N» THE LIBRARY OF YORK UNIVE. R51TY Presented by Mrs. Horace J. Fraser la Date Due SCCIRC SCniRHulAY 1 M^*^-^ 1 tPT-^BB 188^ m ShP - i ■S&H-f EC DISS m - 1 i>fl9^ 4^ -WH- mtt 19S^ A m. w AlM^Zm N 051810 % F«ai w^ ^Cl{C Mu^n — ^:\r^, *m-^ t^'l 5^^9» lis li«i |jsa»sc fe o H o p^ o H O O o 02 p^ EDVCIG-Ii-^TIOIsr. THE BRITISH FARMER'S AND FARM LABOTJRER'S GUIDE TO ONTARIO, THE PREMIER PROVINCE OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. l00tteb bg auth^ritjD of the ^xrljernm^nt of ©nlana. HOW. AETHUR S. HARDY, DAVID SPENCE, Secretary of the Province and Immigration Secretary, Commissioner of Immigration, Toronto. Toronto. TORONTO: PRINTED BY C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, 5 JORDAN STREET. 1880. CONTENTS. PACE Why Should I Emigrate ? 1 Whither Shall I Emigrate ? 3 What Ontario has to Offer. 4 Free Land 4 Free Schools 5 No State Church 5 A Land of Self-government 6 The Franchise 6 Administration of Justice 6 The Medical Profession 7 Summary of Advantages 7 The Pr.oviNCE of Ontario 8 Accessibility of Markets 9 Ontario Counties— Soil, Products, Industries, Communications 13 Lake Erie Counties— Essex IS Kent 14 Elgin 14 Norfolk > 15 Haldimand 15 Niagara District — Monk U Welland 16 Lincoln IT Lake Huron Counties— Lambton !• Huron 18 Bruce 1^ Western (Inland) Counties— Middlesex 20 Perth 20 Oxford 21 Waterloo 21 Wellington 22 Duflferin 23 Card well 23 Brant 24 Contents. iii. Geobgian Bat Countibs— pagb Grey 24 Simcoe 25 KoRTHERN Counties— Victoria 26 Haliburton 27 Peterborough 27 Lake Ontario Counties — Wentworth 28 Halton 28 Peel 29 York 29 Ontario 30 Durham 31 Northumberland 31 Bat Quinte Counties— Hastings 32 Lennox 33 Addington 33 Prince Edward 33 RiTER St. Lawrence Counties— Frontenac 34 Leeds 35 Grenville 35 Dundas, Storraont and Glengarry 36 RiTER Ottawa Counties— Renfrew 37 Lanark 38 Carleton 38 Russell 39 Prescott 39 The Great Manitoulin 40 Algoma 40 Agricultural Industry in Ontario 42 The Ontario Farmer's Customers 42 Grain, Green and Root Crops 44 Stock Raising 45 Dairy Farming 46 Fruit Growing 47 Flax Growing 49 The Seasons 49 Disinterested Testimony 60 Comparison with the United States 51 Agricultural College, &c 52 iv. Contents. PAOX Farm Labourers in Ontario 54 Personal Experiences 57 The Demand for Farm Labourers and Domestic Servants 67 The Free G«Ant Territory 72 Game 79 Cost op Farm Implements 80 Cost of Clothing 81 PosTAt Facilities 82 Telegraphs 82 Rate of Interest 82 Instructions to Emigrants 84 Outfit 84 Luggage 86 On Board Ship 86 On Arrival at Quebec 86 Money Table 87 Canadian Emigration Agents in the United Kingdom 88 A Practical Letter 89 British Testimony to Ontario as an Agricultural Country ICO Meteorological, Temperature, etc 107 w Hi O of t> o P^ o o h; o o P5 H M P5 THE BRITISH FARMER'S AND FARM LABOURER'S GUIDE TO ONTARIO. WHY SHOULD I EMIGRATE ? WHY SHOULD I EMIGRATE ?" is the very natural question put by the British Agriculturist, when the subject of emigration is first mooted in his hearing. That question answered, and the proposition to emigrate once seriously entertained, the next question is, ''To what CouNTKY OR Colony shall I emigrate with, on the whole, MOST ADVANTAGE ?" We propose, in this pamphlet, to answer both questions with facts, plainly and truthfully stated, free from exaojoreration or the sliorhtest flavour of romance. We shall discuss the subject with the British farmer first, and the farm labourer afterwards, in just as practical a fashion as, at his own fireside, the one might talk over the advantages of shift- iag his tenancy, or the other his labour, from one county to another. As we proceed the map will help our explanations. The difficulties the British farmer has to contend with at home are sufficiently present to his own mind. No doubt they have been recently enhanced by the failure of crops and the ever- increasing competition -the British agriculturist is subjected to, from the vast increase of production abroad, notably on the American continent. While production in the United Kingdom is handicapped with many conditions incidental to old country 2 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. institutions and other circumstances from which in new lands it is tree, the British farmer's competitors in the market where he sells his produce are the agriculturists of countries in which the cost of production is lowest. The price of land, the impedi- ments to its free transfer, the impossibility in many cases of pur- chasing at any cost, the charges for rent, and for taxes national and local, the maintenance of a State church, as represented by tithes or their equivalent, are obviously important elements in the British farmer's calculations and considerations. The exist- ence, too, of game preserving, under the protection of laws of feudal origin, however ameliorated by friendly arrangements between landlord and tenant, is notoriously a source, in too many instances, of great loss and annoyance, and constitutes a burden the latter would always gladly be rid of. Still if the British farmer does not make much money he lives in moderate comfort and contentment. With a conside- rate landlord many difficulties are got over ; at all events in good seasons. But then many seasons are not "good" and the British climate is peculiarl}^ fickle and uncertain. Three or four bad years means that hundreds of tenant farmers go behind irreparably and for ever, Now, what on the other hand is to be said in favour of a change, say to Ontario, the premier province of the Dominion of Canada ; and what does Ontario offer by way of contrast to the difficulties above described ? In the first place the farmer in Ontario is a producer, under — taking all things together — the most, instead of the least, favour- able conditions. Canadian wheat, oats, barley, beef, cheese or butter are the very competitors the British farmer has to dread. We shall deal with figures later on. Meanwhile that one fact speaks for itself (2.) He need pay no rental, for if he be only a small capitalist,he can buy land with the money he pays at home for rent, or if he should happen to prefer renting, he can rent a good farm for from eight shillings to sixteen shillings sterling per acre. (8.) His taxes are light. Those he pays indirectly, for Federal purposes, represent the current expendi- GUIDE TO ONTARIO. ture of the public service, or interest on a debt contracted for public improvements, railways, canals and other public works, for which he consequently gets value. His local taxes are for schools, roads, the protection of the law, and contributions to railways or other matters from which he derives direct advan- tages. (4.) JEe pays no poor rates for there are few paupers. (5.) He pays no tithes or their equivalent, for there is no State church to maintain. (G.) He suffers no appreciable injury from game, and what little he cares to shoot, or has time for shooting, he is welcome to. (7.) If he rents a farm the conditions are the simplest, and he can buy one on easy terms at any time. There is always plenty of improved land in the market, plenty of people or com- panies are willing to advance money on mortgage at some 7 or 8 per cent, interest, and the whole cost of transferring a hue farm, settlino^ dtle, and all, does not ordinarily amount to the value _injCanadian currency of a British five pound note. Now in this general way we have surely said enough to mduce the British farmer to believe there may be some good, if not conclusive, reasons why he should emigrate. Others will present themselves as we proceed. WHITHER SHALL I EMIGRATE ? We have now incidentally opened up the way to a consider- ation of the next question : " To what Country or Colony SHALL I GO ?" In trying to settle this point satisfactorily, let us clearly understand whom we are talking with. The farmer we have in our mind is the man with moderate capital, say from £250 to £2000 sterling, and usually nearer the less rather than the larger amount after all his debts are paid, with good health, steady habits, a will to work, and a family growing up needing to be settled in the world. We leave out of view for the moment the large capitalist on the one hand, or the man with no capital, on the other. We shall see what are the require-- GUIDE. TO ONTARIO. ments of such an one as we refer to, and how far Ontario will supply them. \_Ontario is the great English speaking, British populated province of the Dominion. There is no colony where all the surroundings and^ associations are so much like those of " home" as OntarioTv The change, then, in that respect is less startlinor and marked than it might be elsewhere. Then it is nearer " home" than either the Western States or the North-Western territories and out of all comparison nearer than any other eligible British colony. Allowing twenty-four hours for the railway journey from Quebec to Toronto the whole trip from Liverpool to the capital of Ontario is ordinarily but one of twelve days, with an ocean passage from land to land of often less than a week. From sixty to ninety days would be the length of a passage to any one of the Australian colonies or New Zealand. From Canada a trip home is at any time easy and cheap ; from the Antipodes it is seldom thought of. The idea of the ocean voyage is rather formidable to home-staying folks like many of our British Agriculturists, but to a Canadian who has once accomplished it, it is only a holiday trip, and a treat. WHAT ONTARIO HAS TO OFFER. " BijT WHAT OF Ontario itself ?" It is pre-eminently a land of free institutions, represented by free land, free schools, free churches, and a free vote. FREE LAND. Land, subject to a cheap system of registration of titles, can be bought and sold, parcelled out or divided as readily as any other commodity. There is no law of primogeniture to work injustice and public injury in order to allow the possessor to obtain or preserve a big family estate. There is only one restriction on the sale of land, and that is the law of dower in favour of the wife. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. FREE SCHOOLS. Ontario is justly proud of its free schools. The public school system of Ontario has furnished a model for the imitation of other countries. The expenses of these schools are borne by local rates, supplemented by a contribution from the Pro- vincial Treasury. Every ratepayer has a voice in the management through the school trustees he elects. The education of the child in a public school fits him or her for any of the ordinary positions of life. For those who aspire to a more finished education, the High School — also public and under local management — steps in, and, at a nominal expense, fits the aspirant for the work of a teacher or for tak- ing his initial step as a graduate of the University, which he can also pass through at almost no cost beyond his temporary board and lodging while keeping his terms. He is then fully qualified, so far as educational training goes, for the study of any of the learned professions. In 1878, out of a population of about 1,600,000 to 1,800,000, there were 492,837 children in attend- ance at the public schools. All classes meet there on common terms of equality ; and in tlie rural districts private schools are unknown, while in the towns and cities they are rapidly being superseded by the public schools. One very interesting feature, too, in the school system, is the employment it affords to young men and women as teachers. In 1877 there were in Ontario 6,468 teachers in the public schools, of whom 3,448 were young women. These young people belong to every class in the community. Most of them have been educated in the public schools. Among the young men a large proportion " teach school " as a means of livelihood while reading for the bar or for the medical profession. Many of our leading lawyers and medical practitioners have taught school in their time. NO STATE CHURCH. As already mentioned, there is no State church in Ontario. Every church is supported by the voluntary contributions of its members. Ontario may be called a land of churches, so 6 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. numerous are they everywhere that a population exists. All the lea-ling denominations have colleges for ministers, and any young man with a call to that office may, without difficulty, obtain the necessary theological training. A LAND OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. Ontario is preeminently the land of self-government. The people, in all municipal matters, really manage their own affairs. Every village of 750 or more inhabitants, every town of 2,000 and upwards, and every township, has its council elected annu- ally by the rate-payers. The whole have, by their Reeves or Deputy Roeves, a representation in the County Council which meets periodically. A vast amount of business that needs special Acts of Parliament in Great Britain is successfully carried on by these municipal bodies under the provisions of the general law. The taxes, for local purposes, are very light indeed. The farmer and his sons take their share of the expense by what is called statute labour- — putting the roads in order annually. Nearly every one joins in this, although a money payment or a substitute is allowed. But as friends and neighbours all take part in the work with their teams, and the season chosen is a leisure one, the duty is, after all, pleasant, and not regarded as onerous, THE FRANCHISE. Practically, every owner or occupier has a vote for mem- bers of the Provincial Legislature which meets annually at Toronto, or for the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa. In Ontario, too, there is an income tax franchise for the young men in cities, and a farmer's sons' franchise for young men work- ing on their father's farms. The income tax in Ontario is a municipal tax for local purposes only. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. Law is cheap and plentiful, and administered by Judges, Police Magistrates and Justices of the Peace as efficiently and righteously as in Great Britain. There is not a judge on the GUIDE TO ONTARIO. Bench who has not worked his way up from the ranks by fair merit and hard work. Our Justices of the Peace are men of the people, generally plain farmers or merchants. In rural Ontario happily there is very little crime but a universal respect for the law and those who administer it. