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SUGGESTIONS 
 
 «]N TUt 
 
 PROPRIETY AND PRACTICABILITY OP 
 
 SECURING COLONIZATION 
 
 rilROUUU THE MKANS OF ADOFriON OF THE 
 
 ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 
 
 BY AN ACTUAL SETTLER. 
 
 HOI'EFIELD, 186&. 
 
 ►♦-♦-♦^ 
 
 Pfltttral : 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 
 
 1865. 
 
snaciESTioNH 
 
 ON THK 
 
 PROPRIETY AND PRACTICABILITY 
 
 OP 
 
 SECirillNCi COLONIZATION. 
 
 The Report of the Commissioner of Crown Lands recently 
 laid before Parliament, for the half year ending thirtieth of 
 June, 1864, states in reference to the progress of settlement 
 on the various Colonization roads in both sections of the Pro- 
 vince, •which have been laid out and opened for the reception 
 of settlers on free grant lots along their lines — those grants 
 consisting of each one hundred acres, fronting upon the road, 
 and available by any male person of 18 years of age or ovc_r — 
 that upon the Addington, no new locations had been taken 
 up, and only three lots, which had been previously located, 
 were again occupied. On the Hastings road and Frontenac 
 road no lots had been located ; while on the Burleigh road 
 forty-three lots had been granted. On the Muskoka two 
 new lots had been settled upon, and thirteen re-locations had 
 been made. On the Opeongo five new locations and three 
 re-locations had taken place ; and on the Peterson road fifty 
 new locations and twelve re-locations had been applied for, 
 making a total of one hundred new locations and thirty-one 
 
ro-locations upon the entire right Free (irant roads in Upper 
 Canada. It will be percnslved that almost a tliird of the entire 
 i.re re-located lots, taken up, no doubt, by the temptation 
 offered by the improvements made by the vacating settler. 
 The roads in Lower Canada even show more unfavourably, 
 being only twenty-six locatees upon the five roads in that 
 t^ection of the Province. This statement most assuredly is 
 not very cheering, particularly when it is borne in mind that 
 a settlement in the woods is entered upon previous to the last 
 of June ; no crop being sown subsequently, therefore the 
 above statement may be taken as embracing a twelvemonth. 
 The very remarkable decrease in the emigration to Canada 
 seems to have been proportionate in a reverse ratio as our 
 Government were making efforts to secure it ; no doubt 
 various causes contribute to this result, but that there is 
 something manifestly wrong somewhere, requiring alteration 
 and improvement, is self-evident. The sources from which 
 it was naturally anticipated emigration would flow upon our 
 shores, has not dried up ; on the contrary a steadily increas- 
 ing stream has flowed in upon the wharves of our rival neigh- 
 bours ; the inducements we have held out, or the system 
 adopted have proved (or both combined) inadequate or un- 
 availing. No doubt the undue stimulus given to emigration 
 in 1857, '58, when the Grand Trunk was opened, was one of 
 very injurious effect by condensing into those years the emi- 
 gration which should legitimately have been spread over 
 many, there having arrived at the port of Quebec during 
 that year 32,097 persons: to effect this, agents were appointed 
 through the various counties of England and Ireland chiefly, 
 who, not confining themselves to correctly setting forth the 
 advantages which Canada offered, obtained a temporary suc- 
 cess by over-puflBng, which, like all other matters of a similar 
 sort, led to a subsequent reaction by the disappointment it 
 created, and which those who felt themselves deceived failed 
 
 
n Upper 
 ic entire 
 nj)tation 
 
 settler, 
 oiirably, 
 
 in that 
 iredlj is 
 ind that 
 
 the last 
 lore tlic 
 emonth, 
 
 Canada 
 
 as our 
 doubt 
 there is 
 teration 
 n which 
 pou our 
 increas- 
 il neigh- 
 sjstem 
 
 or un- 
 igration 
 s one of 
 he emi- 
 id over 
 during 
 pointed 
 chiefly, 
 rth the 
 
