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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. >rrata to pelure, n d □ 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 CANADA VS. NEBRASKA. -l:i| -♦<9«- A refutation of attacks made on Canada by C. K. Slialler, Commissioner of the Missouri Railroa I BIBLIOTHEQUE Itl BY DAVID aARDINEU, (A native of Perthshire, Scotlan OK — M.L'ABBE VERREAU if J^o. Clcisse Division Serle Nov OF CLARENCE, ONTARIO, Canada. *,. I ( T'lViVV'A: Printed by BoBERTiON, Foger <& (.'ompaxy, " the Timits,' 1878. FCHZ. CANADA V8. NEBRASKA. I read the epistle of that gentleman without surprise, as he appears only to be another specimen of the pmntamve tyne. Now, I am a native of Pertlishire, and' passed my boyhood and some part of my manhood, at Bonny Dundee aid its neighbourhoodL especially JMghf;/ Wafer and Blairyowrie. Ihose dear old places are still as familiar to my memorv as many of the ''woods and wilds" of the beloved Canada where now I dwell, and I hope ''Where bloom my native valley's bowers " I still have many a dear old friend. I left Dundee on the 19th June, 18.':5, with my wife and three children and shipped at Liverpool on the 2<)th for New \ork I lived m the United States for two years and three months, and, in course cf that time, through reading obser- vation and experience, becimie somewhat acquainted with "Things a.s they are in America." I have now lived over fif- teen years in Canada, and would like to say a few words in reply to C R. Shaller, in behalf of the Dominion of Canada, the noblest colony ot England, and I trust what I say may hi believed by many old and valued friends. i 1 have no pergonal dislike to the i)oople of the Unitefl States; they are in many respects a noble people, and their country, on the whole, is magnificent. 1 am sure that I speak the sentiment of every Canadian of sense, when I say that we wish to live on no other terms with our neighbor across the "line," except those of peace and generous rivalry. But 1 must say what I believe to be true, that Canada, as a field for British Emigrants, is as far, when health and happiness are concerned, above the United States, as the carse o' gowrie in above the "dismal swamp" of Virginia, or the deadly jun- gl»8 of India. C. R. Shaller tells us what is very true^ that the "beau- tiful prairies" of Nebraska require no clearnig, but are ready for the plough. Allowing every other statement he makes to be true, this in itself should be enough to keep every emi- grant of sense from that country, an<24feet inside, would cost at least (in Nebraska) one thousand dollars, or about two hundred pounds of English money. Poor Emigrants have not this «um to lay out on a house or anything else, therefore they have to do as one half the settlers in Nebraska iiave done — build a hut of prairie sod or mud, and in courteuy call it a cab hi. Next, an Emigrant requires something to eat — that sug gests money. An Emigrant who takes up land there, with, say a wife and four children, would require a purse of three hundred dollars to keep him in provisions for live months, or until he could raise his lirst crop for himself. Next, food requires to be cooked, that implies fucf. Where or how is it to bo found? Perhaps coal might be bought at the nearest Railway Depot, 20 or 30 miles away, at $20 or |30 a ton. A neighbour has to be hired 'if you are ft fortunate enough to liucl one) to cnrt that coal to your dwel- ling, at, say twenty or thirty dollars niore. Seed ifl another item that will cost a little. Next, a plough, that will cost at least forty or sixty dollars, and a poor one at that. Next, four horses or mules, or eight oxen, to draw tho plough ; for remember, two horses cannot break up the "beautiful prairie" sod as they could break up a piece of new land in Scotland. These will cost another one thousand dol- lars, at the least. One advantage the Emigrant has in Nebraska over Canada is, there is plenty of pasturage for his horses. He may work them all day and let thefh loose at night, to find their supjier where they may, and ho will have the pleasure of walking perhaps twenty miles over the "beau- tiful prairie" next morning in search of them, and may thank bis stars should he find them by the end of seed-time. No doubt our ingenious Yankee friend, C. R. Shaller, would sug- gest hobbling or tethering them. Honest Hujhack might taka the hint, and find his team, like the "poor mailie" of Robert Burns, making faces at him next morning, and only able to give a dying advice and their blether. But let us now'suppose the Emigrant has got over all his first difficulties and mishaps, for "where there is a ,vill there is a way." Suppose that he has got in ten or twenty acres of a first crop — that it is growing finely, and has every