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Those too large to be entirely included in one bxposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. ata slure, t t. 3 2X i 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 'tv-v* 1 ""^fW; ? LETTERS v^ ON EMIGRATION TO CANADA: ADDRESSED TO THE VERY REV. PRINCIPAL BAIRD. i By JAMES INCHES. SECOND EDITION. Ill PERTH : PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY C. G. SIDEY. 1836. 1 X. I II r ^■ ■■;!%♦.. \^^o'b CONTENTS. LETTER I. Page. General Observations, 1 LETTER II. Remarks upon Mr. Pickering's Statement, 20 LETTER III. Remarks upon Mr. Fergusson's Statement 7;^ LETTER IV. Continuation of ditto, 80 LETTER V. Continuation of ditto, 132 LETTER VI. Remarks upon " Statistical Sketches, by a Backwoodsman," 147 ' LETTER VII. Remarks upon "Hints on Emigration, by Martin Doyle;" and description of what has to be done by the Settler after the roots become removable, 166 LETTER VIII. Remarks upon the poverty of Upper Canada in general, and Statistical Account thereof, 180 LETTER IX. State in which the Settler is placed even after the roots arc removed, and difficulties which he has even then to en- counter, and which must continue permanent, 1 8G ,<*• .,,»^ ^ v\ f-^ ■■-■ -V . ''im'- ■^ ■ ti^ ^ ■'^■■ \ ■*.. \ ■■'Wf %^ '■^' %, FACTS AGAINST EMIGRATION TO CANADA. LETTER I. TO THE VERY REVEREND PRINCIPAL BAIRD, OF EDINBURGH. , I. / «.« Very Rev. Sir, Upon my arrival lately from North America, when I had the honour of conversing with you on the present state and prospects of that part of the world, and more particularly of the British Provinces, I found that my description of Canada was very much at variance with the generally received opinion of the public at home. That opinion has been formed, of course, upon the information which has been procured, almost altogether, from the many books which have been written, for the last ten years, upon B ~. I » PACTS AGAINST the subject of Emigration to that conntry, and whicfar with very few exceptions, describe Canada as enjoy- ing almost all the blessings which can be desired npon earth, and representing the attainment of such blessings as certain and easily to be procured by those who will make up their minds at once to cross the Atlantic, and escape from — what the writers of these publications are pleased to consider — the great and increasing miseries of Britain. In answer to your enquiries as to the state of Education (the subject upon which you were more particularly interested), I found it to be an easy matter to explain to you the deplorable state of destitution, as I may almost call it, in which the agricultural population of th. British Provinces are placed in that respect. Indeed, I was aware that I could have little difficulty in convincing you upon that point, from your familiarity with the subject of Education in the Highlands. I know well, from experience, that your benevolent disposition had induced you to devote a great part of your long life to the most philanthropic, and, happily for Scotland, the most successful exertions, in promoting the Education, and, of course, the best interests, of a very great portion of the inhabitants of our native EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 8 I i ^ Islands, who, from local circumstances, and other obstacles, hitherto considered insurmountable, were, in a great measure, shut out from the means of procuring Education. Many of them, principally through your un\«'earied application and persever- ance in visiting the recesses of their distant Islands and Mountains, now enjoy those inestimable bene- fits, the want of which is so much felt by every class of settlers in the forests of the West. The British, and more particularly the Scottish Emigrants, are now placed in such circumstances as to make them feel, with the most heartfelt sorrow and bitterness of soul, the loss they have sustained by having abandoned for ever, for themselves and fami- lies, the grand and venerable Institutions of their Native Land, the value of which they never before so fully appreciated as they do now, when, to most of them, those blessings are lost for ever. They now look back with unavailing regret to the hap- pier days, when, whatever was their rank in life, they enjoyed the benefit of Establishments, which, in all their different gradations — from the humblest Parish School to the College and the Cathedral — they now revere more than ever. These benefits are beyond their reach ; for it is altogether impos- ^> I 4 FACTS AGAINST sible that among such a mixed population, composed of people of so many nations, languages, and creeds, scattered thinly and irregularly over a vast extent of country, there can for ages be such an amalgama- tion as to admit of the introduction, to any extent^ of such institutions, which can only be sustained by the unity of interests, and unity of action, of the whole, or nearly the whole, inhabitants of a country. I did not wish to intrude upon your time so far as to go into any particular detail or proof of the grounds upon which, in addition to my own personal experience, during a period of betwixt three and four years in the Provinces, I differ in opinion so much from the great majority of books which have been written upon Canada; but having, however, expressed myself as I did, I feel anxious to justify what I stated to you upon that subject, and, in order to do so, have now taken the liberty of addressing you, giving detailed statements upon several points upon which I diifer so much from the opinion of many who have read and written upon the subject, but have not investigated the matter so minutely as a subject of such grave importance required. In order to enable me to justify myself in express- ing opinions so very different from those of almost 4^ I I w^ EMIGRATION TO CANADA. O «very author who has hitherto written upon the sub- ject of Agricultural Emigration to Canada, I find myself under the very disagreeable necessity of un- dertaking the ungracious task of investigating mi- nutely the statements given by former writers, and of proving that they are generally very erroneous, and, in some instances, extremely fallacious. This mode of treating the subject may appear to be officious, and, I fear, will be considered to be, at the least, gratuitous; but I find it indispensably ne- cessary, in order to remove impressions which have been made on the minds of many of my acquaint- ances by the frequent repetition of assertions of an exactly similar nature, and also to prepare tbs reader for my own counter-statement, by disproving the most important statements of those who have written so very favourably on Emigration to Canada, there- by shewing bow very little dependence can be placed upon those publications ; and I trust that the proofs brought forward by me will more than justify my assertion, that matters are not at all going on in Canada as is represented. I am aware. Reverend Sir, that many of these publications will have very little weight with you, whose mature judgment cannot in any degree be b2 6 FACTS AGAINST rJsIed by the misrepreseniations of persons who write merely to serve a particalar private purpose, and wbicb, if carefully investigated, generally con- tain certain internal evidence of their having been written as advertisements ; or the still more hurtful writings of visionaries, who, in their enthusiasm, reckon as nothing, difficulties which are insuperable, and disadvantages of climate which are unalterable. Some of these authors, indeed, have written on the subject without having ever even been a winter in the country, and their publications been aided in their operation by periodical journals, some of which have compromised (assuredly for some very powerful reasons) that duty to the public which they bad pledged themselves to abide by. These have been the means of seducing many respectable fami- lies from their happy homes in Britain, to encounter difficulties, as agriculturists, much greater than are ever experienced at home even by the hiird-working labourer who is employed in the first stage of cultivation to prepare the stubborn and rough soil for its iiTst seed, and draining the fields to make them fit for aration. Even in this country — where all the necessary appliances for that purpose are so much more easily 1 ♦ ' EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 7 procured than they can be, under any circumstances, in detached settlements, scattered among intermin- able forests — the whole expenses of clearing land, and preparing it for profitable aration, is seldom re- paid during the lifetime of the improver. How much greater, then, must that difficulty be in Canada, where the prices of produce, and the quantity pro- duced in proportion to the extent of si^rface, is not half what it is in Britain, and where the price of labour is so high, in proportion to the price of pro- duce, that the Emigrant who carries out money with him, if he hires others, is very quickly reduced to the state of the common labourer ? Indeed, he is much worse off, for the sacrifices which he has to make cause him to feel the more ; and be must la- bour to earn a hard living, not only '^ by the sweat of his brow^' in summer, but also by constant toil, and many long journeys by day and night, in the deep snows of a long and dreary winter, suffering, in innumerable shapes, under a severity of cold altogether inconceivable to a person who has never been out of this country, the thermometer being often upwards of 30 deg. below zero. To those who have only to drive about in the middle of the day for pleasure, muffled up to the ♦ ' mmm ■ 8 PACTS AGAINST nose in furs, sleighing is, indeed, very pleasant ; but to the agriculturist who has to drive bis produce 50, 00, or 80 miles, travelling night and day through deep snows with the same wearied horses, — or if, like the great majority of the settlers, he has not been able to keep even one horse, and thus has to drive oxen, — the conveying of produce to market is attended with a degree of misery, and a duration of suffering, totally unknown in Britain to any set of men. That is a department of the work of a Canadian farmer which has to be done altogether by himself; for although — if he has money — he may probably get some kind of labourers to perform other work, yet he never gets any to whom he can either commit the management of his business at market, or even intrust such a distance with his cattle. Were a per- son to raise as much produce for sale as some late authors assert, be would not be able, in the course of a whole winter, to convey it to market, although he kept his cattle constantly on the road, and him- self go along with them. But, indeed, they have little to take: and melancholy is the situation of many a man who used, at home, to come to town on the market-day to receive a large payment for pro- i "I 4- •i.-i> I EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 9 "I dace delivered in the course of the week by his family or hired meU) when he now has to sabmit to to the setting out a distance of 70 or 80 miles with a sled-load of beef — probably a couple of c ircasses — for which, if he has sold the whole (as in general settlers are forced by their necessities to do), he will receive, in ailj about seven pounds sterlinqr, after having fed the cattle with hay seven months in the year for at least three years. One penny three farthings and twopence currency per lb. is the ge- neral price daring the winter, at which time only those who are not in the immediate vicinity of a town can take their produce to market. It is, in- deed, altogether impossible for an agriculturist ever to have any money in Canada, after the money which he has taken out with him is gone. He is proprie- tor of the soil, indeed ; but, along with the soil, he inherits all the disadvantages of the country — of cir- cumstances— of situation — and of climate. This is all so very unfavourable to the agriculturist, that it is not possible to make any money. Indeed, I have known more money made by the tenant of one of your upland farms on the Estate cf Forneth (I refer to Mr. John Pennycook, afterwards proprietor of Soilerie), than I have heard of having been made in A 'iflG, 10 FACTS AGAINST 1.^* . >"•>■ fanning by any ten agriculturists in British America, even among those who got the choice of the best lands on the first settlement of the country. AH that an agriculturist can expect to do in Ca- nada— even although he has a capital to begin with — is to make a living by bis labour. If he attempt to grasp at profits by extending his speculation, and thereby involve himself in the necessity of always looking out for, and depending npon, hired labour, he must lose his capital. If that is not very consi- derable he must soon get into debt, if he perseveres in his attempt to cultivate much land ; and if he get into debt he will soon lose his farm, or hold it merely at the will, and altogether for the benefit, of the storekeeper. I propose, in the subsequent Letters, which you have had the goodness to allow me to address to you. First, To investigate, to make remarks upon, and, I trust, to demonstrate, the erroneousness of, the statements made by some of those Authors whose works have been most confided in, in coiu^equence of their being highly recommended in othw publi- cations confined almos* exclusively to agricultural *^ •. ^««^ i %i .<>» '.>?.. ^*.' EMIGRATION TO CANADA. II objects, and to some of which statements almost implicit confidence has been given without much examination, in consequence of the very great re- spectability of the writers. '¥ Secondly, I shall give a description of the nature of the work to be done in " clearing" the land, even so far as to enable the cultivator to get possession of the soil in its original state, disencumbered of the woods, without attaining which it cannot be said to be at all in a cultivable state : premising, however, that the word " cleared," as used ;n Canadian phra- seology, is applied indiscriminately to all lands from which the 'ipper part of the tree has been cut and burnt, even although the enormous root, with four or five feet in height of the bole of the tree, still re- mains in the ground ; and this word, as used by almost all writers upon Canada in this country, is altogether deceptive when used, as it very generally is, as although it had the same meaning as if the lands were really in a state fit for being cultivated by plough and harrow, and the fields properly pre- pared for regular aration and a rotation of crops. Thirdly, I shall insert a Statistical Account of ■► 12 FACTS AGAINST Upper Canada, according to the latest census pub- lished in 1835, with an official ^ ccount of the Value of the whole Individual Property of the Province. From this statement I think it must appear very evident that the Province, as a whole, is in a state of the most miserable poverty to which any country, wholly agricultural, has ever been reduced, and more particularly to have been unlooked for, considering the immense extent to which Emigration was, for some time, carried on, and the great sums, both public and private, which have been absorbed in the country. And, Fourthly i I shall treat of the prospects which the agriculturist will have of future advantages to be attained when he may have accomplished at last the object of his ambition, by becoming proprietor of a farm '' cleared,'^ as it is understood in the proper acceptation of the word at home. The dreadful state of poverty in which Canada is now placed, is, in a considerable degree, owing to the constantly recurring practice of the newly-arrived Emigrant, who has money, laying it all out at once, in the expectation of realizing, as early as possible. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 13 the great profits which he has been led to expect will arise from the outlay of the funus which he has brought with him, and which he lays out for the improvement of the land, not doubting* that by doing so he still retains his capital, and that, as at home, that capital at least is secure, a valuable property for himself and family. The reverse is the case. The high price of labour — the uncertainty of even procuring labourers vvhen he require? them — the very small quantity of produce — the difficulty of getting his grain manufactured and carried to mar- ket—the miserably low price which the storekeeper can afford to allow for it — and the mode of payment (which, with very few exceptions, is in barter, the goods at all times to be taken at the price which the storekeepers think proper to charge them at) — soon make him feel the difference between Canada and his now wished-for home. The effects con- sequent upon that practice of at once laying out the money at command, although well meant, are ruinous and almost uniform. The proprietor has to apply to the storekeeper — disappointment in not getting adequate returns is almost invariably the case — the account increases — the storekeeper gets a mortgage on the property (if the purchaser has c i u PACTS AGAINST got the titles to it), and be may, from that moment^ be considered tbe proprietor: indeed, the store- keepers, or those to whom they, in their turn, have had to transfer the mortgages, are in reality the holders of the greater part of all the cleared lands occupied by British Settlers in Canada, — and many of these properties, upon which a great deal of money and a great deal of labour have been expend- ed, are now of little more value, as a marketable commodity, than the original cost of the paper upon which the mortgages are written. Their value is merely nominal. Indeed, of what value can lands be in a country in which, according to Mr. Picker- ing's own account, as stated in page 67, " three parts (of course three-fourths) of the houses are empty, the inhabitants having 'cleared ouf '? The settlement of Canada with profit or advantage, in any respect, to Agricultural Emigrants from Great Britain, is not only as yet a mere experiment, but an experiment which every day's better acquaintance with the subject, and a more extended knowledge of the true state of the country, shows is by no means likely to succeed. The public at large now begin to see the fallacy of the great proportion of the books which have been published upon Canada, and r EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 15 to know thai the great majority of them have been written merely to serve the purposes of the Stock Exchange, and the interests of private individuals, who, by various means, have become owners of lands in Canada. These publications were so industri- ously and so successfully disseminated, and had for a moment such an eifect upon the minds of many, that an immense influx of Emigrants rushed into Canada, and immediate advantage was taken of that circumstance, by a combination of the parties who had most influence and controul over the prices and disposal of the lands, to effect a rise in price for their own immediate benefit That was effected to a certain extent, but it has been very partial — very limited, indeed, in operation, and, it may be said, very transitory. Few actual sales, comparatively :»peaking, have been made, and much fewer pay- ments; the reduction in the emigration has alto- gether prevented that demand for land which was anticipated ; and thousands would gladly dispose of their property if they could get it done, for they have now found that the laying out of their money there has been ruinous ; that they have not only had all their prospects of plenty, comfort, and permanent success, completely blasted^ but that their capital is 16 FACTS AGAINST i 11 \, gone, and that the property which they hold i*» neither productive nor saleable. Such being the state of Upper Canada, even while the settlers have had (as is alleged in the publications of the day) a ready market, and while grain bore such a price as admitted of its being sent by the merchants to England, — what are to be the conse- quences now, when grain is cheaper in Britain than it can possibly be raised tit in Canada ? It is impos- sible that Upper Canada, completely isolated, and at such an immense distance from the ocean, can ever become able to afford the enormous expense of transport. Wheat is almost the only article of produce which Canada can export, excepting Tim- ber and Furs, — for the small quantity of Ashes ex- ported, and which is almost altogether received from the United States adjacent, is not worth taking into account, — and the present price of wheat is so low in Britain, that, if imported, it would bring very little more than the expense of freight and charges. Indeed, of the grain and flour imported into Bri- tain from Canada, a small part only is the produce of British America. Until the year 1 835, the greater part both of the flour and wheat exported was the produce of the United States ; but the prices of these EMIGRATION TO CANADA. n articles have been higher in the States since sprinj^ 1835, and of course there has not been much Staten flour sold in Canada ; but wheat imported from the continent of Europe to Britain, and then taken out of bond free of duty, is sent out to Lower Canada and converted into flour, and then imported into Britain duty free, as if Canadian flour ; and wheat from Archangel is sold cheaper in the markets of Lower Canada than the growers in Canada can sup'^ ply it at. Canada as a whole, indeed, labours under so many disadvantages, that although every publication which is sent abroad, with the \iew of alluring farmers to emigrate, mentions pork among the articles which may be fed and exported to other countries with great advantage, yet Canada cannot even supply it- self; and not only is there much pork imported from the States, both live and salted, but great quantities even of Irish provisions are constantly required throughout nearly the whole extent of the British North American Provinces, without which the inha- bitants could not exist ; and as soon as any consider- able alteration takes place in the timber duties — at least to such an extent as to check the timber trade — the Cauadas will have nothing to pay for importsi c2 i v<',^>ir*wpvmi^iw<^^Vi^w^««R 1.1 I "i.i^pi ■ ur most obedient Servant, JAMES INCHES, ■I,X,J „ ■snwn ^iP 20 FACTS AGAINST LETTER II. k Agreeably to the arrangement which I proposed in juotter First, I now proceed to prove the erro- neousnesb of different very specious and flattering accounts which have been brought before the public relative to Canada, ail of the same tendency, an'^ from which those who read them cursorily are led to believe that there is a great facility of making money by farming in that country ; and I will begin with Mr. Pickering. I take this book first; as I found, in America, that it bad been much confided in by many Emigrants, ;n consequence of its having been highly recom- mended by several reviewers in this country, parti- cularly by the Farmer''s Journal, at one time on the first appearance of the book, and again on the 23d April, 1834, on its having reached a^ird edition. It has also been highly spoken of in the Edinburgh Evening Post, which recommends it to Emigrants as a very proper book to take with them as a vcde mecum. f tttmtttkm EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 2] Mr. Pickering, after a residence of nearly six years in the States and Canada, from which he re- turned in 1829, writes from London very favourably of Emigration to Canada; and gives, as the result of his experience, a statement calculated to inspire every one who reads it with the hope of getting rich very quickly. How far his description is correct, may be j' Iged of by a strict inquiry as to the data upon which he has made bis calculations. He gives a particular statement of the mode of management by which money may be made so very rapidly ; and I now extract the sti.tement, in order to prove how very far he is in error, and to shew to what very diiferent results such an adventure must lead. Extract from Mr. Pickering'' s Book, entitled, "Inqui- ries OF AN Emigrant. By Joseph Pickering." " I have sometimes h(?ard it asserted in this coun- try, that a farm cannot he cultivated to a profit in America if the whole labour be hired, which I am confident is erroneous. That some are not, from the way they are managed, I readily admit; but that, while under judicious raanagement, they cannot be. 7^ ms 22 FACTS AGAINST my little experience convinces me of the contrary. To make it intelligible, I will state the whole hired expenses, and the value of the produce of a small farm for a year ; and if it can be proved that a pro- fit, however small, may be made on the cultivation of seventy acres only of cleared land, when the labour is all hired, it will appear evident, that a worthy farmer, and two or three sons, doing all, or only part of, this work, must be improving his cir- cumstances, and that a larger farm may be managed to a proportionate profit. A farm of good land can be purchased on or about Talbot Street, or almost any where in the Western part of the Province, and the back settlements of the Middle Parts, at from 21 dollars (lis. 3d.) to 5 dollars (22s. 6d.) per acre; and at but '^ moderate advance, exclusive of build- ings, according to situation, &c. in any part of the Province. I have calculated the statement in dol- lars at 4s. 6d. sterling. " A Farm of 200 acres, 70 cleared ; with a good log or small frame house or barn, and a young or- chard, &c. — 200 acres, say at 4 dollars, or 18s. per acre— 800 dollars, or £180; 100 dollars, £22 : lOs. ps'd down, as pari: of the purchase, and £22 : 10s. yearly, and interest, until the remainder is paid. A EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 23 person may, with .£200, settle very comfortably on such a farm, and cover all necessary outgoings, and the following items would be required : Dolls. " As Stock, &c. — ^Two yoke of oxen, one well broken to the yoke, 45 dollars ; one yoke of steers, unbroken, 35 dollars, 80 Three ox chains, 12 dollars; two yokes, 3 dollars; sled, 5 dollars, 20 A horse (or brood mare) to ride, go to mill, plough between potatoes, corn, &c 50 lAc \t Jersey Waggon, second-hand (a new one would be 65 dollars), with spring seat, both for pleasure and profit, 50 dollars ; harness, 10 dollars ; saddle, 13 dollars, 75 Two ploughs, 18 dollars; harrows, 6 dollars; two axes, 5 dollars ; hoes, &c. 3 dollars, 32 Six cows at 15 dollars ; 6 calves and heifer at 5 dollars, .... 120 Two sows, 6 dollars ; thirty store pigs at 1 dollar each, .... 36 Twenty sheep at If dollars each, 25 Geese, fowls, &c 5 Household Furniture : Three beds and bedding, 50 dollars ; tables, 10 dollars; crockery, 10 dollars; pots and kettles, 10 dollars ; clock, 1 5 dollars ; common chairs, f dollar each ; painted Windsor ones, 1 to 2 dollars each, 10 dollars, .... 117 The first deposit toward payment of farm, 100 Total,.. 660 " ONE year's outgoings AND EXPENSES. " Girdling 10 acres of woods, clearing out the underbrush and fern, 5 dollars per acre, 50 Seed wheat for the same (if bushels per acre) at f dollar per ' bushel, 9 Sowing and harrowing of ditto, 5 Ten acres of wheat, sown after pease ; ploughing, 2 dollars per acre, 20 Seed as above, 9 dollars ; sowing and harrowing, 5 dollars, 14 24 FACTS AGAINST Cradling and binding the 20 acres, at 1^ dollars per acre, . . 30 Carting and stacking, 23 Thrashing and stacking 360 bushels at one-tenth dollar, .... 