 TJ SUC- 
 
 similar 
 aent it 
 i failed 
 
 (I 
 
 y 
 
 not to make known to their friciKL-^ aud relatives at home ; 
 and those reports being mad<^ under the keen, painful fcolingH 
 engendered by the non-realization of the too high expectations 
 they were induced to form, prevented, doubtless, very manv 
 from following, who otherwise would have done so. Mor ' 
 recently, the great inducements ofTered by the ^Nmerican 
 authorities for enlistment, juid the nominal high prices paid 
 for labour, cheap passages to New York, and the absence of 
 all public works in the Province, have proved too temptin_; 
 for that class of emigrants who fill the ranks of the labouring 
 population. Ilow is a check to be i)laccd upon the continu- 
 ance of this state of things ? Firstly, I say by the induce- 
 ment of self interest ; and secondly, by placing annually sucli 
 a number of judiciously chosen emigrants in such a i)ositio!. 
 on their arrival as to enable them afterwards, bv the exertioii 
 of their muscle and sinew, to help themselves ; whereby, l)y 
 their example, others may be taught to come and do likewise. 
 In the year 1857, Mr. Vankoughnet, then Minister of Agri- 
 culture, in his report to the (xovernment, makes use of the 
 following language : " Experience now teaches that newly 
 arrived emigrants, unaccustomed to the use of the axe, and 
 alike ignorant of the effects of our climate and the rotation of 
 crops, have but little chance of immediate success in settling 
 upon wild lands durinr/ the fntt/ear or so, unless possessed 
 of sufficient capital to enable them *:^ emphy labourers, or 
 pay for the experience which others cu;* i'urnisli. The nfcwly 
 arrived emigrant, with but little means, siiould be warned of 
 the difficulties in the way of his success, and should rather 
 bo encouraged to hire out w ith the farmers of the country for 
 a season or so, than to undertake farming himself without 
 experience.'" But permit me to ask, who is willing to employ 
 the services of a newly arrived emigrant, void of all know- 
 ledge necessary in this country, and burthened with the main- 
 tenance of a wife and numerous family : rind where is the 
 
G 
 
 home whore he cm leave liin faiiiily wliile he places lilmself 
 upon an eipuil footing with his unmarried rival in the labour 
 market ? This is the point from whieli I take my start — and 
 the great want of a shelter whieli the emigrant can call liis 
 home, will )»e, l»y the adoption of the plan I advocate, sup- 
 plied ; and he at once i)laced in a position where his labour 
 can be made available, either for himself or others. 
 
 Emigration from Ireland, (jermany, and Poland is almost 
 exclusively confined to the labouring classes, and those who 
 have been holders of the very smallest patches of land, and, 
 therefore, accustomed to the most rigid economy in its til- 
 lage. And it is a well established fact, that so strong is the 
 tenacity of the Irish peasant in particular to the home of his 
 ancestors, that if he be the owner of, be it ever so small, a 
 patch of his native soil, he will cling to it, aye, long after he 
 sees it must eventually pass from his hands ; and at last, 
 comparatively a pauj)or, he is compelled to leave the land of 
 his birth a broken down, dispirited man ; and, perchance, 
 having a large family deitending upon him for support, seek 
 in a distant land the subsistence denied him at home, where, 
 from the full results of his labour, he fails, to secure any inter- 
 est in the land he tills, and his living but a scanty pittance, 
 at best insufficient and unsuitable to exert even the strength 
 ho hesitates to e\[)end u}ion so precarious a holding, Avell 
 knowing tluit all his perseverance, frugality and industry can 
 never obtain for his children a freehold ; and this argument 
 will hold good to England, Scotland, Germany, &c. The 
 fact being, they have not, in those countries, a superabundance 
 of what we possess, viz. : land, and they have in excess what in 
 this country we require, viz. : labour. To show how this 
 excess of laljour may gradually be drawn to our Colonization 
 roads by the action of self-interest is my desire ; and although 
 the greater part of the following pages appeared as letters in 
 the Kingston British Wltiij last year, yet as I paid last 
 
 i 
 
 Hi 
 
winter (^18o4) a vidit to the ''Old (Jountiy," and Kocarno, 
 IVom int'unnation derived IVoni authentic sources, and ol)ser- 
 vation, satisfied of nut only the i)ractlcability but utility and 
 general advantage to be founil tVoni the adoption ut' the plan 
 I advocate, that [ am induced to place it once more in a con- 
 densed tonn before those interested in our ;^eneral advance- 
 ment and prosperity. That self-interest to be obtained by 
 the inducement •»ftered the occu])ier or locatec of becomin.Lr 
 the owner of a suHiciency of land in fee sinijile by the outlay 
 of his own exertion alone, sufficient to supply all the necessa- 
 ries and manv of the luxuries of life. It is a iniiversallv 
 well known fact that tlie most successful farmor is not tlie man 
 who cultivates the ;^reatest number <»f acres, and it is as 
 equally well known that where men labour for themselves 
 tliey are energetic, prosperous and contented, rendering a 
 cheerful oliedience to law and order, and rapidly rise them- 
 selves in the scale of ^'ociet^^ A 2;reat error exists in 
 granting to the newly-arrived emigrant a larger (juantity of 
 land as a bribe to emigration than will be within his means 
 for many years to come to bring under subjection. When we 
 undertake more than we have the necessary capital to cai'iy 
 out, we are induced to extend our operations, and leave ne- 
 glected the means which would enrich and make a small 
 holding profitable, with the same outlay and labour e\}iended 
 thereon: and it is an undcnial)le fact that the sitirit of emula- 
 tion and improvement is moi-e general where holdings are 
 small and closely connected than where extensive. At the 
 commencement of a schen.c for extensive colonization 1 v 
 allotment, care should first be taken that the class of emigrants 
 are such as will warrant the successful result of the action 
 with some degree of certainty, not selecting them from the 
 most destitute, both in physical and worldly means ; an(^, 
 secondly, that the extent of the allotment assigned will be 
 just sufficient to yield the necessaries of life by i:ood manage- 
 
