to begin — After progress — The future — Taxation and expenditure — Men of Capital — Roads— Railway Com- munication-^Their vast benefits — Trade and Tradesmen in Canada. \,i " ":\' ■ ' rf-»~J' ,J^.')t ■■:\ if;. A VERY general feeling has for some time prevailed that the growth and prosperity of Canada are not commensurate with that of the United States, and without any inclination to deny or conceal the rapid progress of our neighbours, it may be well, by a few facts compiled from statistical returns, to prove how erroneous such an impression is, the growth of Upper Canada, taking it from the year 1800, having been nearlv thrice that of the United States. According to the " World* s Progress," a work published by " Putnam, of New York," in 1851, page 481 — the free population of the United States was, in 1800— .5,305,925 j in 1850 it was 20,250,000 : thus in 50 years its increase was not quite 400 per cent, whilst that of Upper Canada was upwards of 1 100 per cent, for the 40 years from 181 1 to 1851. iMlitOBATION INTO CANADA. 63 ■*;;^'n ^f^' ^ 1794 there was not a single human habitation except Indian wigwams, between the site where To- ronto now stands and Amhersburg, a distance of 325 miles, situated on the banks of the Riyer St. Clair; and Dr. Howison, a writer of 1825, in describing a journey which he took from the Talbot Road to the head of Lake Erie, mentions, that even in that year there was a stretch of 37 miles, called the Long Woods, without a single habitation but one ; **just such a solitary trip," says Lillie, ** as I had the pleasure of making last summer, 1 85 1 , in Iowa, with the exception that tbe solitude consists there of prairie (or wild meadow) instead of forest, which it was in Canada.'' * "* '" Instead of wilderness we now see towns and villages, many of them of great size, beauty and wealth. The immigration into Canada has been much greater, in proportion to her population, than that into the United States. In round numbers, that into the States may be calculated, says Lillie, at 300,000 per annum, and that into Canada about 30,000, whilst their population (exclusive of slaves) is as fifteen to one, and the immigration only ten to one. Within the 20 years, from 1830 to 1850, the immigration into the United States, according to Davis' " Half Century," ia estimated at 1,500,000; according to Scobie's Almanack (one of the most vftluabU works of reference) that into Canada, for the m EMIGRANTS RSMITTANC^S; a^, 'i: dame period, was 512,797) making our immigration* compared with that of our neighbours, as five to on^. That into Canada, for the year 1 85 1 , reached the large number of 40,299; that for 1852, was 39,176. >i ^. .t . «v ^- The whole population of Canada West, is 952,004 Ditto ,u:. Ditto Ditto East . 890,261 Total of both Provinces 1,842,265 * i&.it . 1 Mr. Lillie has also given in his Lectures a state- ment of the amount of money remitted from 1844 to 1850y inclusive, through the Canada Company Alone by immigrants to their friends, to bring them out to Canada, amounting to £92,655. according to the published statement of this Company. £, s» d. In 1814 they sent home 4,611 10 11 %^r tUi <;J? 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 n M 7,532 10 2 9,744 3 5 15,742 13 11 12,517 8 5 12,575 13 7 14,385 6 9 15,515 16 10 ■J Making in 8 years £92,655 4 ,:l I' %■ This amount is by one Company alone, and it is supposed that banking institutions, and other parties together, have sent far more than that amount. At any rate I am confident I am quite within the mark »ib GROWTH OF WUEjWT. 65 »2,004 10,261 tvlien I state that, in these eight years, £600,000. has been sent to Europe by immigrants in Canada, i. e. more than £2. sterling for every man, woman and child that reached those shores. . , Does not this fact alone speak volumes for the prosperity of Canada, and the liberality and benefi- cence of her adopted sons, five-sixths of whom are from the £merald isle, — I mean of those who have sent money to their friends. , ^^^^^^ ^, ,^^^^ In the United States the growth of wheat has in- creased 48 per cent durii.^g the last ten years ; whilst, in all Canada, during the same period, it has increased upwards of 400 per cent ! And taking the article of Indian corn, which is the production that compares the most favourably for the United States, the in- crease on it for the ten years between 1840 and 1850 has been equal to ii6 per cent ; whilst the increase in Canada, during the last nine years, has been 163 per cent. During the same period also, the growth of oats in the United States has been 17 per cent; whilst in Upper Canada it has been 133 per cent — in Lower Canada, 4 1 per cent, and in both united, 70 per cent. . . - Ohio, in cultivated acres, possesses ^ of all the United States ; in uncultivated acres, -j, . She possesses a i more cultivated land per inhabi- tant than Canada, having 5 acres to 4. ,^ All Canada produces one-seveath more bushels of 66 INCREASE OF PABM PRODUCE. m':. wheat than Ohio, and H hushels more per individuaf'. Upper Canada, however, produces 6 hushels more wheat per individual than Ohio ; the latter producing, in her staple, Indier corn, 29 times more than Ca- nada,— which prodjre.^ 77 times more peas, and 54 per cent more oats whan Ohio. ?^^i' i teHiAi^^nitlt The land of Ohio is valued at nearly douhle that of the average of the Union, and has more than three times as many inhabitants to the square mile. The whole United States produced in 1850 only 100,479,000 bushels; whilst the one State of Ohio- one out of thirty-six, and four immense territories- produced more than one-seventh of the whole Union. In butter and cheese, Ohio shews a great supe- riority ; indeed, 'he latter has hitherto been greatly neglected in Canada, and we find that within the three years 1849, 50, 51, the amount of butter pro- duced has in the Upper Province increased 3/2 per cent, and that of cheese, during the same period, 233 per cent* ■ * " "■ "^''•" •*-■»' :<»«-•■> *v 'ti,. _• , rj«v» In sheep also, Ohio beats us greatly in numbers, but not in increase or weight of fleece. ^ " • , According to Mr. Kennedy's report on the United States census, the rate of increase is greatly in favour of Canada, as compared with the Unied States ; for in ten years, the increase in the States has been only 1 per cent, and in the weight of the fleece only 32 per cent ; whereas iu Canada the increase in wool has .a^^ct UiM ^''-iMjif OHIO AND CANADA. €7 in nine years been 64 per cent, and that of sheep 35 per cent, — shewing an improvement in the weight of fleece of not far off 30 per cent, ^k? -- * /» The average weight in Canada is found to be : — In Upper Canada, 2\^ lbs. ; Lower, 2^g lbs. ; all, 24^ lbs. : whilst iu th^ United States it is, according to Mr. Kennedy's report, 2^ lbs. ^^^ ■ ^^i From this kind of comparison; which is very fully carried out in Tables appended to the Report I have alluded to, and which I may probably again allude to, it appears that — Ohio far exceeds Canada in Indian corn^ butter and cheese, gr \ss-seed, wool, tobacco, and beef and pork. Canada f in aereabie produce,-- h there not reason for exp^tiiig that Canada, with her more extended scope ana her itiore rapidly increasing population, will, in a very few years, make a much nearer approximation to the pro^ duce of the whole Union than Ohio doea now. "^ Already the population of Canada is more i^yati one-thirt< !;Qth of the Union. The area in square miles, excluii'-e of the Territories, is one-sixth, and of ooiirse in acres the same ; in occupied acres about one-seventeenth. In growth of wheat, very nearly one< ?xth of the whole Union, Territories included. In growth of peas, one half the whole Union. In barley, more than one fourth. In all grain, including Indian corn, about one-nineteenth ; exclusive of In- dian corn, about one-sixth. Of rice, Canada has none, neither has Ohio. The whole Union produces 215,312,710 lbs., which, at 3d per lb., would be je2,691,4(>8. in favour of the Union. ' ' ' ''^ Even at present Canada compares most favourably, in proportion to her population, with the States ; and when the railroads now in course of formation shall have united the whole British possessions in Ndrth America, then increased facilities, and aroused aud invigorated energies, and improving climate, and more rapidly increasing population, and interminable water^ and extensive fisheries, will in a few years enable tbe CHANGE OF CLIMATB. 69 British North American possessions to make no un« favourable comparison with the Union, flourish as she rvio¥r *•-■'■'■ ■-«-■'-■ *''■ "*f,'' w t,.-' ijf,yhe whole area of the United States and Territo- ries is 3,230,572 square miles, which, multiplied hj 6-JO, gives the number of acres, 2,067,566,080 ; t«»* tainly a prodigious territory, but the British posses- sions in North America far exceed this. The exact amount, according to Allison, is 4,IQ9,630 square geographical miles , and the water in British Amerioa is 1,340,000 square miles. The whole terrestrial globe embraces about 37,000,000 square miles; so that British America contains nearly a ninth part of the whole terrestrial surface of the globe ; the number of acres is 2,630,163,200. Allison remarks, thatia very large portion is perhaps doomed to everlasting sterility, owing to the severity of the climate ; such ia no doubt the case, but it should be recollected, that as the country becomes cleared up, the climate im* proves, and that there are at present thirty or fotif millions of acres, to the successful cultivation of wy<^ the climate presents no insuperable barrier. Two or three centuries ago the Rhine used to kt frozen, and the animals, the natives of the Nortboro regions, were abundant on its banks ; now sueh # thing is not even dreamt of. It will be so in Britisdi North America, with this difference, that the m* roving clinuite will keep pace with tlie vastly aooefe^ .1 70 INCREASED VALUE OF LAND. K. rated movements, and more rapidly increasing numbers of the New World settlers. ;. ..^ 5,- .