27 Suppose 10 acres sown with clover seed the year before along with oats, at 7 tb per acre (often only 3 or 4 ft per acre sown), 8 Mowing first crop eai'ly clover for hay, ^ dollar per acre ; get- ting together, 1 dollar (it wanting no making) ; and haul- ing together, 1^ dollars, 35 Mowing the second crop for seed, 35 Thrashing the seed, 2 bushels produce per acre, at 1 dollar, 20 Ten acres ploughed for pease, 2 dollars per acre (often done for 1§ dollars) ; seed for ditto, 3 bushels (generally 2), at half- a-doUar per bushel, 35 Sowing and harrowing, 5 dollars ; thrashing 50 bush. 3 dollars, S The remainder, 150 bushels, give to hogs in straw, unthrash- ed, if the straw be not good for sheep and cattle (i.e. not got well) ; but if good, I would recommend it being given to the sheep, lightly thrashed, as the very best food to be had for them, and which they are very fond of. Four acres of oats for calves, sheep, milch cows, and horses, the seed, 3 bushels per acre, at f dollar per bushel, 3 dol- lars ; ploughing, &c. 10 dollars, 1 :j Eight acres in Timothy or other grass for hay, mowing and stacking as for clover, 24 Six acres corn, ploughing twice, 18 dollars ; planting and har- rowing, 4 dollars ; two hoeings, 9 dollars ; ploughing be- tween the rows, 2 dollars ; husking, &c. 12 dollars ; haul- ing, thrashing, and seed, 10 dollars, 65 Twelve acres in sheep pasture, two acres for potatoes, cab- bages, turnips, and other vegetables, for house (chiefly), sheep, calves, &c. ; hiring a stout boy at 5 dollars per month, and board for a year, to attend cattle, milk the cows, &c. 100 To the above expenses maybe added one year's interest of the purchase money yet unpaid, 6 per cent, on 700 dollars,. ... 42 Total,. . 563 'd^ "-\ •if. '* 30 23 27 35 35 20 35 S A-. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 25 , " PRODUCE OF THE SEVENTY ACRES. Dols. *' Twenty acres of wheat, 18 bushels per acre (sometimes 30), . at f dollar per bushel, 270 Teu acres of clover seed, at 2 bushels per act-e, and 7 dollars per bushel, 140 Six acres of Indian corn, 25 bushels per acre — 150 bushels at i dollar, 75 Thirty store pigs,* for f^ttenin^ next season, 30 Thirty fat hogs, weighing at least 200 lbs. each (or 1 barrel) — 30 barrels at 12 dollars per barrel, 360 Six cows, butter and cheese for summer, 60 A yoke of fat oxen, 60 dollars (besides a cow or two killed for the house), 60 Twenty lambs, 20 dollars — 20 fleeces, 20 dollars, 40 Geese, feathers, eggs, fowls, &c 10 One year's farm produce, 1045 Ditto expenses, 563 Surplus dollars, 482 "With the beef and vegetables allowed above, 282 dollars will keep a family of four or five persons during the year, leaving a clear profit of 200 dollars or £45 f besides the improvement of the farm ; and if hemp or tobacco were made part of the produc- tions, the profits probably would be larger. " No one that is well acquainted with Canada << «• Five bushels of Indian corn or pease will fatten a fresh store hog, or keep one through the winter. They get their living in the woods or pastures during summer, also during the winter when nuts are plentiful, which generally happens three years out of five." 26^ FACTS AGAINST i; i i', Mi W ■■ V I will, I think, say that I have made a partial state-^ menf. Some may think I have stated the number of fat hogs, on so small a farm, in one season, too high, as there are but a very few farmers who fatten so many. I allow there are not many ; yet as there are some that do, and as I have all owed sufficient grain for the purpose, if there be any nuts at all in the woods, that objection, of course, falls to the ground." I object almost wholly to the truth of this state- ment ; and now submit the following remarks, being original outlay for property, Ac. In order to abridge as much as possible my re- marks, I will agree with his statement in every instance in which I consider it not to be so very erroneous, and his inaccuracy so very glaring, as to be easily detected by the most superficial observer, if acquainted with agriculture and the keeping of stock, in any country. REMARKS UPON Mr. PICKERING'S FIRST ACCOUNT OF CHARGES. I will, therefore, commence with the first outlay, as summed up by him in p. 164, in dollars, . . . .660 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. Hi Brought forward, 660 Adding, however, the following items, which are indispensably necessary for the carrying of the crop, and taking the produce of the farm to market; also, carriages and implements required for daily use, which have been altogether omitted in his statement. Ox Cart. — It is altogether impossible to carry home the quantity of crop to be raised upon a farm of such extent, and to carry the produce to market, without a cart ; and it will be seen that a cart was actually in use (p. 166). It is, therefore, very extraordinary, that while the author did not forget a " light Jersey waggon" for pleasure and profit, and also a riding saddle, he forgot the cart for the general purposes of the farm, 50 Sled — For travelling on the snow, 12 Utensils and Tools indispensably necessary al- together omitted. — Spades, shovels, dung forks, hay forks, plough chains, implements for clean- ing grain when thrashed, even without fanners, bags, horse cloth, ropes for carts and for fasten- \^<" Carried forward, 722 28 FACTS AGAINST Ui ■ Brought forward, 722 ing horses, &c. auger, hand-saw, adze, pick-axe, hammer, shingle axe, nails, gimblets, iron wedges, bill hooks for underbrushing, grind- stone, file, scytbeS) stones, sickles, sneds, wheel- barrow, roller, and many other little articles re- quired in common use, 45 In the description of the farm given in p. 163, he states the building to be " a good log-house, or small frame-house or barn," that is, one build- ing. Now, although the former occupant may have been satisfied with this building, yet, when so much stock has to be accommodated, another building is immediately wanted as stable and cow- house, and barn for hay and grain. It cannot be ascertained, from the author^s book, what the cost of such other building may be ; but, on re- ferring to Mr. Fergusson's " Notes during a Se- cond Visit to Canada, in 1833," it will be found (p. 37) that a log-house or barn for a farm of the same extent as this (200 acres), will cost £50 currency, 200 Total of original outlay, 967 \ ' 'Y*''^,?*:^N-'"'''-r*-" EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 29 SECOND ACCOUNT OF CHARGES, BEING ONE YEAR'S OUTGOINGS AND EXPENSES, AFFECTING THE FIRST CROP ONLY. This Account of Charges is that which includes the outlay for all necessary labour to be done in the course of the year, and that year the first year. The author, like most other writers on this sub- ject, takes a very summary way of managing his farm. He does it by contract,* or rather by calcu- ^ lation. He stands by looking on for a few months in the fine season, until the forest disappears, and he has only to drive the golden grain to market in the " light Jersey waggon, with a spring seat," which, in the account of purchases, he has been so careful to provide for "pleasure or profit;" or, at a late period of the season, when the roads have become * Mr. Pickering, in the preamble to his statement, calls it "hiring;" but as his whole narrative proves that people cannot be got to hire at the time particularly wanted, a regular contract must be supposed to be entered into ; and I have applied this word as it has been made use of by others who have made similar state- ments, and who — in order at once to convert wild forest laud into cultivated fields, grasp at imaginary crops, and make short state- ments of cost and proceeds — have assumed that all these operations may be performed in the almost uninhabited deserts, with as much exactness as if the employer was surrounded by competitors for the job, in a densely peopled district of Scotland. d2 30 PACTS AGAINST really practicable by the falling of snow, he will have the pleasure of driving the grain, and his thirty bar- rels of pork, to market, along with his butter, cheese, poultry, wool, feathers, &c. in this, as he says in p. 77, "the most lively part of the year, when sleighing is universal, for business or pleasure, from one end of the province to the other," — " when (as he says in the same page) with warm clothing, a fur cap, and a bear or buffalo's skin over the back and feet, it is a very pleasant and very easy way of travelling, enlivened by the numerous sleighs, and the jingling of bells which the horses are retjuired to wear. In this season many of the Canadians have quite a mi- litary appearance." This is what our iiuthor, like many other writers on Canada, seems to dream of, and delight to dwell upon, in writing an account of his travels; taking care, however, to devote a portion of the journal for game, shooting, fishing, and getting up a comfort- able boase, to keep off the rigours of a Canadian winter, in a " frolic," in the course of a forenoon, at the expense of a few gallons of whisky. With these subjects it is a very easy matter to fill up any number of pages ; and too often the unsus- picious and uncautious reader is excited, by the f- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 31 sed active descriptions, to wish to join in such n joy- ous and hospitable party, who seem to drive so plea- santly to happiness and wealth, and to step so very easily into the possession of an Estate — for that has now become the word in universal use in these pub- lications, as applied to every purchase of land in Canada, whether the purchaser is a capitalist, or whatever may be his circumstances, down to that of the poor Irish labourer, who goes out almost with- out clothes to cover his nakedness, but who may, by some means, easily attain a piece of forest land, upon which to raise potatoes for bis starving family, and furnish fuel to keep them from perishing, from the dreadful severity of the winter. However copious the author may be in giving an account of the many instances in which he met with ease, plenty, and bright prospects, yet when he comes to speak of the clearing of the forest, and making a cultivated farm, with snug houses and barns, be takes a short, easy, and expeditious way of doing it. He does it by contract. He conceives himself to be all-powerful from the circumstance of his having a little money in his pocket to begin with, and that merely by his making his appearance in this new character, he is to arrive very easily at the desired i i' I IVZ PACTS AGAINST object — hifi procuring a great quantity of disposable produce to take to market >• and as he is frightened at the roughness of the concern himself, he hires con- tractors to do the Work, calculates what it may be done for, and now gives, in this statement, the result of his lucubrations. He purchases a partially cleared farm in a wilderness — buys stock for labour, and to make money by the sale of their produce — raises a valuable crop — sells pork, lambs, and fat oxen ; in short, an immense quantity of pioduce of all kinds — improves his farm — lives well, as he himself states in p. 1()6 — and has enriched himself to the extent of 200 bard dollars, which he has in his pocket, after paying all expenses of outlay; and all this besides the value of his improvements at the expiry even of the first year. This is, indeed, excellent; but to any person who really has an interest in the subject, it is necessary to investigate the matter more closely, and to exa- mine whether or not it is really so, and whether, by this easy method of making contracts, all this money may be made so quickly in Canada. In a highly-cultivated and densely-peopled coun- try, where a complete establishment of men and horses, and of every implement of husbandry, is kept. V EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 38 or, if not kept, is to be procured for hire, with a facility of procuring, upon a few hours' notice, as- sistance to any extent required, however short the time may be for which that assistance is wanted, — and, at the very season in which additional work has to be done, where any number can be got of agri- cultural labourers, trained from their infancy to every operation which has to be performed on a farm, from the first breaking up of the land, to the sending oif of the various produce, prepared, in the most complete state, for a distant market, — where the services of excellent tradesmen are to be had in the immediate neighbourhood, for making, repair- ing, and keeping in proper working ordtr, the many implements required, and for shoeing th3 cattle em- ployed,— and where the finest roads that caii possibly be made, at any expense, are kept in a complete state of repair for facilitating the transport of pro- duce to market, — husbandry is reduced to such a complete system, that a very near approximation may be made to the amount of expenses of the com- mon operations of ploughing, harrowing, reaping, thrashing, and carrying to market, which is generally within a few miles of the farm. But in such a case as that now under consideration, the absurdity of ^ 'M FACTS AGAINST applying such calculations and estimates will appeal evident j any person who will reflect, for a mo- ment, on the different circumstances under which the British agriculturist is placed, when he leaves his long-cultivated and smooth fields of h^yme, to " make a farm'' in the wilderness of Canada. He is p.t once not only deprived of all those as- sistpits and resources which he had at home, and to which, from early and habitual use, he had been ac- customed to apply upon all occasions, but he is among strange people of many nations, without whose assistance, and even without whose direction, he is altogether unable to perform operations so different from what he had ever been accustomed to before. If in a thinly inhabited part of the country, he finds himself completely in a desert — in a wilder ness, which, for a while, strikes him with awe. What is called a farm is in such a state of roughness, that to make the fields fit even for receiving the , 2ed seems aiiiiost hopeless. He must, fcow^iver, sei to work ; but even this he cannot do withcui obsjrving how others get such vork done : he must ask of his neighbours — he must procure their assistance — he must, in a great measu''e, conform to their habi*s — and he must repay that assistance with his own la- bol tar an( arri EMIGRATION TO CANADA. .35 bour, at such time as called for, or at whatever dis- tance,— a paymeiit which is lightly spoken of as another "frolic," but which is ruinous to bis own arran^roments. Upon every farm, whether it is what is called a cleared farm or not, an operation which has to be performed at all seasons, and which occupies all the time which can be spared from the more urgent matters, is tne clearing away of immense trees. Many persons, when they read at home in the publications, or rather advertisements, about Canada (in which this operation is always glossed over as a very light matter), consider it to be very easily done. They say — " Oh ! it is only cutting down a parcel of trees and putting fire to them !" Very different, indeed, is the case when ; has to be set about on the spot. Not only unaccustomed to wield the axe, but not 3ven able to "leep it in proper order without considerable practice, the Emigrant finds he has to cut down the majestic giants of the forest, which have withstood the storms and flourished for ages, until they have attained a growth and strength which makes it no easy mait'^r to overcome, and of which, even when they have been levelled, it is no easy matter to clear away the very wreck. Indeed, if 36 FACTS AGAINST although the trunk and branches have been at last destroyed with fire, before even a partial benefit can be derived from the ground, yet the roots, even when the young shoots are destroyed annually, and them- selves much decayed, are of such immense size, that in many cases the clearance (a partially cleared farm) has been abandoned without their ever having been removed. Of all the lands which have been " clear- ed ■■' (as it is erroneously expressed) in British Ame- rica for the last twenty years, not one-tenth part has been brought into a state of regular aratif '^ The clearance of the forest, therefore, is a most Hercule.in labour, and will never be spoken of lightly by any person who has ever wrought at it or seen the work done, and will without partiality write upon the subject. The getting of land brought into a state fit for proper and productive aration by contract is altogether chimerical. Bargains are frequently made by labourers — generally strangers, who are told that by contracting at the price offered they will make good wages — to cut down, fence, and burn a certain number of acres ; but although this bargain is made, it is very seldom fulfilled. The labourers have, in the meantime, to be supplied with provisions, to be accounted for out of the sum to be I EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 37 allowed for the work when finished — they soon find that they have been overreached — will work no longer at it — and it ends in disappointment to both parties. The work is scarcely ever finished. Even where a bargain is made, it is only the manual la- bour which has to be done by the person who con- tracts to do it. It is not to be supposed that the labourer is to h'.re either cattle to assist in dragging- the logs to the heap, or tools to work with. All these have to be provided by the owner of the land, who has also to provide for the wants of the labourer while he works. The owner, therefore, has to keep up the same establishment of stock, and supplies of provisions, as if he had really hired men by the month or by the year. He must provide oxen to drag the trunks to the heaps, which have to be made up very carefully, for unless they are carefully made there will not be a sufficient heat to consume the thick logs, many of them being from 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The great weight of the logs makes it necessary to have a number of men and a yoke of oxen at least, for without a combination of power it cannot be done. A great many of these logs, when half consumed, are left unburnt for want of smaller wood, and have afterwards to De collected .\\ B =•! V I f 38 FACTS AGAINST and burnt in new heaps. Altogether, it is a work, although of daily practice, yet very laborious and very tedious, the getting of it effected to any extent against a particular time being very precarious, de- pending much upon the state of the weather, and whether, from the more important operations of the season as to seed-time and harvest, you can get it attended to, either by hired labourers of your own, or those with whom you have engaged to have it . '-e on contract. It is, however, unnecessary to say any thing further on the subject of the author's making the supposi- tion that his work, in every different department, may be got done at a certain specified rate, as if he were at home in Britain. His own writings fu^^nish sufficient proof of the fallacy of such a calculation, and to it I will refer. In page 66 of his " Inquiries," he says — " it has been said that, in America, if you want any thing done, you must do it yourself, which, generally, is true, as you cannot always hire others. This is peculiarly the case in new settled states, where every one can get land for himself. This is the reason customs differ from those in England. If you want grist ground, you must take it in your waggon or SI a< I EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 39 sleigh to the mill, and even into the mill, and out again when ground. The same at distilleries and stores. Goods are seldom delivered even at the door; every person in business acts as if conferring a favour." At page 71, he says (while he was himself in Col. Talbot's employ), under date I6th August — " Rain all day, with the wheat and oats in the field yet, for want of hands.'''* Page 113, he says — "Some farmers have 1200 to 1400 bushels wheat in a year, but few hands besides their own families. Indeed, they are not to be pro- cured, as nobody in the country works out much: they nearly all have land of their own." Having given, then, these three extracts from his own writings, to shew that men cannot be got to hire when wanted, I shall say no more on the sub- ject, as I presume that these, being made in refer- ence to the very part of the country in which he then was, will be considered sufficient to prove that the work of the farms — I mean as to the regular culti- vation of them and management of the produce, so far as extra labour has to be procured — must be done by people hired by the month or year, and under such circumstances as to make it impossible ' I 40 FACTS AGAINST I t to make any calculation of the expense of any par- ticular operation, founded on the basis of the rate at which that part of the labour could be done at home. The consideration, therefore, in making an estimate of the probable expense to which a person will be subjected in getting a farm cultivated, and the different operations performed in the season, is to examine carefully with how few hands it is pos- sible to get the work done. Mr. Pickering does not say at what time he pro- poses entering upon bis farm ; but as he supposes a case in which he has to perform the whole labour of the farm, as to ploughing, &c. and also to take the crop to market (which can only be done in the win- ter), the entry must be as early as possible ; and the only period by entering at which it will be possible for him to get all this accomplished, is to suppose it to be the 1st of March, so as to admit of his taking possession, and getting stock, and every thing upon the place, in time to be ready for the first of the season. He has stated in his book, p. 66, as I have before quoted, "if you want any thing done, you must do it yourself:" it will, therefore, be necessary to go about, purchase, and carry home, the house- hold furniture, implements, &c. ; and as it appears t- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 41 by the statement that much live stock has been pur- chased, and will be required from the first starting:, it will be necessary at once to provide food for them as early as possible, in order to guard against the inconvenience of being interrupted after the plough- ing has commenced, as the season is so very short. It is no easy matter in the spring to procure hay, as all which was intended to be sold has been sent off during the good going.* It, however, must be got ; and, according to the custom of the country, you must go to purchase it and carry it home. By the statement made, there have been purchased four working cattle, one horse, and six cows, which must be kept in good condition, — the oxen and horse for constant work, and the cows to enable the owner to make up the sixty dollars' worth of butter and cheese which he has determined to sell in course of the season. There are also 20 breeding ewes. These will require a great quantity of hay and some corn. It is stated in p. 84, under date 6th May, that "grass grows but little, cattle live hard, working oxen eat much corn, sheep done lambing." Now, the milk- cows, and the sheep at lambing, must have a little I I * This is the term used to express the state of the road as to the practicability of travelling oa the suow. e2 '^.. ^^ mmm m It 42 FACTS AGAINST corn ; and having one horse, 10 cattle, and 20 sheep, to keep from 1st March to 1st June, and also having 32 swine purchased, it will require 15 to 16 tons of hay — but say only 12 tons — and 40 bushels of corn. This has been altogether overlooked in the state- ment, no provision whatever having been made for the stock. It is now necessary to consider what work has to be done upon the farm, in ploughing, sowing, and planting, and what length of season there is to get that work done in. I shall, as in other points, refer to Mr. Pickering's own experience in this matter ; and iind that, at p. 80, under date 8th April, he says — " this week has been party wet and cold, and partly fine and pleasant, sowing wheat with clover and Timothy grass on land that was ploughed last fall." This is the first field work of the season. In page 86, under date 5th June, he says — " Fi- nished planting potatoes." Thus, therefore, betwixt 8th April and 5th June is the whole time in which must be finished, on this farm, ploughing, sowing, harrowing, and planting, the whole of the land which is to be in crop ; and taking his account of the crop, under head, " One n EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 43 year's outgoings and expenses," as the basis upon which the calculation has to be made, I will take the different proportions of crop as therein stated, with one exception, that is, the 10 acves which he proposes to have girdled; my reasons for which I will state in the remarks which I have to mako, when the account of the value of the proceeds has to be taken under consideration. By referring to the account of one year's outgo- ings, there will be found, exclusive of the 10 acres to have been girdled, 10 acres wheat; 6 acres corn, first ploughing ; G acres corn, second ploughing ; 10 acres for pease ; 4 acres for oats ; 2 acres potatoes, &c. first ploughing; 2 acres potatoes, &c. second ploughing ; V 'if 40 acres of ploughing, supposing the 10 acres of wheat and the 10 acres of pease get only one fur- row, although they would require two. There are, then, 40 acres to be ploughed betwixt 8th April and 5th June (less than two months), be- sides all the other operations consequent upon sow- m 44 FACTS AGAINST 'f\ ( 'i Ir ing and planting ; and the whole working cattle may be said to be the one pair of oxen and the one pair of steers, — for the low-priced horse, bought for the waggon and riding, will have enough to do other- wise. Now, supposing that it has been possible, betwixt the term of entry on the 1st March, and the begin- ning of field lab'^ur on the 8th April, to get the family, furniture, provender for cattle, utensils, &c. removed to the farm, so as to admit of the farm work going on without interruption, this is a very great deal of work to get through with. Taking it for granted, however, that it is possible to get it done, there then comes on the cleaning and furrow- ing up of six acres of Indian corn and two acres of green crop — in all, 8 acres — in a country where no women of any age ever work in the fields, and in which no hired labourer, for a few days only, is to be bad, excepting in those cases in which you get the assistance of a neighbour. This is never a whole day's work, from the time lost in coming and going from and to his home, probably a considerable dis- tance, although it occupies your time a whole day to repay it, and is the most expensive of all labour. Before you have got your green crop sufficiently EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 4i cleaned and dressed, your hay is ready for mowing. By Mr. Pickering's account, p. 80, they were busy at it at Col. Talbot's in June, within a fortnight of the planting of potatoes ; the wheat is stated, at p. 89, to have begun on the 22d July — by which time, without considerable strength of men and cattle, it is not possible to have had the hay all secured — and the pease and oats succeed very quickly; at p. 99, he states, that on the 16th September they were at the Indian corn cutting; and, at p. 102, taking up potatoes on the 8th October. Thus, in five months from first breaking ground, the whole field operations for tue whole year have to be begun and ended, and the whole of the crop secured against the effects of a Canadian winter, with the frost sometimes at more than 30 degrees below- zero. This it is which makes farming, to any extent, impracticable in Canada, and altogether impossible, without being subjected to the risk (very often very ruinous) of losing a great proportion of the crop, from not being able to get it secured in time ; for the great heat of the summer brings it so very rapidly to maturity, indeed to over ripeness, unless taken at once, that a great deal of the grain is lost, and the hay rendered worthless. {5 .