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. As a matter affecting the health and comfort of residents in rural districts, it may be well to add that the medical [trac- tioner is omnipresent. The medical schools in Ontario are very strict in the matter of qualification, the profession is very popular, and there is no settled part of Ontario without an efficient practitioner within easy reach. SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES. Up to this point, then, the British farmer will have lost nothing by the change from the British Isles to Ontario, while in some respects he will be an obvious gainer. He willsecure : (1.) Free land, cheap land, and plenty of it, purchasable and transferable without trouble or any serious cost. (2.) Free schools, as good as any in the world, which his children may attend without any loss of caste or social position, and leading up to the highest educational honours. (3.) Free churches — and no tithes or charges for any but his own — voluntarily supported. (4.) Not Quarter Sessions or County Boards rule, but the management of his own local affairs to the expenditure of the last six-pence. (5.) A free vote. (6.) All the protection and safety that British law itself can ensure. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO. We will next look at some of the physical features of the Pro- vince, or rather, for our present purpose, at tliat portion of its territory — about 47,000 out of 200,000 square miles — we shall have to deal with in connection with our present topic. If the reader will run his eye over the map, and, striking Ontario at the Quebec boundary line, travel up the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, then follow the line of the Niagara River to Lake Erie, traverse Lake Erie and the Detroit River to Detroit, and then through Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River, enter Lake Huron, run up Lake Huron and its inlet the Georgian Bay, to French River, up French River to Lake Nipissing, across Lake Nipissing to or near to the Ottawa,, and down the Ottawa until he nearly reaches the St. Law- rence again, he will, in imagination, have circumnavigated the region to which we wish now principally to direct his attention. It will be somewhere in that area that, either as a settler on a free grant, or on an improved farm, he will find his location. Far beyond to the north, and northwest, is a region, still Ontario, that his sons or his sons* sons may one day occupy, and in the Manitoulin Islands and some lands and islands in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie are districts rapidly filling up ; but the British farmer's own ideas are, as we are assuming, in favour of the enjoyment as near as possible, of the same social comforts and advantages that he and his family possess in the old land. The several sections into which the Ontario in our mind at the present moment is divided possess very varied characteristics both as to soil and climate. But first let us shew how, from the configuration of the country^ every portion is accessible, and how in no part can the agricul- turist be far from, or without ready access to a market. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. ACCESSIBILITY OF MARKETS. Coming eastward, the first place of importance we arrive at is the flourishing town of Cornwall, about 60 miles from Montreal and thirty within the provincial boundary. Cornwall is the county town of the united counties of Dundas, Stormont, and Glengarry. At this place are bankers, grain buyers, and every facility for the transaction of business and shipment of produce, by the canal, which is at this point substituted for the too rapid navigation of the St. Lawrence, or b}^ the Grand Trunk Railway, to Montreal or other of the great outports. The inland railway communications in this section are not yet very complete, but railway construction is in progress. Back from the St. Lawrence we enter the Ottawa district, including the counties of Prescott, Russell, and Carleton. These counties have the Ottawa River as their outlet on one side, while rail- ways connect them at Prescott and Brockville with the Grand Trunk, and St. Lawrence navigation, and another line is now in operation direct from Ottawa to Montreal. The railway from Ottawa to the St Lawrence at Coteau Landing will, when completed, be an additional means of transport. I'urther west still, the fine aojri cultural, manufacturino^ or lumberinor counties of Grenville, Leeds, Lanark and Renfrew, connect to the eastward with the City of Ottawa, and to the south with the Grand Trunk and St. Lawrence at Brockville and Prescott. We have now passed beyond the Ottawa District and River counties and struck Lake Ontario at Kingston, a place of import- ance and once the seat of Government. At all the places men- tioned the agencies for transacting business, and the facilities for shipment are ample, while at the inland towns shippers, forwarders and buyers, have their representatives. The city of Kingston, the counties of Frontenac, Lennox, Addington and Renfrew, are all, or will soon be, well supplied with railways connecting the rear settlements with the front. Their chief 10 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, outlets in the latter direction are Kingston and Napanee, both important commercial centres. The county of Hastings, with the city of Belleville on the Bay of Quinte (pronounced Kan-ty) as its capital, is the next reached, and, lying south of it, joined by a narrow isthmus only to the main land, is the county of Prince Edward. The latter now has its railway from Picton, its county town, to Trenton on the main land. The county of Hastings, besides its front navigation and the Grand Trunk Railway, has, in addition to excellent gravel roads, railways now pushing noi-th and north-west into the rear. Northumberland and Peterboro' — the first having Cobourg as its chief town and port, the latter the large inland town of Peterboro' — are traversed by the Midland, Grand Junction, and Cobourg and Peterboro' Railways. Peterboro', too, has inland water communications. The next group of counties consists of Durham, Ontario and Victoria, connected with the Grand Trunk and the Lake by the Midland and Whitby & Port Perry lines. We now reach the metropolitan county of York, and to the north the County of Simcoe, reaching to the shores of the Georgian Bay. From , Toronto, the Toronto & Nipissing to the north-eastward, the Northern penetrating to the Free Grant district on the one hand and the waters of Lake Huron on the other, the Toronto, Grey & Bruce, the Great Western, the Credit Valley and the Grand Trunk supply abundant rail- way communications. Toronto is a fine city of some 70,000 inhabitants, the seat of the Provincial Government and Law Courts, and the chief centre of commerce for western Canada. To follow out in detail the railway system which supplies with interior communical ion every part of western Ontario would be almost confusing. The map will speak for itself. Here again, too, as we go west and south-west the grand natural means of transportation come into play. Lake Huron, the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, and Lake Erie — the latter connected with Lake Ontario by the Welland Canal, thus I GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 11 avoiding the obstruction occasioned by the Falls of Niagara — place the western Canadian farmer literally on one of the tinest highways in the whole world, which by its facilties, makes Ontario a more than successful competitor in the world's markets with the distant, inland, although easily cul- tivated prairie lands of the west and north-west. In all this region not only are railway construction and water navigation to_beJiadjJ)ut^ompetitim3^ against _th^_ other, comes to the__prpduc^er's aid, and by reducing the cost of trans- portation to the seaboard to a miniinuin. leaves him the larg- e^t_pi3ssibl6— profit fer--4jiijaselL ^.In the neaTra^'s ^ffien^^^^^^^^ accessibility of his market, the agriculturalist in Ontario will find himself as well ofi" as he can desire. When, too, it is recollected that twenty-seven years ago there was not a mile of railway in the province and that now there are three thousand six hundred miles of railway constructed, and others in progress, it will be seen how well and closely railway facil- ities keep pace with the wants of the community and the progress of settlement. The intending emigrant, however, being assumed to be a man with capital to invest, and wishing to make a change, once for all, and once only, will desire some more precise information as to the peculiar features of the difi'erent sections of the country, the soil, products and most profitable branches of agricultural industry. The information we shall give him on this point has been collected with great care from respon- sible and well-informed persons. It is not suggested that any purchase or final arrangements should be made before the arrival of the proposed settler in Canada. On the contrary personal inspection and observation, and all the experience that can be gained should be sought for before a bargain is com- pleted. The country will not suffer on acquaintance and it is an excellent plan, where circumstances are favourable for such an arrangement, for the head of a family to pay a preparatory visit and fix upon a farm before bringing out his whole household. Meantime, the following particulars of the 12 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. information most wanted will be of great service in assisting any one proposing to emigrate to Ontario to make up his mind on some points of much importance to him. The accompanying map will enable the reader to follow the description given of the situation of the respective counties, and their relation to the railways and water communications. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 13 ONTARIO COUNTIES. SOIL, PRODUCTS, INDUSTRIES, COMMUNICATIONS. LAKE ERIE COUNTIES. ESSEX. The county of ^Essex, the most south-westerly in Ontario, has been partially setHed by a French Canadian population for from 150 to 200 years, but has, since that period, been the resort of all the English speaking nationalities. The county has many natural advantages, its climate is very mild, and ^§_?y class of grain or fruit is grown to perfection. The soil is a black loam with clay bottom, except in one or two townships where a sandy loam predominates. The liberal aid rendered by the Ontario Government to drainage operations has done much for the county of Essex, where large areas of fertile land have been reclaimed and cultivated. All the cereals, including Indian corn, grow freely, and a very large quantity of grapes are grown and exported annually. A great deal of pork is also packed for shipment in Essex. The manufacture of railroad ties is a source of considerable profit to the owners of wild land, and not less than thirty saw mills, engaged in cutting hardwood of various kinds, give welcome employment to many hands in the winter months. With the help of the local agricultural societies there has been a great improvement in farm stock in the county of late years. Cleared lands, with all needful improvements, bring from $25 (£5) to $40 (£8) per acre ; or, on the river or lake shore, from £8 to £10 per acre. Bush farms fetch from £2 to £4 sterling per acre. In many places the wood on the land pays the purchase money of the farm. Rented farms are to be had for about 8s. sterling per acre. The county, which is bounded on its southern coast by Lake Erie and on the east by the Detroit River, is also traversed by the 14 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. Great Western and Canada Southern Kailways, while a new road is projected from the town of Windsor to Lake Erie, so that no farm will be more than eight miles from a railroad. KENT. The countxpf Kent is second to none in the Province for its fertility or the variety of its products. It stands perhaps^ first as a fruit growing district, apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, quinces, and grapes being produced in vast quantities. Grape culture is made a specialty with some persons. While all the cereals grow well, Kent is one of the few counties where a con- siderable area is devoted to the growth of Indian corn. On the Lake Erie front the soil is a gravelly loam, farther back clay loam is met with, and in the northerly and easterly parts of the county a sandy loam prevails. All in turn are of a most pro- ductive character in regard to the products to which they are specially adapted. As in the adjoining county of Essex a very considerable, industry in hardwood -manufactures is carried on in Kent, with great benefit both to the persons employed and to those whose products they consume. There is a good deal of very fine stock in Kent, much attention having been paid to the breeding of improved animals during late years ; this ap- plies to horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. Prices of farms vary from SIO (£2) to SlOO (£20) per acre, depending mainly on locality and the extent of improvements effected. The lake supplies ample water navigation, and this is supplemented by the Great Western and Canada Southern Railways, which cross the county from north-east to south-west, and a line is now being constructed from Rond Eau to Chatham, thence northward to Dresden, and finally to Samia, not only intersecting in its course the two main lines already referred to, but also connect- ing at Samia with the Grand Trunk system. All things con- sidered, Kent is a county that may be very favourably re- garded by the new comer as a place of settlement. ELGIN. This is one of the Lake Erie counties; the climate mild, winters usually quite open, and snow seldom lying more than three months. The country is undulating, soil varying from heavy clay to clay loam, some of the latter very rich. The GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 15 natural facilities for draining into the lake on the southern, or the River Thames on the northern border of the county, are excellent. Elgin is one of the Indian corn growing counties of Ontario, the yield of that cereal averaging 50 bushels to the acre. All the other cereals and roots, as well as fruit, are successfully cultivated. Improved tillage and drainage are doing much to raise the quality of agriculture in the division. There are several fine herds of thorough-bred cattle, and plenty of good horses, as well as improved breeds of sheep and pigs ; and about twenty cheese factories. Good markets are easily acces- sible ; the Lake, and the Great Western, Canada Southern, and