1 
 
 8 
 
 mont, ami he commcnsumtc with the ((uaiitity of lahour the 
 sottlcr'a family can yield, and the means at liis disposal. In 
 1S18 the Dutch fioveninient eommeneed the system of allot- 
 ment by ;;ivin;; seven acrcH of inferior land to each family, 
 the cost of settlin;j; which amounted to 'tSS.iOO per family. 
 After de(hietin.^ the maintenance of the family, superin- 
 teudcnt'.s salary, and -^2.40 per acre for rent, we find that 
 hy manual lahour alone a profit <»f Jii<;12. aO per lot was o1)tained 
 annually. The English (Jovernment in 1825 sent out to this 
 country 2,000 persons, supplying them with every necessary, 
 and givin;^ tlu m a free p-ant of an hundred acres, at a cost of 
 £21 5s. per liead : tliose were chosen from the most destitute 
 of the pauper population of Iirland, and ])laced under the 
 supervision of persons as incr.pahle of initiating tliem into the 
 liuhits and lahour necessary to insure success in tins country, 
 as tliosc under tiiem were unahle, fnui inahility and former 
 avocations, to perform them. Wliat was the result? What 
 (■tlierwise could it he ? Began crroncouslv, and carried on 
 incorrectly, it ended in utter failure. The Frcncli and Italian 
 Governments suhseciuently adopted the plan. Imt more upon 
 the basis of cottage gardening ; and the Firitish Government 
 have more recently assisted the enterprise of private indivi- 
 duals on a similar plan, which has been attended with the 
 very best results. In France the farms generally do not 
 comprise more than from fifteen to twenty-five acres, and a 
 considerable degree of comfort has ])een diffused amidst tlie 
 mass of the people thereby. 
 
 ilavujg thus briefly touched up.on the action of (iovcrn- 
 ments not possessing a thousandth part tlie field for opera- 
 tions which ours of Canada d<»es, I Avill give a few 
 suggestions as to the }ilan I would adoj>t. Were the 
 Government to appoint some pi-actical, experienced business 
 man to mal\0 an inspection on eaeli of tlie colonization road-; 
 now openC'l 'oi' -^f tt'enicnt. an 1 -cleci: one or ni'^re sites for 
 
 « 
 
 1 •! 
 

 
 I 
 
 villngo purposes nt sucli (listaiic<'S and in .Micli locality a:i 
 tho geography of tiio stirroundin;; country, the nature oi* the 
 soil, tho supjily of water, the description of tho timhcr ft)r 
 huiiding, fc'ncin;^;, fuel, &c., and its general adaptability, 
 would reconunend. Tho location eii(wen, lay it out in ten 
 aero lots, with a frontage of three-fourths of an acre for half 
 an aero in depth, wlu^n the lot would assume the l)readth of 
 an acre for the halanee <»f ten acres in depth, thus leaving a 
 huihling lot of half an acre between every two allotnientfl f<.r 
 mechanics, kc. On each of these settle ments clear and pre- 
 pare an acre (or more) of h>nd rea<Iy tor cro{), and erect 
 thereon a habitable log dwelling, 20 x 24 feci-, capable (if 
 division for cleanliness and ccmfort, the cost of which ne«Ml 
 not exceed -f CO each. Twenty of those, having each a family 
 of five persons, would be a sufiicicncy in each chosen locality 
 to commence with. This little colony of an Innidred souls, 
 placed un(bn* the supei'intendence of an overseer (not an 
 agent), a practical man, whose domicile will be within tiio 
 limits of the settlement, and whose salary will bo in propor- 
 tion to the number of families forming it, in no case exceeding 
 •$16 per family, thus identifying his emoluments with tho 
 growth of the settlement under his charge, and thereby 
 securing his interest directly therein, he being subject to such 
 instructions as the Bureau of Agriculture from time to time 
 issued for his guidance. In return for tlic home thus afforded 
 the emigrant, lie should pay one day's labour each week at 
 such time, within the limits of the settlement, as the superin- 
 tendent might reiju're the labour, to be expended in clearing 
 the building lots between the allotments, church and school 
 lots, fencing and preparing other lots for the reception of 
 fresh arrivals, the rcmauiinL!; davs each week to be at his 
 own disposal, cither to work for himself or on the holdings of 
 old established settlers in the vicinity, plenty of which can 
 generally be obtained at wages varyincr from tv.o .shillings to 
 