^^ ,, ,:- 4- Having spoken largely of the increase of our popu- lation, which certainly forms a very important element of prosperity in a new country, I now come to the increase in the value of the land, and the increase in its productions, and the value of the land, &c. in pro- portion to its population. --- ^ - ^ ' ^* /->V^ ^i 'm^* I will hegin with the county of Hastings, where I reside, and with whose progress, &c. I am best acquainted. >:-^' ';/''■ .■- ■ ^-^ -■:'---.■: -^'^^■^'f m-:, J ^ '^ It contains a population of 32,000 souls, including tiie town of Belleville, having 5000. It contains nine inhabited townships, and three uninhabited, averaging tbout twelve miles square each township, containing altogether 847,800 acres : omitting the three that are uninhabited, there are 643,200 acres, or 71,466 acres in each township. The assessed value of this county foT taxing purposes, by the sworn assessors for 1852, Was, at^cording to the returns given in Scobie's valu- able Almanac for 1853, procured from the county authorities, ^940,242.; as nearly as may be, ^29. 10« for every individual in the county : and this assess- ment does not include sheep, nor young cattle, nor farm produce of any kind, nor colts, nor implements of husbandry, nor farm waggons, nor sleighs, nor household furniture (except it exceeds ^250. in f«lne); all these being exempt from taxation. The VALUE OF PBOPERTY. 71 -.n'-'- value for 1 853, made by their own sworn assessors elected by themselves, was ^1,323,262.; which, di- vided amongst 32,000 inhabitants, gives about £41, C* for efiich man, woman, and child. ^^ The value of the unassessed property has been fairly calculated as being about 40 per cent of the assessed property,* — making the actual wealth of this county, which is about a fair average of all Canada West, a little over ^'40. for every man, woman, and child in it ; not calculating any value on the unsur- veyed and uninhabited townships, , In the county of Carleton, the amount of property gives £39. 12« lO^d for each individual in the county. Ai-f fijii' ■.Jk The united counties of Leeds and Grenville give £35v 2« 7 id for each individual; and the county of Leeds, if taken by itself, would show nearly £38, for each individual. • •-» ^^ -* '• -t*. .— In the county of Prince £dward, which is opposite Hastings, and between it and Lake Ontario, the amount of property gives £61. 1 U 9d for each iudi- vidual : the largeness of this amount is accounted for hj there being very little wild or unoccupied land in the county, and it being an old settled county, having many wealthy farmers with large farms. It is often called the model coucty of Canada West, the people are so remarkable for their peaceful demeanour, that the Judge has seldom a prisoner to try at the Assize, and frequently earns his pair of white gloves, which it 72 i' .INCSEA8B OF lUXVBIES. is usual to present on such occasions when there is no prisoner to be tried. Oxford and Hastings have also this honour occasionallj, though posses^ng nearly double the population. *^-*^'^ii*^^fi4^#*#i%'^1t^^?f?^ The county of Oxford gives £b9. 19* for every individiiaL The population of this fine county has doubled itself in the ten years from lt$42 to 1852. ^ The counties of Huron, Perth, and Bruce give i&46. 13« for each individual in the three counties. ^ I may here observe that the Rev. Adam LUlie esti- mated, at a very reasonable rate, the whole value of the property of Upper Canada, at i(B43. Is A\d on an average for each individual, children as well as adults ; and he very justly adds — " Can the country which is in the possession of this be justly held to be very poor?** .w.'w^ ^.ui..^^^ -t.^, Siy-^-r Another circumstance with regard to my own county I may state, which, though it may appear trivial to old country listeners, is yet of very consi- derable import, and it is this : — When I first came into this county, there were not five carriages kept for pleasure in the entire county ; now there are upwards (^ six hundred. There were only three old pianos in the whole county, now there are upwards of one hundred, costing on an average about £68. - -• *• uWhese are lux^uriesy and paid for out of the surpkis eMmings of the people; there being no such persons as independent gentry amongst us, except those who have made it by hard earnings. All the property ■%. MANUrACTU ^NG F1106RE%S. 73 both of the tawn and country, has been made in it ; and all the comforts we enjoy are procured by oar own active industry, aided by the capabilities of the soil^ or the everlasting and inexhaustible power of the ever* aiding stream. .iftf-?**^^ The town of Belleville stands on the river Moira— a stream that turns the machinery of about one hun- dred mills and manufactories of various kinds. It prssesses flour mills, saw mills, carding and fuUiDg ff jlls, paper mills, axe factories, sail factories, turoiog lathes, chair factories, cabinet factories, last factori^, foundries, shingle factories, tanneries, morocco leather factories, soap and candle factories, distilleries, si|C churches, three banks, three insurance offices, thte^ newspaper offices, and a general printing office. Nor is my own county of Hastings perhaps supe- rior to the general average. It stands fourth in population out of 42, and perhaps about fourth m water-power. j.-> '^jw^rj^^ ■•ffj;;i7rirr^* ''T!?t«slir'#^':i?J|f -t"- The wild lands of the crown have been hitherto kept up to 8« currency, or fi* 6c? sterJing per acre, but are now reduced to half that amount, as I stated before ; the boundary here between the 8* land itnd the 4* being the western line of the county, including Hastings, in the low-priced lands of the east. This reduction in price, however, has not taken place Yi\ii\i private holders of land. On the contrary^ the wonderful increase in the iralue of land is indica- tive^f our rapid prograas*., ; i|il*st# ,s^-= fefju. 74 LABOUR AND FOOD •*S^^A^-- i^ We could easily supply labour and food, and a hearty welcome, and a guerdon of success, to one hundred thousand immigrants every year, if only they came amongst us with a determination to be indus- trious, and not expect to make large fortunes at one tj« t, »•-»,/ -. /* -irXA fr* '» H'-4 V ** *- sweep. This stipulation appears somewhat necessary ; for I have known many instances, and very many, where men who have been accustomed to be paid in their own country 9d or liid a day without board, have refused, upon their arrival amongst us, to take 2s 6d a day and the best of board ; and I have known them, immediately on their landing in the city of Quebec, refuse 7id per hour for their work, — expecting, no doubt, that if they walked on, they would have the gold for the lifting. I have myself often offered £2. per month, boarded, and it has been very, very often refused. - Jl^^-^XAJ* Z'l-i >'■ I •* - JA-i. ■J' -.i-iii' y y^r-^tvijjr^;^ But I have said enough before about labourers The small capitalist will perhaps enquire of me, * What am I to do ? -j~ fj^'i-'- '-•.« !■...-»;.■>».?.?.*- y*-v?.»;''.>i#?^^^y For the sake of perspicuity, I will suppose the questioner a man having a wife and children, and one hundred pounds sterling after having paid his passage to Quebec. In the first place, I would recommend him to make up his mind, or nearly so, be/ore he reaches Quebec, to what part of Canada he will go,-^ he must not loiter in any of the cities. He ought to ADVICXE TO EMIGRANTS. 75 •ii take with him nothing but bed, bedding, blankets, and whatever warm clothing he has, and these should be packed in water-tight barrels of about forty gal- lons, and headed up. I have known very heavy losses to occur to immigrants having large boxes ; they are unhandy, and often are broken to pieces. One emi- grant of the name of Logan, who was coming out to me, having known me in Ireland, lost all his clothes and about twenty sovereigns ; the box being very heavy and not sufficiently strong, it fell oS the hooks into the sea when he was landing, .^ Being in Quebec, he can get as far west as he pleases to go (on board a canal propeller), at from 28 6d to 7s 6d for each member of the family. Last summer, emigrants were carried several hundred miles for 2s 6d each. He can carry on his provi- sions, if he has any left after the voyage. When he lands at the county town where he means to stop, let him take his family to the country, to friends if he ha^s any, if not, to the farm house of some countryman, who, if he charges them fof their board, will charge very moderately, as the custom of the country is to extend hospitality to new settlers. He will be sure to hear of some old neighbour, who will willingly receive him until he can choose his farm, and he will be sure to hear of numbers of farms for sale. There are so many speculators, and such a wide field for profitable speculation, that mraiy are found ready to sell out for a few pounds of ready 76 FIRST STEPS. I" I? m li' ^ money, giving time for payment of the rest, provided it be secured on the property. ' Some sell their farms because they want to under- take some other speculation, — to take contracts in public works — to move further back — or elsewhere, on account of relatives, or schools, or churches, or on account of a wish to go into some business or factory, or a thousand and one speculations for which there is so much room in a new country, and so many of which turn out prosperousl3% We have in fact a moving, energetic, speculative, ambitious, spirited, and go-a- head population, and almost any man will sell what he makes a profit on. But as I have first taken the man with only ^61 00. sterling, as capital, I would recommend him to pur- chase crown lands, which he will get of excellent quality, at ^21). currency for 100 acres. He will find a crown land agent in every county town, who will give him a list of unsold lands. Having so small a capital, he must, of course, go through more hard- ship than his neighbours of larger me ms. After selecting his lot, which he would do well not to do without the aid of some resident in the neigh- bourhood, who knows the kind and quality of timber that grows on the best soils, and who can almost judge of & farm though the land be covered with snow, — let him without delay take out his patent from the agent. Crown land patents are always safe, anc' given free of expense. M»i POTASH MANUFACTURE. 