[' iil f ■ 48 FACTS AGAINST Besides all the above work which has to be done, and which must be attended to very promptly, you have to attend, in this case, to a considerable stock of cattle, sheep, and swine, in a country in whicn, however little Ccattle and sheep may get in the woods, they will at all times be wandering, and very often going astray. You have a great extent of fencing to keep up, and to keep it most substantially laid, as it is very difficult, indeed, to keep out cattle, particularly oxen; and unless the fences are what is termed " legal fences," that is, five feet high, and very s 3- curely fastened, no redress can be had for trespass ; nor would it be possible to keep out your owr *i\e or pigs. The fences, therefore, require to be »* gieat deal stronger in Canada than they are ever seen in Britain. You have also to attend militia drill, and to per< form a certain number of days' work on the public roads : and to both these duties every man, whether freeholder or hired labourer, has to submit, or pay a very heavy penalty. In cases where working cat- tle are kept, they also are employed : and both musters and road-work occur vt^iibin the short period of the crop season. All this time fuel and fence-poles have had to be EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 47 provided from the forest, and the quantily of each is very great. It mast, therefore, appear evident, that from the whole work of the iield having to be per- formed within five, or even six months — for which the farmer in Britain has generally eleven, and often twelve months — the power to be applied must be proportionally greater. Indeed, from the roughness of the surface, from stumps, and one interruption or anotLer, and the want of roads, the power would for the time require to be at least double. Nor is ♦here much cessation from the labour of men or cattle, there being (with so few exceptions as not to be worth taking notice of) no a .sistance to be got from machinery in thrashing, and indeed very little in cleaning the grain. Much of the time of the men is occupied in thrashing p.ad cleaning * the quantity of fuel required is almost incredible ; and the labour of chopping thick trees into short lengths, and then splitting them up, is very great, for it has all to be done with the axe. On a farm of any ex- tent, too, the quantity of fence-rails wanted every year is great ; and above all things, the clearing out of stamps, and the cutting down more trees every year, to get the benefit of new-burned land, is, upon every farm, excepting a few fine spots in the vici- III I'' tl \ n ^>.^M.^! Li >.'-S:.I*ytliS.^L^T wr-W ..■—■.„ .WWJJ.UWI I 48 FACTS AGAINST |i» f. > i^ -i t ,' u t, ( ( ir/ I ? riiiy of Montreal, an unceasing labour, at all times and at all seasons. Indeed, there is no scch thing as the -.rork ever being finished — it ii« always, '.a every case, behind. The distance, too, to which^, in general, any spare produce has to be drawn to a market, and the si: ill quantity which can be taken at a time, is a v^^' great drawback to *he regular work ; and all that part of the manage- ment must be done by the owner making all these trips himself, hrwever distant the market may be, or however small the quantity. As an instance of the difficulties to which the agriculturist is exposed in Canada, in matters on which there is generally very little trouble in Britain, Mr. Pickering, begin- ning at p. 129, gives an account of a journey in which he accompanied a farmer (d Squire, that is, a Justice of the Peace) in a voyage along the Canada coast of Lake Erie, to dispose of bis butter and cheese, consisting of seven oi eight hundred. weight; and after '•r.lling at several intermediate ports for six days, in course of which they had to go a dis- tance of 130 miles, they were unable to dispose of it, and had to begin their journey back again, and leave it to be sold on commission. I mention this to shew how much the owner of a farm is under the EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 49 the necessity of going himself great distances from home, and, therefore, the inconvenience of encreas- ing a farm in Canada, even to the extent of what would be considered a small farm in Britain. I have extended these remarks so fiir that I must now bring them to a close, and state what number of men will, in my opinion, be necessary to hire for getting through with the work of the farm, purchased and stocked ac wording to Mr. Pickering's estimate, and will take the most favourable view possible of the circumstances in which the purchaser may be placed as to his family. Mr. Pickering, at p. 166, seems to consider the family to be composed of four or five persons. I will suppose it to consist of the frther, mother, son (15 or 16 years of age), and one or two children, all healthy and accustomed to labour, the family being thus in a much more favourable state for settling than most new settlers are. Allow the father to be constantly employed in superintending and assist'.ng in the work of the cattle (his presence will be much wanted, for Mr. Picl^ering states, in p. 83, that ploughing among roots !& rouf^h work), performing the operations of sowing, and attending to the proper saving and bous- 1i ! T-1 :yU 111 ^ammm ■H |l \ , SO FACTS AGAINST ing of the crop, doing all the business which requires bis going frona the place (very often 12 or 15 miles to a blacksmith or cartwright), providing provisions, seed, stock, marketing of all kinds, going to the mill, &c. The son to have the charge of the cattle, sheep, pigs, &c. (no easy matter where so many are to be kept), keeping the fences in order, and working with the hired labourers in the absence of the father (without which nothing, literally nothing, will be done, as the regular-working and very valuable agri- cultural labourers of Britain are not to be had there in one instance among five hundred), and at all times in which he can be wanted there, employed r,mong the green crops. Two hired men to be kept to work the two pair Ok oxen generally, mow, reap, and work at every other department, from the 1st March to the 1st November; and one during the winter, as it is ab- solutely necessary to keep an experienced man during the winter to provide fuel for next summer, and fence-poles, which are always wanted, and must be hauled in the course of the winter. - Also, unless the owner has a daughter able to as- sist the mother in cooking, washing, and mending y< ^Hiw- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 51 for so many people, milking luc cows, attending the pigs, pou'hy, &c. a hired girl mast be kept. I will allow the father and son, out of the account of funds, only the common wages of hired labourers, and suppose that out of their wages the mother and young children are supported, in the same way as ♦he families of labourers are in general, that is, re- ducing the family in point of expense to the state of the common hired labouk'er, and requiring out of the proceeds of the farm only board and common wages, to provide them in clothes, shoes, and other necessaries, — which is particularly requisite in this case, as it is supposed by Mr. Pickering that every thing is sold to make up money, even the very wool of the sheep (every fleece being sold), without leav- ing anything even for stockings or mits. By this arrangement, the whole work of the farm is supposed to be done without inring any additional help in hay or grain harvest. I shall calculate the wages at the metiium rate ascertained, as stated by Mr. Pickering, p. 202, or indeed lower, as I will charge the man, empl ved for eight months of the year, only at the same rate as would have been the case although he had been kept all winter. By charging the wages in this way, they will come much less than if additional hands m mwuif MMilUlU' „UJilllHJ| 52 FACTS AGAINST were to be employed during harvest on!y, besides the advantage of having them at commarid at all times, as will be seen by a reference to Mr. Picker- ing"'s book, where he says, in p. 202, that 6s. 3d. per day, besides provisions, is sometimes given to hjir- vest men. In making up the account of one year's outgoings, no extra charge will be made for ploughing, or any other operation, and the expense of girdling has not to be inserted. In charging the expenses of board, I have to state, that where labourers are employed in cases in which it is not convenient for the employer to cook for them, the usual board wages is 9s. to 10s. per week, or, in cases where the employer can accommodate the labourer with lodging, if the engagement is for any considerable length of time, allow him at the rate of 6 dollars per month, wit*" lodging and fuel. In making the present calculation, I allow only the lowest sum paid for mere subsistence, and allow no more for the owsior and son. It may appear that the amount for board is very great; but it must be taken into consideration, that in almost every case, on changing the country, there is also a complete change of diet. This is generally the case, even with Old-country people living there ^ EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 58 by themselves ; but whether that is the case or not, while by themselves, there mast, of necessity, be a complete change whenever a hired man, or man working on the place in any way, is received in the bouse : there must be animal food twice-a-day, or the labourer will immediately take himself off. Oat- meal is very rarely tasted, and the baking of flour bread and cooking of pork must go on regularly ; and although Mr. Pickering calculates upon selling 360 dollars' worth of pork the first year, there is not one in a hundred that has not to go to the store- keeper for pork from ibe States, for some years. As to the beef, it is generally carrion, and will not do for salting. This purchasing of provisions is one of the greatest Lanes of Canada. The account for outgoings not already charged in former account will, therefore, stand thus: Dols. Seed for 10 acres of wheat, after pease, 9 Seed for 10 acres of pease, 15 Seed for 4 acres of oats, 3 Seed for 6 acres of Indian corn, 0| Seed for 2 acres potatoes, turnips, cabbages, &c. l()-i Carried forward, Dols. 44 f2 1 i ji'- ' • ;. I i: ri" /N 1 I { ' I In ■; \ - i iLU. ^ 54 FACTS AGAINST Brouffht forward, Dols. 44 Hay, as stated before — 12 tons, at 10 dollars per ton, 120 Corn for cattle, horse, pigs, cows at calving, &c. — 40 bushels, at | dollar per bushel, 30 Where there is so much " rough work," — as Mr. Pickering, p. 83, very properly says of plough- ing anaong roots, — there is unavoidably much tear and wear of utensils ; and as he seems, from the prices at which he has charged the ploughs, and every thing else, to have his ar- ticles, like the Jersey waggon, half-worn, the expenses will be found a very serious matter. I will, however, put in the whole so low as £6 : 15s. including iron and every thing,. ... 30 Salt. — Much salt is given to cattle and sheep. It will be seen, p. 75, that it is " used univer- sally." The price, as there slated, is 5 dol- lars per barrel : Say, in the whole year, 2 barrels, 10 Wages. — One man for whole year at medium rate of wages, as per p. 202, £2,6 : 10s. ... 114 One man for 8 months, at same rate, 7G Carried forward, Dols. 424 TS EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 55 Brought forward, Dels. 424 One girl for a year, at 3 dollars 36 Owner's wages, same as common labourer, 114 Son, or other lad, at 0 dollars per month, . . 72 Board. — Three men, at 7s. currency per week, for a year, 219 One man, 8 months, at 7s 48 Young woman, at 1 dollar per week, 52 Interest on 700 dollars of purchase-money, not paid, at 6 per cent, 42 Total of second account of outlays,. . .Dols. 1007 I i ,(' REMARKS ON Mr, PICKERING'S ACCOUNT OF THE VALUE OF PRODUCE OF FIRST YEAR'S CROP. The principal difference betwixt Mr. Pickering's statement and tbo one now made in opposition to it, is undor this head ; and I shall take each item by itself as it occurs in his statement, inserting at length the articles which compose his very large amount of produce, make my observations on each article separately, and carry out into the money column the value of the produce which he can possibly have to be taken to market. 56 FACTS AGAINST First. — Twenty acres of wheat, at 18 bushels per acre (sometimes 30), at | dollar (3s. 9d. cur- rency) per bushel — 270 dollars. To this I object, first, that be supposes 10 acres to have been girdled, cleared of the small trees and underbrushed, prepared for the seed, and sown during the spring at which he takes possession of his farm. This is altogether impossible. I have already stated, in my remarks as to the quantity of work which was to be done to make even the cleared land available for this year's crop, reasons from which, I trust, it will be plainly seen that it would be alto- gether absurd to attempt any thing else with such slender means, while it is not probable that the cattle can perform even that. But the plan he here pro- poses, to swell up the amount of produce, it is alto- gether impossible to put into execution. At this season of the year, as will be seen by Mr. Pickering's book, p. 129, under date 23d February, " the sugar harvest now begins," that is, the sap is now flowing freely in the wood. Even although the time necessary for chopping down and collecting the small trees and underbrush was really to be ex- pended at a season of the year when other more important matters call for the exertion of all hands i { ' "B \ «r EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 51 (at present particuhirly scarce, from there being, as yet, no newly-arrived Emigrants to be got), yet the heaps could not jlossibly be burnt. They are not only newly cut down, and of course unfit for burn- ing at any season, but they are cut down when full of sap. Even on the supposition that they could, as if by raagic, be got off the ground, — filled as it is with cradle heaps, and, as he mentions himself in p. 83, very rough, — it has to be ploughed twice with two yokes of strong oxen before it can receive the seed, and requires a very great deal of labour and time to ameliorate, as, where the large trees are not cut down, the great collection of fresh and decayed (but wet) vegetable matter, which has lain for ages, cannot be got consumed easily unless there is a good "burn." , Indeed, the application of all the power employed upon the farm would not enable him to get these 10 acres into a fit state for receiving the seed. Even were the surface cleared, it would be impossible to get the land ploughed for frost. He states at p. 129, under date 25th March—" Ice off the Lake, frost out of the ground, snow all gone, except a small remnant drifted on the north side of the ra- vines." Now, if it is only out of the cleared lands fU I ( I-! n , 58 FACTS AGAINST on the 25th March, it could not be out of the ground in the woods for at least a fortnight afterwards, be- fore which time the wheat would require to have been sown. The supposition of attempting to put such a scheme in practice is, indeed, a most glaring absurdity ; and shews clearly the desperate attempts he makes to grasp at produce to take to market, when none can in reason be looked for. There will, therefore, be only the produce of 10 acres of wheat to be calculated upon. Wheat he reckons at three- fourths of a dollar per bushel. I reckon it at 2s. 6|d.: first, because, at p. 113, he gives that as the current price himself, even at Ancaster, a place which, in the next page, he describes as " a large, thriving, handsome village, with smart buildings, good houses, two distilleries, a brewhouse, and a large mill ^^ : secondly, because it will be seen, at p. 84, that the price at which 200 bushels of wheat, sent to the still, was sold, or rather bartered, was 350 gallons of whisky, that again had to be sold ; and, calculating it at the price given by himself in p. Ill, would not nett so much as he quotes as the price at Ancaster: thirdly, because 2s. 6-g6. is fully as high as the price at which wheat is generally taken in at the stores even for store pay. During the winter of 1 i ' \ EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 59 1834-5, it was 2s. 6d. per bushel of 6'Ott). delivered at the store. Dols. The amount to be entered for wheat crop will, therefore, be — 10 acres, 180 bushels, at2s. 6^d., .91| Second. — Ten acres of clover seed, at 2 bushels per acre, and 7 dollars per bushel. He had no reason to expect that this crop was sown by the previous occupant at all ; or if sown, that the land was in such a state as to raise such a valuable crop of clover seed. He is very can- did, however; for he acknowledges, in p. 164, that he only " supposes the seed might have been sown ;" and it must be seen whether he had any good reason for making this supposition. His own narrative furnishes ground sufficient for forming an opinion upon. At p. 65, after stating that " the mode of cropping in general practice is too deteriorating for any soil," he continues — " Rye, corn, wheat, and oats continually, with only a few pease, and a little clover intervening, and then but seldom. When clover is sown, it is too often on the ground in a bad statey lying Carried forward, Dols. 91 1 'I I m'n i %' 60 FACTS AGAINST I I if I i; V I Brought forward, Dols. 91 \ Ivvo or three years, and becominsr full of grass and rubbish." Again, p. 83 — " Clover, even by itself, answers admirably on a clear tilth, and will last well in the ground for six, seven, or more years, yet it is not sown by one farmer in half-a- dozen in this western part of the province ; even Col. Talbot, I am told, never had any but once before, which was suffered to stand till dead ripe (like all grass here) before cutting, when the cattle would not eat it, and it therefore was con- demned." At p. 90, under date 12th August, he says — " Cutting a second crop of clover, about 2,6 cwt. per acre. It would have been an excellent crop for seed, it was so well headed." Now, when such a fine crop occurred so very a-propos while lie was manager, why not save it for seed ? Again, p. 80, date 8th April — " Sowing spring wheat with clover and timothy grass.'''' From these few extracts it must be seen that there is very little clover sown, and what little there is, is generally along with timothy grass ; Carried forward, Dols. 91 ^ i\t EMIGRATION TO CANADA. (]] Brought forward, Dols. 1)1 and as timothy is not ready for mowing when the first crop of clover would have to be cut to mako way for the second, ii is clear that the clover isj not meant for seed. When he had the management of Col. Talbofs very extensive farm, he did not find that, although a good crop for seed, it was worth the saving : and finally, on the farm which he supposes to have been purchased, he prepares no land, nor sows any clover to bring in money next year, which he ought to have done had- he conceived it to be so profitable as he asserts. He has, therefore, no ground whatever to *' suppose'''' that there were teti acres of clover sown for his benefit the previous year, on a farm in such a miserable condition, that the inhabitants, live and dead stock, crop, and every thing, was contained in one " log-house or barn." For these reasons I object altogether to his taking credit for the amount of 180 dollars on the produce of a crop which he not only did not sow, but which was never even said to have been < IH) i« Carried forward, Dols. 01 ^ G yiL 62 FACVS AGAINST m -I I'.' Brought forward, Dols. 91 1 sown, for he merely supposes it. Such supposi- tions are worse than absurd in a matter of so much importance ; and give another proof of his desire to " gather where he das not strawed." Third. — Six acres of Indian corn, 25 bushels per acre — 150 bushels at i dollar, 75 I shall take this as he states it, remarking only, that it is very unlikely that such a farm would have so much land prepared for Indian corn the year before ; and, if not prepared before, there will be much attention required, and much la- bour throughout the season. If the land has not been newly burnt, it will have to be manured : now, supposing there is manure on the farm, it is not to be expected that so much as six acres could be managed in one season. Fourth. — Thirty store pigs, for fattening next season. J admit that the two sows may, in the course of the whole year, have thirty pigs, reckoning Carried forward, Dols. J 66^ w«"plwp«^fll EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 63 Brought forward,, Dols. 166| both the litters of both the sows ; but as the sows were bought in at J 3s. 6d. each in the spring, it is barely possible that they can have so many pigs the next spring ; and if so, the greater part of them must be newly farrowed. Taking it for granted, however, that they have had that num- ber, they cannot be sold off the farm, but must be kept for store pigs throughout the next win- ter, and therefore no money has to be given credit for. I I I ! Fifth. — Thirty fat pigs, "weighing at least 200 lbs." or one barrel— 30 uarrels at 12 dollars per barrel. He has here, as in the case of the wheat from the land to have been girdled in the spring, been a year too soon in driving his hogs to market. They were only young pigs at a dollar each in the beginning of summer ; and in the fall or win- ter they wer3, although so young, sprung up so as to have become at once large hogs, fit for barrelling) at least 200 lbs. each. I I'l i .|:S Carried forward, Dols. 166^ 64 FACTS AGAINST I Brought forward, Dols. 166'| He states in a note, p. 165, that ''five bushels of Indian corn or pease will fatten a fresh store hog, or keep one through the winter. They get their living in the woods and pastures during the summer; also during the winter, when nuts are plentiful, which generally happens three years out of five." Now this chance of something extra is all very good ; but if stock is kept for profit certain food must be provided, or a loss must ensue instead of a profit. These t!;irty hogs, which were bought at a dollar in the b^ ^inning of summer, must be kept as store pi^3 only the first winter, to prepare them for fattening next fall, and will after that only be fit for killing for barrelling. Some of them may, in the course of the winter, have been made fat for killing in the spring for household use, but for barrelling pork none, more particularly as all the Indian corn is con- sidered as sold ; and if the pease have been well got, only a part of the crop even of them is to be got for any of the stock, except the sheep, — Carried forward, Dols. 166| EMIGRATION TO CANADA. (>d Brought forward, Dols. 166| as it is recommended, p. 164, that if the pease are " well got, they should be lightly thrashed, and given to the sheep." Indeed he has allowed no food to fatten with. To show how little dependence can be had upon feeding pigs without prepared food, an in- stance may be had from himself, p. 72, where ' e says — " Cut the corn about the 20th Septem- ber, which was much eaten by the racoons and black squirrels, which are extraordinarily nu- merous, troublesome, and destructive, from tfte scarcity of nuts and mast in the woods.'''' Indeed, I cannot conceive how he can even suppose he is to get his pig stock kept alive (having, this winter, no less than 62 of them), without more potatoes, turnips, or cabbages, than such as he states himself, in p. 165, to be in- tended " chiefly for the house." It will be seen, p. 71, under date 16th August, that Col. Talbot's fattening for the season was 42 hogs, filling 35 barrels, or 166 lbs. each hog, fed off early in the season (and, therefore, of i w Carried forward, Dols. 1661 o2 '!'mmmmim immmmmmmm i;!§ GO PACTS AGAINST Brought foFH^ard; Dols. 16()| course, kept over the last winter as store pigs) ; and yet be supposes that bis, wbicb were bought, after he purchased his farm, at 5s. have increased to at least 200 lbs. Colonel Talbot^s stock, p. 71, consisted of 111 head of cattle, 4 horses, and 150 sheep. He has a great farm, and would, of course, have his pig stock in proportion. His produce on such an extensive farm (with last year's crop of course) would be consumed, as far as required, by his stock, and bis fattening of pork is 35 barrels. Mr. Pickering the first year, off his I'arm, without having any food provided until he has raised it off the ground in the fall, and merely by purchasing (same year) 30 sucking pigs, supposes he can take to market 30 barrels of fat pork. Again, the medium price of pork, as stated by himself, p. 186, is 4| cents per lb. — therefore 9| dollars for 200. Yet he takes credit for his pork at 12 dollars, not making any allowance whatever for salt, barrel, or anything else. - Carried forward,. Dols. 166^ RSl^-TSU-l . .UUIIft-- --IJjaUHmH EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 67 Brought forward, Dots. 166^ The supposition of a sale of barrelled pork to to the amount of 360 dollars is not only absurd — it is grossly false. Sixth. — Six cows, butter and cheese for sum- mer, 60 Seventh. — A yoke of fat oxen, 60 dollars (be- sides a cow or two killed for the use of the house). I object to this altogether. The oxen are no produce of the farm : they were bought as the working cattle of the farm during the current year, and the cost charged as such. They have been hard worked all year, and are still required for every-day use. How is the work of the farm to be got done if they are sold? Even had the steers been able to replace tbem (which is impossible), yet there is nothing to replace the steers, and the work must stand. If the cows are killed, what is to replace them ? Is it the calves and heifers, which were bought, during the year, at 22s. 6d..^ A Carried forward, Dols. 226^ i fi8 PACTS AGAINST II il t Brought forward, Dols. 226 i What was there to fatten the oxen and cows? The oxen are hard wrought, and the cows milked all year ; and now, although the corn which should have been given to them is sold, they must be considered to be fat, and the oxen which cost 45 dollars, are now to be sold as produce at 60 dollars ! Eighth. — Twenty lambs, 20 dollars — 20 fleeces at a dollar. Allow the whole, 40 Ninth. — Geese, feathers, eggs, fowls, &c 10 Produce, Dols. 276| Note. — I have entered the returns under the third, sixth, eighth, and ninth heads, merely for brevity, as not so objectionable as the clover seed. There might have been probably one-fourth part of the amount realized. ^^IP ^■^ EMIGRATION TO CANADA. THE ACCOUNT WILL NOW STAND THUS: 69 Dols. Amount of first or permanent outlay for farm and stocking, 967 Amount of one year's outgoings and expenses, 1007 Total outlay, 1974 Amount of produce sold, . . 