London and Port Stanley Railways, affording abundant outlets and means of communication. The price of farms varies from . £8 to £13 sterling per acre, while farms may be leased at from 16s. to 20s. per acre, or in some cases for less. Fuel is abundant. NORFOLK. Norfolk is a Lake Erie. €Ounty. Climate mild, .soil varying between clay, clay and sand, loam and light sand, and generally very productive — rather better adapted for grain than stock- raising. Indian corn is grown largely. The county of Norfolk is celebrated for its fruit. There are several cheese factories and other local industries. The lumbering industry is not yet extinguished, although the county has been long settled. Farms may be purchased at fair prices. Heavy clay land is worth from $40 to $50 (£8 to £10), per acre ; sandy or sandy loam from $10 to $30 (£2 to £6), per acre. Farms may be leased at from 8s. to ICs. sterling, per acre. The county is traversed by the Air Line, Canada Southern, Hamilton and North- Western, and Port Dover and Lake Huron Railways. HALDIMAND. The County of Haldimand was one of the earliest districts in Upper Canada to receive the influx of settlers from the United States after the close of the American Revolutionary war. The climate is fine and healthy, land gently rolling, com- posed of a deep drift debris resting on limestone and sandstone formations. It is watered by numerous streams, and the scen- ery in many parts of the county is strikingly beautiful. Farming in Haldimand is in advance of that in some other sec- 16 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. tions. There are a large number of horses and cattle of improved breeds, as well as sheep of a fine class. From the configuration of the land, draining is not so necessary as in some parts, but where it is carried on the work is greatly facili- tated by natural advantages. No farm is far irom a good market. The county town, Cayuga, is situated at the head of the Grand River navigation, and four railways, the Buffalo branch of the Grand Trunk, the Hamilton and North-western, the Great Western Air Line and the Canada Southern, supply it with abundant communications. Farms may be purchased at from $20 (£4) to $50 (£10 sterlmg)^eFacre7or leased at $1.50 (say 6s.) to $8 (12s.) per acre, with about three-fourths clear-^d. Fuel is abundant, both coal and wood being cheap, the latter from local supply, and the former, via Lake Erie, from the Pennsylvania coal fields. Large beds of pure gypsum furnish an inexhaustible supply of that deposit. NIAGARA DISTRICT. MONCK. This is a thickly settled and most thriving district, formed for electoral purposes out of portions of the three Counties of Welland, Lincoln, and Haldimand. The climate is mild, and the §oil generally rich, consisting of clay or clay loam, with in some parts a sandy gravelly loam. The farms are generally first-class, and sell at good prices. Fruit, including peaches, is very largely cultivated. The land is rolling, and in some parts hilly; the scenery is often very beautiful. Some of the townships in the division, especially Pelham and Wainfleet, are noted for their excellent municipal management, and the con- sequent lightness of their local taxation. The division is watered by two or three navigable rivers, and is traversed by the Grand Trunk, Canada Southern, and Air Line Rail- ways. Few districts offer better inducements to an old country farmer with capital than this one. WELLAND. The county of Welland is ,Yexy -thickly settled, and contains within its limits a great variety of busy industries. The GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 17 varieties of soil are great. . A large portion consists of a black clay loam of great richness ; in some parts a fine sandy loam, and in others a gravelly loam predominates, while part is still marsh, although in process of reclamation with very profitable results. The staple cereal grown is fall wheat, although beans and roots are largely cultivated. In some townships fruit, in- cluding peaches and grapes, is grown in enormous quantities. The climate along the course of the Niagara River is exceed- ingly temperate. The traffic on the Welland Canal and the works in progress there — the improvements extending over several years — create a large local demand for all classes of pro- duce, and a good trade is done in vegetables and all the smaller fruits. There are one or two excellent weekly markets in the county for the sale of farm produce. Farms may be purchased at from $10 (£2) an acre for marshy land up to $100 to $110 (£20 to £22) per acre for first-class farms. Good improved farms may be had for $40 (£8) per acre. Very few farms are held on lease, but about $3 (12s.) per acre is regarded as the maximum rental. There is a good deal of improved stock in the county, which is, by reason of its climate, soil and other causes, an inviting one for the new settler. The Welland River is navig- able for nearly thirty miles from its mouth, and the Welland, Erie and Niagara, Canada Southern, Air Line, and Grand Trunk, all traverse the county. LINCOLN. The county of Lincoln, with the city of St. Catharines as its business centre, having Port Dalhousie at the Lake Ontario end of the Welland Canal as its port, is also one of the finest fruit growing districts of Ontario. Peaches are largely cultivated as well as all the hardier classes of fruit. ■ The soil is, in the lower .parts of the county, sand or sandy loam, but the higher land is ^laj^:^ Wheat and hay are the chief crops oh the- heavier soils ; fruit, Indian corn and roots being cultivated in the lighter soils. Several important manufactures create a local market for farm produce. They include two paper mills, two cotton mills, and a large number of extensive flouring mills. .The price of farm property ranges from $30 (£6) per acre, to as high as $lo0'or £30 per acre. The extent of orchard lands and proximity to markets have much to do with the high price placed upon some farm properties. The county, besides its water facilities, is traversed by the Great Western, Welland and Erie and Ontario Railways. 18 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. LAKE HURON COUNTIES. LAMBTON. The county of Lambton has been settled since the year 1832, and in that time has made great progress. The soil is principally a clay or clay loam, with portions of light loam, sand or gravel. Much of the land is very rich and low, and a good deal has been done to reclaim wet lands by means of drainage. Its ])rincipal crops are wheat, barley, oats, peas, timothy and clover hay, and the various descriptions of roots. Indian corn grows well, but is not largely cultivated at pre- sent. The same remark applies to rye and buckwheat. Peaches, grapes and the smaller fruits are cultivated largely, and apples are a fine and profitable crop. Thousands of barrels of apples are shipped annually. There are several local indus- tries in active operation. Cheese factories are to be met with in all parts of the country. Lambton is also one of the oil districts of Ontario, petroleum having been discovered there about the year 1862. Well improved farms sell for from $30 (£6) to S50 (£10) per acre, or, in some very favourable locali- ties, for from $55 (£11) to $70 (£14) per acre. Cleared lands may be rented at from $2 (8s.) to $4.50 (18s. sterling) per acre, according to their state of cultivation. A good deal has been done of late years to improve stock, and there are now a large number of well-bred animals in the county. The St. Clair River separates the county from the State of Michigan, and it has Lake Huron for its north-western coast line. In addition to this fine water navigation, Lambton is traversed by the Grand Trunk, Great Western, and Canada Southern Railways. HURON. This fine county has been settled more recently than some others. It contains an area of 769,000 acres, two-thirds of which is under cultivation and pasture ; the balance is wooded, but hardly any portion of Huron, if any, can be termed irreclaimable. It has Lake Huron on its western front, and is intersected by the Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway, Buffalo &; Lake Huron Railway, London, Huron & Bruce R lilway and the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway. The county too is famous for its excel- lent gravel roads. The land is somewhat rolling in its character. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 19 and well watered, the soil a sandy loam. It is a great grain- growing country, but its specialties would probably be cattle- raising and dairy farming, for which it is well adapted. There are already a large number of cheese factories and one creamery in the county. There is a good deal of fine improved stock in Huron, and considerable progress has been made of late in draining. In the south-western part of the county near Goderich and Seaforth are enormous salt beds. There is probably wood enough for fuel purposes to last for 25 years. Farms are usually 100 acres each, but some 50 acres, while others are of 200 acres. They may be bought at prices varying from £5 to £14 sterling per acre, or leased for periods of five years for from 8 to 12 shillings sterling, annual rental. The climate is extremely healthy, very little colder than that of the Lake Eri^- and Ontario regions. A steady winter, however, with good and uninterrupted sleighing more than compensates for a little cold. The population of Huron is pretty evenly divided between the three British nationalities, the Scotch and Irish slightly predominating. BRUC£. The county of Bruce has only been^ settled since 1853, but had in 1871 a population of nearly 50,000 souls. Tlie general char- acter of the soil is a sandy loam, surpassed by none in Ontario fcj^fertility. All the usual cereals and roots are cultivated, but for wheat-growing Bruce is regarded as one of the best dis- tricts, if not the best district in the Province. The salt works at Kincardine, which are very extensive, and other industries give employment to a large number of persons. The improve- ment of stock in Bruce has not been so rapid as in some counties, but the farmers are increasingly turning their atten- tion to this branch of the business, with the view of depending more in future on stock raising than on cereal crops. The price of exceptionally good farms in Bruce is from $50 (£10) to $60 (£12) per acre, but farms can be procured for one-half that price. Bruce has Lake Huron on its western boundary, with the ports of Kincardine and Southampton, and is also supplied with communications by the Wellington, Grey k> Bruce, and Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railways and branches. 20 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, WESTERN (INLAND) COUNTIES. MIDDLESEX. The land of this district was originally all hardwood forest, with a few swamps. It is undulating and naturally well drained, the climate very healthy and moderate in temperature. It is well watered by creeks and small rivers. The soil varies from a heavy clay to a sandy loam, and is well adapted for stock-raising. About one-third of the land is still wooded, ensuring a cheap and plentiful supply of fuel for many years, as well as wood for other purposes. The average production of the cereals and roots is said to be about as follows :^Fall wheat, 20 bushels ; spring wheat, 8 bushels (not a very certain crop in this district); barley, 30 bushels; peas, 12 bushels; oats, 35 bushels ; potatoes, 100 bushels ; turnips, 300 bushels ; hay, 1 J tons, per acre. There are some excellent stock animals and many very serviceable horses in the district. The business of grazing and feeding cattle for the English market is making rapid progress. There are seven cheese factories, and ample facilities for marketing produce. The county contains sev- eral towns and villages, and is well supplied with railway facilities. Its County Town is the city of London, a business centre of great activity and importance in Western Ontario, and a first-class market for all agricultural products. Farms may be bought in a highly improved condition, the prices varying from $35 (£7) to as high as SI 00 (£20 sterling) per acre. Farms may be rented at from £20 to £80 sterling per 100 acres. The railways traversing the county are the Grand Trunk, main and branch lines, the GreatWestern, London and Port Stanley, London Huron and Bruce, and Canada Southern. PERTH. The county of Perth offers many imdu cements to agricul- turists. While portions are flat and perhaps better adapted for stock-raising than the cultivation of the cereals, a larger area is undulating and very favourable for grain culture. The soil is generally a clay or clay loam, in many parts highly pro- ductive. The rate of production varies, of course, considerably in different parts of the county, but a return from the several townships shows as follows : Fall wheat, 18 to 25 bushels ; GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 21 spring wheat, 10 to 20 bushels ; barley, 25 to 45 bushels (aver- age, 30 to 40) ; oats, 40 to 50 bushels ; peas, about 25 bushels ; potatoes, 100 to 150 bushels (frequently the latter) ; turnips, 500 to 700 bushels ; hay, 1 to 1|^ tons per acre. The land in Perth is generally well tilled, and improved breeds o£ all classes of animals have been introduced to a considerable extent. Busy towns and villages supply a brisk demand for home consumption for all kinds of produce. There are numer- ous local industries not connected with agriculture, and several cheese factories do a thriving business. Farms may be bought according to location, quality of the land and improvements, at from $30 (£6 sterling) to $80 (£16 sterling) per acre. Rents run from $2.50 (10s.) upwards, but the number of farms to be had on lease is not large. The county is traversed by the Grand Trunk, Wellington, Grey and Bruce, and Stratford and Lake Huron Railways. OXFORD. The county of Oxford is one of the finest agricultural dis- tricts in Ontario. It was first partially settled about 80 years ago and the work of improvement has been going on ever si^ce. The surface of the country is generally undulating, the soil a clay loam and in some parts a sandy loam. Both as to soil and climate it is well adapted for either grain, stock, or fruit raising. The county is well studded with thriving towns, such as Woodstock and Ingersoll, and villages of more or less import- ance. Its cheese manufacture is on a very extensive scale, and two large pork-packing establishments are located at Ingersoll. A good deal has