77 But let him be convinced that the land is good. Of this he will himself he a judge in seme degree, by noticing whether the trees are large, and of what are called hard wood. Beech, and nuiple, and elm, and bass-wood, and large pines, are generally sure crite- rions whereby to judge land. If the trees be small of stunted, either oak, or pine, or poplar, or any other kind, the land is not good. ; -it -triHt This, with regard to large trees, is however not always the case. I have seen trees of amazing size, and almost all huge, and yet the land was not worth having, because the large round boulder stones were so thick that the plough could not be driven between them. These large round stones are always a sign of deep land, wherefore the large trees. Many hundreds of acres of this kind have been cleared of the heavy timber for the sake of the pot- ash, and then abandoned. I should explain, that the ashes of three acres of this hard wood, if burned carefully and tlie ashes covered from wet, will make a barrel of potash, which is worth on an average of years about £6. per barrel, or £2. per acre. - r%m There must, of course, be deducted the labour of leaching the ashes and boiling the lye, and tilt in- terest of the hrst cost of the potash-kettle, wirkjh costs from ^6. to ^*10. according to the weight of metal ; but an industrious man, who undersiands it, V his land be good (and the trees, of course, large), will not only pay himself well for his labour, but the' 78 A BEE. i\.i It. potash will produce him more than lOs per acre net profit. ^ • T.The immigrant having secured good land (and he need not be afraid to go into the bush to do so, for a few short years ago we were all in the bush), the next thing is to gather his neighbours to what is called a *' bee,*' to cut down and draw in with oxen to the site of his house, which he has selected with a view to a good supply of good water, and from which he has previously cut down the trees that would over- hang it, and in one day, if he can get twelve or fourteen men together and four yoke of oxen, he will have the frame of his house put up to the square He will have to provide them good cheer at the house of some neighbour — plenty to eat and drink, but no pay, except return work when his neighbour wants a similar good office. During this day the very heavy part of the work that requires an accU' mulation of strength will be done, and two or three handy men will in a fortnight have the house com- fortable, the immigrant providing boards for flooring and partitions, and doors and window-sashes, which latter he can buy ready made to suit him. The whole house, including a chimney, will not cost him more than ^15. having two apartments below and a loft above, exclusive of his own labour for six or eight weeks. Many a house of this kind have I seen built in a very short time, ard have spent many them ; kept b€ outside bright J happy i As tl ticus, h for a s and a h as you original near th twelve c wise mj and a building and he I ha small c{ he read One hu Traveiii Buildin ■ Furnitu Oxen, ) A BUSH HOUSE. 79 many happy days and conifortaV^le nights within them ; they are most warm and snug, and can be kept beautifully neat, being plastered both inside and outside. Many a beautiful white table-cloth and bright silver spoon, and well-filled table, and shining happy countenances, have 1 seen in such houses. As the immigrant becomes richer and more ambi- tious, he leaves this house for his labouring man or for a store-house of some kind, and builds another and a handsome one near. In hundreds of instances, as you ride through the country, you will see the old original log-house of tiie newly-arrived immigrant near the handsome frame-house of the man now of twelve or fifteen years standing; but» in general, the wise man builds a large barn firsts and fills it well, and a shed also for his cattle, before he attempts building his handsome house. The ham is his bank, and he does well to look to its coffers. I' f I have thus arranged the outlay of the mnn of small capital, say <£100. sterliii^^ in his pocket, after he reaches his destination : — , One hundred acres of land at As Travelling expenses to select ditto Building log-house, IG X 2^ Furniture for ditto .... Oxen, yoke and chain . . . £. 20 4 15 9. 7 10 17 10 i. ir>ir i» 'A I.. Carried forward, £^\ r f h' 1 U'J.V 111 m SO > FIRST OUTLAY. Brought forward, 64 Cow . . . . . . . . . . . Four barrels of pork, 800 lb9. . . . Twelve ditto of flour Potatoes for eating and seed .... Half of expense of clearing and fencing ten acres of land at £3. lOs, the immigraiit doing the other half . . £. s. d. 64 4 10 12 4 10 «t \7 10 ^112 One hundred pounds sterling being worth ^122. of our money at this tirnC; the immigrant has still jBlO. in his pocket for groceries, or for haj for his oxen and cow, or for any trifling emergency, and is in possession of a freehold property for ever without having to pay any rent or interest, and his taxes may be perhaps 1 0* per annum for the first two or three years. If he should fall short of money for groceries or little comforts, he can work a few days for a neighbour. He can have ten acres of wheat in the ground the first year of his arrival in Canada, and if he comes early he can have a few potatoes planted in Juue for his first winter provisions. During his first winter he draws saw-logs to the mill, and cuts the heavy square timber that is re- quired for his barn ; having provided a temporary shelter for his cow, and the second year he has pro- bably six or eight acres more of new land for wheat and for first cle, Thus to put 1 I said 1 the saw- through of, woul Thus leaving ] he most sons grc in the b Canada 1 worked prospects Weak only a c( Canada i his thous is lord o neither r to him many an( as the 11 livery ser sure in b{ his own \ riagp, aiu S^AIL CAPITALISTS. 81 and for oats, and peas and meadow, in the ten fu^res first cleared. ^.^ :?;»* Thus before t^e second winter arrives, he is able to put up a snug barn for his grain. The snow, as I said before, enabling him to draw his timber to the saw-mill, of which he will find great abundancv throughout all Canada, and in no cas? that I know of, would he be obliged to drive it many miles. » Thus have I disposed of the man of small capital, leaving him to thrive and prosper year after year, as he most assuredly will, and in a greater ratio as his sons grow up. It may be said that I have left hira in the bush, it is true, and many a wealthy man in Canada has been set down there before him, and has worked out his way to clear daylight, to cheering prospects, and more extended views. Wealthy did I call him ? Yes ! but this word has only a comparative meaning - the wealthy farmer in Canada is not what you call wealthy here, he has not his thousands or tens of thousands of pounds, but he is lord of the soil he lis es on — he can be asked for neither rent nor tithes — he is surrounded with what to him forms every comfort of life — he enjoys as many and as gremt luxuries in proportion to his wants as the man you call wraltby here; he has not hij« livery servants, in truth, for he would Save no pl^;i- sure in having them, but he tiikes tlf»light in driving his own beautiful horses in his own comfortable car- riage, and takes pleasure in taking care of them after ¥ 8^2 A COMFORTABLE INDEPENDENCE. he .has drivea them. His tastes are •.he tastes of a farmer, and happily for him. If they yrere those of a nobleman, he has no business in Canada, unless he bring with him the wherewith to indulge them in our beautiful cities. . . ....:. I claim not for Canada either the power or the opportunity of speedily realising large fortunes, but I claim for her the greatest facility of securing a most comfortable independence with a very small capital, and in a very short time, with reasonable •exertion and judicious industry and economy. These are the foundation of independence. A man who is always hovering on the verge of want (and how many alas! are of that class in this country) is in a state not far removed from that of slaverv i he is in bon- dage to others, and must accept the terms they dictate to him — he is not his own master — he cannot help being servilcj for he cannot look the world boldly in the face. Sad, indeed, is the plight of the man who is only a few days journey a-head of want ; but the maii who has secured a little freehold, even if it be but small, has secured a kind of breakwater against poverty and destitution. If bad times come upon him, and should one crop entirely fail (a thing next to impossible), he can at least keep the wolf from the door till better days come round, his little freehold is a source of power and gives him greater strength and energy for futura eifort— his self-respect is maintained uninjured —he CANADIAN LANDHOLDERS. 83: ites of a those of inless he them in r or the ines, but curing fi ry small ;asonable . These in who is ow many in a state p in bon- ms they le cannot ae world it of the of want ; old, even eakwater one crop le can at tier days of power or futur« ured —he c^n walk erect, regardless of the parish*overseer or the landlord's agent or bailiffs— he is his own landlord — there is no fear of him becoming an inmate of the workhouse, or a burden to society in any way, either himself or his little ones— he can neither be bought nor sold, nor driven to the hustings to vote against his conscience, he can afford to keep that unimpaired and walk erect, his dignity as a man un- compromised. He feels that he is no cypher in society, that his voice as a freeholder is as powerful and effective as that of his neighbour, and even if he be temporarily unsuccessful he has the wherewith to cause him to hope— yes, to hope freely, earnestly, steadily, and fearlessly. His little freehold is a tower of strength. Could I picture to you the wonderful delight that I experienced (myself a tenant-farmer in Ireland, and under the best of landlords too) when I possessed a property that I could call my own^ free from rent, free from tithes, free I may say from taxes —conveying, too, all the powers of a freeholder ar.d the privileges of a freeman. Could 1 convey an idea of the delight with which I daily trod upon »iy vicn soil, and were your feelings consonant with mine the tic that would bind vou here must be strong in- deed. There, every stroke of the axe, every hour's work is done for yourself or your family. Labour and industry are there regarded wiih a respect which make the country delightful for an industrious man to live iiu and are indeed are the in&tauces where a V.