276| Expenditure above income,.. Dols. 1697^ From this excess of expenditure above sales of produce, deduct capital of ,£200 sterling, with which the expenses have been paid as far as it would go, 888^ The purchaser is now in debt to the store- keeper (the only banker he can have), Dols. 809 Having now brought the Account to a close^ it may be proper to take a review of the situation in which the purchaser is now placed ; and it will be found he is in very different circumstances, indeed, from what he was a year ago, when he had bis I to him has, by chance, been sown before he pur- chased the land, although he acknowledges that that was not even alleged, and his own writings aiford proof that it is not to be expected. A stranger to the country might, by being over-credulous, be led to believe that the land might be prepared, even in the spring, to have a crop of grain growing where, a few weeks before, it was thickly covered with trees ; but if at all acquainted with the feeding of stock, he will be startled at the idea of selling 360 dollars' worth of fat pork off a farm of 70 imperial acres, a great part of which is in grass ; and parti- cularly so, when he ' s that the Indian corn (the food with which stock i#generally fattened) has been sold off, and that the only thing left for such a stock of all kinds is a parcel of half-thrashed pease to scramble about. Still more will he wonder when he sees that the very oxen out of the plough are sold to make up a bill of sales — the cows eaten before there are any young ones to replace them — the whole of the lambs sold off, without leaving any to keep up the stock — and the wool sold without leaving so much as worsted to mend stockings for the family. These absurdities may open the eyes of any person who will, for a moment, reflect on the statement. ' I lEMIGfRATION TO CANADA, 73 LETTER in. i In continuation of the plan which I have adopted, I have now to enter upon Mr. Adam Fergusson of WoodhllPs statements in favour of Canada, con- tained in his Notes upon a First, and also upon a Second Visit to America,— the former in 1831, for the purpose of procuring information on the subject of Emigration; and the latter in 1833, when he went over, with the greater part of a fine family, to settle in Upper Canada, where he now possesses a very considerable extent of forest land. In taking up my pen to make any remarks of ray own in any way at variance with Mr. Fergusson's opinion, and more particularly to " disprove parti- cular statements" and averments made by that gentleman, I feel it to be a most unpleasant task indeed. When I first wrote my small pamphlet upon Emigration, I felt so very unwilling to express my sentiments with respect to his publications, that H I ; 74 PACTS AGAINST I refrained from taking any notice of them at ail, although they had, from Mr. Fergusson's very great respectability as a country gentleman, and as one of the Directors of the Highland Society of Scotland, obtained, through the public prints all over the United Kingdom, a degree of publicity among peo- ple of every rank, and carried, along with his name, a weight, much greater than all the books, essays, and advertisements, which ever had been written upon the subject put together; and the effect in inducing Emigration, more particularly among the most respectable class of Emigrants who have gone out, has been proportionally great. From feelings of respect towards the Woodhil! family which I had long entertained, I was very much averse from writing upon a subject upon which I found I could not enter at all, without writing in direct opposition to the conclusions drawn by Mr. Fergusson from what he learned from others, and to the correctness of the calculations given by him, as far as these relate to Canada. Circumstances, however, have since occurred, which render it, I may say, imperative upon me to advert to his writings; and although nothing con- tained in these can in any way lessen that personal EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 75 respect u-hich I ever entertain towards him, yet I find it necessary to show, and will have no difficulty in proving, that he is most egregiously in error in the statements which he has submitted to the public. These statements are so very erroneous, that it can only be accounted for by supposing that he has, in the hurry of writing his Notes, inadvertently inserted the calculations of others, while yet in ignorance of the subject himself. Indeed, it is clear that Mr. Fergusson''s great error has been in writing with too much confidence, before he bad yet had an oppor- tunity of judging from experience, and before he had yet been prepared for the gross misrepresenta- tions which are so generally made in that country by parties interested, some of whom are to be found in almost every company. In bis first visit he passed through a great extent of territory, both in the States and British America, with great rapidity, during the summer of 1831, having only been a few months in America alto- gether— never remaining so long in one place as to enable him to form an opinion of his own, but de- pending wholly upon reports made by parties who were altogether interested in inducing Emigrants to go out ; and on his next visit, he wrote his second J! 76 FACTS AGAINST book, confirmatory of his firsts a few weeks after his arrival in Canada (having' only arrived on the l()th September, 1833, and written his second " Notes" in October, same year), before he had yet been a winter in the country — had any time for forming an opinion of his own — or had even taken possession of the wilderness lands, referring to which he has more particularly given his detailed state- ments. He has, therefore, like most strangers, been grossly deceived by trusting to the misrepresentations of others, and to bis having been too facile in believ- ing these statements. I consider it to be owing to this that he his so much committed himself in sub- mitting them to the public. For the information of those who may not have the original at hand, I insert (as in tbe case of Mr. Pickering) the statement given by Mr. Fergusson, to which I allude particularly in my remarks, and which refers to his property of Nichol, in Upper Canada. Mr. fergusson 'S STATEMENT. " In reference to the capabilities of Nichol, I offer with some confidence the following calcula« tions. ' n^lp EMIGRATION TO CANADA. n (( With a capital of £500 sterling*, which is eqoal to £600 currency, a man may purchase and improve 200 acres of wild land in Nichol. i FIRST YEAR. The purchase-moaey of 200 acres, at 4 dollars per acre, or £l currency per acre, £200 0 o A log-house, 50 0 0 Some furniture for log-house, 20 o o Ba.^, including stable and cow-house, 50 0 0 Household and other expenses till after harvest, .... 30 o o Clear, fence, and sow 50 acres wit.i vvheat, at £i per acre, 200 0 0 k £550 O 0 On the 50 acres of wheat he will have 25 bushels per acre, which, at 4s. 6d. per bushel, £281 5 0 Deduct expense of harvesting, £35 *5 0 Household and other expenses, 46 0 0 81 5 0 Clears the first year, £200 0 0 SECOND YEAR. He expends this year as much of the £200 as will clear 37$ acres more, which, at the same rate as last year, will be £150 0 0 The other £50 he has for purchasing a team of oxen, and household expenses till after harvest, 50 0 0 £200 0 0 li ]!l i I \^\ V IJ lift * In Mr. Fergusson's book, the amount is £35 lOj. ; but as it is added up as if £35 5s. the latter sum is inserted. h2 /2 S-^ y- .-^ ;--' O.^' ^ ^ :^o c V X' ■I : H 78 FACTS AGAINST This year he has the original 50 acres and the 37^ cleared this season all in wheat, the seed for the 50 acres to be debited against the ensuing crop. 87i acres, at 25 bushels at 4s. 6d £492 3 9 Expense of harvesting, &c £61 10 5 Seed as above for 50 acres', at 1 bushel per acre, at 4s. 6d II 5 Q Household aad other expenses, 39 8 4 112 3 9 Clears the second year, £380 0 0 THIRD YKAR. All having been hitherto done by contract, there has now to be charged the expense of stockir j the farm, and servants' wages and board, £285 0 0 Wheat seed for 87J acres, at 1 bushel per acre, at 4s. 6d .' 19 3 9 Grass seed for 25 acres, at 3s. per acre, 3 15 0 Assistance during harvest, 20 0 0 Household and other expenses, 52 1 3 £380 0 0 Has the came crop as last year, but not at so much expense in thrashing, &c. his own servants assisting : 87f acres in wheat, £492 3 9 Assistance thrashing, &c £35 0 0 Household and other expenses, 37 3 9 — 72 3 9 Clears this year, £420 0 0 FOURTH YEAR. He clears 62§ acres more, making in all 150 acres f''*-tred, which is sufficient on a farm of 200 acres. lo^mmr T^W5*HcI^W«^^ 9 0 0 3 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 79 Me this year plants some potatoes, sows turnips, &c. on that part of the 50 acres first cleared not in grass. To clear, fence, and sow 62§ acres, £250 0 0 Erects a thrashing-machine, ., 80 0 0 Builds some houses for feeding stoclc, 20 0 0 HousehoM and other expenses, 30 0 0 Sundry improvements about the house, &c 40 0 0 £420 0 0 Has this year the 37i acres formerly cleared, and the , 62^ cleared this year, In wheat, 100 acres at same rate, £562 10 0 The other 50 acres, valued at 1 20 0 0 £682 10 0 Deduct for household, harvest, and other expenses, . . 82 10 0 At the end of the fourth y^ar he has his farm paid for, stocked, and £600 currency in his pocket, £600 0 0 The above is Mr. Fergusson's Statement of Ex- perse and Returns ; and T shall, in my next Letter, proceed to state my objections to it. 1 li rn iiH W H fi! i'l t m 9 0 "fW^^«?»»i 80 FACTS AGAINST H* "it LETTER IV. In order to shew my reasons for differing so much from Mr. Fergusson in my view of the matter, 1 will arrange what I have to say under the following heads or parts : First — Impossibility of reaping the crops during the years in which he assumes them to be avail- able, and consequent want of funds to carry on improvements. Second — Impossibility of dispensing with horses and work oxen, as he supposes. Third — Want of sufficient houses. Fourth — Inadequacy of allowances made by him under every head of charge. Fifth — Too large a quantity of produce expected, and calculated at too high a price. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 81 Sixth — Estimate of outJay necessary to follow up Mr. Fergusson's plan. And, ^"^ Seventh — State of the farm after the fourth crop has been taken off. First. — Mr. Fergusson, in intimating the value of the proceeds of the farm, reckons upon obtaining a crop of wheat the first year. This is altogel^er im- possible ; and I shall proceed to shew that no ;vheat can, under any circumstances, be raised from wood- lands until the second year at soonest. I beg leave to refer the reader to page 67 of this publication, for reasons which I have there given to shew the impracticability of obtaining a crop the first year, even where the trees are only girdled, without being cut. That argument will apply, not only equally well, but even with more weight, to Mr. Fergusson's operations; because he goes on the supposition that the land is to be what he calls " cleared," — that is, so far so, as that the upper part of the tree is to be cut down and burnt off. If I have shewn before that it is impracticable to get even the small trees, bushes, and wet vegetable re- mains (in all stages of decay), sufficiciitly destroyed I 1 tti .lit I w 11 li mmmmmmmmmmm 82 FACTS AGAINST by fire in the spring to admit of procuring a crop of 'wheat that year, it will be at once seen that it is much more so to get the trunks of green trees con- sumed. I will, however, call in proofs from other sources, to shew how different the case is in practice from that now stated by Mr. Fergusson. 1st, A Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to examine into, and make strict inquiry upon, the subject of Emigration, in 1827, made a Report of their proceedings, from which is procured the following information. Government had, in 1825, appointed the Hon. Mr. P. Robinson to take charge of the transport from the mother country, conveyance from Quebec, and settlement in Upper Canada, of a large body of Irish Emigrants, to be taken out and settled at the ex- pense of government, for the purpose of ascertaining at what expense, and with what success. Emigration could br carried on if conducted under the manage- ment of gentlemen well acquainted with Canada, and in every respect qualified for such an undertaking, and capable of directing the operations of the Emi- grants, when located, iu such a way as to enable , V EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 83 them to raise provisions for themselves as quickly as possible —rations being allowed them by Govern- ment, from the time of settlement in July 1825, to 24th November 1826, from which time they were left to shift for themselves. Having had every re- quisite for building and keeping in order their wooden houses, cooking utensils, implements of husbandry, seed for their first crops, and a cow to each head of a family, and having also got rations for 16 months, they had that time to prepare for providing for themselves. The following Abstrjict from this official Account, extracted from the Third Report, published by order of the Committee, 29th June, 1827, shews the result of the labours of the Emigrants, and throws more light upon the subject of settling forest lands than any othei document which has ever been submitted to the public. Hav- ing been made up by a gentleman; who has ever been anxious to increase Emigration, it must be taken as giving the account in at least as favourable colours as the case would, by any possibility, admit of. )■■ I 1 1) f'' -.111 iii-jmamiii mmmmmmmmmmmmmaa w 84 FACTS AGAINST M 13 9i m en H s W3 ■O 00 a o H 2 US > o a. > b: ad O s .2 23 (S S5 O 55 n o h4 S! O "eC »^ C3 ki 0) « m Xi S o ♦J s o a 1 -« . r/l «5 to 1 U oi o has Ive X 1 U V cn k pur thems 1 o 00 S >. 02 "^ O o Maple Sugar made. cn 5 to o Oi ^ =1 i • ,a (A H|« n 3 . O ^ m • pq o 3 TS a< . CO U • F^ ^ CI 1 o to CI • o • Oi 42 1>. (1< o (5 to w '6 MH- u w to ^ b 00 ^1 CO u tc 4-> 4-1 (h o S lO +* •* o ,o 00 ^i a l-H • <»< a 0.2 lA o ee -^ ^3 cn «ft.9' F^ o S ^1 H 1 1 rn I 0 s (> 73 a. a • •— i rt c 4ii« (U «s 01 0> ^ 0) > (A ee RS x: T3 ^ ■SB i« :0 ■»-» c ct -«id tl. b£ s s -o w i « ja -a •♦J cn c« O 0) .c CS r- ja • w >^ 0* o u in CS Vl s TS •a a s o tn a o je o IS '1 5 • s <4-l o ^ ee tn o s D .*d 1— 4 O k o mm ■u w EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 85 Mr. Robinson was appointed by Government in consequence of his being, from his intimate acquaint- ance with Upper Canada, considered a proper person to conduct and superintend the settling of such a large body with every possible advantage. He even had the selection of the Emigrants in Ireland, out of a much greater number of applicants; and having such a choice, he of course selected those best adapted for making the experiment. He conducted them with every possible care to the lands appro- priated for them, piovided them with every thing necessary, and set them to work at their improve- ments on the most approved plan. Now it will be seen by the above extract, that although, in the autumn of the second year, the settlers had " pota- toes, turnips, and Indian corn," of their owi.' raising, they had not one bushel of wheat, nor even of oats. An account is given of the quantity of wheat " sown this fall" (1826), the fall of the second year; so that they would only come to handle their first crop of wheat in the third year. If, therefore, Mr. Robinson — a gentleman of such great experience, with the command of the labour of so many as upwards of 400 able-bodied men — finds it impossible, or even say inadvisable, to have wheat I I »('' fl 86 FACTS AGAINST \ n' sown sooner tbnn the second year of settling in the woods — even with the simple small log-hut which was the humble dwelling of the labouring Emigrant, and shelter for his cow — how can Mr. Fergusson suppose that a settler, so far removed from a peopled country as Nichol by his own account is, is to have, even in the first year, erected his house and barns, cleared 50 acres, and got hold of and sold a crop of 1250 bushels of wheat? 2d, I will, however, as I did in my remarks on Mr. Pickering's statement, seek my proof from Mr. Fergusson's own writings. In p. 367 (First Visit), he says, in giving an account of the mode of con- ducting the operation of clearing — " They cut the wood in the fall of the year, or perhaps in the winter time." This operation cannot be performed until the timber is sufficiently dried by the summer sun, and must have good weather to facilitate the burn- ing even then, or it cannot be sufficiently burii . " The brushwood and logs being dragged together by his (the settler's) steers, are burnt. The stumps are left so high, that you would think, at a distance, they were so many men standing among the corn." " This being done, the next fall he sows his wheat among the stumps.'''' " These stumps thus left are EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 87 very tronblesome till be gets them out, which can- not be easily done." " Hardwood stumps require eight or ten years to rot, and those of pine consi- derably more." " This is the common way of going to work." A little farther on, he says, the settler on new land is " without means of subsistence for 18 months at least on his farm, before be gets the produce of his labour." From this it appears clearly that the crop is only got at the expiry of the second year after the wood is cut down. 3d, There is an Agricultural Society, established for the purpose of promoting the improvement of lands, and agricultural objects in general, in Canada. In Mr. Fergusson's first book, p. 373, will be foand among the premiums to be awarded the following: " No. 26. — To the person who shall raise on new land, which was in standing wood, and was cleared, and was broughf. into cultivation in the eighteen months preceding the best crop of wheat, of 4 arpints, 15 dollars.- -Best oats, same conditions, 10 dollars. — Also, for rye." From these extracts it will be seen, that 18 months, or at all ♦^vents part of two dilFerent years, is required for raising a crop of grain from wood- lands. n, hll I %\ W V i m IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 [frilM IIM f ^ illlM i ii£ IIIIIM 1.4 — 6" !.6 V] Pw m ^ ^^M ' . % > ^&' ^;^! /# Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 :A'»^T M»!N s'leeT WEBSTER, K.^ MS80 (716) 872-450:i E9B & ^ O \ u ■Ml ! i !"■ I 88 FACTS AGAINST Indeed, within no period of 18 months can the wood possibly be cut down, burnt off, and the land sown, so as to have a crop of wheat ripened, except- ing that period which will include February, or at latest, March of the first year j that is, to have the wood cut down before the sap gets up, burnt in the summer or fall, and then sown before winter. ..,,,... ■r 4th, Mr. Fergusson (in his writings in Agricul- tural Journal) gives the following note of his obser- vations on Upper Canada, under date Saturday, 15tb May, 1831, — " The forest is here thin, probably not having more than forty or fifty old oaks upon an acre, and not requiring these to be destroyed, it being quite possible to guide the plough through the in- tervals. Walter Smith was busy with his pair of oxen preparing the land for wheat, of which he ex- pec*ed to have thirty acres sown in autumn.'*'' Now, if Walter Smith (who, it appears by same paper, was newly entered on his farm), was on the 15th May, which 'may be considered the beginning of the season there, only to sow wheat in the autumn upon land which was, from the thinness of the trees, found in a fit state for admitting the plough at once, how can Mr. Fergusson ever suppose that his land, which has to be cleared of heavy timber, is to produce a EMIGRATION TO CANADA. OVc crop before the time that Smith's land, so much more favourably situated, can have been fit for re- ceiving the seed, to have a crop the first year? v^,; 5th, Extract from Library of Useful and Enter- taining Knowledge — Backwoods of Canada, p. 132 : « Upper Canada, 20th Nov. 1832.— The working season is very short, on account of the length of time the frost remains on the ground. With the exception of chopping trees, very little can be done. Those that understand the proper management of uncleared land, usually underbrush (that is, usually cat down all the small timbers and brushwood) while the leaf is yet on them : this is piled in heaps, and the wind-fallen trees are chopped through in lengths, to be chopped up in spring with the winter's chop- ping. The latter end of the summer and autumn are the best seasons for this work. The leaves then become quite dry and sear, and greatly assist in the important business of burning off the heavy timbers. << Another reason is, that when the snow has fallen to some depth, the light timbers cannot be cut close to the ground, or the dead branches, and other in- cumbrances, collected and thrown on the heap. " We shall have about three acres ready for spring crops, provided we get a good burning of that which i2 '1^ mmmmmm m PACTS AGAINST is already chopped near the site of the house. This will be sown with oats, pumpkins, Indian corny and potatoes — the other ten acres will be ready for put- ting in a crop of wheat — so you see it will be a long time before we reap a harvest. fVe could not even get in spring wheat early enough to come to perfection this year. ''^ . - , «. w> . These five extracts — three of them from Mr. Fer- gusson^s own writings, one from an official docu- ment which cannot be controverted, and the fifth from a publication by far too favourable towards encouraging Emigration, so far as that subject has to be treated of in reference to Scotland and Eng- land— will, I trust, sufficiently prove the absurdity of supposing that a crop of wheat can be raised from wilderness land, and taken to market, in the same year upon which a settler enters, at whatever period of the year he may do so. " ' ^ .>.v *»< .i*: «w*t.*..«^ The importance of this difference of time is im- mensely great to the settler, who is led by Mr. Fer- gusson^s estimate to expect a great crop of wheat the first year. It is not only a total loss of the amount of the yearns crop, as it would affect a man of large capital, and of being for every following year deprived of that income which he was led to il EMIGRATION TO CANADA. m expect each successive year, but it is the want of the money with which the stranger had been led to expect he could carry on hi? operations ; for Mr. Fergusson has pointed out how he is to apply the proceeds^ to enable him to get on to the attainment of larger sums next year. These proceeds (even any part of them) are not forthcoming — the supplies which, by Mr. Fergusson's statement, were to be managed so very economically and so very profit- ably, are vanished altogether — and this want of re- turns until another year, affects, in every instance through the course of years, the funds which, by the statement so given, were, from the proceeds of the previous crop, to have been provided for the outlay of the following year, and upon which, in succes- sion, every other crop depended. The outlays must continue, or the progress of the /arm stops — there is nothing to continue them with — and the specula- tion is knocked on the head. r < Second Objection. — Impossibility of dispensing ,.f. ,,, WITH Horses and Work Oxen. » , .. . I cannot conceive how it could, for one moment, be supposed that working cattle can be dispensed with from the very outset of the arduous undertak* j I f/l n PACTS AGAINST I , . •( It! in^ of removing a family to a forest, at a distance from ail other settlers, carrying provisions for them, opening a space for buildings, constructing houses, converting the wilderness into a farm, supposed from the first year to yield a large crop of wheat, and carrying that crop of grain to a distant market. Mr. Fergusson, and his friend, W — , in setting out (p. 33, Second Visit) from Toronto to examine the lands in question on the 4th October, the finest season in the year for such an excursion, found it necessary io hire, at 15s. per day, a waggon, with a pair of excellent nags, and to engage as driver an intelligent respectable farmer to whom they belong- ed. On the 5th October, after having been benight- ed, and fatigued with the jolting, they arrived at Guelph. On the 6th they found it necessary, as their route lay through " a wild and thinly-settled tract," to leave the waggon and adopt the saddles they had brought for the purpose. It was necessary, however, to procure an additional nag ; and Mr. F. sallied forth Ua quest of air old acquaintance, v bo, however, could not supply his wants, but who recom- mended bim to a second party, the second transferred him to a third, by whom they were introduced to a fourth, and by him they were l^urnished with a pony EMIGRATION TO CANADA. »9 at 3s. sterling (3s. 7d. ourrency) per day. The first part of this day^s ride was " through several farms which seemed to have been abandoned to a wilder- ness of thistles.^^ They had been misled this day by erroneous directions ; but in the afternoon pro- cured another guide — were soon immersed in the wood's — and, after travelling 12 miles "through bush and brake/^ arrived at the house of a Mr. Fraser, where they remained all night; and on the 7tb October, their host accompanied them to the obj«*ct of their visit, distant seven miles. « . , , . . . An idea of the nature of the country may be formed from the following extract: — "The only trace of a road consisted in ' blazes,^ or chips taken from the bark of the trees. Occasionally some im- mense overthrown trunk blocked up the only pas- sage, and we had nothing for it then but a ' sporting leap ;"* a performance which the Canadian pony took his own method of executing, somewhat to the dis- composure of his rider (W — ), as it more nearly resembled the feats of grimalkin than any equestrian movement we bad ever seen.^^ Thus, then, after four days' travelling (the last two days of which from Guelph to Nichol), with the assistance of three in- telligent guides, and with three hired horses, Mr. 1 p^^ ■■MP mmmm 94 PACTS AGAINST I. i ;l 'f Fergusson and his friend get themselves conveyed to the land on which it is intended to make a loca- tion. In here giving a description of the journey to Nichol, from Mr. Fergusson''s own " Notes," I am very far from insinuating that his lands are either ill adapted for settling upon, or that the difficulty of reaching them is greater than those to be met with in general. That those places which are best ad- apted for settling apon, from richness of soil, and other advantages, are often placed at a much greater distance in the forest, and still preferred by many intelligent settlers, is unquestionable ; and the diffi- culties of settling at Nichol are probably not so great as have bad to be encountered in the settling of many of what are now the best situations in Ca- nada. That, ho'.7.)ver, does not make the smallest dif- ference in estimating the expense of first settling, which is the question now under consideration ; and to what has a reference to the amount of that alone, and the value of the crops which it is presumed by him may be raised at the outset, and forced into a distant market, in order to provide funds for ex- tending to such a length as Mr. Fergusson proposes r \ i it EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 95 the same system, must be confined the inqairy, in order to ascertain whether his belief in the practica- bility of such a scheme be well founded ; — and that part of the inquiry just now is, Whether this settle- ment, under such circumstances, can be effected without horses or oxen ? I consider it to be impos- sible. Mr. Fergusson and his friend, at the finest season of the year for travelling, and unencumbered with any luggage, in the course of four days^ travelling from Toronto — from which place only a settler can be supplied with labourers — and in two days' from Guelph — the nearest place at which he can procure any thing from a store — succeed, at a great expense, and with much friendly assistance from settlers, in reaching, for the first time, that spot in the wilder- ness upon which a settlement is to be effected ; and in this journey three horses were found to be requi- site. This expense for hiring, and this gratuitous assistance from other settlers, cannot last long ; and the new settler must, in every respect, provide for his own wants. How is be to get the other mate- rials for the buildings, besides wood, conveyed from Guelph, from which place it took himself two days to reach Nicbol ? How is he to get provisions, tools, I 'it* P ■BP ^tm J 96 PACTS AGAINST " f J 1 i \ .