been done towards the introduction of improved stock and in all departments of agriculture intelli- gence and enterprise are more or less visible. Farms may be purchased at from $20 (£4), to $80 (£16 sterling) per acre, or rented at from $2 (say 8s. sterling) to $4 (16s, sterling) per acre. The Great Western Railway, the Lake Huron and Port Dover, the Canada Southern, and the Brantford and Port BurAvell Rail- ways, supply the county of Oxford with abundant railway facilities. Fuel is cheap and abundant, and where coal is pre- ferred to wood, it is obtainable by railway at moderate rates. WATERLOO. This county was settled in the early part of the present century, chiefly by Germans from the State of Pennsylvania, 22 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. many of them being of the Mennonite persuasion. The soil is of mixed varieties, but generally fertile and watered with num- erous spring creeks. It produces all the cereals and roots and large quantities of fruit, with the exception of peaches, which have not yet been grown successfully to any extent. Flax grow- ing is carried on upon a large scale ; the flax being exported in both a dressed and undressed state. The soil is also considered very favourable for the cultivation of sugar beets. There are seve- ral flax mills in the county in addition to other industries, the chief town, Gait, being one of tlie most thriving manufacturing centres in Ontario. The land is all cleared, and farms may be bought with every improvement at from $40 to $100 (£8 to £20 sterling) per acre. Very few farms are leased, but from 8s. to 20s. sterling per acre is about the rental charged. Great progress has been made in the improvement of cattle and the breeding of horses. The county is traversed by the Great Western, Grand Trunk and Credit Valley Kailways. WELLINGTON. Portions of this fine county have been settled for fifty years, but the bulk of the settlement has taken place during the past thirty years. The soil is mostly a loam, varying from the extremes of gravel on the one hand to clay on the other. The latter is most usually met with, and is of a highly productive nature, and easily tilled. The raising of stock from improved breeds is carried on to a larger extent in this than in any other county. This has led to grain cropping being largely superseded by the cultivation of roots, which are grown to an immense extent. Barley is a sure crop, and a large area is sown with that cereal. The city of Gueiph, a very flourishing manufactur- ing centre, is the county town. Fergus, Elora and Salem are also busy manufacturing villages. Cleared farms range from £8 to £16 per acre, while some would bring even a higher figure. There is very little wild land obtainable, even in the newest townships. Wellington is well supplied with railways, being traversed by the Grand Trunk, Wellington, Grey and Bruce, Toronto, Grey and Bruce, Credit Valley, Georgian Bay and Wellington, and Waterloo, Wellington and Georgian Bay. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 23 DUFFERIN. This is a new county formed out of portions of Wellington, Simcoe and Grey. The soil is mostly a clay loam, although in one section it is light and rather rough land. The leading cereals are the principal farm products. The price of the best land runs from $30 to $40 (£6 to £8 sterling), per acre. Farms of 100 acres with 60 to 70 acres cleared, and log buildings, can be had for $2500 to $3000 (£500 to £600 sterling); and wild lots for from $1000 to $1500 (£200 to £300), per 100 acres. Rented farms bring from $2 to $2.50 (8s. to 10s. sterling), for cleared portions. In one of the townships — Garafraxa — there is a good deal of improved stock ; but not much elsewhere in the county. The county town, Orangeville, is a very thriving place, and an excellent market centre. The Toronto Grey & Bruce, and Credit Valley Railways, supply Dufferin with abundant means of communication in all directions. CARDWELL. The Electoral District of Cardwell, formed out of portions of Peel and Simcoe counties, about 20 by 25 miles in area, is wholly agricultural in its character. It has been settled for from fifty to sixty years, and about nine-tenths of the land is under cultivation. The county is rolling and well watered. The land, with the exception of one or two rough portions divided between clay and sandy loam, is well adapted for grain growing. Dairy farming has not yet made so much progress as elsewhere, there being at present no cheese factories or creameries in the district. Many of the farmers are men of substance ; the houses and buildings are good, and the aspect of the farms is thrifty and productive. At Beeton, in the Township of Tecumseth, is the largest Bee Farm in Canada, the proprietor disposing of some 50,000 lbs. weight of honey annually. The district is intersected by two railways : the Toronto, Grey & Bruce from Toronto, and the Hamilton and North-Western from Hamilton. The climate of the district is dry and bracing. The population contains a very large Irish element, both protestant and catholic. In one township, Cale- don, are a large number of Scotch, both lowland and high- land. The rest of the population is mixed. In Cardwell, farms of 100 or 200 acres may be purchased at prices ranging from £6 to £16 per acre, or leased at an average rental of 12 24 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. shillings. Ninety per cent, of the land would be cleared, the balance wooded, but this is not more than would be profitably retained or used for home purposes. BRANT. The county of Brant possesses all the characteristics of a line farming country, combined in many parts with very beautiful natural scenery. With every variety of soil it is eminently favourable to nearly every variety of crop, and all branches of agricultural industry appear to flourish. At Bow Park, near the city of Brantford, which is the county town of Brant, is perhaps the largest herd of short horns in the world. Opportunities for introducing improved stock from this and other sources are very good. Brant is w^ell watered and pre- sents admirable facilities for drainage, the Grand River flowing through the middle of the county. The market facilities, by means of good local roads as well as railways, are excellent, and a large trade is done, both at Brantford, already mentioned, and at the town of Paris, at the junction of the Great Western and Buffalo and Lake Huron Railways. In addition to the two last mentioned roads, the Brantford and Port Burwell connects with the Canada Southern and Air Lines, and will ultimately extend to Lake Erie. The price of farms in Brant ranges from as low as $10 (£2) to $80 (£16) per acre, or may be rented at from $2 to $4, or at an average of $3 (12s.) per acre. It is a part of the country where an old country settler would feel at home at once, and presents, for such, some excellent openings. The city of Brantford is the seat of extensive manufactures of agricultural implements of all kinds, as well as of engines, stoves, and a variety of other goods. The local water power and transportation facilities give it special ad- vantages as the seat of such industries. GEORGIAN BAY COUNTIES. GREY. Grey is rather a new county. Settlement there commenced about the year 1842. The general character of the soil is good, but diversified, consisting of clay, clay loam, and a large GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 25 portion of what farmers call sharp soil, which is very pro- ductive if well tilled. Some of the Townships, however, are rather stony and the extreme north is somewhat broken by limestone rock. Grey is, on the whole, a good agricultural county. Wheat is the staple, while oats, peas, barley and hay crops are above the average. Fruit is grown largely and the country along the shores of the Georgian Bay is famed for the quality and vast quantities of the plums it produces. Grapes, peaches and pears do well. The price of land ranges from $1,000 to $6,000 (£200 to £1,200 sterling) for farms of 100 acres. The average price, where 60 to 70 acres have been cleared and the buildings are good, may be put down at $3,000 (£600). There are many excellent openings in Grey for pur- chasers at the present time. Farms can be leased at from $2 to to $3 (8s. to 12s. sterling) per acre, exclusive of taxes or statute labour. SIMCOE. The county of Simcoe offers peculiarly favourable opportuni- ties to the settler who, with small means, desires gradually to make his way in the world. The southern part ol the county, part of which is in the electoral district of Card well, has been long settled and is well farmed by a substantial class of farmers. But there are sections that present every stage of colonization from the improved farm and trim homestead to the log shanty and bush clearing. In the south the soil is generally a good clay or clay loam, more to the northward a sandy loam pre- dominates. Here and there some pretty rough land is met with but there are few portions that are not fertile. Wheat and all the coarse grains, as well as roots and hay, are largely culti- vated, and in the western part of the county fruit, especially the plum, is grown on a very large scale. A great assistance to the settler with little money is the existence of the lumber- ing industry, which is very extensively carried on in iSimcoe. This affords employment, permanent or temporary, to large numbers of able-bodied men, and causes a free circulation of money, both in wages and in the purchase of supplies, in some very remote districts. Not only can the settler choose either wild land or land in any stage of improvement that may suit his resources, but he can by the aid of the lumberer often maintain his family, wholly or in part, while his own farm is too small to supply his necessities. Good improved farms bring as high GUIDE TO ONTARIO, as $80 (£16) an acre, but they can be purchased at all prices from S5 (£1) an acre upwards, and wild land, of course, for much less. Farms can be rented at from 50 cents (2s.), to $4 (16s. sterling) per acre. The town and port of Colling wood on the Georgian Bay has a large lake traffic, while Barrie, the county town, on an arm of Lake Simcoe, and Orillia are places of considerable importance. The Northern, Hamilton and North- Western, North Simcoe, and Midland lines supply the county with ample railway connections. NORTHERN COUNTIES. VICTOKIA. Victoria is a very large and ever-growing county, for, as it includes a considerable portion of free grant territory, as one township after another is settled it is added to the county municipality. Thus, while the southern townships have been settled for fifty years, more or less, some of the northern ones have come into existence as but yesterday. Great varieties of soil and climate are necessarily found in such a tract of country as Victoria covers. The soil of the southern portion is a rich clay loam, and extremely fertile. As we pass northward the soil becomes lighter, and sandy loam is most frequently met with, while in places the rock crops up freely, although even here in reasonably moist seasons, good crops are raised by the settlers. Fall and spring wheat, peas and coarse grains are the chief products, and there is a good deal of cheese, factory- made, and butter, dairy-made, in the county, which should be particularly favourable in many respects for the latter branch of farm business, although no creameries have yet been esta- blished. Not much has been done so far to improve the breeds of cattle, but there are a number of very fine sheep in the county. One feature of Victoria is its beautiful lakes and numerous streams. Its chief town, Lindsay, is quite a railway focus. The Midland Railway passes through Lindsay on its route from Port Hope, on Lake Ontario, to Midland City, on the Georgian Bay; the Whitby and Port Perry, by its junction with the Grand Trunk and the Toronto and Nipissing, connect it with Toronto, and the Victoria Railway forms another im- portant highway to the northward. Farms may be bought at GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 27 from $25 to $100 (£5 to £20 sterling) per acre, or rented at 2s. per acre upwards, cost or rental being decided by situation, soil and improvements. HALIBURTON. The district of Ha^ .burton is separated for municipal purposes from the two adjoining counties of Peterborough and Victoria. It has only been in process of settlement since 1858. The Cana- dian Land and Emigration Company represents nine townships in the district which are only partially settled at the present time. The general aspect of the country is somewhat rough and stoney, but the soil is good nevertheless, and favourable to the growth of the coarse grains, as well as wheat, turnips and potatoes. Farms can be bought at very moderate prices, and the new settler may suit his means by selecting anything from the uncleared bush upwards. Rented farms are about $1.50 (say 6s. sterling) per acre. The construction of the Victoria Railway from Lindsay has placed the Haliburton district in direct communication with Toronto and the other Lake Ontario ports. PETERBOROUGH. The settlement of the county of Peterborough has all taken place within the last fifty years. In the southern part of the county, the soil is very good; but in the more northern town- ships it is rough and stony. Wheat, barley, oats, peas and roots, are the principal crops raised. A number of cheese factories are in active operation. There is a good deal of lum- bering going on in the county, with attendant industries. There are also woollen mills, foundries, and implement manu- factories, as well as a number of flouring mills. JFarin property m. the well-settled districts, will fetch from $4<5 (£9) to $60 (£r2"sterllng) per acre. An average farm, worth say $5T)' (£10), will rent for $3 (12s. sterling) per acre. The farmers of the county are beginning to see the advantage of improving their stock, and a fair commencement in this direction has been made. The lower half of the county is traversed by the Mid- land Railway, which connects it with the Grand Trunk, Lake Ontario, and other outlets. 