appearance of yielding a bountiful return — that after his hard day's work he has laid himself down to sleep (cursing the flics and mos- quitoes, of course), that he has slept well ; that he rises next morning refreshed, and full of hope ; that he leaves his little ones still in their innocent slumbers ; that he " wanders forth to view the corn and snuff" the caller air" of the "beautiful prairie" (or the deadly gases of the nearest swamji.) Behold his manly form, his steady step, his noble brow and glowing face, as he cai^ts his eagle and far-seeing eye over the wide ana boundless dreary flat. TTe feels that he is free, a citizen f>f tiie ''almighty nation;" he looks up to heaven and thanks iiis (lod that he has no other master, when, () horror 1 what a change comes o'er the spirit of his dream — there before his 'jice what a sorry sight — a drove of somebody's horses, mules, cattle, and hungry looking pigs, devouring and tramplingjinto the ground liis all, his only hope, his crops — all gone at one fel? swoop! Thi.^ is no overdrawn picture, but an o'er true talc. Bat let us suppose again that our Emigrant has means and pl:ick enough to withstand such a c^damity, and what is his nexi. resolve? lie has thrown his life upon a cast, and is determined ''never to say die." Fence his farm ? Yes! that's it — that will cure the evil, that will keep out his neighbor's stock, and keep at home his own. What are his best mate- rials? Deai boards — (there are no stones on the ''beautiful l)rairie8" ). Where are the boards to bo found? On the road from Canada, or still growing there. What will they cost? Seventy, or perhaps a handred dollars, per thousand feet (such as we buy in Canada for six or eight dollars.) I ask Mr. Shallcr how much it will cost to fence a farm of 160 acres, in Nebraska, at that rate ? Tie will squirt his quid, and tell me "that is the Emigrant's own look out." i : Next, where is the Emigrant to find materials of which to build barns, stables and sheds to protect his stock in winter? Mr. Shaller has told us that it is not cold in winter there — that it is two degrees south of Toronto, one of the most southerly cities in Canada — that the winters in Canada last from six to eight months, while the winters in Nebraska last only three months. Now here is a poser, here is a fearful contrast, but I, as a Canadian, find some consolation in it after all — C. R. 8haller tells a^b. That the capital of Nebraska is two degrees south of Toronto I do not deny, but that the duration of winter in Nebraska is only thr<»o months, is not truo . Snow falls ther« about the middle of December, and covers the ground until the first of April, a,s a general rule, else the numerous reports of State papers and Agricultural Journals sadly belie that KtfUe. Now, I don't say to any one, ''Do not go to the States," for thousands of Emigrants do well there. Be sober, be indus- trious, be honest; keep away from strong drink, and if you are healthy, you may, in a few years, reach competence, or even riches. But I further say, keep away from the ''beauti- ful prairies" as farmers, until you have riches. Of course Emigrants who are going to the devil any way, may as well go by way of Nebraska as any other road. I would say to all, read "Martin Chuzzlewit" and "Mar> Tapley's adventures in the Far West" before you go j it will do you good. Now, turn we to the Dominion of Canada. I will say nothing of Western Onty.rio, the Province of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, JIanitoba or British Columbia. I will speak only of Central Canada, which is now as familiar to me as "Dygktie's Braes," the top of the low hill, the Magdalen Green, Stanner Gate, or 106 Seagate. But I must take my text from C. R. Shaller again. He says ' ' Canada is a very heavily wooded country. ' ' Thank you, Mr. Shaller. No "birks and bare wa's" here, but plenty of Pine, Ash, Elm, Linden, Larch, Birch, Beech, Spru(j# anc Maple, and many other kinds too numerous to mention, all al hand to be cut down and turned into houses, bams, stables^ fences, ships, boats, carts, ploughs^ harrows, tables, chairs, bed- steads or cradles for young Canadians. We have millions of feet of sawn lumber, and hundreds of rafts of square timber and round logs and masts to send to England, Scotland, West Indies, and even Australia, and above all, to our best cus- tomer. Brother Jonathan, across the line. Of such wo will have plenty for hundreas of years to come. The exports of sawn Ixmaber to the United States from the City of Ottawa «lone, in 1R71, was 130.217,Or>0 fcpt. In 1^72 the qimntity was ir)6,.i09,O4O feet, wliilo tho slii|)montR to Montreal nnd Quebec are estimated at thirty million f'oet. The estimates of square timber, logs, masts and sy)ars I have not at hand, but they may be