=|vl At I \-^^:---tr: 84 LOCAL EXPENDITURE. man who has once set his foot upon his rmm freehold will consent to leave it. If he does it will.be with deep regret. , There, too, the result of his industry is well hus- banded for his own good, for every man, if only hi» name be on the assessment roll for ore shilling, has a voice in the expenditure of that shilling. We have excellent municipal institutions. Our municipal coun- cillors are elected by the tax-payers from amongst ourselves, they control the expenditure of our taxes — no nobleman or gentleman can take our money and make roads through his own demesne or through his own turf-bog, as they used to do in my day in Ireland. We have all a voice in the expenditure. We have no taxation without full representation ; our councillors elected by ourselves expend the small amount of taxes that we pay to the best advantage, or if they do not they are turned out of office, and new men are brought in of better capacity. At first it was extremely difficult to find men capa- ble of managing these free niunicipal institutions iu so new a country, and, in order to make them work well, our public sell cols were largely endowed throughout the whole province by a wise Govern- ment, who saw the difilculty : and the effect of them is even now beginning to be felt in the education of the yoking men elected to fill these important trusts. In the next generation, there will not be one child in a hundred that will not be able to read and write and cipher ; 1 are well another whatever . what m€ strange t tion by t quently t rates by When ter Sessic our instit have mad our muni and from been left unless ch the local These small cap and bridj and egre know wh: neighbou taxes th( their pn most is n jobbing ; amount EOADS AND BRIDGES. 85 cipher ; but the educational facilities of Canada West are well deserving of more lengthened remarks in another chapter. The magistrates have no control whatever, as such, over our finances. We put in . what men we please as nmnicipal councillors, and, strange to say, that their being placed in that situa- tion by the voice of their neighbours, is very fre- quently the cause of their being appointed magis- trates by the Governor in Council.* When I first went to Canada the Justices in Quar- ter Sessions ruled the expenditure of our taxes ; but our institutions are becoming better modelled, and we have made very rapid progress in improvement since our municipal officers have been elected by ourselves, and from among ourselves, and the magistrates have been left to attend to the administration of justice, unless chosen as men^ not as magistrates, to transact the local business of the country. These I consider very great advantages to the small capitalist as well as to the large. Our roads and bridges are repaired — our facilities for ingress and egress are attended to by practical men, who know what is most required for their own and their neighbours' welfare — who know what it is to earn the taxes they pay, and who, therefore, look sharp to their profitable expenditure ; hence it is that the most is made of our money. We have little or no jobbing ; and every traveller is surprised at the amount of work that is done upon our roads, and '•^.: 86 LARGER CAPITALISTS. it' B m througli our woods, and in bridging our waters, la proportion to t .e paucity of our inhfjujiants. Now- a-days, the settler in the bush finds access to the clearance in much less time than he used to do some ten years hence, and this is no trifling advantage to the settler of the present more experienced and more enlightened age. To the capitalist, having ^£300. or ^6400. I would recommend a very sin.tlar course to that recom- mended above, with this exception, that he should buy 200 acres instead of 100, and buy them nearer market than the Government lands are generally to be had, and pay more in proportion for them» leaving the more experienced axe- man to go back into the hush. Propinquity to town and naarket> and mill, and school, and church, is a great advan- tage, and well worth paying extra for, if a man has it to pay. These small capitalists I have supposed to be working farmers ; mere overseers with such small capital cannot breathe in our atmosphere. It is the manual industry that brings the rich return, and a small capital can effect little without that. For the capitalist having £2000. or upwards, and a large family to educate and provide for, and being unused to manual labour, the author has a special sympathy. He was himself one of that class, and has come through the ordeal of a Canadian settler's life with dear experience, but finally with great success. , Times and prospects ar- indeed greatly changed since he fii misery wo friend to g others. His on Canada it her state may be d some ma] the disad\ certain, tl with a del there is n new counl new vigo that yout , The d present r money, a bank in ( of deposi the cash pleases, Chartere Canada, towns. If he should I dred acr ENERGY AND ENTERPRISE. since he first went to Canada in 1834, and very much misery would have been saved him if he had had a friend to guide him, as he hopes he can now guide others. [;■■'' ■-■■ — ■ ■= ,s.: i.: r -.- . ,,,.■,.._ _^:. ..«-,,,! His only object in stating what he knows of- Canada is to give a just - 'd true exposition of her state and prospects, el ''ting facts. These may be differently interpr* »* different readers ; some may think that the advantages, and some that the disadvantages preponderate. There is one thing certain, that no one should come to Canada except with a determination to do well : to say in his heart,- there is no such word as "/ai7,'* to consider her a new country^ and to clothe himself with new energy, new vigourj and a new spirit of enterprise to suit that youthful country. , < , ' , The ;£2000. of this class of capitalists, at the present rate of exchange is worth ^2440. of Canada money, and should be deposited in some well known bank in Great Britain, the owner taking a certificate of deposit with him to Canada, for which he will get the cash in any town there, where and when he pleases, wherever there is an Agency of any of the Chartered Banks. Of these there are seven in Canada, and Branches innumerable in the several towns. • / . . If he be not a practical and working farmer, he should not invest much of it in land. One hun- dred acres, near some town, where his children could si 1 ^!^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 Hi m u m !g iiS 12.0 WUKM 125 ■ 22 m, II ^^^^BMH^ llll^^^SBIS IIII^^^^^B < 6" ► f^ ^ "1^ ^:^' > % ^^ rr't ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation m ^v 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTM.N.Y. MSIO (71«)a7a.4S03 *^' .% ^. ^ -VSf>. ss BANKING ESTABLIfinMENTS. i^ be educated y could be purchased, with a good houde'' and orchard, and barns, and sheds, for £750 or'. £800.; £200. or ^6250. more, would purchase what' horses, sheep, cows, and implements and furniture, v &c. might be required, and the ^1400. should be invested, so as to produce a regular annual income, to assist the farm. The farm would produce the necessary food, and with care, the wages of labour also. The income would be required for clothing and education and groceries, &c. v4 ^^ii ^^*'^^^i^#;^^f j£l400. if well invested will produce £8. percent,' or £112. per annum. There are numberless in* stances of money producing ^10. or even M\2. per cent, where judiciously invested; but as a stranger cannot be a judge of these investments, it is safer for him to take £^. per cent, paid half- yearly at the bank or elsewhere, until he becomes acquainted with the various ways of effecting more profitable investments. * / .. - ^.- Some of our Banking establishments are dividing seven per cent, and latterly, owing to the prospects of the country, and the increased demand for the representative of capital, Bank stock has risen very considerably, and applications are now being made by two or three Banks for an extension of their Charter. ' * ' .*nf#.i Our Banks are upon the most firm foundation, and for fifteen or seventeen years a failure of one of them has not been known. They are admirably mgs, .S PLANK ROADS. 89 ,.i i, conducted, and the most implicit confidence pkeed in their stability. Our plank roads throughout the country have most of them proved to be most excellent invest- ments, many *of them paying 12J per cent on the paid up stock. From this there will, no doubt, be some drawback for repairs, after eight or nine years wear, but it is fairly judged that they will pay d810. per cent, per annum, clear of all expenses. ^9 The first that was built in the county of Hast- ings, paid 40 per cent, per annum, and upwards, and is still paying very largely, although lines nearly parallel have been run leading to the same point. f.' . -.«■■'<..;:•;£'■»?