28 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, LAKE ONTARIO COUNTIES. WENTWORTH. Wentworth is a fine agricultural county. It possesses a great variety of soils, the portion nearest Lake Ontario consisting of a gravelly loam well adapted for most agricultural purposes, but especially favourable to the growth of fruit, which is there produced in very large quantities. All the cereals including Indian corn are cultivated, as well as every description of roots. The farm stock has been considerably improved by the import- .ation of thorough-bred animals. Farms sell at from S40 (£8) to $80 (£16 sterling) per acre, and may be rented at from ,S2.50 (10s.) to $5 (20s. sterling) per acre. The large manufacturing city of Hamilton, the second in size and importance in Ontario, is the county town of Wentworth. Its position at the head of Lake Ontario with a large and nearly land locked harbour gives the rural districts surrounding the city great advantages. The Great Western, Hamilton and Lake Erie and Hamilton and North- Western Railways intersect the county. HALTON. This is one of the older counties of Ontario, its settlement dating from the year 1790 to 1820. The emigrant from Europe will reach it from Toronto if he comes via Quebec, or from Hamilton if by New York and Suspension Bridge. It has Lake Ontario and the Great Western Railway along its south- ern front, and the Grand Trunk Railway in the rear, while the Hamilton and North- Western line intersects it from south to north, and the Credit Valley line from east to west. The soil on the front is sandy, further back all clay, and still further back a rich loam. Along the lake vast quantities of straw- berries are grown, the culture of that fruit being a most profit- able and ever-increasing industry. The larger fruits, especially apples, are being cultivated on a large scale. Both grain and stock-raising are carried on very successfully. The county is level at the front, but further back rolling and hilly. Halton is watered by several fine streams, utilized for various industrial purposes. A good lumbering business is still done there. The climate is temperate, the near presence of the lake tending to moderate the extremes either of heat or cold. Both in horses GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 29 and cattle there have been very considerable improvements of late years by the introduction of thorough-bred animals. The price of farms for sale varies from £8 to £20 sterling per acre, while others can be had on lease at from 8s. to 16s. sterling per acre, according to their fertility, the condition of build- ings and contiguity to markets. The direct connection of Halton with the cities of Toronto, Hamilton, and Guelph, gives it exceptionally valuable advantages in these respects. Wood fuel is cheap and plentiful in Halton, and coal also obtainable by the railways at low rates. The population is composed of natives or descendants of natives of all three British nation- alities. Few counties offer greater attractions to old country settlers than Halton. PEEL. The soil of this county presents considerable variety. In the south a clay or clay loam predominates, but this changes gradually to a light sandy loam in the northern section. For- merly the great product of the county was wheat, but of later years not only have other cereal crops been largely cultivated but farmers have turned their attention considerably to the growth of roots and the raising and feeding of cattle. A good deal of improved stock has been introduced during the last few years. Butter is also made in large quantities by the farmers, but not much cheese. Large woollen mills and imple- ment factories are among the local industries of the county. Farm property can at the present time be purchased on pretty favourable terms, at least 20 per cent, less than two or three years ago. Good farms, with fairly substantial buildings, range from $45 (£9) to as high as $60 (£12) per acre. Rents run from $3 (12s.) to $4 (16s.) per acre. The Grand Trunk, Toronto, Grey and Bruce, Hamilton and North Western, and Credit Valley Railways supply the county of Peel with abun- dant accommodation. YORK The settlement of the county of York commenced at the close of the last century, many of the settlers being from Penn- sylvania, and other of the United States. The soil is generally a rich clay, or clay loam, and very productive. Wheat is grown in large quantities and all the other cereals and roots 30 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. are raised freely. In the southern part of the county vege- table and fruit gardening is carried on to a very large and profitable extent and this portion of the county is also the seat of some of the finest nursery grounds in Canada. There are several very flourishing villages with active industries of various kinds, including a large hat manufactory, agri- cultural implement works on a large scale, woollen mills, carriage factories, tanneries, and sash, door and blind factories. Farms may be purchased for from $25 to $80 (£5 to £16 sterling,) per acre, or rented for from $2.50 (10s.), to $5 (20s.) sterling per acre. A good deal has been done of late years to encourage improvements in stock. The county contains sev- eral very flourishing agricultural societies. York is the metro- politan county of Ontario, its county town being the city of Toronto, with all the advantages of market, port, railway and other facilities that fact implies. Its western section is served by the Great Western, Grand Trunk, Credit Valley, and Toronto Grey and Bruce lines. The Northern intersects it from south to north and its eastern side is furnished with accommodation by the Grand Trunk, Toronto and Nipissing and Lake Simcoe Junction lines. ONTARIO. The county of Ontario, with Lake Ontario for its southern boundary, stretches back a considerable distance, till it reaches the small inland lakes at its northern extremity. Tlie soil is generally good, being mostly clay loam, except in certain sec- tions, where a sandy loam predominates. The land, however, produces fine crops. Every description of cereal, except Indian corn, is grown in the county. Flax and hemp grow well, and it is said the soil would be suitable for the cultivation of the sugar beet. At present the leading grain crops are the chief products. The towns and villages of the county are very busy Cvommunities, and the seats of several thriving manufacturing industries. Some of the manufacturers have a world-wide reputation. Good farms, well situated, bring from $50 to $70 (£10 to £14 sterling) per acre, and some are worth as much as $100 (£20) per acre; but others may be had for from ^20 (£4) per acre upwards. Farm rents are from $2 (8s.) to $5 (20s.) per acre. The improvement of farm stock can hardly be said to be general in the county, although there are many fine cattle, as well as horses and pigs of good quality ; GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 31 but some few persons have carried on the importation of thorongh-bi ed stock to a considerable extent. The county is served by the Lake Ontario navigation at the front as well as by the Grand Trunk Railway. The Whitby, Port Perry and Lindsay, and the Toronto and Nipissing Railways traverse it, and the ^lidland offers another outlet from its northern extremity. DURHAM. The county of Durham, with its front on Lake Ontario, was settled at the latter end of the last century. Its land is undu- lating with mostly a clay loam soil, and very productive. All the ordinary cereals grow well, and the cultivation of root crops is on a large scale, for cattle-teecLmg purposes, numbers of cattle being shipped from DuyhanTto Europe and elsewhere. In its principal towns, Bowmanville in the west, and Port Hope in the east division of the county, a large trade and some extensive manufactures in furniture, agricultural implements, and other articles are carried on. Port Hope has an excellent harbour and a considerable lake shipping irad£^_J^-V'ynt:i ^ny be bought at any price, according to situation and_improve- mejgsTgom ^^5_{£o) per acre upwards. 8ome woufd realize $100 (£20), or eveiTlhore^per^acre. Farms may be "tea^ from 8s. to 28s. per acre. A good deal has been done to im- prove the breed of horses, horned cattle and sheep, but there is room for further progress in this direction. Durham presents some excellent opportunities for an intelligent agriculturist from the old country with moderate capital. The Grand Trunk traverses the county along its front from east to west, and the Midland line to the Georgian Bay with a branch to Peterboro' has its terminus at Port Hope. For shipments to the foreign market the facilities are excellent. NORTHUMBERLAND. Northumberland is one of the Lake Ontario counties and has been settled for nearly 80 years. Land rolling and soil largely consisting of sandy loam with some clay. The farming is less skilful than it ought to be, but some improvement is going on in the introduction of improved stock and horses. The number of sheep kept is small. Cheese factories are numerous. Towns and villages of considerable size create a very large local demand, 32 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. and the Grand Trunk, Grand Junction, and Cobourg and Peter- boro' railways and the lake navigation afford easy outlets for more distant markets. The roads in the county are also good. The price of farms ranges from $10 to $60 (£2 to £12 sterling) per acre, or they may be rented at about 5 per cent, on the purchasing value. There is a good deal of wood still standing, but coal is easily obtained and frequently used in preference to wood. BAY OF QUINTE COUNTIES. HASTINGS. The county of Hastings began to be settled early in the present century by United Empire Loyalists. A very large proportion of its present population are "sons of the soil." As a reference to the map will show, the county of Hastings extends back a long distance to the northward, and in such an extent of country a gi*eat diversity of soil and some of climate also must be expected. The average quality of the land, however, is good. Clay loam predominates, black, sandy and clay soils being met with in less quantities. Limestone prevails gener- ally. In connection with agriculture, the most active industry of the county is cheese-making, Hastings being one of the greatest cheese producing and exporting counties of Ontario. Its production of fruits and vegetables, in addition to cereal and root crops, is also considerable. In the centre of the county are valuable mineral deposits. Several gold mines are in con- tinuous operation, and veiy rich iron ores are being shipped in large quantities to the United States. The mining region is reached by the Belleville and North Hastings Railway; the Grand Junction and Grand Trunk also supply railway facilities. The fine city of Belleville, on the Bay of Quinte, is a place of much activity and a great port for the shipment of lumber. Land, in the front townships, sells for from $25 (£5) per acre up to as high as $80 (£16) or even $100 (£20) per acre, accord- ing to situation. In the rear townships the price ranges from £2 to £8 sterling per acre. Rented farms range from 4s. to 16s. sterling per acre. In the northern part of the county are some lands opened for free grant settlement. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 33 LENNOX. The county of Lennox was Settled about the year 1785 by United Empire Loyalists. The soil runs from clay to sandy loam, but clay, black ground, and heavy loams predominate.^ Wheat, barley, oats, rye, Indian corn, peas and buckwheat are all grown largely, but barley is the chief staple product and com- mands the top price in the United States markets. Dairying is a very important branch of the farming business in Lennox, its cheese factories numbering something like a dozen, while butter is also produced in large quantities. There are several local industries besides. Farms vary in price from $30 (£6) to $70 (£14 sterling) per acre, according to quality of land and locality. Farms of 100 acres rent from $100 to $400 (£20 to £80 sterling per annum.) The improvement in stock has not been so great in Lennox as in some other counties, but efforts are being made in this direction. The Grand Trunk Railway and the Lake Ontario navigation via Napanee, the principal town in the county, situated on the Bay of Quinte, supply the county with outlets for its products. 'ADDINGTON. Addington was partially settled towards the close of the last century, but its rear townships much more recently. In the front portion of the county the soil is chiefly a clay loam, but in the rear a sandy loam predominates. All the cereals are grown, but the leading crops are barley and wheat. There is considerable lumbering in the northern townships. In the southern section are paper mills, foundries and other industries, although the chief business is agriculture. In the older town- ships farms sell for from £6 to £10 sterling per acre, in the newer ones from £1 to £4 per acre. Farms can be rented for about 5 per cent, on the value. A great deal has been done to improve the farm stock in the county. The Grand Trunk Railway and Lake Ontario are its southern outlets ;. the Kingston and Pembroke Railway traverses it in a northerly direction. PRINCE EDWARD. The county of Prince Edward is nearly surrounded by water, being only connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus 4 34 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. at the head of the Bay of Quinte (pronourlced Kan-ty). The soil is chiefly of a calcareous nature, and singularly productive, even where of no great depth. In parts there are large tracts of sandy loam, while in others clay and black loam are to be found. About a tenth part, perhaps, is poor, of a light sandy character. The average 3deld of crops is not equal by any means to the amount that might be produced by improved fanning. The ordinary yield of wheat is probably not above 'AO bushels to the acre, but double that quantity is known to be raised by careful cultivation. The same remark will apply to other cereals. The county of Prince Edward is noted for its fine carriage horses ; and has some excellent cattle, both grades and thoroughbreds. Farms may be purchased at from ^30 (£6) to $80 (£1G sterling) per acre, or .rented at from $1 (say 4s.) to S3 (say 12s.) per acre. Agriculture is, with a few exceptions, the sole industry of the county. There are some 26 or 27 cheese factories in constant operation. Prince Edward has one railroad from Picton, the county town, to Trenton on the mainland. With the lake on its southern side and the beautiful Bay of Quinte to the north, Prince Edward lacks nothing in tlie way of situation or scenery to make it attractive. The whole county presents an appear- ance of solid comfort and prosperity on the part of its popula- tion. RIVER ST. LAWRENCE COUNTIES. FRONTENAC. This county, with Kingston