seen shortly by all who dosifc it. And then there arc the Gatineau, Blanche, Lievres, North and South Nation J^ivers, all within a day s walk from where I live, Fending their millions of sawn luir.ber and hundreds of rafts of square timber, logs, Ac, to the same parts every sea- son. Yes I Canada is a heavily wooded country indeed, and that is on© of her greatest blessings, and one of her greatest sources of wealth. C. R. Shaller thinks that liecauso Canada is north of NeV^raska, it fnust, therefore*, of necessity be colder. Does he not know that forests have much to do with the regulation and modification of the temperature of the atmosphere, that they keep the air warmer in winter, and cooler and moister in summer, that they protect our fields from storms of wind in summer, and shelter our cjittie and ourselves in winter? I have no hesitation in saying that our winters are five degrees warmer, and our summers five degrees cooler than in that "cracked up " place, Nebraska. I have worked three months every winter for fifteen years in my own woods in Canada, with nothing on my back but a flannel shirt, and often all day with my sleeves tucked up to my shoulders, and that's what seldom can be done in winter, even in Scotland. As to the length of our winters; as a general rule we can carry on field operations until the first snow falls, say about the 20th of November. The f>no\7 usually lies till the first or second week in April. By ihe end of the first week in May, summer comes bounding on in all her riches and luxuriant beauty. Now, here are some of the advantages Canada offers to Emigrants. You will be under your onn flap, anrl under the protection of your own Queen, and never can be called or m.-de to feel yourself a '■'rust furri tier." Owy political insti- tutions are second to none in the world. Oiir schools are free and unsectarinn, and ochuvjtion compulsory. We offer to every able bodied man lOilor loO acres of land for nothing. It will be his own and his children's forever. (Mir (rovernment offers to brin^' out Kmip^ants nt a vt^ry small sum, by steam- ships from r>iveri)Ool, and after they land, send tliem on to their destination free of expensp, and the OnUirio (tovernmcnt pays a certain sum of n»oney to every man after being three months in Canada. Hut intending Emigrants must apply to our agents Un- fuller particulars of the passage, <&c. As to wages, farm hands get from four to five shillings a day, with board. Servant girls get from four to eight dollars* a month. Traoard. Weavers can got whatever thoy ask. At one saw-mill, namely Kockland, the average wages of two hundred and fifty men the past summer was twenty dollars per month, with board anii free lodgings, or a free house ; and thesf^ houses are not like the houses of Nebnuska — built of mud, but what might be thought lit for the middle clays in Scotland. We have Flour Mills, Woollen Mills, Carding'and Fulling Mills, and Shingle Mills, within a short distance of where I live, and the greatest want is men. Our wives, daughters and grandmothers in the country parts do our spinning. C. R. Shaller tries to frighten Emigrant.-; about our stumps, and says we cannot use machinery in putting in our crops. The fact is we do use machinery in putting in our crops, and in taking them off too. As to the stumps, we do not trouble ourselves about them. Our plan is to seed down our new land with oiu' first crop of grain, and keep it in hay a year or two, and a few years more in pasture. Then we may 1^ kick over the 'mf»st of the stnmi)s witli our foot, or watch a dry spell, a|)ply ilie match, and they are gone in half an hoar. Mr. Shaller says it is impossible to obtain a thoroughly clciired farm in a life-time. There is nothing impossible about the matter. I have cleared over eighty aores in fifteen years, with only the help of my family, and I have 185 acres remaining, which is in itself a mine of wealth; every acre is worth lo me seventy dollars. An average tree, 60 or 70 feet high and eighteen inches across the stump, may be cut down, made into marketable sh ipe, drawn to the nearest shipping port by one man in a single day, where it can, at any time, be sold for three or four dollars cash. Last winter I earned, with the help of one of my sons, a young lad, over three hundred and fifty dollars, and Canada offers every opportunity to thou- sfinds of men able and willing to work, to come and do like- wise. As to having to plough among the stumps for years, we ''poor simple Canadians" are very thankful we have not to ])lough among revolvers and bovrie-kniveft. Look at this picture. The Counties of Prescott and Russell, with a population of 3G,0(X), have only one gaol. It was built about twelve years ago. I am informed by the warden, in answer to enquiries, that ''the