^ Si^ and implements, carried to the settlement? Ho\r is he to get seed for the land ? How is he to get car- ried through the woods cooking utensils, bedding, and furniture ? How is that frequent intercourse to be kept up, at all seasons of the year, which must necessarily be held with other places from which the many wants, in such an undertaking, must be sup- plied ? How is the crop to be carried from the field to the barn or barnyard ? How or by what plan is the immense quantityof grain to be sold, to be car- ried to market ? How is the land to be ploughed for a second crop ? or rather, in a word, what is the use of horses and working oxen in other agricultural countries, in which there are not to be found the Xvfen\jt*^\)ci part of the difficulties which are to be found in the woods? . > "• •• • ?' ; . -n:; '^f^* Mr. Fergusson has, in the year after he has sup- posed the first crop to have been delivered at mar- ket, made allowance for purchasing one yoke of oxen for first stock ; but it is not worth reckoning upon as any thing towards cultivating the land, or using in any way oif the place : it would be no more than sufficient for keeping the people in fuel. The quantity of wheat which he proposes to sell of that second crop is 2,187^ bushels, and he has 87| acres I ' »f i,'-^ J EMIGRATION TO CANADA. w to plough for the third crop. He has, in the year after having sold the second crop, considered it ue- cessary to provide " stocking/^ having entered, in one aggregate sum, £285 currency (£237 10s. ster- ling) as << the expense of stocking the farm, and servants'* wages and board ;''^ but whether he intends any part of that aum for working stock does not appear ; nor can it be ascertained, on the closest investigation of the whole statement for the four years, whether any other working cattle, excepting the one yoke of oxen, are supposed to have been kept at all. Certainly no provision has been made for any of them, eithej* in provender or in money, M'ith the exception of the chance of a little hay the last year. He says, in the third year, that all has *' hitherto been done by contract ;" but there is not one shilling entered in any of the accounts under that head ; nor can it be supposed, from the small sums entered under other heads (altogether inade- quate for meeting the unavoidable expenditure under these, as will be seen afterwards), that he ever con- sidered them to include any thing else but what they purport to do ; and nothing therein contained seems in any way to refer to the work of cattle, unless it may be supposed that it does so so far as relates to K Mm m PACTS AGAINST the process of "sowing" the wheat on the newly burnt lands. I cannot, however, suppose that it does even that. If it does, it is taking the management of the farm very coolly indeed, to leave the sowing and harrowing of the wheat seed into such a seed-bed to the care and skill of common axemen, employed to cut down and burn the timber. Assuredly under such a system there would not much wheat go to market. I have already said, that there are no means of ascertaining whether Mr. Fergnsson meant the word "stocking" to include working cattle, with harness, carriages, and other implements, along with the servants'* wages and board j but it will be seen after- wards that the sum he has entered for the last two years would be all required to cover the cost under any one of these three heads of charges, — viz. 1st, Purchase of horses and oxen for a farm so cropped : 2d, Purchase of implements and utensils : 3d, Pay-' raent of servants^ wages and board for 12 months. As I consider the reasons given by me herein^ sufficient to prove that horses must be kept for the road, and oxen for labour in the woods and stumps, even from the very outset, and also the questions which I have put to be unanswerable otherwise than I EMIGRATION TO CANADA. f)0 affirmative of my argament) I consider it to be ini. necessary co enlarge farther on this point. The estimate which will be afterwards inserted, will shew what sum I consider necessary for being expended under this head, and ray reasons for such expenditure. /S Third Objection. — Want of suitable Buildings, The whole amount charged for buildings of every description is as follows : 1st Year — Log-house, £50 0. 0 Barn, including stables, cow- honscx &c 50 0 0 4th Year — Houses for feeding stock, 20 0 <> £120 0 0 This, at 24s. currency per sovereign, is £100 sterling. In the third year there is an entry of £40 currency for improvements " about the house ;" but as this clearly refers to forming a garden, and other out- door work, such as fencing, &c. I do not include it in this account of buildings; and as the £80 cur- rency {£QQ 13s. 4d. sterling), allowed for the thrash- ing-mill the fourth year, is not half enough for the machinery alone — making ciUowance for great ex- l li 100 FACTS AGAINST n h -i ii f! ■ pense of mechanics in Canada, and carriages of heavy iron-work from distant foundries, where every thing whicL requires new models and mouldings is excessively dear — it cannot be supposed that Mr. FergussoM meant any part of that for the houses. Here, then, is, to erect dwelling-house, stables^ and cow-houses, barns for hay and grain, houses for feeding stock, houses for thrashing-mill, and other buildings required for a homestead, upon a farm from which upwards of Eight Thousand bushels of wheat are to be sold during the first four years, and a "feeding stock" to be kept, — a farm which, it will be seen by the estimate which follows, will re- quire to have upon itself lodgings to accommodate at least twenty men, besides the family of the farmer, during all seasons of the year, — at least twenty horses and oxen for labour, in addition to milk cows and their followers (if any such are to be kept), — a homestead, to procure a site for which it will be necessary to cut down and clear away, root and branch, immense trees, growing upon land situated in the depths of an all but impenetrable forest, and which will yet, after these trees have been cleared away, have to be levelled and prepared for the erec- tion of such buildings, in a country where, by Mr. IV. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 101 Fergusson's own description, there are not only no saw-mills, but not even any roads by which boards can be baaled, and which must therefore be sawed by men upon the spot,— for all these buildings, not one of which can be dispensed with in carrying on the adventure on the scale proposed for procuring such a quantity of grain, and in a part of the world where labour is proverbially dear, Mr. Fergusson allows the sum of One Hundred Pounds sterling. As the error committed in making such a calcu- lation must be apparent to every one in the smallest degree acquainted with the erection of new build- ings for a farm upon such a scale, I conceive it not to be necessary for me to say any thing else than merely to point out those difficulties, and very heavy attendant expenses, which are peculiar to the coun- try, and the nature of the ground upon which the new settlement has to be made. I must, however, here explal.i, that in Canada barns must necessarily be of immense size, it being indispensably requisite that they should contain nearly the whole of the crop, both on account of the depth of the snow and the severity of the weather in winter — which makes it impossible to remove them into the barn when wanted — and also the heavy rains in spring and fall; k2 m nm.^ 1 'i(i 102 PACTS AGAINST for, with all the boasted fineness of the climate of Upper Canada, it will be found by a comparative view of the climates of the Uppe;* and Lower Pro- vinces, inserted in an after-part of this book, that there is, during- very nearly one-fourth of the whole year, cither rain or snow in the Upper Country — viz. 89 days. The common practice of the country is, to have the stable, cowhouse, &o. in the under part of the barns, and the upper part to contain the hay and the grain ; the whole of both being housed where it is at all practicable, and the climate requiring that they should all be under cover. In such a case, however, as the present, several barns, and large barns too, are indispensable. It will be seen, by the estimate which follows, what number of horses and oxen must be employed ; and for such a number of ani- mals, and the necessary provender, a large barn will be required ; and another still larger must be pro- vided for the grain, the thrashing-mill with its ap- purtenances, and a large quantity of unthrashed grain, in order to keep the thrashing going on when nothing can be done outside. Potatoes and turnips also (of which there are to be no less than 25 acres the fourth year) must be all under cover, and care- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. ]03 fully secured from frost, j for whatever remains in the ground when the frost comes on in November are lost — they are not only covered all winter at such a depth as to be inaccessible, but even turnips are wholly destroyed before the snow goes away. Barn and cellar room has, therefore, to be provided for the whole crop. It will also be seen that from the number of car- riages of one kind or another which have to be kept in that country, in consequence of those used in the summer being useless in the winter, a very large shed is required upon evevy farm, as every thing must be kept under cover. The effects of the se- vere frosts upon carriages and implements of all kinds, which have been long drenched in the heavy rains of the beginning of winter, and then become suddenly frozen, are completely ruinous, as the water in the wood swells it so much, tears it from the iron work, and destroys it very rapidly. AH utensils, therefore, have to be carefully housed, in order to keep them dry before frost comes on. A wood- house of a considerable size is also necessary, both for containing dry wood, and cutting it up under cover during rain and snow. For all this establishment Mr. Fergusson pro' :m4 \tm\\ 1U4 FACTS AGAINST vides — one log-house — one small barn — and some houses lOr feeding stock. Having thus pointed out for what purposes and to what extent buildings are required, it must be obvious that the accommodation provided by Mr. F. is utterly insufficient. > Fourth Objection. — Inadequacy of Allowances of Money under every Head of Charge. This, I find, I must subdivide as follows : — 1st, Insufficiency of allowance for household expenses, wages and board of labourers, and keeping of work- ing cattle. There will be no difficulty in here proving that the whole sum allowed by Mr. Fergusson for all the yearly expenditure for the current year's crop, would not be sufficient for harvesting and thrashing alone, either in Canada or Scotland, the quantity of wheat which he proposes, even although he were to get the crop ready for the sickle without any expense to himself whatever. I would have inserted here an account of all the expenses allowed by Mr. Fergusson, as referring to the four crops — with the exception of the first clear- ■iMitfilMiiiHiftiitti EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 105 ing of the land, and the price of the land and houses — and havs contrasted with the amount of these the expense of harvesting and thrashing only ; but he has, in the third year, most unaccountably charged in one sum (£285) the expense of "stocking the farm, and servants' wages and board." How or for what reason he has done so, does not appear; and bis doing so is every way incorrect, as it mixes up the permanent improvements with the expenses for the current crop. For whatever purposes it may have been so done, the consequence is that it com- pletely mystifies the matter, and is equally unsatis- factory as to the giving any information about the stock which is considered necessary, as it is about the proportion of the sum which is allowed for wages and board. On both of these heads the reader is kept in the dark ; and the writer is not only unintel- ligible, but has kept himself from being tangible in the investigation, either in point of expenses or strength of stock which is requisite. I must, there- fore, in order that I may go only upon data which is unquestionable, and quite apparent from his own statemf^nt, restrict myself to three of the years, viz. first, second, and fourth. u Ji ^■'1 ■"IB^r-nwPi-^BPPiWP^^ • mi PACTS AGAINST I ;ii;. i : Mii Expenses allowed by Mr. Fergusson for Three of the Four Years. 1st Year— Household & other expenses till after harvest, £30 0 0 Expense of harvesting, . . 35 5 0 Household and other exp. 46 0 0 £111 5 0 2d Year — Allowed for purchasing a team of oxen, and household expenses till after harvest, £50 0 0 The team of oxen, with yokes, chains, and car- riages would cost at least 25 0 0 Remains for household ex. 25 0 0 Expense of harvesting, . . 61 10 5 Household and other exp. 39 8 4 125 18 9 4th Year — Household and other ex- penses, £30 0 0 Household, harvest, and other expenses, 82 10 0 112 10 0 Total sum allowed for expenses of farm, and keeping stock, for three years, £349 13 9 '' I li; EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 107 0 There being nothing to keep the stock provided until the fourth year, in the latter part of which there may be some hay, but very little. Expenses which would he incurred in Harvesting and Thrashing only, the quantity of Wheat assumed to he sold in same Three Years, hy Mr. Fergusson's own rates, contained in other parts of his writings. In Mr, Fergusson's first book, p. 161, he gives a list of prices at which particular departments of labour may be got done in Upper Canada, from which I extract as follows : " Wheat reaped, hauled into nckyard, and stack* ed, L.l per acre. Thrashing and winnowing, per bushel, fid." 0 9 The quantity of wheat which he takes credit for is, Ist year, 50 acres, 1250 bushels ; 2d year, 87^ acres, 2187| bushels; 4th year, 100 acres, 2500 bushels. 237 1 acres, 5937 i bushels. The expenses of securing and thrashing this crop alone would therefore be, by his own account, 108 PACTS AGAINST Reaping) hauling, and thrashing 237 1 acres, at L.l, L.237 10 0 Thrashing 5937^ bushels, at 6d. ... 148 8 9 Total for harvesting & thrashing only, L.385 18 9 Total allowed by Mr. Fergusson for three years' outlay, for expenses of la- bour on the farm for three years, pur- chasing all food for man and beast, pro- viding seed for part of the wheat crop, potatoes, &c. delivering nearly 6000 bushels of wheat at a distant market, and supporting, clothing, and otherwise providing for a family, 349 13 9 Harvesting & thrashing alone cost more by L.36 5 0 i if I These data being furnished by Mr. Fergusson himself, I consider the accounts which I have here submitted a complete demonstration of the absurdity of his statements with regard to the accounts of profits for the four years; but in case it may be argued that the expense of harvesting and thrashings as given by him in other parts of his book, may EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 109 have been over-rated, I subjoin an account to shevr that that is not the case. In this country the expenses of shearing^, stook- ing*, carrying to barnyard, and stacking a crop of wheat, putting it Into barn, thrashing, winnowing, measuring, sacking, marketing, and delivering at market 10 miles distant, will be found, upon a mi- nute calculation, to amount to Is. per bushel. The quantity in previous account, 5,937 1 bushels, at Is. would thus be, £296 17s. 6d. — which, at 24s. for the sovereign (being the value in Halifax cur- rency), would be £S56 5s.; being very little less than the sum required, according to Mr. Fergusson^s rates, in Canada ; but more than the whole charge made by him for whole expenses of the three years. Indeed, to such a length has he carried this negli- gence— such it must be supposed — that for the whole of the fourth year, in which he praposes to sell wheat to the amount of <£5G2 10s. besides having 25 acres in hay, and 25 in potatoes and turnips, which he values at £120, he does not allow for household expenses, wages and board of labourers, provender for whole stock, and every possible expense, includ- ing seed for 37 1 acres of wheat, and 25 acres of potatoes and turnips, so much money as would pay L n I n f. '■ 'f ir [ 1^ ■I )10 PACTS AGAINST for harvesting the wheat, and putting in the other crops, without any charge for thrashing at all, — as will appear below. i I Whole sum allowed the Fourth Year, 1st Charge — Households other expenses, £30 0 0 2d Charge — Household, harvest, and other expenses, 82 10 0 Together, £112 10 0 Deduct harvesting the wheat, 100 acres, at 20s. per acre, by his own rate of cost, 1 00 0 0 Leaves, £12 10 0 for thrashing, cutting and carrying in 25 acres hay, and taking up and putting in 25 acres potatoes and turnips. The thrashing of the wheat, 2,500 bushels, at 6d. as allowed by himself, would be £62 10s. Surely this requires no comment. Too small a sum allowed for Clearing) Fencing, and Sowing. The sum per acre which is charged by Mr. Fer- gusson all along for " clearing, fencing, and sowing," is £4 ; and, it appears, is to include every charge, EMIGRATION TO CANADA. HI «ven seed. But at least two pound^s more per acre will be requisite. He gives in his First Visit, p. 161, a list of prices for work in Upper Canada, in which will be found. Chopping, per acre, .\»,,,.,.i, ill 10 0 Logging, collecting, and dragging, 1 0 0 Fencing with split rails, Is. Id. per rood; if with post and rail, Is. lOd. j but as he does not say in what size of fields the farm is to be divided, take it at one pound per acre, 1 0 0 Sowing and harrowing, per acre, 0 5 0 Seed, 0 5 0 This makes up the whole sum of £4 0 0 And in his statement at present under investigation, be takes this as the price at which he is to have his wheat growing, without making any allowance for levelling and smoothing the ground for the crop, and preparing it for the scythe. Before the seed can be sown, however, much labour is necessary. The ground is very uneven, from numerous inequa- lities, occasioned, in many of the cases, by what is called cradle-heaps, upon the sides of holes from which the roots of trees have been torn by the wind, i M f 111 112 FACTS AGAINST and the large quantity of earth which is torn up with theui lies on one side in a heap along with the roots. There are also long heaps of the rotten matter of large trees which have fallen probably centuries ago, which lie like red wet sawdust, in a close consist- ence, which no fire can penetrate, and from which, while it lies in any quantity together, it is as difficult to get any crop produced as if it were solid stone : it seems to kill every kind of seed which lies upon it. These heaps have to be carefully scattered. In order to shew that it is not merely the chop- ping and burning that is necessary, I subjoin an extract from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, already alluded to, from which it will be seen that L.6 an acre is as little as can be estimated at. Estimated Value of the Produce of the Labour of the Emigrants of 1825, up to 24tb Nov. 1826. 1,386| acres of land cleared, at L.4,. .L.5547 0 0 67,799 bolls potatoes, at 3s 3389 19 0 25,623 bolls turnips, at 6d 640 11 6 10,4381 boils Indian corn, at 2s. 6d. 1304 16 3 Carried forward,.. L. 10,882 6 9 .....^,,,„,(:,.,.,,.„..;_..,,_„,.,.,.,.'5^ [j/*-iy4l«»*-<'^.'»M'--. -1 ,*• ►.«-.'t^v?T) ■^■•n.t>r,ir:^^'"t%.f EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 113 Brought forward,.. L.10,882 0 9 363 1 acres wheat sown, at 40s. . . . 727 i) 0 9,067 lbs. maple sugar, at 4d 151 2 4 40 oxen, purchased by labour,. .. 280 0 0 80 cows, ditto, at L.4 10s 360 0 0 166 hogs, ditto, at Ids. 124 10 (» Halifax currency,.. L. 12,5 2<4 19 I Clearing, therefore, is, per acre, L.4 ; preparing it for sowing, sowing, and seed, L.2 : Total, L.6. At the prices allowed by Mr. Robinson for every article, the produce of the labour would not support the people employed, which is a proof that he has not rated it too high ; and every one who attempts to clear land will find it is too little. Having (as I hope satisfactorily) demonstrated the erroneousness of Mr. Fergusson's statement as to annual expenses of the farm, and also as to the sum allowed for clearing, I have to remark, that that error is to such a degree as that it may be supposed that he has made no allowance whatever for what may be considered the " Expenses Proper" of the farm, so far as these relate to the rai.sing, saving, and disposing of the crop f-ji' each particular year. Indeed, the sum allowed for three c . of the four l2 'isvi 114 FACTS AGAINST years (it not being possible to make out what be allows for the other), is, in whole, only L.349 Ids. 9d. or L.I 16 lis. 3(1. per annam, equal to L.96 14s. 2d. sterling each year— sum not even adequate for paying the household expenses and clothing for a farmer^s family in Canada, without one farthing for hired men, provender for working stock, seed, and other expenses x f the farm. Kif 13' X Ifl 2d, Insufficiency of Money allowed for stocking the Farm, when it is said to be stocked, in the third year. As Mr. Fergusson'id statement is all along so com- pletely mystified that it is impossible to make any thing of it, or to unravel it, and having already made remarks upon every year in some shape or other, I will not attempt to follow him through them all separately; but as it is necessary, in order to compare the amount which be allows for carrying on the operations of a farm with the charges which must inevitably be incurred in all cases, to make some calculation by which the expenditure on that head may be approximated as nearly as possible, I submit the following estimate of what stock is un- avoidably requisite for the fourth year, — as it may be supposed that, the houses having been got up u wwsmt^ EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 1J5 before this time, and the farm so long settled apon, things may have been brought, comparatively speak- ing, into some sort of order, or at least (if such an extent of '< clearance" can, under such circumstan- ces and such a system, be by possibility effected within such a short time) in such a state as may be considered to be orders after the state of chaos, and struggling with forests, frosts, and floods, which have hitherto had to be encountered. The crop which is calculated upon the fourth year is, 100 acres wheat, to produce 2,500 bushels. 25 acres hay, sown last year. 25 acres potatoes and turnips. K 150 acres. The whole crop of 150 acres, therefore, has to be carried from the field, the carriages, of whatever kind they may be, to be conducted through stumps and other impediments, which render much caution necessary, and can only be at all carried home in such small loads, that not one-half of th? weight can be saved in the same time as would be done at home. There has been to plough for this year''s crop, in addition to the labour of cattle in sowing the 62 1 VI 116 t'ACTS AGAINST acres newly cleared, — 37 1 acres for wheat, which had been in wheat two successive years before. This is, At two ploughings, 75 acres. 25 acres for green crop, which had been ' three years successively in wheat. How this quantity, in such a state, and among . >, stumps, is to be got inio a proper tilth for potatoes and turnips, in such a short season, it is not easy to conjecture ; but I will take it at two ploughings, 50 acres. Total ploughing, 125 acres. Same extent of harrowing, 125 acres. The wheat crop (for it is impossible for the barns to contain all this quantity at once) has to be car- ried from the stackyard to the thrashing-mill — the mill to be kept going — and 2,500 bushels to be car- ried within three months to a disiant market. Cattle have also to be kept for dragging the logs of 6^| acres to be burnt. Besides all this, the proper work of the farm, the whole of the hay and corn for the .stock has to be carried from a distance to this new settlement, for there is none there to supply any. There is here, therefore, an extent of labour to be done whic'i a person who has never seen the ! EMIQRA'4'ION TO CANADA. 117 i newly-cleared fields of Canada can have little idea of; and such is the number of oxen which woald be required for the plong;hings, harrowings, and other operations of the farm, and of horses to carry the grain to market, and haul the logs to be burnt, that I can scarcely bring myself to say the number which would be necessary. Although it is a repetition of what I have already stated, I beg leave here again to call to recollection that the whole season for field operations is only about five mor hs. Having again mentioned this, I will now call in to my aid a Canadian Agricultural Report for April and May, 1834, from which I give the following extract :^— " With command of labour, which continued emi- gration will give, the farmer has only to employ double the number of hands for the working season, while the days °ro long and fine, that he would have required in England."