10 
 
 half a dollar per diem and board, payable in such produce at 
 current prices as the newly arrived settler must of necessity 
 require for the support of his family. The occupant of an 
 allotment being at liberty to throw up the occupancy of his 
 holding at any time he deems it his interest to do so, by 
 giving to the saperintendent one month's notice of his inten- 
 tion, and paying up any arrears of labour he may be owing, 
 for either rent or seed advanced to him, thus giving the 
 superintendent an opportunity of acquainting the Depart- 
 ment with any vacancies as they might occur, and the settler 
 at any time eligible to locate himself on a free grant beyond 
 the precincts of the settlement or on purchasable land, only 
 paying as rent for his allotment one day per week of his own 
 labour during his occupancy thereof ; also to be at liberty to 
 remain and become the proprietor of his allotment, with all 
 tlie improvements thereon, after the expiration of three years, 
 for the sum of -f 50, being less than the actual expense of set- 
 tling him thereon, this sum to be paid in yearly instalment?. 
 The cost of settling each family would stand thus : — 
 
 To clearing one acre land $16 00 
 
 " dwelling, with door, window>5, flooring and roofing.. 30 00 
 " superintendcnl's commission lo 00 
 
 Total $01 00 
 
 As I maintain the plan can be (if judiciously carried out) 
 made hot only self-supporting, but profitable, after paying 
 the above sura and the value of the land, viz., seventy cents 
 per acre, I will give Dr. and Cr., for twenty families, com- 
 puting the expense and receipts for three years : — 
 
 Dr. 
 
 To value of 200 acres wild land at 70c. per acre $ 140 00 
 
 " clearing 20 acres of laud at $1G per acre 320 00 
 
 " erecting 20 dwellings at 30 each 600 00 
 
 " superintendent's salary, 3 years at $15 per family. 900 00 
 
 Total $1,9G0 00 
 
 
11 
 
 Cr. 
 
 By sale of 20 allotments at the expiration 
 
 of three years at $50 per lot $1,000 OO 
 
 " sale of 20 cleared building lots, con- 
 taining one acre each, |40 per lot... 800 00 
 " 3,120 days labour at 50c. per diem.. 1,560 00 $3,3G0 00 
 
 $3,.3G0 00 $1,400 00 
 Deduct for loss of time when lots may be untcnantod. 400 00 
 
 Profit $1,000 00 
 
 This, at first sight, would yield hut an average profit of 
 ■150.00 per lot : hut this is not all ; during the first year's oc- 
 cupancy there would he expended 1,000 days' lahour, which, 
 allowing 122 days work necessary to prepare an allotment, 
 would give rather over eight additionjd for occupancy the 
 second year, and those with the twenty previously located 
 would clear, say eleven, and those thirty-nine would prepare 
 sixteen, so that at the expiration of the three years the colony 
 would consist of fifty-five allotment hahitations, which, with 
 the twenty huilding lots, would accommodate a population, on 
 an average, of four hundred souls. I have made this calcula- 
 tion allowing a wide margin for contingencies, but sufficiently 
 close for working purposes ; and the first cost of the land 
 at 70 cents per acre should perhaps he omitted, as no doubt a 
 considerable proportion would, ere the expiration of the third 
 year, have availed themselves of their privilege, and the 
 knowledge they had accjuired, to settle upon either free grants 
 or purchasable land from, the Crown, in some of the adjoining 
 townships, leaving their allotments improved in proportion to 
 their length of residence thereon. A profit therefore of #87.50 
 would be obtained from each allotment, which, although not 
 as high as that obtained by the Dutch Government, is suffi- 
 ciently encouraging. With the accumulation of funds, schools, 
 churches, &c., could be erected even as a private enterprise. 
 This plan might be profitably adopted by those having the 
 
12 
 
 means and philanthropy to carry it out. To any inclined to 
 act upon it, the Government should yield all the facilities 
 ■within their power. 
 
 In advocating the adoption of this system of Colonization 
 hy allotment " in this part of Canada," I am aware I 
 shall be met by the assertion that in a country possessing 
 an almost unlimited extent of territoiy, land is of so little 
 consequence that the granting of a large area of it as an 
 inducement to the emigrant to settle upon it, is the best 
 mode that can be adopted to secure that object ; also that 
 ten or twenty acres are entirely insufficient for the support of 
 the labouring man's family, the fallacy of which I Avill endea- 
 vour to shew briefly and conclusively to those devoid of pre- 
 judice and open to conviction. I would refer again to the 
 report of the Commissioner, and ask why is it that out of one 
 hundred locations in Western Canada during the past year on 
 free grant roads one third have been abandoned by the 
 original locatees thereon ? Each of those lots contained one 
 hundred acres and a frontage on the main road; therefore it 
 Avas not from the quantity being too small nor the difficulty 
 of access thereto that they did so. Those vacating such lots 
 have no doubt left sadder and wiser men, but discontented 
 and dissatisfied at having in their ignorance been induced by 
 the name of an hundred acres a free gift, to settle themselves 
 upon it, after spending perchance years of toil and privation, 
 they have risen out of it to sow wherever they hereafter 
 travel broadcast the seeds of their bitter experience, thereby 
 deterring others from locating upon lots offering even superior 
 advantages to the settler. The offer of an hundred acres of 
 land to an emigrant is rather a difficulty in his way. On his 
 arrival he has not even the knowledge r.ecessary to set about 
 the building of a shanty in the woods to shelter himself and 
 family ; and had he the knowledge he is lacking the means, 
 which even if he had, he would not know how to advanta- 
 
 mamtmmm. 
 