jail has been empty over six months every year " since it was built. Last year, 1872, it has been ovtr nine " months empty. We got no Government money this year on " account of criminal Justice, as we had no criminals, only " small offences, and i-he County pays that." Now look at this : Lynch law, mob lavv, gt mbling, divorce, m 'rder, bowie-knives, revolvers, and free love, often the order of the day in the Western States. If C. R. Shaller has any better account to give of Yovna America, for the honour of humanity he had better "out with it." - -^ But what is all this t^lk about stumps for? Yankees must be either on the slump, around the stump, or gassing about stumps for ever. The tact is, we do not require to plough our new land at all. After the timber has been all cleared away, and tlic fire has run over the land, burning away all the brush and chips, we have only to put two sticks together in the form of an A, di'ive into that fifteen iron tyne, one inch and a half square, and ton inches long, and wo have a harrow whicli does the woik completely. Hitch one or two horses to the harrow, and pass over the land once ; then sow the seed, pa«s over the land twice or three times more, and leave the rest to God. That's how we do. By the p,nd of thirteen or fourteen weeks we gather in — wheat, from 15 to 35 bushels per acre (of TO yar;ls scjuare); oats, from 30 to 70 bush. : peas, 25 to 40; barley, 20 to 35; buckwheat, 30 to 40; potatoes, 150 to 4(K); turnipSj 20<) to 350; Indian corn, 30 to 70 bushels. According to the Patent Otfice returns of the United States, some parts of Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska yield from 8 to 1 2 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, and Nebraska has to use her corn and dried cow-dung for fuel ; so if there is little to eat in her cheerful mud kitchens there is plenty to smell. The population of Nebraska in 1867 was 50(J souls, and the half of them savages. C. R. Shaller says none but an idiot would say that Nebraska is colder than Canah that she wouhl giid up her loins and flee into Nebraska "where wild for scali's- the noole savage runs," while she sits moping in her for ever ness and ice — where even II half frozen regions — utter dark- C. P. Shaller himself, were it not for the light of his own gas, could not see^to write. C. R, Shaller, the Missouri Railroad Company must be ashamed of you. If Barnum could only get you '\n hand, he would soon be enabled to' rebuild his museum. You would be a much greater wonder than Tom Thumi) or the woolly horse. You must be a disciple of that immortal Yankee engine-driver, who discovered the very practical philosophy of '* shutting his eyes, opening his mouth, putting on the *' steam and going ahead, in the full assurance of comingjup some whar." ill But, Mr. Shaller presumes too much on the ignorance of his readers. He either writes of what ho knows nothing, or he writes what he knows to be a downright falsehood, in order to mislead the ignorant and unthinking. But it seems easy to prove that the winter in Canada is not so severe as in Nebraska, or in many parts of the United States. II Mr. W. Frank Lynn, a gentleman who stands high in the estimation of the Press, in his letter of 14th February, from Manitoba to the Toronto ''Globe" says: ''The winters in Manitoba will compare favourably with the winters of the more southern plains of Kansas and Nebraska" — that "the mildness of the weather some days in those parts only make the intense cold which follows more destructive and mischievous." It is well known to all readers of newspapers on this con- tinent, that great thaws, or freshets as they are called, are quite common in winter over the middle and western states : that when such take place on the praries and extensive level plains, the snow is suddently melted, and hundreds of miles of country become flooded with fclush and water, putting an end to all trattic and causing much destruction. Should a Bftvere frost set in, accompanied by a north west wind from the Rocky Mountains, sweeping over the desert of Nebraska, across her unsheltered prairies, and on to the level plains of those latitudes, people are frozen to death in their beds, horses and cattle are frozen to death, the wheat is uprooted or winter- killed, and universal pain and destruction is the result. Such incidents occurred thoroughout extensive regions of the United States in December last. Here is what their own papers says : ''The cold which culminated at Chicjigo on the 25th December, carried the mercury to 23^ below zero. In 1832 in reached 35^, Through the west and north west the cold was generally intense. Spirit thermometers in some por- tions of New Hampshire are said to have indicated 50^. below zero. At Janesville, Wis. 39*^ below was