for its capital, has been settled for from 50 to 100 years. Of its 213,000 acres some 150,000 are under cultivation, and probably have more or less deterior- ated for want of skilful management, a fault that new settlers ■^ith old country experience would in time remedy. There is, however, a considerable quantity of good land in Frontenac, but ample room for the improvements that energy, skill, and capital can supply. The business of cheese-making is pretty largely carried on and may be extended with great advantage both to the land and the farmer indefinitely. The county has the lake or river as its front, as well as the Grand Trunk Railway, while the Kingston and Pembroke line intersects it longi- tudinally, and some 100 miles of macadamized roads serve GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 35 local purposes. The soil is divided between clay and loam, and is adapted to all varieties of crops. The climate is temperate, averaging 45° Fahrenheit all the 3^ear round. Farms can be bought at from £2 to £12 sterling per acre. Fuel either obtained locally or brought in by the K. & P. Railway, is abundant and cheap. The American market for light pro- duce is so near as to be very advantageous to the farmers of all the river counties of Ontario. LEEDS. The county of Leeds with a frontage of some thirty miles on the St. Law^rence, and ports at Brock ville, Gananoque, and Rockport, while it is traversed by the Grand Trunk parallel with the River, by the Canada Central from Brockville north- ward through its centre, by the Rideau Canal in the rear, and having the Kingston and Pembroke skirting its western boundary has exceptionally good facilities so far as traffic and connections are concerned. Lying, too, exactly opposite, and only divided by the St. Lawrence from American territory, the agriculturist of Leeds has in the American cities an unlimited demand for his produce at his very door. Large (quantities of sheep, cattle, and poultry are being constantFy shipped to'ETie States; while cheese and butter, the latter having an exeep Lion- ally high~reputation, the~^roc'kviTIF'Bfajid:^"bSifig~fairr^^ also produced in the~couiity: The-^oil-i^-mostly-ar^ay^trrT^lay loam, the land undulating and well watered by streams. Rock here and there crops up, but although it gives a less kindly aspect to the country where it appears, the surrounding land is often of great fertility. In both Brockville and Gananoque there are busy industries, those for implements, castings and stoves having a wide celebrity. A good deal has been done to improve farm stock, and thus to maintain the reputation long enjoyed by the county as a fine grazing district. Farms sell for from SIO (£2) to $60 (£12) per acre, the price depending upon quality and situation, the variety in the former respect being great and the changes in soil very abrupt. GKENVILLE. Grenville is another of the river (St. Lawrence) counties- The soil is of fair quality, consisting principally of clay and 36 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. clay loam with some sand. Its products are chiefly barley, rye, oats, hops, potatoes and hay, and a considerable quantity of dairy produce is shipped to the United States and Great Britain. Grenville contains, too, a large stock farm, celebrated for raising a superior breed of horses. It also boasts the one starch factory in Canada, and.other local industries. The price of farms ranges from 830 (£6) to $100 (£20 sterling) per acre. There are few, if any, farms to be had to rent in the county. The Grand Trunk Railway and River St. Lawrence supply its southern carrying facilities, and the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway intersects the county from north to south. DUNDAS. STORMONT AND GLENGARRY. These three counties united for municipal purposes and with Cornwall for their county town, afford, at the present time, a fine opening for the British agriculturist. In Glen- garry and Stormont the soil is a loamy limestone, gravel in the hills and ridges and loamy clay and heavy clay in the valleys. The alternatives of soil are so frequent that nearly every farm is adapted for mixed husbandry. In Dundas the country is generally level, with a heavy clay soil. The chief farm products are : oats, barley, peas, fall wheat, spring wheat, Indian corn, buckwheat, potatoes, root crops, timothy hay, apples, butter and cheese. The export of oats, barley and peas is often very large. Three hundred bushels per acre is an ordinary crop of potatoes, and the counties have soil adapted to raising them in practically unlimited quantities. The soil throughout is specially favourable to the growth of tim- othy hay of the finest quality, and when there is a demand the export amounts to many hundred tons. Generally the grazing is of the richest and sweetest kind. Sweet gravel water in wells, etc., obtains uniformly. In the two townships of Lancaster and Charlottenburgh the cheese product of ten factories aggregated, this summer (1879), a value of at least S100,000.° Lochiel and Cornwall townships are almost superior to Lancaster and Charlottenburgh for dairying, although not so developed, and all the other townships are highly adapted for dairying. Domestic animals of all kinds in large numbers are raised. The export of butter is very considerable, particularly from Morrisburg, whence also much barley is sent away. Lancaster is quite a centre for the export of coarse grains. The export GUIDE TO ONTARIO. S7 of eggs, poultry, lambs, sheep, cattle, horses, hogs, pelts, hides, cordwood, railway ties, etc., is at times very considerable. There are a good many small local industries in different parts of the three counties, and Cornwa-ll is quite a considerable manufacturino- centre. From various causes excellent farms in this district are to be bought on very moderate terms. In Dundas improved farms are often worth $50 to $60 (£10 to £12) per acre. In Stormont partially improved farms sell at from $30 to $40 (£6 to £8) per acre : and in Glengarry similar farms at from $25 to $30 (£5 to £6) per acre. Many good partially improved farms of 100 acres can be bought for from $1,500 to $2,000 (£300 to £400 sterling), the buildings repre- senting fully a third of the value of the propert3^ Farms are rented at from three per cent, to five per cent, on their value. The Grand Trunk Railway, St. Lawrence and the Cornwall Canal supply outlets fur the exports of the three counties. A railway Irom the Ottawa to the St. Lawrence at Coteau Land- ing is also projected, and will intersect the county of Glen- garry. RIVER OTTAWA COUNTIES. RENFREW. Some portions of Renfrew are still in process of settlement, while others have been more or less occupied for forty years past. Although one of the most northerly of the counties the warmth and dryness of the atmosphere in the summer months has a powerful effect on products depending on such influences. Wliilg__some of the land is rough and poor, a. coimdei^ble portion is_gaQd_and~teii;ile. Probably fifty per cent, is still uncleared. Tha-suail is mostly a. s?^.ndy loam ^ gin d in plaoes a gravelly loam. Wheat, oats, rye, peas and Indian corn grow well. Tlie~ latter cereal is cultivated to a large extend for local consumption as food for hogs, used to supply the lumberers of the district with pork, a considerable quantity of which is salted and packed for winter use. Butter is extensively made both on the farms and at a local creamery where cheese is also manufactured. Lum- berinof is carried on in Renfrew on a laro^e scale, and as else- where is the sheet anchor of the pioneer settler, and a source of immense benefit to the whole of that part of the country. The winter employment it gives to the labourers engaged in farm 38 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. work at other seasons is most helpful. Farms can be bought at ^rom So (XlJ.tQ^J.Q.tf^J per acre; about 40 to 50 acres being usually woodland on a 100 acre farm. Rentals are from 4s. to Gs. per acre. Fuel is to be had practically for the cutting and carrrying. The improvement of stock in the county has, under the auspices of the local agricultural societies, been very marked of late years. At present the Canada Central is the only rail- way in the county, but at Pembroke, the county town, and Renfrew, are excellent markets. LANARK. The county of Lanark is one of the principal seats of the woollen industry in Ontario, and also of a very considerable lumbering business, the latter offering an excellent market to the farmer at his own door. The soil is clay and loam, and in some places very rich and productive indeed, in others some- what rocky, but still yielding fair crops. Stock-raising might be carried on very largely and profitably in Lanark. All the cereals are cultivated, wheat and oats of good quality being largely raised. Peas, too, usually yield a fair crop. Timothy hay sometimes shows two or three tons to the acre. Good farms, according to the situation and other circumstances, can be had for from 11500 (£300) tQ.^6,000 (£1200 sterling) for 100 acras. Not much has bean done hitherto to improve the stock of the county. The Canada Central Railway supplies the county with railroad communications. CARLETON. Tliis is another of the Ottawa River counties, its chief centre being the City of Ottawa the seat of the Dominion Govern- ment. The climate is somewhat colder and the winters are more protracted than in Western Ontario. The country is generally level, the soil fair, needing only capital and industry to develope its resources. Both grain and stock-raising are carried on profitably. Wheat yields an average of 15 to 25 bushels, oats 30 to 40 bushels per acre ; and potatoes 80 to 100 bushels per acre. Turnips also do well. Markets are good and accessible. Railway communications are plentiful by the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, and Canada Central, and by the Quebec Provincial line, from the north shore of the Ottawa to GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 39 the cities of Montreal or Quebec. Another line to Montreal and Ottawa viensable. For a family of five, the following is an estimate given on authority of the nedessary outfit and supplies for the first year. A dollar is about 4s. 2d., sterling, or for the purposes of rough calculation, five dol- lars may be reckoned as representing one pound. Provisions necessary for a family of five, say for one year : 8 barrels of fiour, at S5.25 per barrel . . $42 00 2 barrels of pork, at $13.50 per barrel . 27 00 80 bushels of potatoes, at 50c. per bushel . 40 00 30 pounds of tea, at 50c per pound . . . 15 00 1 barrel of herrings 6 00 J barrel of salt 0 75 Cost of provisions $130 75 SEED. 20 bushels of potatoes, at 50c. per bushel . $10 00 3 bushels of wheat, at $1.20 per bushel . 3 GO 10 bushels of oats, at 50c. per bushel . . 5 00 Cost of seed 18 60 $140 35 OTHER NECESSARIES. 1 axe $1 50 1 grindstone 1 50 1 shovel 0 40 100 pounds nails 3 00 2 hoes, at 70c each 1 40 3 reaping hooks, at 30c. each .... 0 90 1 scythe . 1 00 1 inch auger 1 00 1 inch and a half auger 1 50 2 hand saws 1 50 2 water pails, at 30c. each 0 60 1 window sash and glazing 2 00 1 bake oven 1 00 Carried forward $17 30 $149 35 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 77 Brought forward Sl7 30 $149 85 2 pots, at $1 each 2 00 1 kettle 1 00 1 frying-pan 0 60 1 teapot 0 50 G small tin vessels 0 40 3 large tin dishes, at 50c each .... 1 50 6 spoons 0 25 6 knives and forks 1 00 3 pairs of blankets, at S5 per pair . . . 15 00 2 rugs, for quilts, at 50c. each .... 1 00 2 pair of sheets 2 00 1 smoothing iron 050 1 pig 3 00 46 05 Add one cow 40 00 Hay for cow, first year 12 00 $247 40 Or £50 sterliner to" But many a Free Grant settler adopts a different course altogether. The head of the family, or one or more sons, if old enough, will leave the rest at home in some of the settled counties, where they are either farming on a larger or smaller scale, or getting a living in some other way, and, going into the bush in the fall, do a certain amount of clearing before the others join them. If, too, a man is handy, and can make arrangements beforehand for the partial employment of his time at wages he may get a settlement by degrees and relinquish the hiring out when his own location supplies him with sufficient employment. A great many locations in the Free Grants are taken up by small farmers in Ontario, whose means do not enable them to place their sons on improved farms, but who can assist the young settler with a few months' work at a time, especially in winter, when chopping has to be done, and thus almost without money he gets in time a good farm. There are deer and other game in the woods, and the lakes abound in fish, all of which comes handy enoughat a pinch. The latter 78 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. enable the younger members of a family to contribute some- thing towards the furnishing of the domestic board, but sport, however healthy and pleasant, is very apt to disqualify ibr more practical pursuits, and the concentration of the mind on the farm exclusively will pay best in the long run. A good authority on such matters, says : " The course for a man with very small capital is as follows : He goes on the land in September or October and under-brushes as much as he in- tends to clear the next spring. He then gets up his house and prepares for the winter ; moving in his family, either in the late autumn or the winter, according to the state of the roads. During the winter he cho]:>s what he has under-brushed, sometimes, but not often, a little more, usually however, some- what less. If he has made a fortunate selection, and got good, dry, rolling ground ; if he is also fortunate enough to have a good, dry, early spring, he manages to get his chopping burned off and partly logged, time enough to get in a iew potatoes, some Indian corn, and possibly a small patch of spring wheat. All this helps his family through the summer. By about September he will have got a gdod patch ready for winter wheat, which is then sown and afterwards fenced." The abundance of timber, both for fuel and mechanical purposes, is one of the great recommendations to the Ontario Free Grants. On the prairie lands of the north-west, or terri- tories of the Western States, timber is very scarce and both drouixht, and storms of a violence never known in Ontario, are of frequent occurrence. To a poor man with a family, the distance to be travelled and the corresponding ex])ense prohibits any thought of emigrating