13 
 
 geously layout. If thrifty and industrious, he uill, at the ex- 
 })iration of three years, be able to become the proprietor of 
 liis allotment ; he will have learned the labour necessary fur 
 bush farming, and can settle confidently upon an hundred 
 acre lot by the time he has learned to clear and cultivate it, 
 retaining or disposing of his allotment as best suits him ; and 
 were he on his advent the possessor of five hundred acres, he 
 could not, nor would not have over (if as much) the ten acres 
 cleared. As regards ten acres being hisufficient to produce 
 necessaries for the maintenance of a working man's family 
 combined with the work he occasional! v obtains from the 
 lumberer or his neighbours, no person knowing any thing of 
 country life will assert. It will not admit of argum.cnt that 
 small farms with manual labour and careful tillage, yield a 
 much more abundant return that those which are too large to 
 cultivate so attentively. The great want tlie emigrant labour:?- 
 under on his arrival on our shores is a fixed j)lan or prospect 
 before him. Were the allotment system adopted, such would 
 not be the case, as he would place himself at once in the 
 hands of the emigration authorities, to be by them forwarded 
 to such locations as were prepared to receive them, on his 
 arrival ; and on his voyage he would not be diverted from its 
 execution, or drawn aside from its fulfilment by his fellow 
 passengers, or what is worse by interested persons at 
 Quebec or Montreal ; too many do so, and at length find 
 themselves wanderers in our streets, unable to obtain em- 
 ployment at any rate of wages, and labouring under the 
 pressure of a scarcity, if not total deficiency of both money 
 and provisions. Were he aware before his departure from 
 his native land that a home anywhere awaited himself 
 and family, the entire phase of his thoughts would be changed 
 and his doubts removed ; but wherever his goal may be 
 be (and it cannot be too frequently and impressively forced 
 upon his mind), let no cajolery or persuasion with the delusive 
 
14 
 
 ho :)e of immediate or renmnerative employment cause the 
 emigrant to make any delay at the port of disembarkation, or 
 loiter by the way to his destination. The intending emigrant, 
 naturally anxious to better his condition, looks forward to the 
 home of his future, for the chief object of his ambition, which 
 is denied him at home, be his exertions ever so strenuous, 
 viz., independence, and here it can be obtained. This province 
 contains a farming population — owners of the soil upon which 
 they live — of some two hundred and fifty thousand, and out of 
 our entire population, there arc not one hundred thousand 
 labourers. This fact alone is sufficient to convince any thinking 
 emigrant that any industrious man who is hard pressed at 
 home will undoubtedly be a gainer by emigrating. This is 
 not however a "Canaan" ; most emphatically no, it is by the 
 sweat of his broAv he must here depend for his livelihood ; at 
 the same time he has the sure and certain prospect, if sober, 
 industriou.^ and perse vcviug, of raising himself in society, and 
 obtaining the much longed for desire of leaving his children 
 a property they can call their own. And no man with mo- 
 derate ideas, possessed of these quahties, need be afraid of 
 the result, what the occupant of an allotment will raise from 
 the cultivation thereof, with what he earns from the lumberer 
 or the older established settlers will enable liim to maintain 
 his family independently (in comparison with his former 
 position), and each succeeding season will see it augmented ; 
 when labouring for his neighbour, he is but giving it in ex- 
 change for the produce of the cultivated lands of that neigh- 
 bour who has a surplus of the commodities the more recently 
 arrived settler of necessity requires, thus adding to the com- 
 forts of himself and family, and contributing to the advance- 
 ment of his employer, whilst the very expectation of future 
 independence will stimulate him to exertions he previously 
 knew not he possessed ; and our virgin soil, abundant in fertility, 
 will yield to him, by the little labour required to be bestowed 
 
 
1.') 
 
 
 upon it, a plentiful harvest ; and as this feeling of indepen- 
 dence gradually but firmly roots itself in his mind, as the 
 comforts of life gather around him, ho forgets the cringing 
 servility of the land he left, and enjoys, in its stead, a sturdy 
 and manly spirit of freedom and ecpiality. 
 