«'. So far we have had experience of plank roads, calculating the toll at Id per mile for a waggon or carriage drawn by two horses : they have proved excellent investments, and as our population increases the Old Stock will be still more valuable. -^-r "^ , Whilst writing on the subject of profitable invest- ments, I cast my eyes upon the following advertise- ment: — ** Western Assurance Company's Office, Toronto, 4th December, 1852. Notice is hereby given, that the President and Board of Directors have this day declared a Dividend to the Stockholders in the Western Assurance Company, of ten per cent, for the year ending the 30th November, 1852, pay- able at the Company's Office, on and after the 22nd 90 CASH INVESTMENTS. day of December inst. with a bonus of twenty-Jive per cent, to be added to the paid up capital I ! *;^a >i^t **By order. Robert Stanton, hv- -^^-'■--'f'^i^i :■. Iff -BM '■"•-.'?' .\i^ " Secretary and Treasurer.'* • There arie also numbers of Building Societies which are paying £10. to j6 1 5, and ^20. per cent per annum, though the investments in these societies do not give annual returns ; but each, after the lapse of a certain number of years, pays its stockholders the whole accumulated fund. But the most general, and indeed very common method of realizing £S. to j612. per cent, for money, and that legally too, is by the purchase of mortgages on real estate ; at present, almost any amount could be invested in this way, so as to secure ^8. per cent per annum. 1 have given above the reasons why so many are desirous of rtgaging their property. The spirit of speculatio.. and enterprise is very great, and our unbounded waterpower and rapid movements in rail-road and plank-road extension, give opportunities of making larger profits than farming operations can possibly afford. ^ i.^ * It is not poverty that causes men to mortgage, but this spirit of speculation and improvement which is so rife amongst us, and in which the Canadians are imitating their neighbours across the borders. CANADIAN SCHOOLS. n ?«.t - Mills and factories, and machine-sbops and stores of all kinds, are springing up with wonderful rapidity, and with almost universal success. Hence the desire for ready money to invest in other than agricultural pursuits, which last, if they do not yield so quick or so large a return, will, at all events, insure the com* forts of life in steady, unobtrusive and smiling abun- • Having thus set down the £2000. capitalist in the enjoyment of all the necessaries, and very many of the comforts of life — many more than he could enjoy in Great Britain, with double the means, being now rent-free, tithe-free, poor-rate-free and almost tax^ free (for £3. per annum will pay his taxes) — I now proceed to show him the advantages he has in other respects. . , ,, , ^ ^ : I have all along supposed him to have a large family. These he can give the best classical educa« tion to, at our excellent grammar-schools, at £5. per annum for each boy. . . tp^* r? ^ •f^^^- Every county town has its classical, or grammar- school, fostered by the Government, the teacher being allowed £100. per annum out of the grammar-school lands, and, in some instances, a normal school assistant to teach the English branches. The head master is required to be a man of good classical attainments, and the lads are here prepared for the numerous universities, in many of which the acquirements of the young men are quite equal to those of many of 92 LARGE FAMILIES AHV SMALL MEANS. the best universities of the old country. His daugh- ters, too, can be educated in the different towns of Canada, as well as any parent could desire. Many excellent teachers from the old country have settled amongst us, and our rising generation of young people are the admiration of all who visit our colony. And after their education at school or university is over, the parent has no fees to pay to obtain for him the knowledge either of business or of the learned pro- fessions ; his services at the ofRce or at the counter are esteemed an equivalent ; and if he enter a store, in order to become acquainted with wholesale and retail dealing, and the trade of the country, he is paid a small salary after the first year ; and if he be attentive and diligent, a handsome salary after the second year, and better still after the third ; thus is he, very early in life, able to support himself, and relieve his parents from the expense. ^ '*•' "^^^ " The ease of disposing of sons, and enabling them to support themselves respectably and comfortably at a very early age, is, in truth, one of the greatest inducements to bring a parent out to this thriving colony ; and the very great wonder is that so few of my countrymen, so circumstanced, come to our shores. Certain I am that, if only the true state of Canada were known, we should have thousands of men come amongst us who have large families and small capital. With us, families are wealth, if industriously brought up — wealth to their parents as well as to the colony. FIELD FOR INDUSTRYi 93 The very habits of industry that they must exert, and that they will be rewarded for exerting in our new country, will be a mine of wealth to themselves as well as to their parents and the colony. Where industry has its reward, there is always contentment and happiness. Industry is good for us all» and Canada is the country where it does not fail to reap its rich reward ; and as for the prospects of the young people who come amongst us, I may only remark that we have plenty of elbow-room. Lower Canada contains an area of 210,000 square miles, and Upper Canada, 32,500 ; an extent very many times that ot England and Wales ; and the prospects of our noble country are such, that it is destined, at no distant day, to hold a high and honourable position among the nations, and even hereafter to exert a deep and powerful influence over the world's being. Now is the time for youths to come to our country to be young with its youth, to grow with its growth^ to strengthen with its strength, to prosper with its prosperity, and to joy with its rejoicing. The numerous Railways now in operation, or pro*- jected, will give a tremendous impetus to our im* provement, and I would specially allude to one which^ when finfished, will be one of the longest in the world. The Grand Trunk Railway is intended to be 1112 miles in length, with a uniform gauge of 5 feet % inches, and to extend throughout the entire length of the provinces connecting the Atlantic with the Lake9. 91 CANADIAN RAILWAYS/ 1^. The cost of its completion has been computed af £9,500,000 ; this Railway will be completed within the next four or fr^e years. It is almost impossible to appreciate the immense national interests which are involved in the construction of this gigantic rail-j way across the continent. It is not improbable that it may one day be carried forward through the north- «m portion of the British possessions to the Pacific, and so shorten, by 5000 miles, the communication between Great Britain and her Eastern dominions^ This was suggested by Mr. Jackson, the great railway contractor, the other day, in his speech at the Ste* phenson dinner in Montreal. In connection, however, with this railway, there is another work in contem- plation, which, for boldness of design, and the diffi- culties to be grappled with in its execution, is certainly destined to be one of the greatest works of this or any other age ; and it was to judge of the feasibility of this that Mr. Robert Stephenson, the greatest engi- neer in the world, has recently visited Canada. His name will for ever be associated with the tubular bridge over the Menai Straits, and he now declares it possible to erect a similar construction over the Rivei: St. Lawrence, near Montreal* where the river is twp miles in width, at a spot where its course is inter- rupted by violent rapids, and where it would be •xposed every season to the accumulation of gigantic masses of ice, thrown against it in wild disorder by Jthe impetuosity of the current.** >^Hi»«**>5v— ^- ■-^■^^'- - ■•--■ -^^ ■■ - --■ i-. .--'- '--, Many journeymen of those trades 1 have men- tioned earn from As to Ss sterling per day, and master-men about double that amount, r i^v ■ r-*^ t But I will advance one step further in this argu- ment, and show you that our small tradesmen become large tradesmen, and the large tradesmen, merchants and ship-owners, large proprietors of bank, railway, and other stock, with magnificent houses and costly furniture ; and these, with hardly an exception, com- menced their career with limited means, in some case* none — and the ship-boy of a few years ago has, by perseverance and good conduct, worked his way up the ladder until the last step, when ceasing to be a store-keeprr, he abandons that branch of his busi- uess, as I have frequently seen the case, to one or •l.^-v5 2d by up ■»e a usi- or CONSUMPTION OF NBCBSSA.RIES. d7 two of his most deserving assistants, and becomes the merchant and the ship-owner. And to show how krge is the consumption of arti-^ cles above what are properly considered the absolute necessaries of life, as compared with that of the United Kingdom, I give you a few quotations based upon the returns of the Canadian Board of Statistics,^ of which I have the honour to be secretary, and the returns of the British Board of Trade, for the year 1853: — -iU ici ,■^^llC v.'/:ri .^&W^:M^)' V Annual British consumption of coffee '^^'' ^ per head ■ >^^^ . 1 lb. 6 os.' Annual Canadian ditto . . .l^'i-^m- 13 oz. From this it appears, that the consumption of coffee in the United Kingdom, per head, is about double that of Canada ; but it must be remembered, that tea is a much more favourite beverage with us than amongst our fellow-subjects on the other side the Atlantic. r I Annual British consumption of ^ sugar per head 14 lbs. 4 oz. ^ Annual Canadian ditto ; . V .'^^18 lbs. In this article, shewing an excess of 3 lbs. 12 oz. per head in favour of Canada. ^--^ «p4^«i/ x.i«. Of tea, Britain consumes per head . 2 lbs. 2 oz. ^ ' Canada^ I .^ ' / i* '^^ " v 2 lbs. 8 oz. Of tobacco, Britain consumes per head 1 lb. ^ Canada ■^'^**' . . 