* This extract is from a document shewing eve" thing in its fairest colours, in order to promote that "continued emigration" which, it is plainly admit- ted, is indispensable, and without which they cannot get cultivated the lands which they have already partially cleared. * See Martin's Canada, 1836, p. 196. ' I ,1 IP i V t » ! i« m ^iS PACTS AGAINST If "double" the number of hands be necessary, much more is it necessary to have double the num- ber of working cattle ; for that part of the work not only has to be done in less than half the time, but the fields upon which it has to be done are in such a bad state for cultivation, and for carrying oif the crop, that at least three times the number of work- ing cattle is required. As, however, in rebutting the too favourable statements which have been made by others, I have made use of proofs from the writ- ings themselves to prove my assertions, I will, in this case also, confine myself to the proportional increase of power which it is admitted, in the report from which I have made the above extract, is neces- sary; remarking, however, that in such a case as Mr. Fergusson has supposed — that is, the raising of a great quantity of wheat before the fields are cleared of the stumps — a complete set of oxen must be kept for the ploughing, and a complete set of horses for carrying the grain to market, — the oxen being very unfit for going a long journey, and the horses not well adapted for ploughing among stumps. For the carrying of the quantity of grain to a dis- tant market alone — say to any of the markets on Lake Ontario, the nearest of which may be 50 miles I » ^.4u.. ^M->u. ^l.. 1 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 119 from Nichol, or even to Guelph — the number of horses required to work the whole winter (the only time it would be possible at all) would not be less than sixteen. It will be seen, from the following calculation, that this number is not over-rated : — Suppose the sledding season to last so long as 12 weeks, then, at one journey per week, at 25 bushels, one span (2 horses) would take, in the season, 300 bushels ; eight spans (16 horses), 2,400 bushels. The quantity sold, by Mr. Fergusson's statement, in the fourth year, is 2,500 bushels. I will not attempt to shew what number of horses and oxen would be really required for performing this work upon a farm which it is proposed to con- duct on such a system; nor is it necessary that I should do so. I will give up all charge for more working stock than would be required in a common case in Canada, as will be seen by my extract from the Agricultural Report, and my remarks thereon. That Report alludes evidently to that part of the country where cultivation may be supposed to have already become general, and not to such a case as is now under in- vestigation ; in which it is not merely the distance at which the new settlement is removed from older iU r! It ri I ■1 I m (^ mm'^^'' 120 FACTS AGAINST m :■ settlements^ but the very peculiar system which it ii propused to adopt, of raising wheat only for the first three years, to the exclusion of other crops, — the provender for the working cattle having thereby to be carried from a great distance, without roads, and the wheat to be transported overland to a still greater distance before a market can be found. I will, however, restrict the number of horses (which only are fit for the road in long journeys) to double the number required to be kept at home on a farm of the same extent, but allowing two double teams of oxen for working where horses cannot be used. I will thus rest my argument upon data which must make the sum which I will charge for stock- ing much less than it should be, if allowance were to be made for the peculiar difficulties of the system proposed to be attempted. Estimate of Stock required in Fourth Year. 14 Horses, at L. 15, L.210 0 0 8 Oxen, at L.7 10s 60 0 0 Carried forward,. .. .L.270 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. ^21 Brought forward,.... L.270 0 0 7 Sels Harness, at L.IO, per Mr. Fer- gnsson's account, 70 0 0 4 Yokes for Or.en, and 4 Ox-chains, 8 0 0 4 Double Horse Waggons, at L.20, ... 80 0 0 2 Ox Carts, at L. 15, 30 0 0 1 Light Wao^gon for travelling, 15 0 0 7 Doable Horse Sleighs, at L.7, 49 0 0 6 Ploughs, at L.3, 18 0 0 10 Harrows of all kinds, 10 0 0 Smaller implements, barn utensils, and ., tools for every purpose, many of which ^ are wanted, the buildings being all wood. (At least L.5 worth of axes will be required ; and sacks are very high-priced.) 50 0 0 Furniture, cooking utensils, &c. ; beds and bedding for at least 20 men, be- ,, ;; . sides the family, as will be seen in Estimate of Expenses, 100 0 0 Total, L.700 0 0 In making up this Estimate of Live and Dead Stock required on the farm during the fourth, and. li. f i« I . --.^ « ,..*». a 'T i: w i ( < 122 FACTS AGAINST * I may also say, the third year, I have charged the prices of every article as rated by Mr. Fergnsson, where the prices can be had in his books ; and the amountis, L.700 0 0 The whole amount allowed by Mr. Fer- "> "'' gusson during the whole period, is, * >'' 1st Year— For furniture,.. L.20 0 0 2d Year — For a team of oxen, and household expenses, L.50 ; of which I allow for the oxen, sled, &c 25 0 0 4th Year — Entered for stock- ing, and servants^ wages and board, L.285, but whether any part is entered for working- stock does not appear ; and as be, in the next year, provides houses for "feeding stock," which are not entered anywhere else, it would appear they cost part of this sum ; and as yet not so much as a milk cow or pig has oeen allowed for. I will. Carried forward,.. L.45 0 0 700 0 0 i. ». I EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 123 Brought forward,.. L.45 0 0 700 0 0 I \ however, make this oalcnlation r oa the supposition that nothing would be really purchased which .' could be wanted for work alone, v and that only L.lOO was allow- ed for wages and board. This will leave of the L.285, — for . i ' i stocking, 185 00 :- > 230 0 0 Deficiency in stocking alone,. . . . L.470 0 0 This account may appear startling to a person who has hitherto only skimmed over the pleasing de- scriptions which we generally see of American farm- ing, and the superficial and deceptive estimates of expenses, in which all the particulars of the heavy work is wholly omitted, and the expenses supposed to be included in the very comprehensive abbrevia- tion, ** &C.'*'' attached to some other account of ex- pense of minor importance. ' As an instance of this plan of inserting, upon the charge side of these Canadian accounts, different items of charges, in order to escape detection as far y '• ' 1 iVW m M' I' 11 -, it iif.' U 1 124 PACTS AGAINST as possible, there is in Mr. Pickering's book, p. 16*5, the following entry : — " Two acres for potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vegetables, for house (chiefly), sheep, calves, Sfc. — hiring a stout boy at 5 dollars per month and board, for a year, to attend cattle, milk, &c. — 100 dollars. Mr. Pickering having also taken the easy way of managing these matters, was not at the trouble of providing hay, or any superfluity of that kind, for cattle, or provisions for men to do the work, but supposes a sum to be given for the work ; and here is so liberal as allow 100 dollars — about L.20 ster- ling--for all which is included in the above para- graph. The wages of the boy, he admits, is 60 dollars, the year's board would be 72 dollars — to- gether, 132 dollars ; and yet this only forms a part of the charge: the other part, with seed, labour among stumps, and bousing, would cost more than 100 dollars besides. - It is very odd, too, that these pro forma calcula- tors, besides omiiting the keeping for cattle, invari- ably also forget to provide food for their labourers, although, in that part of the publication which refers to price of labour, board and lodging is as invariably enlarged upon. Indeed, board and lodging, from |[il EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 125 the peculiar circumstances of the country, it is indis- pensably necessary to have provided by the employer. Thus in the farm at Nichol there is, in the stock- ing of the farm alone, a deficiency of L.470, although not one shilling is charged but what is required for work only; without keeping, either for profit or convenience, one single living animal besides the working cattle, or even a spare animal to replace such as might be lamed, or otherwise unable to work. The expense of one team of horses, prepared for road and field, at Mr. Fergusson's prices, may be reckoned as follows : — , , .. 2 Horses, -. L.30 0 0 1 Double Horse Waggon, :. 20 0 0 1 Set Harness, 10 0 0 1 Double Horse Sleigh, 7 00 1 Plough, 3 0 0 Swingle-trees and Plough-chains, 1 8 4 Harrows, 2 0 0 Drag-chain, always used for trees, &c. 15 0 Horse-cloths, L.l each, for putting on when travelling, and always required, 2 0 0 One span, with necessary appurtenances, would cost L.76 13 4 m2 > I ! i !l i 1 l«^. ii I m n: VZ6 PACTS AGAINST Thus we see that one pair of horses, U'itb the ne- cessary appurtenances, cost L.70 13s. 4d. currency; and a very poor figure they would make, indeed, at that price, to be employed in such an undertaking. At this rate, however, three pairs only would cost L.230 currency, equal to L.191 13s. 4d. sterling, — the whole sum which Mr. Fergusson allows for live and dead stock of every description, implements, tools, household furniture, beds and bedding, for such an establishment. I would ask any farmer, even in this country, with a farm of which 150 acres are to be in crop, whether he could manage it with three pairs of horses, with' out any spare beast? And although he could do so, whether it would not cost him as much money as thij to enable him to send three pairs with a decent outfit to the field with a load of manure each, and to do a yoking at the plough ? besides all the value of his stocking at home, outside and inside; — and yet Mr. Fergusson here supposes, that in that out- of-the-way part of the world — where for six months of the year be cannot entftr a field, or, indeed, scarcely see the face of thu ej'i'th for snow or water • — he can, for that sura, furnish a house whicb may defy the rigours of the climate, and stock a farm. :! !iil 1 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. \21 otf which he can sell, in one year, wheat alone to the amount of L.d62 10s. — never mind the want of roadS) or want of neighbours to combine with him to break through the drifted snow — carry the grain 40 or 50 miles to market, and bring back provender for the live stock, and food for every living creature on the farm. 3d, Insufficiency of sum allomed by Mr. Fergusson fur Houses. Referring to what I said on this point (p. 99 to 103), I have now to state what sum I consider neces-> sjiry for providing the requisite buildings. The sum allowed by Mr. Fergusson, p. 99, for dwelling-house, barn, stables, and cow-house, is L.IOO. I have already said, that any one in the least acquainted with the subject must be aware of the absurdity of supposing that the buildingj^ provided for by Mr. Fergusson were sufficiently extensive for the farm ; but I have now to prove, from his own writings, that he is in error in allowing only such a small sum. In his Letters in the Agricultural Journal, on his return after his first visit, he gives a " rough esti- mated^ of a supposed investment in Michigan; and ' j^ I . k I « \il I .7 h . 1:^8 PACTS AGAINST says, " having submitted it to the corr^^otion of com- petent judges acquainted with the present state of the district, it may p baps be useful to insert it, especially as it applies also to much of Upper Canada." Price of 160 acres, at 1 i dollar, Dols. 200 Expenses of seed, labour, say 150 acres, and rail fence, at 6 dollars, 900 Harvesting, at 2 dollars, 300 Cost of dwelling-uous), stables, &c 800 Dols. 2200 Produce of 150 acres, at 20 bushels • — 3000 bushels, at 1 dollar, Dols. 3000 Deduct, as above, whole cost, . . , . ^ . . 2200 Clears first year, and every thing paid,. .Dols. 800 I will make few remarks upon this statement ; in which no stock of any kind, no working cattle, no utensils, not even household turniture, is provided for; no servants' wages or board at all; not even thrashing; and when these omissions ai . made, it is not likely that the cost of the dwelMng-house. stables, 4&C. would be charged even so high as it should be (there are no houses for "feeding stock" necessary 200 900 300 800 800 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 129 here, as there is no stock, and there is no house re- quired for thrashing-mill) ; but even in this econo- mical statementthe cost of d'^e ling-house and stables is 800 dollars (L.200 currency), being just double the snni stated as r'^quisite in the Nichol adventure, for which he allows only one-half of the sum. I will even take his own sum for dwellinff-house and stables, and suppose that the house is L. 100 0 0 Stables and barn, 100 0 0 In the Nichol concern, '^is barn (indeed a much more expensive one) will be required for working cattle and hay, withoutgrain. Suppose, then, another barn for grain, at same price (by far too low), 100 0 0 Houses for feeding stock, allowed by Mr. F. ?:: bis Nichol statement, third year, 20 0 0 In Scotland, an 8-horse thrashing-mill, without the houses necessary, cannot be got for less than L.lOO at least (L.120 currency). Here the wages of p. millwright may be taken at 3s. per Carried forward,. . . .L.320 0 0 i i i (Hi i^ ,• 1' I i 'If 1 1 'I i ff H ih 130 PACTS AGAINST ■k Brought Torward, L.320 0 0 day, without board ; but in Canada, with board, including master trades- man, at least 8s. currency. This would be for wages more than double. The machinery for a thrashing-mill here is got at half the price it can be got for in Canada, where such work as this is enormously dear, in conse- quence of its being such an uncom- mon occurrence, that a great expense has to be incurred in the mouldings. It has also, in this instance, to be / carried a great distance from where it will have to be made; and, upon the whole, would cost double what it would co^t here. I will, however, take it at only one-half more, — say, 180 0 0 House for thrashing-mill — (this is not taken notice of at all by Mr. F.), . . 50 0 0 L.550 0 0 Deduct sum allowed by Mr. Fergusson for house and barn, . . .L.lOO 0 0 Houses for feeding stock, 20 0 0 120 0 0 Deficiency for houses,. . . .L.430 0 0 "^ ■^■^TiT-rrT • '^^nf— 0 0 0 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 131 That in many newly-settled places there are not houses which cost so much; is true; but it is also true, that it is from want of ability to get them built. They are necessary, and must be provided at some time or other, long before a farm could, by possibi- lity, be brought to such a stage as Mr. Fergusson here supposes may be done within four years ; and wherevr such buildings are met with, it will be found, that the cost of them has been much greater than I have here stated. The buildings, indeed, upon a majority of the clearances, have brought the settlers under mortgages to the storekeeper which will never be paid by produce ; and from the original settler seeing, when it is too late, that he is never to be the real owner, he naturally gets discouraged, — he has little ability and little interest in hiring trades- men to keep them in repair, — and they very soon get into an aimost ruinous state. The farms aban- doned are not worth one farthing, as the fields get very ^;uon into such a wild state, that it would be m-v"^ "h^^alt to bring them into cultivation again ttiEii w i^ land. y r/i ft' f % 0 0 bin i % I' 132 FACTS AGAINST l! LETTER V. 1 ' ' M Pifth Objec. < -Too Large a Quantity of Pro« DUCE EXPECTED, AND CALCULATED AT TOO HlGH A Price. ' There is not the smallest reason for expecting snch a return as 25 bushels per acre. , > Mr. Fergusson, in the estimate which I have given, p. 128, reckons 20 bushels per acre, — Mr. Pickering, in bis account, which is shewn to be altogether par- tial, the returns over-rated and the expenses under- rated, calculates 18 bushels, — and Mr. ShirreiT, by far the most intelligent, impartial, and best informed in practical agriculture of any writer whom I have read on Emigration, gives 15 bushels. Certainly, upon an average, the lowest of these three estimates is as high as it should be : for, from the great pro- ■.:f/mfrr^r"-y. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 133 portion of the land which is taken up by the stumps, and particularly after the first crop (after which there is much of the ground surrounding the stumps to which the plough cannot possibly reach, which forms a large circle of weeds for every stump), there is not two-thirds of the land for crop. As Mr. F. however, from personal observation, declares the land to be of the best description, I will suppose 20 bushels for each year, which is more than it would average for the three years during which he proposes to take wheat : for it is altogether at variance with experience to suppose it possible that the land is to yield as well for three successive years as the first, under such imperfect husbandry. Thus one-fifth of the quantity of produce would fall to be deducted. Mr. Fergusson takes credit for the whole at 4s. 6d. The price of wheat is given by himself as being, even at Niagara, in November, 1833,* only 4s. 3d. ; and this at the precise season of the year when the former crop is all out of the market, and none of the new crop can be got forward, from want of people to thrash, and from want of roads. That it should even be 4s. 3d. at Niagara at that * The date of his making the calculation of 4s. 6d. in Nichol district. N i ! I: 1 1 ' 1 r \ If II IV m '3. ^^ li 134 FACTS AGAINST season, is no rule for estimating what it may bring* during the season at which produce, generally speak- ing, and particularly from Nichol, must be brought into the nearer markets. Two shillings and sixpence is more likely as the price which should be charged : that was the price at v^hich it was taken to account by the storekeepers during the season 1834-35 : and although it was rumoured that the price, in summer 1835, would be raised on Lake Ontario, by specula^ tors from New York, to 3s. 9d., yet that was not generally effected, although flour has been higher priced all over America since spring, 1835, than it has been for many years. Mr. Pickering, indeed, gives the price, in one part of his book, at 2s. 6|d. ;: although, when he is making out his account of " profits," he takes credit for his crop at 3s. 9d. Now, even supposing the price at which this esti- mate is made should be taken at Mr. Pickering^ price of 3s. 9d. — which is 50 per cent, higher than it should be — yet there will be 9d. per bushel, or one-sixth of the whole price, to be taken off Mr. ' Fergusson^s receipts ; and at that rate I will make my estimate. The comparative statement will, there- fore, be, even making the calculation at 2,5 bushels per acre — w EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 135 Yr. Acres. Bush. Charged at 4s. 5d. Should be 3s. 9d. 1st, 50 1250 L.281 5 0 L.234 7 6 2d, 871 21871 492 3 9 410 3 n 3d, «7i 21871 492 3 9 410 3 ii 4tb, 100 2500 562 10 0 468 15 0 Credited by Mr. F. L.1828 2 0 L.1523 8 9 At3s.9d, per bushel, 1523 8 9 Deficiency of money in crop, L.304 13 9 Making allowance, however, for deficiency in quantity, in quality, and in value, at Nichol, he can- not in reason be expected to produce, within the first five years — that is, four crops — so much as one- half of the sum estimated* *Siixth Objection. — Estimates of Outlay necessary FOR FOLLOWING OUT Mr. FeRGUSSON'S PlaN. 1st, Estimate to shew deficiency of funds before first crop can be sold. In order to ascertain what sum may really be re- quired to be paid out, before returns are procured by selling the first crop, I subjoin an account of I 'I h ;r i i i m IB 1 i i r.^- -.\„ — ii tt' 1^ : J 1' f t i \ wf. ik\ ii Kj I'; 136 FACTS AGAINST outlays which are altogether indispensable towards the attainment of that crop. In making this estimate, I shall keep far, very- far, below the amount which I know would be really necessary, not only as I can completely establish my case although I keep far within the sum, but also because I wish to do so in sach a manner as that any person whatever, even in this country, who is ac- quainted with getting labour done, may at once see that such working cattle as I provide for are abso- lutely necessary in Canada. Part of the work to be done is as follows : — 1st, To keep up the communication with that part of the country from which can be procured supplies of pro- visions for all the people to be employed in every department, provender for the working cattle, nails, spikes, and ironmongery of all kinds for the build- ings, furniture, beds, bedding, and other clothing, cooking utensils, implements of husbandry, and tools of all kinds, — the nearest place from which these can be procured being Guelph, at the distance of twenty miles, and without roads, by Mr. Fergusson's own account. The work to be done on the place includes the clearing of a site for the buildings, hauling logs for r t; EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 137 house, logs for boards and beams, and shingles for house and barns, hauling the logs to be burnt off 50 acres of land for wheat, — and much other work, for which oxen are at all times required upon a new farm. Then as to the crop, there is, besides the ox-work required before the seed is harrowed in, the carry- ing to the barn of the produce of 50 acres in wheat. There is then 1250 bushels of wheat to be carried to a distant market, all which must be carried off' within the three months in which sledding can be at all reckoned upon, and which department of the work alone will require eight horses for the whole time in which it is possible to carry it off, as will be seen by recurring to page 119: and this quantity of grain, cannot, indeed, be taken to market with so few. I shall, however, in my calculation, restrict the number of horses to two spans from the begin- ning, supposing that it may be possible to do all the horse part of the work, already described, with that number; and supposing that part of the carriage of grain is done by the oxen which have to be kept during the summer for such work as horses are un- iBt for. For the hauling about the place, and other work n2 i^ I i r • ■' ' pli 1 H in« FACTS AGAINST for which horses may be dispensed with, I will charge only four yokes of oxen; and as in many cases besides the ploughing, four oxen are required to work together, the number of oxen is also by much too small. Outlay for First Crop. 200 acres of Land, L.200 House, Barn, and Furniture, 120 50 acres to be cleared first yeur, at L.4, 200 4 Horses, at L.15, 60 8 Oxen, at L.7 10s 60 2 Waggons, at L.20 — per Mr. Fergus- son's list of prices, p. 161, First Visit, 40 2 sets of Harness, at L.IO — per ditto, 20 2 Sleighs, at L.7— per ditto, 14 4 Sleighs for Oxen, at L.2 — per ditto, 8 4 Ox-chains, at L.l 5s. — per ditto,. ... 5 Yokes^ &c 3 Keep of 4 Horses, at L.20 (too little), 80 Keep of 8 Oxen, at L.15, 120 2 Men for horses, 2 for oxen, and 2 for other work, — say 6 men, at L.45 per annum, for board and wages, 270 Carried forward,. . . .L,1200 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ■^t- 0 0 0 0 '!■ I ; ■Pi« EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 139 Brought forward, L.1200 0 0 1 Woman, for board and wages, 30 0 0 Barn utensils, fanners, bags, forks, &c. 20 0 0 Axes, sjiw, augers, pinches, &c 10 0 0 Total outlay, L.1260 0 0 Capital, GOO 0 0 Deficiency, L.GGO 0 0 Price of Crop, .... 281 5 0 « — Deficiency after selling crop,. .L.378 15 0 This deficiency of L.378 15s. has arisen while the expenses are only cKarged for 12 months, although it has been proved that wheat cannot, by any means, be procured in less than 18 months, and it would require the other six months to prepare such a quan- tity for, and take it to, market ; and therefore the expense of the establishment, or at least of the greater part of it, should have been charged for a much longer time : and it must be kept in mind, that not only must the ploughing have been got on for next crop, but a great outlay must have been expended for clearing more of the woodland for next crop, before any of the first crop is got. I iff I t>f 1 ' ,1; 1.1: tu ih 140 PACTS AGAINST In otder io pay the expenses of furm and house* keeping in the clearing of the break for next year, ail which would have to be done before the winter in which the first crop could be taken to market, would require at least L.400, in addition to the L.1260: together, L.1G60 0 0 From which deduct capital, 600 0 0 Deficiency, L.1060 0 0 In making this estimate, I have charged every outlay at Mr. Fergusson's prices. Expenses of Fourth Year. S Men, board and wages, at L.45, . , . acres, at L.4, 600 0 0 Stock, reckoning only first cost of what is indispensably necessary during the 4th year, without making any allow- ance for what has been worn out, or allowing any thing for tear and wear, 700 0 0 Buildings, 550 0 0 Outlay for expenses, 2550 0 0 Cost, L.4600 0 0 Receipts at Mr. F.'s quantity and price, 1948 2 6 Loss, L.2651 17 6 * Of the original £600. This sum has never been laid out by Mr. Fergusson, so that having £600 in the fourth year besides, he would now have £650. T r 142 FACTS AGAINST 1S '* *7 :» i it'5 ' iff I I !M I have made the foregoing estimates ^n the s^ip- position that the farmer is to be fed in every respsct as a common agricultural labourer; that in whatever way he riiay live or dress at home, or from home, the amount charged for himself is exactly at the rate of the connmon hired man, — that no stock is k^pt except what is requisite Tor doing the work, — that no allowance is made for any conting> 'cies what- ever, although such must be expected to occur in every case, — that all goes on well and prosperously : splendid crops, without any diminution of quuutity from the deterioration of the soil: without either mildev*^ or rust: no loss in harvesting, either from bad weather or Vv ant of hands, — and to crown all, at nearly the same price which wheat has been lately sv^lling for m Mark Lane! ! If such is the result calculating upon such data, what would be the re- siilt in reality ? Mr. Fergusson gives, as the result of his state- ment, the* " at the end of the fourth year he has his farm paid for, stocked, and L.6C0 currency in his pocket.'' My statement gives a very different result indeed ; but 1 fear no scrutiny, however Et"ici and minute : and I trust it will be found by any impar- tial person who weighs the matter well, Kjt only •vwTyyKi^j' ;/»!*| Jrt' ^u^ T! ■'91.'* Myr*^^' r^^ "TEV". ■ ""'T^" -Trf T .^.'v r-^.V,- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. J 43 that I am borne out in my statement by evidence derived even from Mr. rergusson''s own writings, but by the conviction of his own mind, if he has had any experience or knowledge of the labour or the expense of preparing unimproved land for profitable aration, even although such land may not have had the encumbrance of hundreds of roots of immense trees upon tlse acre; and I. have studied carefully, so far from over-rating the expenditure, or even bringing it to the amount which in reality it should be, to reduce the charge to what work of a similar kind conld be got done for at home, where excel- lent sturdy labourers, at moderate wages, can be had at all seasons. Seventh Objection. — State of the Farm after tak- ing OFF THE Fourth Crop. Having now got through with all the pecuniary matters of the adventure, I will make some remarks upon the stat? of the farm ; and I think it must pre- sent an appearance any thing but cheering. It is — 5G acres of dead ;^tock for fuel, which must not be touched upon by any means, the smallest iarm requiring a reserve of that extent for one lire. m ii' II ! llf »1 • ■ , ( i \'i % Ill \ 144 FACTS AGAINST .li; "ft 1,^ 11 I; ^ M 50 acres brought forward. There is, therefore, no new land to resort to for crop. 25 acres cleared first year, which has had wheat in it for three years successively, and grass seeds sown the third year ; but as to grass, that is im- possible, considering the state in which it was when sown out. 25 acres cleared first year, three years wheat ; and potatoes and turnips in the fourth year. 37 1 acres cleared second year; three times wheat: no grass seeds. JI'"II1HIJ ..ll!M I piWII^U.igilU ll| 1 KMIGRATION TO CANADA. 