from one to two thousand miles beyond the home offered him on terms so favourable in Ontario. With the love of change that characterizes so many people on this continent, and with the view in many cases of obtaining larger farms in order to supply the wants of a grown-up family, a large number of Ontario farmers have sold out or are desirous of selling out, as a preliminary to removing to the prairie province and its surrounding territory. This has presented an GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 79 opportunity for the purchase of improved farms at a very cheap rate, and one that British farmers will do well to profit by. Let Ontario be their first stage at all events. For the old folks it will probably be the first and last with its many home- like attractions. Then the young people will choose in time their own course. There is plenty of room in Ontario for all of them. But if the reader will only cast his eye at the map, note the peculiar facilities by which the products of his toil may reach the seaboard, and then reflect on the cost of a thousand or filteen hundred miles of railway freights taxed off every bushel of wheat the distant prairie settler raises, before it comes into competition with his own produce, he will see how much is to be said in favour of Ontario after all. GAME. Allusion has already been made to the Britip.h game laws, and the absence of any such oppressive relic of feudalism in Ontario. The only restrictions are in favour of close sea- sons at certain periods of the year. They are made exclu- sively in the public interest and to prevent the extermina- tion of birds and animals recognized as common property. The moose, cariboo or reindeer, and the red deer are found in large numbers, but of course only in the unsettled or par- tially settled portion of the country. The fox, silver, grey red and black ; raccoon, otter, martin, mink, and muskrat, are found in many places contiguous to settlements, and are cap- tured for their furs. The beaver is still found, but at increas- ingly remote spots. The Canadian rabbits resemble in many respects the English hare. They are abundant, but not in numbers sufficient to prove mischievously destructive. Of birds, we have every description of wild fowl ; the wild swan, goose and duck of several kinds ; also, partridges (similar in habits and colour of meat to the English pheasant), quail, wood- cock, striped plovers, wild turkey, and some others. The wolf is very scarce, although occasionally heard or seen in the 80 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. vicinity of the back settlements. The bear frequents the woods in the northern part of the province, but is seldom dangerous, living largely in summer on wild fruits and roots, and hybernat- ing in the winter. He rarely attacks a human being unless molested or brought to bay. Fishery laws are in force in certain waters. They are, like the game laws, only intended to prevent the unfair or wasteful destruction of the fish. The lakes and rivers of Canada literally swarm with fish. The sal- mon trout, white fish, trout, herring, maskinonge, bass, pike and pickerel, with all kinds of small fish, are captured in enormous quantities. A very great variety of birds spend the summer months in Ontario, but with few exceptions migrate to warmer regions as winter approaches. Many of these are fine songsters, and others of remarkably beautiful plumage. The insectivorous birds are, for the benefit of the farmer, protected by law. COST OF FARM IMPLEMENTS. Farm implements are as a rule cheaper in Canada than in Great Britain, and of course differ from those in use there, just as the character of the work to be done in either country differs. Labour-saving appliances of all kinds are sought for in all new countries, and are in general use in Ontario on every farm to a greater or less extent. The following are the ordinary prices of agricultural machinery and implements : — Threshing machines. S400 to $500, or £80 to £100 sterling, fitted with appliances ibr driving by horse-power. Reapers with self-acting rakes, 880 to $130, or £16 to £26 sterling. Mowers, S70 to S90, or £14 to £18 sterling. Horse rakes, $25 to $35, or £5 to £7 sterling. Ploughs (steel), $14 to $20, or £2 15s. to £4 sterling. Waggons, $60 to $90, or £12 to £18 sterling. Harrows (iron or wood frame), $14 to $25, or £2 15s. to £5 sterling. GRAIN DRILL. CORN SHELLER, GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 81 A good harrow, all iron, wli cost about from $16 to $25, or £2 15s. to £5 sterling. Fanning mills, $20 to $30, or £4 to £6 sterling. Chaff cutters, $14 to $35, or £2 15s. to £7. The threshing machine is seldom purchased by the farmer for his own exclusive use, the amount of grain to be threshed on one farm not justifying the outlay. The owners of machines make a business of threshing, visiting the several farms in a district by arrangement, and being paid some $10 per day and board for the use of the machine and its attendants, some 600 to 800 bushels being about the average yield of a day's work. Neighbours usually assist one another in turn with hands and teams on these occasions. COST OF CLOTHING. As the expense of living in Ontario is an important in- gredient in the calculations of the intending emigrant, and as clothing is a very large item in the personal expenditure of a family, the following list of cash prices, charged at a respectable store in an agricultural county, will afford some indication of the price generally of goods most in use by the farming com- munity : Suits (men's) of tweeds, fit for anybody . . Ordinary tweed suits Overcoats .... Men's high boots . Plough shoes. . .. Boys' high boots . Flannels (guernseys and drawers) . . . Calico prints . . . Winceys, per yard . Waterproof coats . 7 In English Monej. £2 10 17 13 8 5 5 1 0 0 0 14 to £3 to 2 to to to to to to to to 6 2 10 2 7 8 3 0 0 10 0 0 0 6 6 6 0 ^ 0 82 GUIBh TO ONTARIO, POSTAL FACILITIES. Cheap postage and a post offica wherever there is even an excuse for establishing one, are the order of the day in Ontario. In the large majority of districts there is now a daily mail, but where the population is very small and sparse, the mails are bi-weekly or in some cases tri-weekly. By arrangements made between the two Governments, the citizens of Canada and the United States enjoy reciprocal postage privileges, so that a letter for 3 cents (IJd.), or a post card or newspaper for 1 cent (Jd.), may be sent to any part of the North American continent. Newspapers mailed from the office of publication are carried for a few cents per annum. TELEGRAPHS. Perhaps no country in the world is better supplied, in pro- portion to its area and population, with telegraphic communica- tions than Ontario. Even in very remote districts, the tele- graph wires are familiar objects, and in the settled counties no one is, as a rule, more than an easy drive from a telegraph station. The cost of the ordinary message is but 20 cents (lOd.) for any distance. The readiness and cheapness with which telegraphic communications can be had with Toronto and other large cities are found to be a great assistance and protection to the farmer in connection with his sales of stock and produce. He has only to resort to the nearest telegraph station to be as well informed as to prices as the largest factor in Mark Lane, whose transactions are " cabled " daily from England. RATE OF INTEREST. Money is a little dearer in Ontario than Great Britain. On good mortgages it can be had for from 7 to 8 per cent. In a very large number of cases farms are sold " on time," say one- third or one-fourth cash, and the balance in 3, 5, 7, or 10 years. It is, however, by no means unwise ior a farmer with small GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 83 means to rent in the first instance, as the rental will not repre- sent more than 5 or 6 per cent, on the value of the farm, and apply his capital to securing good stock, implements, etc. Many farmers, through an eagerness to become proprietors before they have money of their own, are encumbered beyond their power to extricate themselves, and have at last to do what they had better have done at first. Even if a new comer has money, he will often not do amiss to invest it temporarily and rent until he has felt his way a little. He is sure to see a good chance before long if he only looks out for it, and he may lose the best of chances by being too precipitate. There is a tendency, too, in Ontario towards accumulating more land than the purchaser has means to cultivate properly. The con- sequence is pecuniary embarrassment ; the profits of the farm go to pay interest, and the land deteriorates. A prudent man will avoid this error. 84 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. INSTRUCTIONS TO EMIGRANTS. Having determined on making the Province of Ontario hia future home, the intending emigrant should at once apply to one of the Canadian or Ontario Government Emigration Agents, whose names are mentioned at page 88, for information as to the passage to Canada. In all cases when practicable the emigrant should book through to his final destination. On arrival at the port of embarkation in the United Kingdom, the emigrant, if with a family, should leave them at the railway station and proceed at once to the steamship owner's office ; and, if not already informed by letter, inquire what outfit is required for the voyage, the cheapest place to procure it, and at what time and place he is to embark. OUTFIT. The steerage emigrant has to provide his own bedding, and eating and drinking utensils, which consist in general of one mattrass. Is. 8d. ; one pillow, 6d. ; one blanket, 3s. 6d. ; one water-can, 9d. ; one quart mug, 3d. ; one tin plate, 3d. ; one wash basin, 9d. ; one knif*^ and fork, 6d. ; two spoons, 2d. ; one lb. of marine soap, 6d. ; one towel, 8d. — total 9s. 6d. The whole of these articles can be obtained at a sea-port in a few minutes' time, or may be hired on some of the steamship lines for the voyage at much less cost. The greater part of this information the emigrant will doubtless have received by letter ; but it should be confirmed on arrival at the port of embarka- tion, as the published time for the departure of steamers is sometimes changed. Emigrants must be careful to embark in vessels that sail direct for Canada, as by going via the United States they will be put to extra trouble and expense. The emigrant should not give heed to any representations made to him by runners and other interested parties who infest the docks and shipping offices, but, if requiring information, should apply at the steamship company's offices, or to Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners, or to the Canadian agents named hereafter. GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 86 LUGGAGE. Household articles such as bedding and bed-linen, carpets, curtains, cutlery, and articles of ornament, when already pos- sessed by the emigrant, should be brought out, as the freight on these will be much less than similar articles would cost in Ontario, if bought there ; and many other little household necessaries which if sold would not bring much, but would add greatly to the comfort of the emigrant in his new home ; there should also be brought wearing apparel ; also mechanics' tools and implements of trade, if not too cumbersome in their nature ; but tools should not be bought for the express purpose of bring- ing them out to Canada, as those best suited to the work can readily be procured in any part of the Province. Furniture of every kind should be disposed of at home, as furniture more suitable in Canada can be bought there more cheaply. The emigrant should, when able, pack his luggage in com- mon boxes, with iron bands at the corners, ordinary trunks and portmanteaus being liable to be broken on the journey. In these boxes should be placed all the property of the emigrant, except what is necessary for use during the voyage. The name and destination of the emigrant should be painted on the box at least 4 inches long ; it should also be numbered and marked whether wanted on the voyage or not. These boxes should not be more than 3 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 6 inches in width, and the same in depth. The following diagram will exemplify : Per S. S. via Quebec. No. 1. JOHN BROWN. Passenger TO Toronto, Not wanted on \ the voyage. J ONTARIO, Canada. By adopting the foregoing rules, emigrants will be able at once to claim their luggage on arrival at Quebec. The personal effects of emigrants are not liable to customs duties on arrival in Canada. 86 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, ON BOAED SHIP. As soon as the emigrant gets on board ship, he should read the rules he is expected to obey. He will find them hung up in different parts of the steerage. He should do his best to keep himself and all about him clean, as this will add to his own good health and comfort, and also to that of others. If he has any grievance or cause of complaint, he should, while on board apply to the captain for redress ; and if the grievance occurs after landing, then to the Government Immigration Agent, who will at once take steps to investigate the case. Emigrants are especially cautioned not to attend to any of the remarks and tales told them by interested parties, either on the voyage or after their amval. ON ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC. After debarkation at Point Levis, Quebec, the immigrant should at once secure his luggage as it is landed from the steamer, and collect it in one place. This will enable the Cus- tom House officers to expeditiously complete their work, and the immigrants will be able to proceed on their westward journey without any delay. The Government Immigration officer for the Province of Ontario attends the arrival of every steamer, and is instructed to give every necessary information and assistance ; and the immigrant should, immediately after landing, report himself at the Ontario Immigration Office on the wharf, near the steam- ship landing. The women and children, and small articles of luggage, should at once be taken to the Immigration Depot, where they can remain until the train is ready. The heavier luggage, after being passed by the Custom House Officer, will be carted to the Immigration Depot free of expense. Before leaving Point Levis, the immigrant should see that his luggage is pro- perly checked, as otherwise the railway company will not be responsible for it. Immigrants wiU find themselves accosted by runners for different hotels and pubKc houses, oflfering cheap refreshments : they will do well not to accompany these persons, as everything requisite will be found provided for them in the Immigration Depot, at the lowest charges. Immigrants will also do weU not to change any English money at Quebec, but wait until GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 87 their arrival in the Province of Ontario, as English money is more valuable there ; but if obliged to do so, the}^ should inquire of the Immigration Agent the amount of Canadian money they should receive for their English, or consult the fol- lowing money table : — MONEY TABLE. Sterling Money in Canadian Currency. Sterling Money. Its equivalent in dollars and cts. Canadian currency. Its equivalent in Sterling Money. £ s. d. 0 0 1 Dols. Cts. 0 02 Dols. Cts. 0 01 £ s. d. 0 0 Oi 0 0 2 0 04 0 02 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 06 0 03 0 0 IJ 0 0 4 0 08 0 05 0 0 2^ 0 0 5 0 10 0 10 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 12 0 15 0 0 7i 0 0 7 0 14 0 20 0 0 10 0 0 8 0 16 0 25 0 1 oi 0 0 10 0 20 0 50 0 2 1 0 0 11 0 22 1 00 0 4 1 0 10 0 24 2 00 0 8 3 0 13 0 30 3 00 0 12 5 0 16 0 36 4 00 1 0 16 5 0 19 0 43 5 00 1 0 6| 0 2 0 0 49 j 6 00 14 8 0 2 6 0 61 10 00 2 11 0 5 0 1 22 20 00 4 2 21 0 10 0 2 43 25 00 5 2 9 10 0 4 87 50 00 10 5 16| 5 0 0 24 33 100 00 20 10 li For general purposes it will be sufficient to remember that the Canadian cent and the English half -penny are almost identical in value. 