 In adopting the allotment system, the pauper emigrant 
 should not be encouraged to emigrate ; he not only should 
 possess enough to pay his passage and bring him to the home 
 prepared for him, but at least a sufficiency for a month's sup- 
 port, and seed for the acre of land which awaits his labour. 
 This time is necessary for the settlement of his family and the 
 restoration of his health, which a long voyage, in many in- 
 stances under the influence of an uisufficiency of nourishment, 
 foul air, bad water, and sea sickness combined, has been 
 enough to impair ; but whilst regaining strength he can plant 
 his potatoes and sow his garden vegetables, the necessary 
 after attention to which his wife and children can bestow. 
 One of the best writers on English husbandry in connection 
 with the allotment system and cottage gardening and farms, 
 says, " No man can object to the formation of such colonies 
 as the means of establishing numerous labouring families in 
 confortable independence ; and we could not here object to 
 the extension of such a system, so long as land could be found 
 for the purpose, capable of producing more food than is con- 
 sumed by the holder during the period of cultivation." Ca- 
 nada is just in this position ; she has the land to dispose of 
 having an almost boundless extent of acreage lying scattered 
 all over the Province capal)le of profitable cultivation for agri- 
 cultural and grazing purposes, and the support of an ever 
 increasing hardy, industrious, thriving population. As it 
 would require 120 days' labour of an experienced hand to 
 prepare an acre of land, and make the dwelling habitable for 
 the reception of the settler and his family, the work being 
 performed ready to his hand gives him a great start a year's 
 
10 
 
 advance — as, Avcrc he to depend upon doing it himself after 
 his arrival, the time for putting in any crop would have passed 
 awaj. To have a home and this acre of cleared land is there- 
 fore the foundation of his future prosperity. Tliere is, how- 
 ever, one thing the new settler has to overcome, no matter from 
 whence he comes, namely, old prejudices, the attachment 
 thereto being very frequently more injurious to his advance- 
 ment than either want of capital or knowledge. On the adop- 
 tion of the allotment system, however, the spade, hoe and rake 
 are almost the only implements of husbandry he requires for 
 the tillage of tlic soil, and the chief of those he has been 
 accustomed to, from his infancy upwards. The spade was 
 originally the chief instrument of agriculture, and to 
 this day is the most efficient and eSective, and is the 
 best adapted to small holdings. By merely mixing and deep- 
 ening the soil, the cottager can with his spade alone cultivate 
 lands which defy the subsoil plough ; and this brings me to 
 speak of the general description of the soil " in this part of 
 Canada," and almost invariably it is the same upon all the 
 colonization roads, viz., a sandy loam resting upon a subsoil 
 of compact sandy gravel, than which none is better adapted 
 for the cultivation of all cereals, less wheat alone, which it 
 yields well, however, for one or two years in succession, but is 
 not sufficiently heavy to produce an indefinite number of 
 crops to suit the farming ideas of some would-be agricultur- 
 sist, without the application of a rotation system of manur- 
 ing ; neither is it sufficiently heavy to produce the broad 
 " Windsor " bean to perfection ; but for barley, rye, oats, 
 pease, and all tuber and root crops, as also for the cultivation 
 of clovers and perennial pasturage, it has no superior. Indian 
 corn, when properly attended to and planted in season, yields 
 an abundant harvest. It is sufficiently cohesive in the parts 
 composing it, and has just enough tendency to gravel to 
 denote a sharpness in it, to justly receive the appellation of a 
 
is(;lf after 
 ve passed 
 
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 i is, how- 
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 tacbment 
 advance- 
 he adop- 
 and rake 
 uires for 
 as been 
 ade was 
 and to 
 
 is the 
 id deep- 
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 ;s me to 
 part of 
 all the 
 subsoil 
 dapted 
 hich it 
 , but is 
 ber of 
 3ultur- 
 Qanur- 
 broad 
 
 oats, 
 vatiou 
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 J^ields 
 parts 
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 lof a 
 