145 many years to oome, and never until a great deal of money is expended upon it. The 62 1 acres, not having had grass seeds put in, are in reality, when things must be looked upon as they really are, in a state to be no longer profitable if another crop of wheat is taken. The 25 acres upon which there was green crop, is, therefore, the only part of this farm from which a crop can in any reason be expected 5 and what will the proceeds of that be towards paying the expenses which have to be incurred ? There is now (must inevitably be) on the farm a working stock to carry on the operations of the farm. There is no provender yet upon the place to support the stock — for it is all in vain to suppose there is to be any hay on the 25 acres sown two years ago in land in such a state ; and although there even was the average crop of th« country, it would not support the stock three months. Thei has not even been grass seeds sown on the 37 1 acres, to give the stock a little pasture ; and no grass can be sown in it now until it has been fallowed. For years to come, therefore, the whole hay for such a stock has to be purchased : and what expense has to be looked forward to for many years ! No < w H' ii: trii )| ii '1 T 146 FACTS AGAINST I y^PM less, indeed, than the expense of the renl clearing^;, — for particulars of which I refer to an after-part of this book, — an expense which will far exceed the value of the produce for a long time ; and, indeed, never by any chance, until a great part of the land is laid out in hay to support the working stock ne- f^essary to be kept, for bringing the fields into a proper state for plough and harrow. While the rough land is under this state of pre- paration, all is expense — no produce : and hence the absurdity of clearing (in the first instance even) a great extent each year for a number of consecutive years. Here, then, after the farm has been what is gene- rally termed "cleared,"" the greatest expense per acre has to be incurred ; and for one year at least without any crop whatever over every acre of the farm.* * la estimating the number of men whose services wiU be re- quired during the operation of clearing so many acres in such a short time, and carrying on the other operations of the land in crop, it must be taken into account, that at least 10 choppers will have to be employed, besides tradecnen. This will make the number in all upwards of 20 men, who have to be accommodated, there being no inhabitants in the neighbourhood. ' -*— jft ■• . iwiM f ii-yw^- ...i^^i EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 147 II i ! LETTER VI. REMARKS UPON " STATISTICAL SKETCHES OF UP- PER CANADA, FOR THE USE OF EMIGRANTS : Bv A Backwoodsman." 1832. This book is written ostensibly to convey to intend-' ing- Emigrants that information so requisite in a matter of so mocb importance, anH in answer to let- ters from numerous "friends," by whom, as the writer, with much modesty, tolls the reader, he " was, of all men in the province, the one they considered best qualified to give such information :" and of his being a most proper person for conveying to them such valuable intelligence as he here favours them with, he gives the following proofs : — " As for my qualifications to give information re- lative to this province, I have only to state, that it is now nearly twenty years since I first came to the country, having served here during the war in the ^ 1 It i ' ii 148 FACTS AGAINST It 1 lll i; I 1 years 1813, 14, and 15 ; and that, since the year ISZGr,. my principal employment has been, to traverse the country in every direction, and visit nearly every township in it for the express purpose of obtaining statistical information. If, therefore, the reader will only be pleased to allow that my judgment is equal to that of the ordinary average of mankind, it must be pretty evident that I have sufficient know- ledge for the undertaking; and I, on my part, can assure him or her (for I am in hopes I shall have both sexes for readers), that I will, according to the formula of the oath, speak *tbe truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.' " At the present moment, when public attention is so much turned to the Canadas, authentic infor- mation is much called for ; and though many works Lave been written on the subject, yet most of them have been inaccurate from want of information, or partial, in so far as the writer, being only acquainted with one section of the country, has described it as an epitome of the whole." How far he has acted candidly — how far he has made them informed upon the points most important and most necessary to be ascertained by a person who contemplates becoming a settler in the Back- CR T^SS:- (1 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 149 woods — or how far he has been impartial — may be judged of from the following extracts and remarks : "Of agriculture, as practised in this province, 1 have very little to say, except thfit were the same slovenly system pursued in any country less favour- ed by nature, it would not pay for the seed that is used, I have already stated the ruinous mode of taking repeated crops of wheat off the land ; and on the river Thames, in the Western district, I wit- nessed a refinement on this barbarism, viz. burning the stubble before the land was ploughed for winter wheat, and thus depriving it of even that trifling strength that it might derive from the decomposi- tion of the straw. " It is only in some parts of the province that manure is used at all ; and it is not an uncommon occurrence, when the stable-litter has accumulated in front of the building called the barn (which gene- r.iily contains all the farm offices), to such a degree as to have become a nuisance, that a man invites his neighbours to assist him in removing the barn, which is always a frame building, away from the dunghill, instead of transporting the dunghill to the wheat field. " But the spirit of improvement has gone forth* o2 ; h: ') • • I 150 FACTS AGAINST I I ■' I' ' I j I' ' if I i I n Three years ago, the Provincial Parliament passed an act, whereby, if a certain snm should be sab-^ scribed by any district in the province, to carry on a Society for the improvement of Agriculture, the legislature gave also a sura to assist. Most of the districts h ve taken advantage of this highly judici- ous enactment ; the Newcastle and western districts have distinguished themselves by the spirited manner in which they have commenced proceedings; and should, as is highly probable, the emigration of the better classes continue and increase, there is no doubt that our agriculture will be improved as weU as every other interest in the province. " One question, which every body asks, and which I have not been able satisfactorily to solve, is, what is the average amount of wheat and other grain to an acre ? I can only state my belief, that it is con- siderably above that of England — but how much, I am quite incapable of pronouncing. " I shall not waste my reader's time nor my own with estimates of the result of farming pursuits, or bow they ought to be set about. It is quite enough that they are, if prudently conducted, uniformly suc- cessful. And any man may get more information from the first farmer he meets in the township in va OR EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 151 vrbich he takes up his abode, than he would from rae, were I to write a book on the subject, like the Dutch poet% as thick as a cheese. " There is one agricultural product for which the soil and climate of Upper Canada are admirably- adapted, and to which it would be of great import- ance, in a national point of view, that the attention of the farmers should be fairly called; — I allude to Hemp. There is a great deal of very rich bottom land, which is too rank for the growth of wheat in the first instance, but which, were it reduced by a crop or two of hemp, would be made fit for wheat and other grains. " In the more remote parts of the country, hemp would be a much more profitable return than wheat, as it is more valuable in proportion to its weighl, and consequently, what in one instance goes to the carrier, in the other would go into the pocket of the farmer; and if Britain possessed a colony that could supply her with this article, so indispensable to a maritime power, it would render her independent of the northern nations; and in the existing state of things, it is highly desirable that she should not de- pend on Europe for anything. " Hitherto attempts to grow hemp have proved I 152 PACTS AGAINST abortive, because they have been made by solitary individuals ; and where a mill was set up by one en- terprising and public-spirited gentleman, the farmers in the neighbourhood would not enter into the spirit of the thing, so that he got little or no plant to ope- rate on but what he raised himself. But were a community of farmers to build a mill, and enter into an agreement to raise a certain quantity of hemp each, there is no doubt but it would become a staple of the country, as the difference of duty on foreign and colonial hemp would of itself be a profit suffi- cient to repay the grower. " Flax would also be a profitable article, but as yet there is not a single flax-mill in the province. All that is raised is used for domestic purposes, and is dressed with a hand-brake by the farmer who grows it, and spun, and in many instances woven, by the women of the family. " Tobacco is grown in very considerable quanti- ties in the western district, and it is a very profitable product for people who have large young families, as the culture is much like that of a garden, and the stripping, weeding, worming, &c. &c. is better done by children, who have a less distance to sioop, than by grown persons. As they are the principal hi- f I mm .1- J. — EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 153 bourers, it is found expedient to enlist their interests on the side of their duty; and therefore it is cus- tomary, when they have by their industry and dili- gence saved the crop, to give them, as a reward, the second crop, which is less in quantity and much in- ferior in quality, but which, if not assailed by frosts early in the au; unn, often produces enough to pur- chase as many good things, and as much finery, as to render the poor urchins, in their own estimation, persons of fortune for that year at any rate. " The tobacco of Canada is, however, avowedly inferior to that of Virginia, which the people here ascribe to want of skill in the management of it. That may be the case to a certain extent ; but it is probable, too, that the climate and soil are not so well adapted to a plant a native of the tropics, as a more southerly latitude. ** Some German soldiers, who had settled in the west after the American revolutionary war, were joined two years ago by some of their friends from the banks of the Rhine, bringing with them the Rhenish vine, which they planted in the autumn of 1830. Of course we cannot tell how wine-making will succeed, for the grape-vine is the most capri- cious of ail possible plants. But as the climate is ! H i '\ a 154 FACTS AGAINST i m 1 1 \ d more congenial to its culture than that of many parts of Germany where wine is produced, there is no doubt we may have wine of some sort or other, though it be rather too much to expect a Canadian Hockheimer." This extract, which occupies a few lines more than four pages of the book (which contains 120 pages), gives nearly all the substance and informa* tion which is contained in the whole book upon agriculture — which alone is the object of almost every person who goes out to settle, and on which alone, and the capability of the country for becom- ing profitably agricultural, depends entirely the ques- tion, whether it be advisable to emigrate to it or not ? I cannot but admire the quaintness with which the author tells, after his "principal employment" for many years has been "traversing the country for the express purpose of obtaining information," that he really is incapable of giving an answer to the question which every body asks, as to " what is the average amount of wheat and other grain to an acre?" but that, if a man comes out to Canada, he will get more information from the first farmer he meets than he himself has been able to elicit during ' EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 155 SO many years of inquiry, — the reason be would give for this beinaf, of course, his being unacquainted with agriculture; and yet, in the very next page, he has the arrogance to recommend the extensive cul tare of hemp and flax for the supply of Great Britain with these little items which she requires; and he lells you also, that by and bye "there is no doubt" we may have Canadian wine from the Rhenish vine, — and these valuable articles of exportation are to be procured from a country which has not yet been found capable of providing a suflQciency of the first necessaries of life for the subsistence of its own in- habitants, as is acknowledged even by the author himself, when he states in p. 91, that the men who procure the timber in the woods have to provide supplies of agricultural produce in England. In the same inflated gasconading style in which he thus writes of supplying the British market with hemp and flax, he is also (p. 59) to have a direct intercourse immediately opened betwixt the ports of Europe and Lake Superior, by vessels which will not require any reshipment of their cargoes at any intermediate place, but carry them at once right through, and land them at Sault de Sainte Marie, which connects Lake Huron with Lake Superior, \ III, ! i J;.!lTCri? ' w ■mp 156 PACTS AGAINSt 1 1 I n hi i w an internal navigation of nearly J, 500 miles in ex« tent ; and yet the depth of water, both in the La- cliine and Rideau canals, through which these sea- going ships would have to pass, is only jive feet, — a depth of water about as well calculated for a British merchant-vessel for such a voyage, as for a seventy- four gun ship. In speaking of the climate, too, the sime incon- sistency appears in this gentleman's writings as in those of others who have written on the same sub- ject, for " propagating particular doctrines," — a motive by which, by his own account of the matter, some people are influenced. On this subject he says (p. 30), " Though the cold of a Canadian winter is great, it is neither distress- ing nor disagreeable. There is no day during winter^ except a rainy one, in which a man need be kept from his work."" " The fact is, that a Canadian winter is by far the pleasantest season of the year, for every body is idle, and every body is determined to enjoy himself." He, however, forgets the " particular doctrines which he has to propagate," when he acknowledges at page 2d (writing in March, at a time when spring is well advanced in Britain), that it is "now mid-- •«PUIif. 7T ^TVIUBI-L.. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 15: winter, and seeing no prospect of my being able to follow my out-^of-door avocations for some weeks, T set m,yself down in a pet.''"' Speaking of the Huron Tract belonging to the Canada Company, he says, p. 25, — " It has been ob- jected by some, that this tract of country is out of the world; but no place can be considered in that light to which a steam-boat can come : and on this continent, if you find a tract of good land and open it for sale, the world will very soon come to you. Six- teen years ago, the town of Rochester consisted of a tavern and blacksmith's shop — it is now a towii containing upwards o/ 16,000 inhabitants. " The first time the Huron Tract was ?ver trod by the foot of a white man was in the summer of 1827; next summer a road was commenced, and that win- ter, and in the ensuing spring of 1829, a few indivi- duals made a lodgment : now it contains upwards of 600 inhabitants, with taverns, shops, stores, grist and saw-mills, and every kind of convenience that a new settler can require; and if the tide of emigration continues to set in as strongly as it has done, in ten years from this date it may be as thickly settled as any part of America ; for Godericb ha ^ water powers p ' I :ii i If 158 FACTS AGAINST i-i m quite equal to Rochester, and the surrounding coun- try possesses much superior soil." Now, as this book is brought forth as a Statistical Account af Upper Canada, for the information of strangers unacquainted with the country, who would doubt that the very thriving state of Rochester must be a proof of the rapid march of improvement in Canada ? The unwary Emigrant who has allowed himself to be entrapped in this snare, will, however, be sadly disappointed when (if he has taken this gentleman^s advice, where be says, in the beginning of the book, to "come a' thegetfcer'* - he finds on his arrival in Canada — what he cannot i Iscover from the " Backwoodsman's" book — that .Rochester is not in Canada at all. Instead of its being like Gode* rich, with which the author compares it, out of the world, the large commercial town of Rochester is in the United States — in the State of New York — the most thickly inhabited, the richest, and most commercial State in the whole Union. Rochester is, indeed, the principal place of trade on the northern boundary of the States, not only from its fine water powers, but its other local ad- vantages for trade, and at the same time a link in the chain of commanication by canal betwixt the EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 159 ■city of New York and the great western productive states in the basin of the Mississippi, — a depdi, for the immense trade betwixt that London of America and ■the whole Western States, and also for the produce of these States in its transport to the cities on the shores of the Atlantic. Ooderich, on the other hand, is the extreme point in British America ■ ^ -, Mr. Martin Doyle — if there be such a gentleman — has adopted a most judicious course : he stays at home, even although that home appears to be Ire- land. He, however, tells his rev ' s that his com- munications "are the result of deep and anxious inquiry, and from the latest and most approved authorities." That being the case, and Mr. Doyle therefore being no authority at all, I would not have thought of taking any notice of his book, had it not been that some of the periodicals of the day have brought it forward, not merely as an " authority," but one of them (I believe the most extensively cir- culated of any journal in existence) declares it to be *f the best manual on Emigration." I am, therefore, induced to take notice of it, and to point out such •f if-. r EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 167 inconsistencies as will shew any considerate person how far he can place reliance on such "authority." It being principally a compilation from other au- thors— among whom are Mr. Pickering (from whom he seems to have taken a great part of his informa- tion) and Mr. Fergusson — it is unnecessary for me to say mach, as I have already so fully expressed my dissent from the opinions of these gentlemen. I will not occupy much time by making remarks, but merely state, that the letters given by him as from emigrants are almost altogether of the same strain. They are written in the style of other ad- vertisements of that kind ; but how Mr. Doyle hap- pens to have got so many of the letters addressed by Emigrants from England to their friends in London, and other parts on this side of the channel, appears very strange. The substance of the whole is exactly similar: — condolence with their friends in Europe for the starvation and other miseries to which they are still doomed to submit in England, as well as Ireland, from want of food and want of money — fulness of every thing in Canada — from 3s. to 8s. per day for wages, besides board and lodging — plenty of beef, butter, poultry, turkeys, and every thing that is good — well stocked farms of their own 1 I ii -% \ \ ' 'I "I (,,. i ftv I V I 168 PACTS AGAINST in n few years — no taxes — lots of invitations to conae out — directions to the starving* Emigrants at home to take a great many things out with them — long lists of articles which will be useful in Canada — weather pleasant, and flour three farthings per pound ! The following picture w«'.l shevr how comfortable the poor tettlera are : — " Where salmon are abundant, it is of course desirable to preserve them for winter food, either by pickling or smoking them. A good supply of cured fish, with the accompaniments of geese and turkeys, and fowls (wild and tame), veni- son, beef, &c. hung up during the frost, is a cheer- ing prospect to the poor settlers in the winter months, and all these luxuries and comforts he can easily have. The usual mode is to kill fat deer, sheep, and fowls, at the commencement of the frost, in those districts where its long continuance is certain, and to expose them to be frozen for a night ; they will then, in this congealed state, keep fresh during the whole winter. A double purpose is obtained by this plan : the animals are killed before they lose their condition, and the food which they would otherwise consume during the winter is saved." This is pare invention, and completely at variance • ./'.thy/ 1 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 169 with the truth and with every authority on the £ub< Ject: and if there was any truth in it, why call them <* poor settlers " ?-^a mere artificci to excite the wishes of others to be there. When writing^ letters to make labourers believe that they will get enormous wages, then of course wages are very high, and not only for a day or so, but for tt whole year. P. 81 : " Men^s wages are from ds. to Ss, a-day, take the year round, with board. Clements and I cut, threshed, and winnow- ed, in four days, 84 bushels of pease ; and for our wages got 21 bushels, besides our board.^' Next line: *' Pease, 2s. lOd. per bushel.^' Thus, then, they have for wages,*21 bushels at 2s. lOd. (L.2 19s, 6d.), being within a fraction of 7s. 6d. a-day each ; making, with board (Is.), 8s. 6d. a-day, — certainly a pretty heavy tax upon the poor farmer who has to pay it, being 25 per cent, of his crop. Now, this 3s. to 5s. per day throughout the year, making an average of 4s., would make the wages upwards of Sixty Pounds a-year, besides board ; although, from every other concurring authority, we know that it is not more than one-half of that sum. When, how- ever, the dose has to foe prepared for the person who has money to purchase cleared laud, and who would Q no PACTS AGAINST ll I calculate upon having his work afterwards done hf contract, he is told, p. 50, that be will get ploughing done for (>s. 3d. per acre ; so that, for providing a man with cattle and a plough to do a great day's work (for certainly to plough an acre among stumps is £!uch), you are told you will get it done for 2s. 3dr less than one man will make at threshing pease. Again, in order to tempt them out by giving ac- counts of cheapness, he tells them, p. 8J, that wheat is 3s. per bushel ; but at p. 50, it is 4s. 8d. to 5s. as^ market prices. The following is from one of Mr* Doyle's letters of invitation : — " I only wish you were here to live as we do, we want for nothing ; but when we sit dowj, to think how they are all starving at home, it gives me the horrors, especially my poor father and mother. I hope my dear brother James will not let them want, and tell them I hope in the course of a little time I shall be able to send him something in return, as we are doing well. My dear Sister, I hope you will oblige me, and send this letter to Frome as soon as you have read it, as John Hill is coming, and we long to see him ; and John Hill I hope will kelp my brother Henry out, and be not afraid, for we will pay you his expenses when you get here, and we will do every thing in our power to / 1 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. Yl\ assist you. Be sure to bring Martha out with yon, ■and Vie will give her plenty of bacon ; tell Henry to bring two donkeys with him for breeding, for they are so valuable here that yon can get L.50 for them when you get here: a man brought tvro with him Jately, and was offered L.50 for them and would not take it. Tell John Hill to ccme with all speed, for he will do better here than ever he did in England, and be suie to bring a good gun, for you need not be afraid of shooting, for this is th^^ place to live in. I wish my father and mother would venture to come; we would keep them as long as they live, and keep them comfortable. John when you arrive, I hope we shall have a merry meeting; tell my brothers, John, William, and James, that carpentevs have a capital trade here ail the year round, and basket- makers would soon get a good fortune ; all trades are very good indeed, and God send you ail out with speed. Go to Samuel Stint and tell them to come directly, and tell Stint to go to Mr. Gillet and tell him to come here, for stone-work is plenty,* there is more work going on than we can tell them. Tell my brother John, if he will come, he can do well * Pine climate for stone-masons, with six months of winter, and nearly all the houses «vood 1 fl ' mmi E' I u •1 172 PACTS AGAINST here; bat if he cannot raise the means to come at present, I hope in the course of another year we shall be able to help him." " We have plenty of good beef and matton, flour, pork> fish, fovrl, and butter, and by one day^s work, a man can supply himself with these necessaries sufficient for three days. You have a good many cold bellies to go to bed with, or things are greatly altered since I was with you; but here, if you choose, your belly would be so warm for three halfpence, that you would not know the way to bed.^* Here he tells the poor man, who is starving at home, and who cannot get out for want of money to pay his own expenses, to bring out with him two donkeys, the expenses of which in freight, keeping, dbo. from England to York, would in all probability be not less than L.25 or L.30. He is, however, to have a capital investment for his money, as he ie promised L.50 for them when there. Of such stuff . is this valuable collection of information composed but without a parcel of such letters, written for the purpose of deception, it seems no book upon Canada can now be complete. I do not consider it to be of much importance what food a man may get, provided he get enough of 4 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 173 it ; but I know that salt pork, sometimes with bread, sometimes with potatoes, and very often potatoes without meat at all, is the general food of a ma- jority of the settlers. In puffing off Ouelph in the Huron territory, he says — ** Nor can any thing more strongly shew the rapidity with which a prosperous settlement is formed in Upper Canada, than the following account of the building, «^c. of this town of Guelph, which is si- tuated on a branch of the river Ouse, or grand river of Lake Erie. The operation of clearing the ground commenced on the 23d April, 1827." He then gives a fine account of the buildings, and predicts grand success to the place ; and yet he acknowledges that whan he v^'rites in \ugust, 1831, four years after the first settlement of it, " improved farms in its vicinity, with suitable buildings," can be had for "from I5s. to 10s. per acre." These cost the original settlers from 7g. 6d. to 15s. in the wild state: now they can bo purchased, with suitable buildings, for 15s. to 40s. although the chopping and burning aione would cost L.4 at least ; — and yet this country, which is so soon abandoned by the first settlers, is said to be a fine place for the investment of money. That such desertion might have been expected, q2 :i i mm ^^*^' iPC^' 174 PACTS AGAINST W If. IH '■ the difficulty of effecting a settlement in sacb s country very readily accounts for ; and the wonder only is, how money should have been thrown away for such a purpose. The difficulties of either pro- curing supplies of provisions for new settlers, or forage for their stock for some years, may be judged of from Mr. Fergusson's account of the state of the roads; and the abandonment of the farms in the vicinity, within a few years of their being first settled upon, was with good reason anticipated by that gen- tleman,— as will appear from the following descrip- tion given by him of Gueiph on his first visit : — " The state of the road may be in some measure estimated from a party which I passed, consisting of three men and six oxen, that had been six days absent from homCf which they would only reach that day, drawing a load under which a donkey would have trotted upon any British turnpike, and the whole extent of the journey not exceeding twenty miles. Gueiph is situated in the Gore district, about 80 miles from York, and has been laid out upon an extensive scale : a fine stream flows past the town, and a large grist-mill is at work upon it. " A good deal of land has been located in the neighbourhood, and the town may ultimately pros- EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 175 per. At present it wears a stagnant appearance, and conVv<5ys somewhat the idea of the cart preceding the horse. When farms become numerous, and a mill is erected in a convenient situation, a town soon grows up ; but here the town has been hurried for- ward in the hope of selling the land. " A vast deal of capital has been expended on roads, &c. which must have so far benefited labourers, and tended in some measure to purchase lots; but at present a very desolate complexion marks Guelph as a ciiy (City!!!), which may be very thankful to maintain its ground and escape desertion.