21bs. 8oz^ This i^ows an immense excess in a very uselesi^ H i 98 CANADIAN CONSUMPTION. article, and one which is enjoyed by only ond sex; it includes segars. The difference of lib. 8 oz. would be greatly increased if the quan- tity of home-grown tobacco were added to it ; and we may fairly place the Canadian consumption per head, at three times that of the United King- Of brandy^ Britain consumes per head 1.16 gal. ^yri l^anaClft »;.-i. *;♦.■.■*■- A/t-iUgf-.f -■'^;f ■ 1«1U ' It is probable, however, that the consumption in Canada of whiskey, home-made and imported, ex- ceeds that of British home-made spirits. /. Of molasses, Britain consumes per head . 3 lbs. Canada . < w:: t :« ^.. 6 lbs. Perhaps the most remarkable article in our catalogue, however, is wincy of which ^ Britain consumes per head . 2 i pints .jj Canada • . . . 5 „ The difference in this article is, no doubt, to some extent owing to the comparative lowness of the pro- vincial duties upon the cheaper descriptions of wines, which enables them to be freely used by a class who only taste wine as a rare luxury in £ngland, where the duties are so contrived as to exclude almost all but. high-priced wine9,t^5;niniri 1^ ?^n?^i^»^ But perhaps the best way to prove our advance- ment is to give a short account, in the extent and value of our imports and exports, and in the in- creased number of steam and sailing vessels navi- .'V*-,- • ! ?f.« STEAM NAVIGATION, 99 gating our inland seas And rivers of huge ** Amettcamt* dimensions. The first steam boat that sailed on the St. Law- rence, a prodigious river that runs through and along over five hundred miles of Canadiain territory^ was built in 1809. It made the passage betweeu Quebec and Montreal^ 180 miles, in 66 hours, stop- pages included, or in 36 hours actual sailing, i.e five miles per hour. -• > n *4* r^v^f , ,, A second was launched in 1813, which performed the trip in 22^ hours^ c-r eight miles per hour. The passage is now made down with the current in about 11 hours, and up against the current in about 14 hours, about thirteen miles per hour. The fare used Co be nine dollars for going up, but now it is only 2} dollars, not quite id, per mile, v n , : ., r In 1 8 1 0, there were two more built for that river but the first boat that sailed in Upper Canada waters was built in 1817. This plied on the Bay of Quinte, at the rate of about five miles per hour. ^* In 1849," says Lillie, "there were 103 steamers on Canadian waters, with a tonnage of 16,156. Now there are above 120." , ,] u . Within the last few years, by the construction of canals, and other favourable circumstances, the in- dustry of Canada has been stimulated, and her resources developed with extraordinary rapidity. From Lake Erie, and of course from Lakes Huron and Michigan, both sailing and steam vessels €aa 100 CANADIAN SHIPPING. m I now descend the St. Lawrence to the sea. For this object, the Welland Canal was constructed : it is about 27 miles long, and connects the two great lakes of Erie and Ontario ; there are 'also seyeral small canals along the St. Lawrence, where falls occur in that river, with capacious locks, and in the whole about ninety miles in length. Besides these, there are the R^"^«f!U Canal, 1 28 miles long, connect- ing Bytown on the river Ottawa, with Kingston on l^e Ontario ; and the Chambly Canal, which con- nects Lake Champlain with the canals of the St. Lawrence, near Montreal. Through the canals of the St. Lawrence, in 1850, passed 7106 vessels and steamers, of which, 6827 were British and 339 American, and the aggregate tonnage was 547,322 tons ; and through the Welland Canal 4 76 1 vessels and steamers, of which 2962 were British and 1 791) American. In 18.^0, there were 1469 vessels came to Quebec and Montreal, teu times the number that came there in 1805, having 573,400 tons, and having 20,000 men, and also 1 7S vessels from the Upper Province, having 20,00} tons. Very nearly 600,000 tons in all. I forgot io mention, tliat the tolls of the Welland Cakial, in one month, that of November, 1852, amounted to ;sR9200. The year's tolls of the same canal were, in 1850, 5637,742 and in 1851, they amounted to 5^48,241. TRADE OF THE STATES. 101 le ley In 1850, the gross revenue of all the canals in the Province was ^55,772, and in 185 1, ^^876,216. , ■ Again, to give you an idea of the extent of out commerce with the United States, I give you a detailed account of the exports of one little town of 5000 inhabitants, with which I am best acquainted — the beautiful and thriving town of Belleville before mentioned. In one quarter of a year, from the 5th July to 1 0th October, 1852, that little town ex- ported to the United States alone the following named articles: : "^^ Feet ' £, s. Sawed lumber or planks, 1 1 ,148,000, value 22,747 Shingles for roofing houses . . Railroad-sleepers, 10,625 Rags, 4 tons .... Grass-seed, 100 bushels Peas 1,392 „ Wheat 1,920 „ Barlev • 1,523 „ Rye 4.700 „ Flour 100 barrels Potash 66 „ Wool 9,700 lbs. Sheep 290 Making 10 14 701 5 60 80 174 346 15 194 15 525 12 96 6 330 2 570 17 250 ^£26,087 6 This includes only what went to the United Statei 102 EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. in three months ; there was about three times that amount of Talue exported, Tia Montreal and Quebec, to Great Britain and elsewhere, making our exports upwards of ^100,000. in one quarter; and during; the time of navigation from the 1st May to 1 0th October, there were 3 1 8 vessels, independent of the daily and weekly steamers, that arrived for cargoes at that one port. Our total exports were about jei 48,000. and our imports nearly £2>^,{)00, From the exports of this locality, you will naturally infer that the exports of all Canada must be very large indeed in proportion to her population. I give you the exports and imports for the last five years, so that you may judge of the wonderful progress which Canada is making in these respects — Imports, Exports. In 1848 ^3,191,32S 562,801,778 1849 3,002,892 1850 4,245,517 1851 5,358,697 •: 18r)2 5,071,623 And the difference in the half year ending 5th July of the years 1852 and 1853— 1852 1853 ^2,168,665 563,421,231, and the duty 313,339 446,673 The exports being to imports about 3) to 5. ' The total number of bushels of wheat grown in Canadtt in 1852 was 16,375,000 Winchester bushels : 2,668,245 2,990,428 3,241,180 3,500,000 COMPARATIVE TEADE. 103 i of these there were 10,985,000 consumed at home, allowing five bushels of wheat for every barrel of flour, being 5 j- bushels of wheat for each inhabitant. And there were exported in that year the enormous quantity of 5,390,000 bushels, including the flour at the above rate. And to show you how Canada stands in relation to her exports and imports, compared with the United States, I have taken the following facts from Lillie. The value of the products of the United States exported in 1849 (taken from the American Almanac, p, 172), was Jf 132,666,955, which was less than thirteen times ours, viz. ^10,679,992, al- though their population is fifteen times as large as ours. . ( -^^ . • ^ > ' •■-''■•■-' • And the value of imports for the same period is still less in proportion than ours, being about nine times as much as ours, viz. as ^148 millions is to $\1 millions. So that, whether we take exports or imports, tho prosperity of Canada exceeds that of the United States in proportion to her population ; the exports being as 15 to 13, and the imports as 15 to 9 in f ivour of Canada. '-r -I * 4 104 CAKiDIAN HOUSES. ^,.$\ ;m-Ji^- '-'V-rm ■:^-'.i»!,\ti J': ]-:''h s .> i yfbi%i£^:^'■m^^ "^i^-h ^ I ■^.;r''. My--l"-/^:^^m ^i^ >i i:-i - n \ i ^ BomeBtic Animals employed in Canada — Farmings and trairel'* lin^ Cattle — The Wild Animals of the Forest—Canadian Fish. / ■"{^'"A■ With regard to the domestic and wild animals of Canada, it may ]:)erhaps be expected that I make some observations. We have a most serviceable description of horse for the kind of work required of it— strong, active, and hardy. Time being of very great importance, and distances to market often great, we require active horses and light waggons, and our loads of farm-produce not being as yet very large, and expenses at taverns being a great drawback from the price of the produce if the farmer is detained long on . the road, the heavy dray-horse would be of little service to us. In the Upper Province we use waggons drawn by two horses abreast in preference to carts drawn by one, as they are much better adapted for bad roads : if one wheel gets into a deep rut or hole, the others help to keep the weight off of it, and it is much easier to draw out a waggon with four wheels than a cart with two, the load per horse YAJiUE OF CATTLE. 105 .. I being the same. Waggons are also more easily loaded and in every way better suited for general farm use, though a cart on a farm is always desirable for drawing out manure. The common load put on a waggon for a pair of horses varies from ten cwt. to two tons, according to roads, distance, &c. and our hardy and excellent horses will perform from thirty to forty miles per day (going and returning included) with an average load, without being injured. In winter they will draw heavier loads and perform longer journeys, if the sleighing be good. In plough- ing, 1^ acres per day is a fair average day's work, if well done and the land tolerably stiff; but I have often known two acres per day readily accomplished and well done. Good horses, of calibre sufficient to perform this amount of work, can be had for about £2\i currency each, i.e, £17 sterling. The first horse was imported into Lower Canada about 166", and according to the census of 1852 we have now 385,377 horses of all ages in the Province ->an im- mense increase, considering that we export to the United States many hundreds every year. <^ r^w . We number one horse for about every five inhabi- tants in the Province, the population being 1,845,000. With regard to cows, the common cows of the countiy are a small undefinable breed mixed up of every description, but acclimated and hardy and easily fed, and will keep alive not only with little food, but with little care and little shelter. The 106 BREED OP COWS. average produce of butter with ordinary