 ■Nvarm kindly soil of deserved estimation, and is easily tilled 
 with little labour, as it offers but trifling resistance to external 
 pressure. The surface soil varies in depth from six inches 
 to two feet, and, resting upon a subsoil neither too retentive 
 nor too porous for a cold, moist country, it is most admirably 
 adapted for grazing, breeding, and dairy purposes, whilst it 
 brings early to maturity the plants sown upon its surface ; 
 and hence the luxuriance of the underbrush, plants and 
 weeds, and the description thereof, growing upon the unre- 
 claimed land, is a more certain criterion of the quality of the 
 soil than the description of trees by which it is timbered — 
 belts of heavy hardwood frequently alternating with pine 
 without any perceptible change in the class or composition of 
 it. The land is what is designated rolling or undulating, 
 with innumerable streamlets and brooks of the most excellent 
 water, rippling or gliding silently through the valleys, which 
 generally contain a large amount of alluvial deposits, and 
 only require drainage to render them rich in the extreme. 
 Were the Government to adopt the principle I advocate, and 
 correctly carry it out, no shadow of a doubt would darken its 
 beneficial working. Forcing settlement, by the indiscrim- 
 inate issue of free grant lots, in the pine timber lands is " an 
 undue encouragement " and an " ill-judged course," but 
 there really exists no necessity whatever for this being done, 
 for this reason : Were those alternating intervals of hard- 
 Wood land which abound throughout the pine country — and 
 which are admitted to contain in this section alone over 
 50,000 acres of very superior well-watered hardwood land, of a 
 valuable and estimable description — chosen as the first fields 
 of operation for actual settlement upon the plan I have pro- 
 posed, a greater number would be located on a less area (and 
 in this lies the benefit of proximity of neighbours for mutual 
 assistance and exchange of labour, which in many of the 
 operations attending the clearing of land becomes absolutely 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 compulsory), each family not possessing the necessary requi- 
 site help within themselves ; and, as I previously observed, 
 the spirit of emulation is much and heueficially greater where 
 holdings arc small ; a focus would here- bo established from 
 which in a few years would radiate more extensive posses- 
 sions. Those belts of hardwood arc dotted over the map 
 everywhere, and'erc those Avould be brought under cultiva- 
 tion, the lumberer would have cleared from the adjoining pine 
 lands all that would be available or convertible into merchant- 
 able timber. By the adoption of this plan the lumberer 
 would be benefitted by as much as the supplies ho recpiires 
 would be obtainable at nearer points to the extent raised oft' 
 land, for which, if within his limits, he pays license, yet from 
 which he cannot now or hereafter, under any other system, 
 derive any benefit Avhatever. I have said no soil is better 
 adapted to the raising of root crops than those through which 
 the colonization roads invariably run. Potatoes, carrots, tur- 
 nips, and clover arc indispensable to the maintenance of the 
 settler, his cattle, pigs and poultry, and those are the crops 
 above all others most suitable to the soil. Clover and turnips, 
 it has been conceded, " are the two main pillars of British 
 husbandry, that they contribute more to increase and preserve 
 the fertility of the soil than any other crop." By their cul- 
 tivation, the small farmer is enabled to support, during our 
 inclement Avinters and long spring months, a much larger 
 amount of live stock than he otherwise could attempt to do — 
 a beast for every three acres not being over the general aver- 
 age on those farms in France and Flanders on which spade 
 husbandry is adopted. By mixing chopped turnips, carrots 
 or potatoes, partially boiled, with rye, barley or pease meal, 
 (the cereals for which the soil is so peculiarly adapted,) and 
 giving a couple of pails per day to each cow, to which some 
 cut straw may be advantageously added, a beast may be by 
 the cottage former readily kept for each three acres culti- 
 
19 
 
 i'e<|ui- 
 Icrved, 
 I where 
 from 
 posses- 
 map 
 lultiva- 
 
 i^*" pine 
 
 vated, or even a ^.a-cater proportion, as during tlie growin;^; 
 season the cattle obtain iur themselves in the woods a living 
 on which thoj rapidly fatten ; and which, from its mixed 
 character, is highly conducive to their health and vigour, 
 heing well housed in winter (a necessary adjunct too much 
 neglected on largo holdings), and which the cottage farmer 
 can attend to without the assistance of expensive hired labour, 
 his stock being at all times in prime condition. Owing to 
 the unavoidable presence of stumps for the first few years, 
 around which the grain cannot be covered correctly other- 
 wise than by hand hoeing, a certain and not inconsiderable 
 loss on large holdings is necessarily sustained, be it performed 
 ever so carefully. The loss is not alone that of seed, but the 
 heaviest yield and best grain is obtained around the base of 
 each stump, as there the greatest quantity of decayed vegeta- 
 ble matter has accumulated. From the very trifling resistance 
 oftered to external pressure by a sandy loam, a great amount 
 of labour can be performed with but little fatigue, hj the 
 :5pade or hoe, even in the hands of children ; and by their 
 judicious use no spot, unless Avhat is absolutely covered by 
 the stump, need be left uncultivated. This cannot be the 
 case under any other system of tillage. By the use of the 
 spade the land becomes completely trenched, and the imme- 
 diate good effect of keeping the soil dry is at once perceptible 
 and considerable : the deep digging and abundant manuring 
 which the small farmer, under this system, is enabled to give, 
 will soon convert an inferior soil into a very productive one, 
 but would, in a very few years, change this into a rich com- 
 pact loam. And here, as everywhere else, attention to the 
 careful gathering of all kinds of manures is absolutely neces- 
 sary to the retention of productiveness of the land ; and the 
 cottage farmer, Avho has just a sufficiency of land to combine 
 stock and tillage husbandry together on a small scale, has a 
 decided advantage by the abundant manui ing he is thereby 
 
20 
 
 oiuibled to give his holding — a rapid succession of oven the 
 most exliausting crops will be permitted. As by clearing the 
 surtacc of the country becomes dryer, so also is the climate 
 improved and the cultivation of grain crops extended ; so by 
 tiie general adoption of the allotment system and spade hus- 
 bandry, -would drainage become more practical, and the 
 valleys, marshes, and swamps, now looked upon as worthless, 
 woiild, within a few years, be converted into the very richest 
 arable meadow and jjasture lands — permanent and valuable. 
 