^^ As an instance of the veracity of Mr. Doyle, and of the credulity wit^ which he expects h\s readers will swallow the mixture he has made up, I give the following extract : — " A friend of mine has informed me that he once, when on horseback, saw a snake three feet long, with an enormous head, gliding fn»'U under bis horse, with a toad three times the diameter of his own body, sticking in his jaws, which were extended prodigiously, the toad having slipped about twelve inches down the snake's throat, with its legs stretched out at each side of the mouth. He dis* mounted, brought the two animals home, and in about, fifteen minutes the toad was sucked down completely." i'i mm m 176 PACTS AGAINST What an elegant toad this must have been in sizCi sticking in the snake's jaws with its legs stretched out at each side of the snake^s mouth, although the body of the toad had slipped about twelve inches down the snake's throat! This is the Mentor, the Guide, the Manual which the Emigrant is recommended by so many journals to take OLC with him, to insure him an easy and comfortable settlement in a strange land ! f' Having so fully shewn how very little dependence can be placed upon the books to which I have re- ferred, and which, indeed, are the most generally relied upon by intending Emigrants, — and, in my remarks thereon, been under the necessity of point* ing out the difficulties of settlement and clearing previous to the removal of the roots, — I have now, in the second place, to shew what has yet to be done in order to get quit of the roots, and bring the soil into a fit state for aration. No book which I have yet seen on the subject goes into this part of the work at all : all the writers treat the matter as if the removal of the roots, and preparation of the soil for the plough, were opera- ■WP I "I" m EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 177 tions of easy accomplishment, and to be done at leisure hours. They say the stumps die, rot away, and then the land is made up into ridges as the far- mer pleases ; thus speaking of the roots as if they almost disappeared like snow. So far from this being the case, the after part of the work is much more expensive than the previous clearing : with this difference, that there is not only a loss of several years in the clearing, but that the crops are necessarily inferior, from the quantity of burnt and half-burnt remains of wood which has now become altogether effete, or incapable of yielding any nourishment to the grain, and leaving the sui*- face for a long time in a very rough state. The earth around every stump having become a safe nursery for thistles and other weeds of all kinds, it requires a great deal of ploughing and harrowing before the land is reduced to a proper tilth. Instead of the roots dying at once, those )f the hardwoods very generally spring again, and require a good deal of attention every year to destroy the young shoots. After seven or eight years they may be removed ; but this is a work of great labour, and requires the united exertions of a number of men with axes to cut the long roots, crowbars to raise f'i fi r,-i ■i ■;,i: .-*ra-iBHBitej.-»iMa J 78 FACTS AGAINST i^ tbem, and two or four oxen to jerk out the immense stump. Then the collecting and building in heaps have to be repeated, and the second drying process and burning to be attended to. That operation oc- cupies one season ; and then has to commence the ** taking in" of the land. I have already at pages 111 and 112 (to vrhich I heg leave to refer) de.<>cribcd the state in which the land is found to be after the burning of the trunks : and now that so many enormous roots have had to be removed — and many more roots of trees of which the trunks had formerly been decayed or broken off, and which are now only discovered — the reader may more easily conceive the state of the field than I can describe it. Upon this, however — in many places intermixed with large stones — he has to set to work ; and, in order to get the benefit of his land, he must begin with draining, — for although that is another part of farming which is never even hinted at in any of these books, draining is in general much more ne- cessary in Canada than in Britain, both from the nature of the soil and from the shortness of the sea- son, for the loss of a few days in waiting until the land dries, often occasion.^ the loss of the crop. ih PIHP EMIGRATION TO CANADA. IW Now that the roots are removed, there are roads to be made, bridges over watercoarses, &c. which, in this country, is in general the work of many years, but which, by the writers in question, seem to be very easily done, and they treat the matter so very lightly, that they consider it more necessary to find out amusement for the settler than to say any thing of the work which has to be done, and they, of course, change the subject as quickly as possible to field sports and shooting, although every one in the least acquainted with the country must acknowledge that a farmer will see more game in a ten-acre field in Scotland, in one evening, than he will see upon his estate of 200 acres in Canada in seven years. That — and not to the absence of game-laws, to which the " Backwoodsman," by a strange sort of reason- ing, attributes it— is the true cause that the poachers (of whom, to the honour of his neighbours, this gentleman thinks such a great proportion of the Canadian population consists) no longer kill game ; for the impossibility of procuring it alone occasions its making its appearance so very seldom in the market, to which every thing of that kind is carried, to enable the poor men to get a little sugar or mo- lasses to make their hemlock tea at all drinkable. ) I W: \ I *v ■■-*»•■—- 180 PACTS AGAINST LETTER VIII. *' J i'i Having adverted to the general poverty of the great majority of the settlers in Canada, I will here insert several extracts from official documents, which will I think show, in a very striking point of view, how very little progress is making in the increase of capital in Upper Canada; or rather will prove that all the capital which has been employed in the cal- tivation of the soil h'«s been actually lost, or very nearly so. In the Third Report on Emigration, ordered by the HQuse of Commons to be printed (29th Jane, 1827), in the evidence taken before the Committee it will be seen that the Hon. Mr. Robinson, who saperintended the emigration and settlement of 2024 emigrants from Ireland to Upper Canada in 1825, gives the following account of the expense : — He estimates (No. 360C) "that the Emigrants of 1825 cost, after deducting provisions delivered to commissary at Quebec, L.20 per bead, reckoning 3C EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 181 men, women, and children, viz. three children to one man and woman, who received rations from date of shipment in May, 1825, to 24th November, 1826.'' Mr. Felton and Mr. Bachanan (No. 3610) estimate each family of five persons at L.60 sterlings, from period of leaving the mother country to termination of receiving assistance in Colonies — say, 15 months after arrival. Mr. Bachanan, p. 512, estimates the expense of transport and settlement of a man, wo- man, and three children, from the United Kingdom to location, if not exceeding 50 miles from Quebec, at L.l 1 Us. 6d. ; but if taken to the Ottawa, Kings- ton, or York (Toroato), L.3 or L.4 additional each family. From these official documents it will be seen what is the expense to the old country of settling Emi- grants, even of the lowest grade, in Canada, without taking into account any little property which that class of persons can be si )Osed to have with them, butwhici > generally someining. The amount will appear to be L. 12 sterling. Let it now be ascertained, as nearly as possible, what is the estimated value of the property at pre- sent in Upper Canada. The aggregate amount of rateable property in Upper Canada for the ) oar 1834, i w . gg IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V in. A O ^ «. Ui 1.0 I.I 1.25 150 ' •" 11 IS t 1^ 1.8 1-4 IIIIII.6 6" — <» Vi .%. O 7 / yS« Photographic Sciences Corporation 53 WEST M* IN STREET WEb : «,N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 S' „ ^s ^^"f^mjUl ws ranon 182 FACTS AGAINST fli > \ it ,, ■,4 ( ', ' as lately published by authority, is as follows :-^ Lands: Acres uncultivated, 4,122,296; cultivated, 1,004,773. Houses: Squared timber, one storey, 3,568 — with 122 additional fire-places ; squared tim- ber, two stor<3ys, 482 — with 169 additional fire-places ; framed, brick or stone, one storey, 9,968 — with 3,880 additional fire-places; framed, brick or stone, two storeys, 2,962 — with 2,686 additional fire-places ; flouring-mills, 328 — with 182 additional pairs of stones; saw-mills, 788; storehouses, 138; merch- ants^ shops, 1,068; merchants^ storehouses, 264. Live Stock: Horses, 42,958; milch cows, 99,823; young cattle, 35,795 ; — total, 178,413. Carriages, 267; pleasure waggons, 1,170; town lots, 3,460. — The total value of this property is, in Halifax cur- rency, L.4,106,677 14s. 9d. tn-.^,, * » v^v / ^£.- The official return of the population shews a total of 321,903 souls ; but as there is reason to believe that the population returns are very incorrect, the amount may be taken at 350,000. ? %4i v »*i!.#f m Referring to these accounts, I beg leave to ob- serve, that upon making a calculation, at the prices of the country, of the value of the diiferent items of which the account is composed, it will be found that a price has been set upon the lands far above what tk- - i EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 183 ought to have been donc> more particolarly upon the aucultivated lands, to which, in the present in- stance, no value should be attached, as they are altogether unproductive ; very little of the purchase- money has even ever been paid, and a great pari of them is actually in a state of nature. Taking, how- ever, the aggregate amount of property as stated, it will be seen that it is considerably under L.12 cur- rency for each inhabitant of tbo country ; and it has been ascertained by the Commissioners appointed by the Hcnse of Commons to investigate the matter, that the settlement even of the poorest Emigrant cost L.12 sterling. Here, then, instead of a great increase of stock and capital, promised to Emigrants by settling in Canada, the whole amount of the pro- perty now valued by official assessors is less than the actual first cost of settlement, besides all the labour and extra capital which have been expended upon the lands, even taking into account the value in money for these lands, a great part of which is still in a state of nature and wholly unproductive. A moments reflection upon the scarcity of live stock, and particularly of working cattle and horses, will at once show the deplorable state of destitution to which many thousands of the settlers must be re- ii «?. ^f 184 tt^., PACTS AGAINST)!** ' A tl 1 daced. The proportion of horses^ of all ages, is less than 1 to every 8 inhabitants ; of oxen, less than 1 to 8 ; of cows, 1 to about 4 ; of young cattle, 1 to 10. Now, as one ox is of no use sing^ly for draught, this number gives only 21,397| yokes for the use of 350,000, or about one yoke to 17 persons; and as nearly all the agricultural operations, and the greater part of the hauling of timber and fuel, have to be performed by oxen, it is clear that the country, taken on an average, is reduced to a most deplorable state for want of animal power for cultivating lands, and still worse for that most necessary appendage to the establishment of any person residing in the country, a milk cow ; for as there is only one to four per- sons, and some (such as Colonel Talbot) have as many as twenty or thirty, it follows that many thou- sands of fatuilies have no cow at all. Indeed, the almost total want of any thing like pasture in the woods of Canada, the scarcity of hay to supply cattle for six or seven months every year> and the utter impossibility of deriving any assistance to them from turnips, makes the keeping of cattle a most expensive and unprofitable concern. This is a department of husbandry from which the agriculturist in that coun- try can never at any period derive any advantage, — a H^ ■x j'.'^^rMv^**,.^!"- mmm EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 185 circnmstanoe which very few farmers, before they leave Britain, are at ail aware of, but which soon makes them feel a most impOi^lant blank in the pro- ceeds of a farm, so very different from what they have been accustomed to at home. A reference to the proportion of young cattle to the number of old will show at once the difficulty of raising cattle in Canada, for there are of oxen and cows 142,618, and only 35,795 young stock. The fact is, there is a constant importation of old cattle from the States, which must be had for immediate use, but which they Cannot, as in other countries, raise of their own* ■for want of pasture and hay*4^' #^^'?^:^^#'*>*f*'' "•*^!'ft%-s*^ "^.'^^m'^* ^%'}'»'\)n'^\-(i' ^l»?■'^ f.-M^t s i„n* V ^•-'vwv^s*"***^^ 'jii«?^%^f*^.4*'<*,¥ ^\'^*^n '^tt^/ '^'*#r»'f .*^tC'"«» f .« i nan ^^ 186 :n. FAC5TS AGAINST :i h'\ ! i ,,,<. ••.,-i''-'*t*>i'ff^..h " ' '■ ii$'-i:i'(^^p''-*'^ Hf-v '■ •' ■■'^f ;v,io f . ■ »7-rvii^rft^ ; LETTER IX, ' '*^"'*^**" "^^^'^^'T "•■'^^^ In the preceding Letters it must appear evident^ however much the advocates for settling in the woods may attempt to disguise it, that a great deal of la^ hour — of course, a great deal of cost — is required before a farm is sufficiently cleared to admit of any thing like facility in performing what is, in this country, considered the common operations of " farming ;^^ and as it will in no case be found that, even with an annual supply of funds from other sources, the first clearing can be accomplished within ten years, and, from the lapse of time to allow the stumps to become dead, at least another ten years before they caa be removed, it must be at least twenty years after begmning the settlement in Ca- nada before even that can be attained. That may,^ in calculation, be considered to be possible, with a constant supply of funds annually from the old country ; but I believe I may say, without fear of .>i'. EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 187 contradiction, that for all the attempts which have been made, and all the money expended, there is not, tbroughoat the whole extent of the two Canadas, one instance in which snch clearance has been effect- ed even in thirty years. Indeed, although some sanguine writers say that it may be expected to be done in the course of a lifetime, i do not believe that, there is one instance of its having been done. Some say, that although, from some cause or other, properly cleared farms are never to be met with, that is no reason why it may not yet be done by better management ; but that is an aspersion upon those who have gone already that is not worth an- swering. Many well-informed, industrious, and per- severing men have attempted it — have even had war prices, or at least much higher prices than can now be looked for — have had funds which they considered adequate — and have been, to say the least of it, com- pletely foiled in spite of all their perseverance. Suppose, however, a case in which a farm has actually been got properly cleared : let it be consi- dered what obstacles there are in the way of a farmer getting on as he did at home. I will enumerate a part only of these obstacles ; and I think that any one who reads with attention even those books which Ci 188 FACTS AGAINST \ m i 1 are most favourable to Emigration to Canada, will find in them proofs of what I now state. Preparatory to my doing bo, I give the following extracts, descriptive of a Canadian winter, from the writings of Mr. M. Martin, a gentleman who has brought before the public a series of Publications upon the British Colonies, containing a great deal of most valuable information, but who seems to be quite unacquainted with practical agriculture, and of course has been, like others, led by interested parties to look upon every thing relative to Canada rather as he would wish it to be than as it really is ; and he has therefore written by far too favourably of it. I, however, give the extract from him, not only as it cannot be supposed that he has described the severity of the weather as greater than it really is, but because it is the best description of a North American winter which I have seen. What he calls severity is, however, mildness in comparison to what it is in reality. - ■*' •" " Nothing is now to be seen but one continued solid plain ; no rivers, no ships, no animals — all one uniform, unbroken plain of snow, the average depth of which, unless where accumulated by snow-storms or drifts, is about 30 inches. r .. . trf^^T--"*' T^"' EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 189 " The dress of the Canadian now andergoes a com- plete change ; the hat and bonnet rouge are thrown aside, and far caps, fur cloaks, far gloves, are pat in requisition, with worsted hose over as well as under his boots : those who take exercise on foot use snow shoes, or mocassins, which are made of a kind of network, fixed on a frame, and shaped like a boy's paper kite, about two feet long, and 18 inches broad ; these cover so much of the surface of the snow that the wearer sinks but a very few inches, even where the snow is softest. ^^ , , . . .... ..... " While the severity of the season is thus guarded against by the Canadians when out of doors, their habitations are also secured against the destructive power of intense cold. The walls of the bouses are usually plastered on the outside, to preserve the stones from moisture, which, if acted on by the frost, is liable to split them ; and the apartments are heated with stoves, which keep the temperature at a higher and more uniform rate than our English fire-places " And here it may be observed, that the result of intense cold (such as is felt in Canada) is, if not guarded against, similar to that of intense heat; with this diiference, that it is easier to guard against I I I 1 'I .J I I 11 ,l^«.(« # ^\-•rf*^*•m^*^^^'*''•M•i■ 1^ 4 ■ .*>■ M'l !,- I it] i 190 FACTS AGAINST the effects of the one in North America than of the other in India. A cold iron during a Canadian win- ter, when tightly grasped, blisters and burns with nearly equal facility as a hot iron. The principle, in both instances, is alike — in the former, the caloric or vital heat of the body passes so rapidly from the hand into the cold iron, as to destroy the continuous nnd organic structure of the part ; in the latter, the caloric passes so rapidly from the hot iron into the hand, as to produce the same effect: beat, in both cases, being the cause; its passing into the body from the iron, or into the iron from the body, being equally injurious to vitality. From a similar cause the incautious traveller, in Canada, is burnt in the face by a very cold wind, with the same sensations as when he is exposed to the I last of an eastern sirocco." .^t . ' :• ..... -.^^f*^. ♦•/•♦.«» •,*-■ !P"^ "««»•■■« 196 FACTS AGAINST Right Hon. Lord Gray. Both the Canadian state- ments most be considered to be partially favourable as to the cold of winter, both being taken almost at the southern extremities of the respective provinces. The real state of the cold over the great extent of the provinces would be found much greater. m ii:{ nn sis i^ 2 w Annual Results. Theb. Morning, llth August, 70 deg. 1 9th January, 25 deg. Evening. 10th June, 65 deg. 1 7th January, 23 deg. Mean Temper, by Six's THER. ooonF-Hioototopso^oo cot>.mwo«oooc*«»HO» o 00 • 00 to 09 a, MM • a 1 eight of THER. caoomoaMOiaortioiOi t^ cooocO'^eowwoooeO'-' ct • ••••••••••• • mcoeoTj<«i • i eight of THER. oaDo>>(ommao > o oot^«oDn«oi>t^»oo«0'* 1 o • •••••••■••a 1* mo^tO'HQooi-i^in^QD ■ oo Mean h BAR. 00M««C0t^»OCTX«00^ |«0 t>.c«tOQ0tOQ0t^t^m'*'«o«) to • •»••■•••••• I* in 1 n 00 J.>: • • • • • ^ .| fe « w 1^ o-JS 0 9 p « " J° js / EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 197 late- able Stat ces. ;tof H < Q < Z < o a o >^ a < PS H U O (A u < s M >-) o a O H t> H -») as % o • ^^ lo n M •* (N 01 01 in 00 o in CO < O cs »-< in l-H "O n o ^ ° i a o i-* m « M •J" (M CO C4 00 in i^ 01 to O .2 a c<3 f2 "^ S3 13 rH t« Si -^ «n Ol CO 1 ^ P3 o ^ ^« rt w lO CO to to CI 00 to '*« CO to . TS CO P^ J3 >.OJ 1> « ■* •,flO O 00 fO in 00 CO in m 00 ■* 01 Ol u c ■"'.S tf =» c<3 l-< r^ w^ 00 i * a> CO rH '^ ^ CO to •4" in 0 rH «5 rH cn 00 CO * 05 01 t^ rH 01 t^ -. 0 S 1— 1 i-H i-H ■* to t^ 00 t^ m CO rt rH -»• i> 1- ! DC ;2; <) 15 in CO CO 1 to 05 o in (N 00 o OJ CO rH 1 CO CO i ■ • 1 >* (M . 05 H J;^ I-H 00 05 !>. CO in CO IN •* in •*! CO CO ■* H . rH fO * 00 -t< m 00 t^ Ol w 0 ^ 1— 1 « W in to t^ 00 t^ to -* CO 04 ■^ t^ 01 o < < • a o 00 o o o r^ c in CO OO O 01 01 r>. 1 CO t>. CO to 1 • S (N "I* «j< in to in CO 01 -< in r» •<*• pj c6 1 01 in 1 w H 1 B i on to CO to CO H 00 o c^ CO Ol t^ CO O) 01 ■* •* rH 1 1 ■* lo in 00 05 OJ O CTi O i> in •^< CO to to i> O) Tf C/J •n . ^ , , ^ a . . . d « • « • ■ « o r- • .£1 . ' V % ^•U ItH i»^ s" >; S3 a ■- 111 S P ^ H, ►^ tc a. 'A'i 'o s S O O D (H a xi >H ^ ■'•^ ted, >od {the lely lup- i^. " EMIGRATION TO CANADA. !$01 ported, bat daring the whole of the winter children cannot go to school from the deptu of snow and severity of the weather; and in the summer, the parents are obliged by necessity to keep them at home to do something, however little, to enable them to live. The families of which the children were so far educated before leaving Britain, soon lose what they have learned, and in that respect the families of Emigrants are retrograding very rapidly. There is connected with this a most important con- sideration for the parent. In Britain, if a man has many sons there are as many different trades, occup- ations, or professions, to which some of these sons may be brought up.* No such prospect opens for the son of the settler in the woods. Nearly the whole of the commerce of the country is carried on by respectable merchants in Montreal or Quebec, whose connections, both in Britain and America, have long been established. These merchants have families of their own educated in the cities, or have the assistance of young men from Britain who have * How many respectable members of society, in almost every line of life, do we here see, who are the sons of farmers, aye, and of farmers, too, who were enabled, by cultivating rented lands with industry and skill, to spare out of their earniogs a sufficiency to bring forward their families even in the learned professions. ^jm. ^j.jL-frr^mafimmm^'s^^ wmm III ) I ■; !: 202 PACTS AGAINST been well educated and trained to habits of applica- tion at borne. These are the assistants the mer- chants will employ, and not the young men who, whatever may be their other qualifications, have been accustomed in the woods Xa the desultory life io which they are unavoidably exposed. There are not, nor ever can possibly be in such a climate, any other manufactures, besides such as the housewife conducts at her fireside and for the use of her family. There is no chance of the parent ever realizing any profits to send a son to a town to educate him for the pulpit, the lancet, or the law : the principal tradesmen of every kind are necessarily almost wholly from Britain ; for the work is so irregular, and the habits of the young lads so unsettled, from want of education and habits of regular application at stated hours, that there is scarcely such a thing as a young man from the country acquiring a pro- per knowledge of his business as a tradesman or artizan. The principal tradesmen and artizans will always be from Britain, and thus almost every ave- nue to advancement in life is shut to the son of the husbandman. He must, if he remains in Canada, remain debarred, by the nature of the country and climate, from exercising his talents even upon that f i. if EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 203 soil to VFhich be is chained, to procure himself a hardly-earned subsistence ; but he will not lon^ re- main so chained in such a country. Young men, who have left Britain in high hopes, will not long toil among stumps, stones, and snow; and, after doing so for a few years, they break off, go to the '' southward, and leave the old people in helplessness and misery. This last objection to Emigration, in my opinion, outweighs all the others ; and the parent who con- siders— as it is to be hoped every parent does con- sider— the advancement of his children and their settlement in life as paramount to every other con- sideration, will, if be thinks well of it, pause before he deranges, by breaking up his present connections in life, that beautiful system of education, and train- ing to regular habits of industry and application, and attention to the ordinances of religion, which so generally prevail in this fruitful and delightful country, From the whole of the circumstances attendant upon the situation of the farmer in Canada, it must, I think, appear evident to every one who will con- sider them carefully, that to any one but the mere labourer Upper Canada can neither be desirable as \ 204 •„>■ FACTS AGAINST EMIGRATION. a residence nor profitable as an adventure from wbtob any one can expect to attain a comfortable settlement for a respectable family, or to benefit tbe interests of the family by removing to it : and even to tbe poorest labourer in Scotland I do not consider it to be at all advisable, excepting under some very peculiar circumstances. That, however, the Emi- gration to British North America of hundreds of thousands from Ireland would be a most beneficial change to themselves, and highly important in a national point of view, is beyond all doubt, not only as such a measure would affect Ireland itself, but also as it would so highly benefit tbe Provinces, and maintain and establish more firmly the British power in a quarter so indispensably necessary to the best and moat vital interests of the British empire. '-jf , '\-i •fc.. l^ltETH IMPRINTED BY C. G. SIDttY. 1 ^ ■■■'X^ -■ nture from omfortable benefit the : and even ot consider some very the Emi- mdreds of beneficial rtant in a if not only itself, but inces, and tish power > the best ire. / I is (^ X 3 iiSi !;■ ••■^u 4',)ft ■ ■,,,<,».