care is 3 j lbs. per week, or half lb. per day ; but they pay well for extra care, far exceeding this average. • "i There are very many farmers who have fine Dur- hains, Devons, Herefords, and Ayrshires, and these improved breeds, so called, are finding their way through the length and breadth of Canada — and if pnly the increase in the growth of green food and clover, and in the erection of comfortable buildings, keep pace with the increase of these descriptions of stock, they will then deservedly be called improved breeds, and will greatly improve the circumstances of the Canadian farmer. Butter and cheese have hitherto borne excellent prices, 9d sterling for one, and 5d sterling for the other, and pay the farmer well. Beef has also much improved in price, and the extra con- sumption that will be caused by the building of more than 1 000 miles of railroad, and the extra facilities of sending it off to foreign markets, such as Boston and New York, where they are always dear, makes it ftnd will continue to make it a most profitable branch of business for the farmer. Good cows, with good feed, and good care, and good shelter, produce iu Canada as elsewhere from 6 lbs. to 8 lbs. of butter per week, or from 9 lbs. to 12 lbs. of good cheese. The price of a common Canadian cow is £4 sterling, and for fancy cows, which are always to be had, you pay a fancy price in Canada as in every other country. The number of milch cows was by the census of 1851 SUBEP AND SWINE. I or returned at 591,438, or about two to every seven in-, habitants, and some thousands were exported last year to the United States. Independent of cows, the number of oxen and young cattle is 741,106. P With regard to sheep we have a great abundance, beautiful and excellent both in fleece and carcase, subject to no disease that I know of, very hardy and easily fed ; the average weight of carcase is about 14 lbs. per quarter, and fleece 3 lbs. of rather a fine description of wool, well suited to the wants of the" country. lu Lv The export of wool last year was very considerable. A|^ the number of yards of fulled cloth and flannel manufactured in Canada, is 3,338,508— nearly two yards for every inhabitant of the province, and almost all done at the farm-houses. The mutton in the Toronto market is a just source of admiration to every one who visits it. The prevailing breeds are Leicester and Southdowns mixed. The value of store sheep is from 7s 6d to 15«; of fat sheep, from \2s 6d to 30*. The number in Canada is 1,.')97,8-19 ; not very far from one to every inhabitant. In the Upper Province there are more than one for every inhabitant, being 16,000 over the number of the population. As to swine, I will only observe that our pork is of excellent description, and the breeds very much improved of late. It is very common to hear of hogs being slaughtered, weighing 300 to 400 lbs. — the average size is probably 250 lbs. at nine months old. 108 BE A a HUNTING. Last year there was fatted in Canada 534,000 bar- rels of pork, of 200 lbs. per barrel, worth £2. 10* sterling per barrel ; that is value for upwards of a million and a quarter sterling. Independently of this, there was a very large importation of living swine to the United States. Thus in the number and value of our domestic animals, Canada exhibits a very large amount of wealth ; greater, probably, in proportion to her popu- lation, than in any other country, not excepting the United States. It may not be uninteresting perhaps to enume- rate the animals of Canada that are not don^tic. There seems to be a very general opinion here that the farmers of Canada suifer severely by wolves, bears, &c. This is quite a misapprehension. I rather think most farmers would be delighted to have more frequent opportunities of seeing bears in their woods. The sport of pursuing them is very great indeed ; and the flesh, skin, and grease are treasures not to be acquired half so frequently as they could desire. There are said to be four varieties of fox, — the red, the grey, a mongrel betvveen these two, and the black fox which is esteemed very valuable for its fur, but very seldom seen. We have also the black wolf, and the grey wolf; and now and then a lynx is seen. The deer are still abundant ; beautiful animals, and deli- cious food when properly cooked : there are three or four varieties^the American deer, the elk, the cari- •HE POLE-CAT. 109 boo, and the moose. There is still a fair supply of Tenison to be seen in our market during the winter, especially if the snow be very deep and hard on the top. In this case the hounds can pursue them without sinking ; whereas the deer are retarded in every bound, not having a good foundation for their spring. A deer skin is worth about Ss sterling, and sportsmen take great delight in hunting these beauti- ful animals. It not unfrequently happens that they take to the lake to swim to avoid the dogs, but there they are easily overtaken by the hunters in canoes,, and killed in the water. We have also a few otters and beavers, an abundance of hares in the Lower Pro- vince, and squirrels of many varieties in both pro- vinces. These latter are very good, and I have often eaten them : the large black squirrel is extremely delicate, and highly thought of, and is a most beau* tiful animal when alive. We have also racoons and musk-rats, which are eatable. The most annoying animal which we have is the skunk, or pole cat {Mephites Americana) ; it gets under our barns and sheds, and into our wood piles, and eats our eggs, and kills our hens and chickens, and the smell of it is so dreadful, that it is very difficult to approach it. It is most amusing to see a dog that is accustomed to them, endeavouring to kill them without being sprinkled with the nauseous liquid from the animal's reservoirs. I have never seen the rabbit in Canada : at the same time I must admit that our hare, as I 110 CANADIAN GAME. compared with the rabbit of Great Britain^ has sotn6 strong points of resemblance. -^ r.:^.-.;. . So far as quadrupeds are concerned, the sportsman has but little variety ; but in the shooting of birds he can gratify his taste fully, — the abundance of wild duck of four or five different varieties, also of wild pigeons, and snipes, partridges and woodcocks, and, in the west, wild turkeys, will afford ample sport. No farmer can afford much time in the pursuit of game, if he expects to live by his farm ; but I may be addressing many who may wish to know what the prospects are in these respects, and who may desire to pay Canada a visit, for the purpose of enjoying those sports for which it offers so wide a field. Our birds are far inferior to yours in the music of their notes ; but many of them, in brilliancy of plumage, equal those of the Tropics. The red cardinal, the wood- peckers of every variety of colour, the American robin, the indigo bird, the scarlet tanagers, canaries, meadow larks, whip-poor-wills, starlings, finches, and last and least, the exquisite little humming-birds, which, like bees, dart from flower to flower, and dis- play every possible combination of colours. According to Gosse's Canadian Naturalist, we have about sixty- six varieties of birds ; but the greater part of them leave us in winter, and the snow-birds, the winter wren, and an occasional woodpecker, are in that season almost the sole tenants of the woods. Swallows are much encouraged about farm houses, as they perse- FISHERIES. Ill cnte the chicken-hawk, and are a great protection to ' the farm yard : they hunt the hawk with pertinacious hostiUty, probably for the protection of their own young. .^ , . . ; To those who are fond oi fishing^ Canada presents the best imaginable opportunity for enjoying the sport : from the small speckled trout to the huge maskalonge, or the still huger sturgeon, there is the best possible sport in the greatest abundance and variety. One of the most common is that of trawUng for pike, pickerel, or maskalonge, with a small tin fisV» attached to the hook, which is eagerly taken by these ravenous fish. ;' > o : as; wiii :fifi^? The white fish of our bays and lakes is said to be the finest fish perhaps in the world. The flavour of it is incomparable, especially when split open and fried with egg and crumbs of bread : they weigh on the average about 2 lbs. each when cleaned, 100 of them filling a good sized barrel. Those caught in Lake Huron are more highly prized than any others. I have seen a fine maskalonge caught from the stern of a steamer in full sail, by throwing out a strong line with a small tin fish attached. We have also very fine salmon trout in our lakes and some of our rivers. I do not wish to occupy much of your time on sporting subjects, as such; but the varied and im- mense wealth of our unbounded waters, as well as lands, well deserves a few passing remarks, and is much more important as a source of profit than of P I 112 FISH TBADS. ATnnsement. Th? quantity of fish carp'^ in Canada 19 about 100,000 barrels (worth about 20« per barrel) ; but this year the take has been immense, and the demand still greater. This is not only a very valu'r able article of food for our own population, but as one of export it now occupies a very high position, Ind^endent of this large quantity, tbero ^^^ f^xported Ihst season from New Carlisle and Gaspe, in the Lower Province, oi dried Ssh, 82,521 cwt. producing £49,504.; and of pickled fish, 1471 barrels, pro- ducing ^800.; and from the Magdalen Islands, £9000. worth;— making in all, ^59,304. So that, including the home consumption in both Provinces, our waters yield us nearly £ 1 50,000. worth of fish every year, and may be made to yield tenfold that amount. ft-- :M » . ;■' - i' . ^S v» JtJ i EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 113 '^fmc$lii:-ifM^'-iH .*li*-^'*!f ■W^^i k*^M^"M iW4' J:,4^^ m- .'ftJ: [vWi^^^^M-^^'^.x-^^-^'^'^W'^''^^^ ^'€<^M A' .ii4^}^i •t.-f ■'lisv'^-* •:■'..''? IMI^S: CHAPTER vi.^ - "^ f *^'^' Educational Establishments— Statistics — Ministers of Religio^ ^•sfjir-iii^^^^fifi- :>*?'r T How supported. x^^'-wi'm- '.