 I have laid much stress upon the cultivation of vegetables by 
 the cottage farmer, more particularly to the Swedish turnip, 
 as tending not only to the economical sustenance of his stock, 
 })ut also to the improvement of the soil upon Avhich they are 
 grown. The Swedish turnip bears transplanting better and 
 more certain than a cabbage plant, Avith less loss to the soil 
 upon which it is grown, and yields an infinitely greater 
 amount of nutritive matter per acre to the grower. LFnder 
 proper management, the cottage farmer, transplanting from 
 his seed beds, need never have ground for one week, during 
 the growing season, on which there are not seeds in it or 
 plants upon it ; and here again he has a decided advantage 
 over the extensive landholder ; comparatively all his atten- 
 tion and time being concentrated within limits he can grasp. 
 
 Again : the burning process Avhich the land invariably under- 
 goes in the operation of clearing oft", on large holdings, how- 
 ever convenient and laljour savhig it may be, has the effect 
 of destroying the principal part of the nutritive (jualities con- 
 tained Avithin the soil. This operation on an allotment can 
 readily be, in a great measure, dispensed with, by raking the 
 small twigs and chips into little heaps, and carrying them oft' 
 to a convenient place of deposit, thus avoiding a general 
 burn : the spot occupied by the log-piles alone being subject 
 to the action of fire, to which it can easily be confined by 
 turning up the soil around them, and choosing a proper time 
 
21 
 
 for firing. 
 
 riM 
 
 The digging or hoeing Avhich the soil iindergocH 
 in putting in the crop in this state, gives it at onco a rich 
 and abundant manuring, deepens the soil, and retains at a 
 depth, where the roots of the crop seek it, the nourishment they 
 require for many successive years ; and above all, a free light 
 soil — as all upon those Colonization Roads is composed of — 
 can ill afford the adoption of the system universally practised. 
 That the burning off* of all the decomposed vegetable matter, 
 leaves and fibres, the accumulation of ages, the manure which 
 nature has supplied, can be otherwise than hurtful and de- 
 structive to such, none will deny ; it cannot be otherwise. The 
 result thereby necessarily is, that after a few crops are taken 
 from it, nothing remains but an exhausted soil, for which the 
 possessor has but himself to blame ; yet he condemns the 
 land, the unjustness of which is apparent. On the other 
 hand, a peaty soil, or one containing a superabundance 
 of decayed vegetable matter, will not only bear a 
 general running burn, but will be improved thereby : the 
 settler should, therefore, (be he a large or small holder) 
 use a well-directed discretion in the choice of time of burninir, 
 applying the torch to his lighter soils as soon after rain as they 
 will burn, and withholding the operation from peaty ones until 
 the surface is completely parched, when a deep running burn 
 may be obtained with advantage. Where due preparatory cau- 
 tion is exercised, fire, in such soils, can always be kept in 
 control ; but by indiscriminately giving all soils, at all seasons, 
 a general burn, by sowing successfully exhausting crops, with- 
 out giving to it any artificial assistance in the shape of manure 
 whatever ; and after sowing it down as unfit for tillage, and 
 expect it to yield successive crops of hay, and renew and 
 renovate itself by the action of the atmosphere and air alone, 
 the system universally followed must be conceded by all men 
 unreasonable and unjust. 
 
 I will now close ray remarks upon this subject by stating 
 
00 
 
 tho well known fact that very many settlers of old standing 
 have seriously eripplcd their lirst footsteps, by heing tho pos- 
 sessors of too much land, running over its surface carelessly 
 and slovenly ; whereas one half well attended to, and receiv- 
 ing the same amount of labour, would have yielded a large 
 return. Believing in ;i small farm well tilled, and a small 
 barn well filled, I am of opinion that, for tho first few years 
 of a settler's life, ten acres will bo found under tho allotment 
 system quite sufficient for his recjuirements, always bearing 
 in mind that he is eligible to locate upon an hundred acres 
 of free grant land Avhen ho finds himself capable of its 
 management. Let tho Government overcome the greatcsi^ 
 want the emigrant, on his arrival, labours under, smooth 
 his way, ensure his Avelfaro, and make his path clear, by 
 giving him a prepared home on the allotment system, and 
 the Commissioners' future reports will not contain so many 
 re-occupied lots, — nor will the statement go forth that up to 
 the present time 45 or 50,000 of the youth of our country 
 have been tempted by any amount of greenbacks to offer 
 tliemselves as sacrifices, to be used by our most inveterate 
 enemies, to the god of war. 
 
 H. Y. Read. 
 
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