indiaited. At Clinton, Iowa, 26^. In the Michigan lake shore region the weather was unprecedented. At St. Joseph, directly in the fruit belt 20'^ below zero was indicated, and at South Bend, Ind. 25«, at Tennesee 7^ below; and at Toledo, ]r>"; at Detroit 14^ ; at St. Paul, 30^, and at Madison, Wis. 25'' below zero." Dr. Dod, one of the first veterinary surgeons of the United States says that to drive a horse in such weather, against a gale, without protection over his breast, will cause inflamation of the lungs, often resulting in death. The mercury falls as low as above recorded in Canada, but the cold is by no moans so destructive, and the reason is evidently because Canada is protected by her extensive forests. Every farm is protected by 20 or 50 or perhaps 100 acres of forest- Judging from my own experience, I believe that be- tween the temperature of the air of a forest and that of a plain, lake or river, where a wind is blowing, there is a difference of JO to 20 degrees. The much warmer air of our forests is car- ried over and mixed with the colder air of our fields ; and modifies our extremes, thus saving us many of the inoon- veniencds experienced by the people of the United States. f ■• '^ : 16 ■■■■■ Sucli a thing as our snow going away in the middle of Winter, is tmknatcn. Such a thing as an animal or a human being having been frozen to death is unheard of, except through intemperance. Such a thing as a Canadian employed in the woods, getting feet, hands or face frozen, or being driven home from nis work by cold, or stress of weatlser, is of rare occurrence. But we do hear of men freezing in (Jreat Britain wnd France some times. Our snow is n great blessing, and our frost of great advantage. They give us roads as hard as stone, 'i'hey enable us to go into our woods, thi'ough swamps, over logs and fallen timber and uneven gi'ound, hauling heavy loads of timber of all shapes and sizes, where without those a;;ents, the thing would be impossible oxcei)t at ;jieat expense. The snow shelters our wiieat and grass lields, and ferti- lizes, warms, and gives j>roteetion to tha roots oj' fruit trees and tender plants. ( *. H. Shaller ^says Canadians are always leaving this country and going to the States, Perhaps so: but the most of those wlio go there, soon return or die there. A great exodus took place some years ago, from the County of Kussell to the State of Michigan. It was the lan of timber and fortune making. Many of my neai* neighbors went there. My own relatives went there, some of them only to die. Some of my relatives went from ('anada to Kansas and Nebraska to farm, and got stuck there, and are now working in the towns of Kansas and Leavenworth for a miserable wage, and would quickly return to Canada if they had only th» means. Read the following extracts from the ^' Weekly (ilobe" of Feby. 21st last. "The report of the Commissioner of Agri- culture, Public Works and Immigration, is published and come to hand for 1872. It is there calculated that in one way and another, 34, (XK) persons made Ontario their home during 18I'I. 115^000 acres of land were located under the Free Grant Act, m -V IT and the numbers of settlers on these amounted to 8T5 exchi- sive of children under 18 years of age. It is a noticeable fact that over 2 (XX) American citizens repotted themselves to the Emi- yrant Agents as having remoo^d permanently to Ontario. As to the healthfulness of our climate I must say, and I believe every Scotchman in Ontario will be ready to endorse the statement, that it is far more healthy than Scotland. Our water is good and plentiful ; our land abounds with rivers, creeks, streams and springs of the purest water. Many who live on the banks of the streams^ never dig wolbj ; but use river water, summer and winter. Spring water muy be had almost anywhere, by digging a few feet. I came here fifteen years ago, broken down in health, and almost crushed in spirits; but a little while in Ontario and I was myself again. I have worked labouriously and am now past the middle of life and still <'My heart is strong as bended bow — My feet like arrow free." Talk of cold — what Scotchman is afraid of cold ? Our heat is more trouble than our cold. I wonder Mr. Shaller has nothing to say about the heat of our summers. Those who are afraid of cold, should not come to either Canada or Nebraska, but stay at home and work in the factories where they may be comfortable. Our children would wonder h.h such, and think them sick, for this is the land of brain p.nd muscle,-^ "Fair women and brave men." But let us take into consideration the proposition : Is it possible for a British Emigrant of health and vigor, landing upon our shores without a shilling in his pocket, to begin farming on our free grant lands, with a reasonable prospect of success? 