■ ' 'iji *' J I HAVE in a former part of this book alluded to the admirable system of education which prevails in Canada ; and it is a subject affecting so vitally not only the present, but the future condition of the colony, that I have thought it well to add a few remarks on the subject, which appeared som** lime back in that invaluable periodical " Chambers' Edin- burgh Journal." , . . . . ^ " The manner in which the great question of ele- mentary education has been dealt with in Canada is worthy of attention, not only from the effect which it is likely to produce in Canada itself, but from its general interest. It may be mentioned that the pro- vince has been provided with an excellent system of schools of different grades ; a system infinitely more perfect than that which prevails in the parish school establishment of Scotland. It is encouraging to know that the number of public schools reported as existing in Upper Canada this year (1850) amounts to 30o|), T- 114 NORMAL SCHOOLS. and that the number of pupils in these schools is 151,891, increased in the following year to 168,159. The amount of school visits by superintendants, and official visits of clergymen, magistrates, &c. in 1851, amounted to 32,608 : this proves a very important agency in promoting and sustaining public interest, and is highly encouraging to both teachers and pupils. With what earnestness the people have engaged in the cause of education is shown by the published account of the * Proceeding at the ceremony of laying the chief corner stone of the Normal and Model School and Education Offices, by the Earl of Elgin, Governor-General, at Toronto, in July, 1851.' From an address delivered on the ground by the Rev. Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendant, we learn that the institution will accommodate 200 teachers in training, and 600 pupils in the Model School ; and that the land set apart for it is an entire square, consisting of nearly eight acres, two of which are devoted to a botanical girden, three to agricultural experiments, and the remainder to the buildings of the institution, and to grounds for the gymnastic exercises of students and pupils. *' To accomplish this project, a public grant was made of £15,000 ; * an enhghtened liberality on the part of our Legislature in advance of that of any other Legislature on the American continent.* Near the close of his address the Chief Superintendant remar coura^ our ec entire of oui to the cedent on the norma avail i that t last ye of tea* numbe averagi of the essentii books, with i. soon b< Infi Canada thing I all the mother disputa been p univers CANADIAN SYSTEMS. 1J5 remarks, 'There are four circumstances which en- courage the most sanguine anticipations in regard to our educational future. The first is, the avowed and entire ahsence of all party spirit in the school affairs of our country, from the provincial legislature down to the smallest municipality. The second is the pre- cedence which our Legislature has taken of all others on the western side of the Atlantic in providing for normal-school instruction, and in aiding teachers to avail themselves of its advantages. The third is, that the people of Upper Canada have during the last yeaf , voluntarily taxed themselves for the salaries of teachers in a larger sum in proportion to their numbers, and have kept open their schools, on an average, more months than the neighbouring citizens of the State of New York. The fourth is, that the essential requisites of suitable and excellent text- books, which have been introduced into our schools, with the necessary books, maps and apparatus, will soon be in advance of those of any other A)untry." In fact, the system of education now established in Canada, far exceeds, in its comprehensive details, any- thing estabhshed in the United Kingdom. While all the ordinary plans of national education in the mother country have been delivered over to sectarian disputation and obstruction, those in Canada have been perfected and brought into operation, to the universal satisfaction of the people. ^ IP — 116 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. I k : . I will just add that the population of Upper Canada is . 952,004 And the grand total of students and pupils ^ . attending universities, colleges, grammar, private and common schools, is . . 177»624 The population between the ages of five and sixteen years, is about . . . 258,000 The amount available for salaries of common school teachers in Upper Canada . ^102,050 The average number of months each com- mon school has been kept open . . . lOf And the average attendance of pupils during , the year 1851 at the common schools, was . . . . . . . 83,390 But the subjoined very interesting table furnished to me by our excellent chief superintendant. Dr. Ryerson, so lately as October, 1853, gives a most satisfactory view of the wonderful progress of Upper Canada in school matters. By it, it appears that the number of pupils attending common schools has increased, within the last ten years, from 66,000 to 179,500, whilst the whole school population, between the ages of five and six- teen, are only 262,700. It shows, too, that the total sum available for educational purposes has increased, during the same period, from ^41,500 to 5^176,000, that is, that, for the same period during which the population merely doubled, the amount devoted to educal than^ It I creasei volumi And, univer attends of the the fa( and in frequer Judge three c contain crimin? gloves. RESULTS OF THE SYSTEM. 117 educational purposes has increased considerably more th&n /our/old. It shows, too, that our school libraries have in- creased, in six years^ from 85 to 1,045, and the volumes contained in them, from 10,600 to 164,100. And, I may add, that Sunday-schools are almost universally adopted, and punctually and numerously attended. That the morals and religious instruction of the young are efficiently cared for, is proved by the fact that, very few convictions of crime occur ; and in very many of our most populous counties it frequently happens, as I have stated before, that the Judge of assize has not a single prisoner to try. In three counties, on a late occasion, to my knowledge, containing 80,000 inhabitants, the Judge, having no criminal to try, was presented with a pair of white gloves, or entitled to that privilege. GENERAL STATISTICAL TABLE SHOWING THE CANADA, FROM 1842 Subjects compared. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. Population of Upper Canada 486,055 1 622,570 Population between the ages of 5 and 16 years . . , . 141,143 183,539 202,913 Colleges 5 •S 5 5 Normal and Model Schools -^ o Established in 1847 Grammar Schools and Academies 25 s 26 33 Common Schools 1721 2610 2736 Private Schools, as far as reported 44 ■♦J 60 65 Total Educational Institutions 1795 2701 2839 Students attending- Colleges •— CO bo — — Students and Pupils attending the g Normal and Model Schools _ _- ~. Pupils attending Grammar e3 Schools and Academies . — o -^ — Pupils attending Common Schools 65,978 (U 96,756 110,002 Pupils attending Private Schools as far as reported . ~. V 3 — — Total Students and Pupils . 66978 no 96,766 110,002 Amount available for Salaries of d Common School Teachers £41,500 £61,714 £71,6X4 Amount expended for Building, Rents, Repairs of School-houses, — ^ ^ —^ — Amount received by Colleges. Aca- 73 demieSjGrammar&PrivateSchools — 2 — — Total for Educational Purposes . £41,600 r2 £51,714 £71,614 Common School Teachers . u, — 2,860 Average Salary of Mole Teachers — «2 — — Average Salary of Female do. — S •^ — Total number of Libraries, as far o as reported . . . . ■-. -> — Total number of volumes therein, o as fur as reported . fe5 — — Mem. — ^The Statistics of Colleges, Academies, and Private Schools, are approximated from such information as could be obtained. Education Office, Toronto, 4th October, 1063. STATE TO 185 1846. 204,580 34 2589 80 2708 101,912 101,912 £67,906 £67,106 2925 • Se ?■■■'•' riNG THE FROM 1842 44. 1845. 622,570 STATE AND PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN UPPER TO 1852 INCLUSIVE.* ... 1846. J,539 202,913 5' 5 iblishedinl847 26 2610 60 2701 33 2736 65 2839 6,756 6,756 1,714 110,002 110,002 £71,514 204,580 5 34 2589 80 2708 1,714 £71,514 2,860 101,912 101,912 £67,906 £67,106 2925 : irate Schools, are btained. 1847. 230,975 6 S 35 2727 96 2866 700 1000 124,829 1831 128,560 £77,599 £77,599 3028 £37 I 85 10.604 1848. 723,292 241,102 6 2 35 2800 117 2960 740 256 1115 130,739 2345 135,195 £86,069 £86,069 3177 £62 £32 431 59,877 1849. 1850. 1851. 253,364 7 Si 40 2871 157 3077 733 400 1120 138,405 3648 144,366 £88,478 803,493 950,551 259,258 258,607 7 8 S 2 £88,478 3209 £58 £35 505 68,571 57i 3l)59| 224 33491 684 376 2070 151,891 4663 159,684 £88,536 £14,189 £102,725 3476 £60 £40 675 96,165 70 3001 159 3240 632 380 2550 170,254 3948 177,764 £102,050 £19,334 £32,834 i;i54,2I8 3277 £79 £51 870 130,934 1852. 953,239 262,755 8* 2 98 3010 167 3285 751 545 2894 179,587 6133 188,910 £113,991 £25,094 £36,989 £176,074 3388 £83 £52 1045 164.147 * See also the Annual School Reports for 1851, page 59 and 62. 120 CONCLUSION. U '. Thus have I given a short hut faithful account of the real state of Canada, her prospects and resources; and if, by what I have said, I shall he the means of inducing earnest and industrious men to improve their circumstances, and add to their happiness and well-heing, or that of their families, by settling in what I certainly deem a truly prosperous colony, I shall be well pleased at having contributed to their happiness, and also to the welfare of my adopted country ; for, in its present state, the addition of in- dustrious and moral men to its population, is to it, as to all new countries, a great desideratum. It: »4' ^- : . :,.^ v^-4v^ - _ THE END. 1 • ■' --ii •-.■'.''• '"''-■' •^ii!'^ ■ ' :i''->-j',t. 1 i , ""^ •;•! ^.>-%V. ■gj|^, ■•f'v_^':, /.■.;-.r.'V'-?- , ^.n'^A^fftii ■'*?i%/t'>?. ■^^M'^',-^^^^ I'l- ■rt^ •ism^^.+ij^'l^-l '■ • V i ^.*