1 think it is possible. It is highly practicable and I shall endeavour to show how it may be done, and in doing so I shall desire the emigrant to do nothing but what others have don« II 18 and'ai-e cloiiig, nor to act in any other way than I have acted myself. ill When an emigrant lands upon our shores desiring to settle on a free grant, I would say, go straight to our emigrant agent^ and tell him who you are and where you wish to go. He will at once furnish you with all the credentials required, and seud you on to your destination by the safest and surest route. Tliere you will find another agent who will give you instructions and introduce you to your future neighbours, iji whose care you may well risk you wife and children, leaving you free to lay the foundations of your new home. You will find plenty of neighbours with experience enough, re^dy to accompany you into the bush to select a suitable lot of land, a site for your shanty. That being done, neighbours will turn out by the score, and clear away the timber from the spot you have cho?;en, put up the walls of your shanty, make and put on the roof in a single day. Now you have a b i»inning. Nothing is so difficult as a beginning. That's the way I began, and thousands more. On the follow- ing morning one or two neighbours will assist you to select a suitable cedar tree. Cut it down, cut it into logs of twelve feet, split them up into slabs — trim them with the axe, and lay them down as a floor for your shanty. Next split pieces of wood of any kind into all sizes, and place them firmly between the logs of the walls of your shanty, so as to fill up the openings. There will probably be plenty of lime in your locality — get a bushel or tv/o, make mortar and plaster your walls inside and out. Now whitewash your walls. Next cut down another tree — there are plenty — cut off a log six feet long, split into thin splabs ; trim them well with the axe ; put them together with nails — you will have no nails ? Very well use small wooden pins of elm, ash or oak, and so on with the door. Next take your axe and your knife and make three or four window sashes — fix them into their places, and 19 putty in the glass. You will have no glass ? Very well, ther^ is a store not far away. Go there for all the glass. Never mind the money. Go and ask for the glass and you will get it. Now then, how looks the slianty. It looks pretty well I think, much better than a mud hut any away, and what is more it is your own. Next morning go to the the nearest neighbor who is blessed with a yoke of oxen. Request him to go with you to the store ^^ith ^'is ox-cart for a load of goods. You have no money to hire lae man and ox team? Never mind money now. Request the service and you'll get it, and away for your load. You will find the distributor of wealth a gentleman. He has been expecting you, and almost all you require is ready to lift. One cooking stove, one grindstone, one cross-cut saw, one hand saw, two or three axes, one set of augurs, one barrel of flour, one barrel of oatmeal, one barrel of corn meal, half barrel pork, one gallon molasses, sugar, tea, butter, cheese, fish, soap, and every other little thing a house neeas— tubs, pails, crockery, &c., ,&c. You have told the storekeeper you can't pay for p11 this just now, and his answer is : <' Oh, I know that very well — that will be all right by-and-by." He will tell you likewise that he has just received large orders for cord-wood, shingles and potash, and that he will gladly take any of these articles instead of c^ish, in payment for your purchases. So away you go with your load, get up your cook- ing stove ; your wife will i)e there, and, likely enough, all the dames and lasses for miles around. 80 you may prepare a big feast. You will find your neighbours have not come empty handed. They have all brought something to eat, or to be afterwards useful, such as chairs, boxes, stools, pans, pots, kettles, &c., &c. By the time supper is over the young men begin to drop in by the dozen, and what a house full you have. You soon begin to feel that your house is too small by half, for outside and inside, the sunny side and the shady side of your career, and prospects will be broadly discussed. You will hear the queerest and wildest stories, innocent jests, keen wit, sharp and sparkling retorts, but seldom an oath or II I I 20 improper expression, but all in fun and good nature, sweetest Ronga and gayest laughter, and thus the evening passes quickly away. By and by all depart, wishing you joy and much pro- sperity, and the last word you will hear from one and all is *' Whenever you want any help, let me know.'' And now your life in the bush has fairly commenced, and you lie down for the first time with your family in your own forest home. You arise early for you are anxious to com- mence work. We will suppose it is the first of October, the most pleasant month in the year for work in the woods. You will scarcely feel alone, for the ring of the woodman's axe is heard in all directions for miles away. The lumberer has been over your lot before, or may be on it along with you, cutting down all the i)ines suitable for logs or square timber. You will be glad to see them taken away, for he is leaving more than enough for any useful purpose of yours. The sun is serenely bright; the sky is serenely blue. The forest has put on its most gorgeous and spendid robes. Every tree is rich in all the tints of the rainbow. Peaceful and blessed tranqui- lity pervades all nature. It is our Indian summer, a season of our land w^hich must be seen and felt to be appreciated, but can never be justly described. The tools required for shingle making are an axe and a cross cut saw, a froe, and a draw-knife. Any of your neigh- bours will show you how to begin work. After having learned to turn out a good article, you will find yourself earning two dollars or about eight shillings sterling per day. By the end of the year, should you work with a will, you will liave paid your debts and have a surplus in hand sufficient to supply all your wants for the remainder of the winter. Now that you begin to feel pretty rich, and find that you can swing the axe almost to perfection, we must introduce you to a very different kind of employment. While you have been engaged with your shingles, your young folks have like* 21 wise been busy. They have been cutting and piling up neatly all the underbrush, where you intend to make your first clear- ing. 80 now down wrth the forest. "Woodman spare that tree'' is not for you, so down with the trees; cut them into lengths of twelve or fifteen feet, clearing away the branches and piling them in lu'aj)s. But sto|); allow me to give you a lesson in chopping, you must out higher up ; you cut to low. Here is a stump cut without any skill ; the edge of your cut slopes towards the ground on both sides. Every drop of rain that falls on that stump will run off into the ground. Should you cut them all like that you will only fultil the words of that great and most original thinker, and aspiring prophet, C. R. Shaller, when he says : '' It i^ impossible in a life-time to have a thoroughly clearecl farm.'' Cut high enough to make it convenient to throw the axe flat into the tree, and before the end of the five years, every hardwood stump will have crumbled. By the middle of March, tlie beginning of the sugar- making season, you have been able to cut down eight or ten acres of the great forest. Now then, start your wife and child- ren at sugar-making, a job they will like. All you have to do is to provide a kettle, make troughs to catch the sap, tap the trees, and away to your chopping again. But the first of Ai)ril arrives ; the snow has gone and you find it too hot for chopping hard, so by way of variety, you may try your hand at another kind of work, that will bring in an immediate return of cash, which of course you will prefer to running in debt again. You have seen that there fire some acres of first rate limestone lying on the outskirts of your farm. Your neighbour, the store-keeper has orders for thousands of bushels of lime, which he must ship to several towns and villages by the first steamer of the season. He offers ten cents per bushel, which you will find a good paying price. 80 start to work. Your neighbour with the oxen is not doing much ; get him for a few days to help you. Put together some large log-heaps — making them wide and flat at the top. Build two ox-cart loads of stone on each heap, and set fire to the wood. By the time 22 I youp log-h^ap is.btu*ned, your lime»tono \nll bo turned iuto lime. You may keep at the job till the first of May. You will be making money and clearing your land at the name time. Or you may try your hand at burning charcoal, for which there is a constant demand and a good price. Meantime your wife and children have made a large quantity of sugar, enough to serve the family a year, and a hundreds pounds for sale, which iK readily disposed of at three pence per pound. They may now make some barrels of vinegar. It costs little trouble. Tap the trees; gather the sap, and the sun will accomplish the rest. You will see that there are many ways of making money in the bush. You would do well to purchase some hives of Bees. If you study their habits and take proper care of them, twepty hives would give you about a ton of honey in a season. We will now suppose it to be the first or second week in May. The farmers are well busy in sowing or preparing their ground for seed. The weather has been tine and your bush heaps are all dry, and the old leaves rattling beneath your feet. Choose a favourable day and set fire to your cliop- ping. The fire does its work thoroughly — not a leaf or ( liif) IS left — only a few branches here and there, and the logs ujo charred and black. Now 3'ou will set about logging, (io and try to bire your neighbour with his oxen. He Hatly refuses to tie — says he is too busy with his own work. You olTer him ay money, but no, it is no use 5 money is no object to him just hen. He says he wants men himself and cannot get them to hire. He will assist you, however, on one condition — he will help you to-day, and you must help him to-morrow. You strike '^he bargain at once, and not only with him ; you must make the same bargain with others, and so your work gets aooQmplisb^. Your logs have been all drawn together and piled into largo lieaps. When you set fire to them you must keep at them, night and flay, stirring them up, and kee^^ing the logs together, until all are burned. Vou will tind that every log heap ha« left jt>u fi*om 8 to 10 bushels of ashes. Gather thefle carefully and place th<»m under cover. You will tind when you have time to attend to it, that every 80 bushels c^n be manufactured into Rn article that can bring you $25, or $30. And now your ground is reftdy for the seed and you pre- pare to sow it. No ploughing yet, remember. But here you are met by a ditficulty. You cannot hire a team, for evei^y one is so busy, so you have to buy a yoke of oxen. A yoke of young oxen will cost about one hundred dollars. sk in their your iieath hop- el ii[) s lire and ■;e.s to him just bm to will I You mst gets and You may perhaps arrange to pay part down and the balance in three or four months. Yoi; have as yet no pasture ground, but some one will serve you with pasturage for two or three dollars a month. So now put in your seed — wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, flax and turnips. Plant your potatoes, cx)rn and beans with the hoe. That being done, turn your attention to your ashes and set about potash making. You have to purchase kettles for the purpose. It may be a slack time now with some of your neighbours, and they are "resting on their oars" until hay-harvest. Some one of them will show you how to begin, and before long you will have all your ashes turned into pot ash, and lind yourself a richer man than ever before. You have had no time yet to put up a barn, so this season you will have to stack your grain at first; l)ut you may find time to erect your barn and have all your grain stored in it before winter sets in. There is a universal demand for cord -wood (that is wood r-ii for fuel, sold by the cord) on railroads, steamboat.^, factories, towns and vill; .'Os throughout the country. So, perhaps, during the incoming winter you may cut your timber into cordwood and draw it to the nearest shipping post. You miy clear two or tln-ee hundred dollars by the operation, unless you tliink bettor to reserve the wood for ashes. Now my friend, I have, in imagination, brought you, step by 8te,j, thus far. You have begun your life in the woods of Canada as thousands have 'one before you, and as millions will do after you. You are in possession of what will soon be a first rate firm. You live in a comfortable shanty, which will last until you are able to put up a more comfortable dwelling. Vou still live unuer the protection of '' the flag that has braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze." Your property is secure, and your life is held sacred. You may worship your God according to your conscience, in safety and peace. Your children will receive a free education. They and yourself may aspire to any office of emolument and honour you country may bestow, and the limit of your freedom is the rights of others. When you write to your friends in the old country you will be able to tell them, as I have told mine, timt Cana' "°w thorn rwo„l,l say. Bo not l./,T I"' ""' "«««ti"n--. To yonr country, and your homo I """i ■-'"'''"* "^'V from lodge of the'i,Iaco to whlr;;,!':!.:':-^;''''- ''"^'"-"^"o- -pe;tl'oL.sTo:, %>";:' vroT"""""" '" ^r. .Sh„,,!er. The one hy onof M^^\^ :,X,:^'':ji:?T^;y' i '-'o mett 'leserved. After reirlini. J ,f 'I'l "'i't'''l them as thev a bettor an.l more f „ ,1, t fn vo? "'■,',".""' '^ >'°" "^'' "o^ one. Yon will have loar ed t^'.,?^M " ''I,"' '<■•''"' "' 'viser emigrants from Dnncee wo ^Mi'o? T "'"'''•' '" Canada, «nd belie their conntry wi Lp ni?v vr ^"" *" '"'""'• to your own country, chew ne'}^^?',- , r" "">' "°" '•''t"™ 'rented, confuted and utteriy i^fouS,"* '•'""""'"">'«> co»- will ™.freth^j-r/i;':5,:i'',,-,',-f ■• >- t-^ted. you t.he„. finger, hu.ghing, ^^'^J^'y^ hIpT.' ' """"^ "'""' ''"' mmunica- in future imagine, than life our, there I to die at Clarence Ontario, March ]S73. DAVID GAKDLNER.