88 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, The safest manner in which to bring or send out money to Ontario in large sums, is by bill of exchange or letter of credit on any good bank in the Province. These can be obtained from banks in the United Kingdom. The immigrants should not bring bank bills for personal and immediate expenses — bring sovereigns ; or, for small sums, post office money orders on offices in Ontario will be perfectly safe. Further information may be obtained on application to Mr. Peter Byrne, Agent for Ontario, 31 Queen Victoria Street, London, or to any authorized agent of Canada in the United Kingdom. NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF CANADIAN EMIGRA- TION AGENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. Peter Byrne, 31 Queen Victoria Street, London. John Dyke, 25 Water Street, Liverpool. Charles Foy, 29 Victoria Street, Belfast. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 89 A PRACTICAL LETTER. The following letter is addressed more particularly to farmers witli capital, who may be disposed to transfer their skill, exper- ience and the means at their command to Ontario, with the view of eno^ao^inor in. the business of ao^riculture on a large and liberal scale in this country. The writer brings his own very intelligent knowledge of the subject to bear in that direction, and his letter is most instructive and interesting, at the same time it must not be taken to imply any discouragement to per- sons with smaller means than those he more immediately addresses, to avail of the advantages the Province presents to them under arrangements adapted to their circumstances. TO THE BRITISH FARMER. (From a British Farmer in Ontario.) Dear Sir, — You are desirous, I dare say, of obtaining such information regarding this part of the world as may enable you to make a choice of land for future investment and residence. Hitherto such information has been of too general a character, and not unfrequently too one-sided for safe guidance. This letter, therefore, is addressed specially to the average far- mer of the British Isles, and in its recommendations I am con- scious of no partiality, and present nothing for which I cannot give personal experience or point to existing examples. My claim to be an authority on this subject is a twenty years' daily professional intercourse among yourselves, and an eight years' one as practical and as intimate with Canadian far- mers. Now, just as I make a specialty of addressing a particu- lar class of agriculturists, so I shall confine my remarks to a particular part of this Dominion. i 90 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. My subject is not to be the making of a new home in a new part of a new country, but the purchase and occupation of old land in a new country. I very much deprecate the too common practice of advising the settlement on entirely new land, by those who have been accustomed to the comforts and comparative ease of Old Eng- land. There can be no class of uncultivated land, whether prairie or woodland, where, whatever his energy and persever- ance, the well-to-do British farmer can expect to cope with those born and bred to pioneering. I speak generally; for cases exist of success under all conditions of colonization, from all ranks of society in the world. So then, without further preface, allow me to introduce you to the Province of Ontario, the garden of the Dominion of Can- ada. This is a high title but a true one. About 750 miles up the River St. Lawrence, a chain of four lakes begins, which, running west, north and west, forms a frontage of 1,200 miles to this Province, but Ontario proper for our present purpose is limited by Lakes Ontario and Erie, having a shore of over 500 miles, irrespective of outs and ins. The mean height of these lakes above sea level is 300 feet. The land backing northwards rises gradually to a water shed six hundred feet above them, and distant seventy miles on an average. This belt of 15,000,000 acres is the garden of Ontario. The physical features of this district are, at first sight very uniform, yet the diversity is remarkable on intimate acquain- tance. There is much undulating land, hill and dale, plain, large rivers, and numerous streamlets and lakes of many sizes, shelving rock and precipice, with every character of soil, exposure and timber-growth common to the continent of America. Two-thirds of this garden is under cultivation, the remain- der consists of woodland, swamp, pasture and water. Compara- tively few tree-stumps remain to mark the progress of clear- ing during the last half century, for this short period practi- cally limits the history of the plough in Ontario, neither can we count many log huts, though primitive rail fences are plentiful. Dwelling houses of stone and brick, equal and superior to many of your own, are veiy common. Men from England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany have done all this. Wealthy landed proprietors here were formerly Yorkshire cattlemen. Highland shepherds, or Paisley weavers. GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 91 Ulster ditchers and German labourers. Many of them are still alive, driving their own reaper, or representing their own county in the Parliament at Ottawa, or the Legislature at Toronto. We have two long seasons in the year, summer and winter, with a smell of your spring and autumn. Winter from th© middle of November to the middle of April. The health of the Province is above the average of civilized countries for all sorts of life. There is no mistake about the weather ! 85° in the shade is — 85°, and Zero is unquestion- ably 0\ I trust your curiosity is now so far excited as to ask the fol- lowing questions : — 1. What are the agricultural capabilities of this district ? 2. What are its markets ? 3. What is the price of land and cost of working it ? A fair enumeration of the agricultural capabilities of Ontario's agricultural fertile belt would make a goodly book. So this attempt must be sketchy only. As all plant life is regu- lated more by climate than by soil, and as 500 miles by 70, al- most surrounded by water, in the middle of this continent, and with the mean degree of temperature formerly mentioned, there is room for much good and much poor forming. Nature has done so much here, that taking advantage or letting alone, easily makes the distinction. The wheat of Ontario is, at present, from about equal sur- faces of winter and spring sowing, and with a tendency to an increase in the latter, producing 25 and 15 bushels respec- tively with poor farming, and seldom under 40 and 25 by good management. Straw and head are not so heavy as with yourselves, because growth is pushed too much, but quality is superior by reason of the same cause. The over-clearance of forest has made wheat growing more precarious by the want of immediate shelter — snow not lying on the exposed parts. But replanting and a second natural growth of timber are in pro- gress. We have never had what may be called a general fail- ure in the wheat crops, even with all our carelessness, so you may judge what skill and capital should do. I have, in my own experience, proved that what is called exhausted land can be thoroughly recuperated in four years by 92 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, liberal treatment and systematic management at actually no cost on an average of seasons, for the simple reason that much of this poor condition has been brought about by one class of crops, and not a variety in any form ; land sick of wheat is not necessarily exhausted, we have but to deal properly with pres- ent unavailable fertility, to bring out large productive powers. Barley is invariably a sure crop, and is always a valuable one whether for malting or animal food. From 30 to 40 bush- els per acre is common. Oats, in quality of meal, are equal to your own, but lighter per bushel, being thicker-skinned, as the result of rapid growth; 40 or 50 bushels per acre. As a rule the straw of the cereals is got at the rate of 3,000 lbs. per acre. Corn (maize) is not generally a common crop for production of grain, though very plentiful and valuable for green fodder, as elsewhere noted. Peas and beans are important farm crops, the grain and straw of the former being first-class food for sheep, the yield is usu- ally 25 bushels per acre. In the improved system of breeding and fattening stock, green fodders are now taking an important place, the climate is particularly suitable for successive rushes of vegetation during one season. Under liberal treatment, they can be so arranged as to afford a continuous supply from middle of April to 1st of November, thus : — 1. Lucerne, four cuttings .... 20 tons per acre. 2. Winter rye, two cuttings . . . 4 " " 3. Red clover, two cuttings . . . 6 " " 4. Tares and oats, one cutting . . 3 " " 5. Millet, two cuttings 4 " " 6. Maize, one cutting 30 " " 7. Rape, one cutting 7 " " 8. The thousand-headed kale and prickly comfrey have just been introduced with success. In the cultivation of roots, Ontario has already made herself a name in the world, even under the difficulties of more heat and the shortness of her autumn, in comparison with Britain. We are gradually realizing the facts that for a thorough clean- ing and manuring, along with a crop unequalled for a winter GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 98 supply of health and feeding to all animals, turnips, mangolds and carrots are now indispensible. For size and quality th.&y are almost equal to your own growing. Potatoes may be included in this character, in which we are superior, both in quantity and quality. Swedes, 18 tons ; mangolds, 22 tons ; carrots, 15 tons ; and potatoes, 8 tons per acre on an average. We have difficulty in establishing a variety of grasses, either for rotation or permanent pastures ; but persistent trials are gradually adding to the number of those able to withstand the winters. Cultivated pastures invariably tax our best distri- tribution of animals to overtake the luxuriance of growth, and though the same stamp of beef as yours is not always to be had from grass, we always find our stock in improved flesh as autumn comes. Hay is a standard of large value, as it is often a cause of mismanagement, by reason of its prolificness, in inducing an over continuance of the crop in the hands of the lazy and in- cautious, not realizing, as they should do, that grasses proper are about as exhaustive as the other grasses called wheat, oats and barley. From 3,000 to 5,000 lbs. of hay per acre is com- mon. The clovers separately, and in association with hay, are most luxuriant and valuable, both as a cropper, a restorative of exhausted soils and an improver of poor ones. We look to root and clover cultivation as the means of making good the past mismanagement in excessive wheat growing. The thorough management of these and other crops of minor importance, in a climate such as ours, implies the possession of a good head, considerable means, and willing hands. Anything like leaving things to others will never do, whatever may be the weight of your purse. Your own daily physical exertions are absolutely essential to success ; the hired man will never do it. Nor will the uneducated man take the same place as he of practical and scientific experience. The practical alone is safer than the scientific alone ; the possession of both is our present want here, as it is with yourselves. If, then, you are not prepared to work with your own hands, do not come here ; or, for that matter, to any other new country. It is an old country idea that a farm of 200 acres, arable, is employment enough for the head of one ordinary man, without having to put his hand to the plough. Canada is as peculiarly adapted to the health of the live stock of the farm as to that of man himself. The tariff records show this. I need not enlarge on this important subject, sim- 94 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. ply challenging any country in the world to exhibit a more satisfactory bill of health. You are not unacquainted with the fact that Ontario possesses thorough-bred herds and flocks, inferior only in numbers to yours ; with, perhaps, one excep- tion— we can count over 500 short horns at one farm ; 100 Herefords at another, and most of all the other principal breeds of cattle and sheep proportionately throughout the Province. We surpass the Americans in keeping up the sample of wool, and its quantity per head, as much by climatic help as good management ; for Nature is too propitious here to all farm work, for the early cultivation of economy. It is not alone the climate that enables us to successfully compete with yourselves and the United States in the maintenance of live stock excellence, but the variety of food produced serves as an unfailing medicine chest for this purpose. While as yet we have not succeeded in establishing the same number of pas- tuTe "grasses as you, our regularly cultivated crops are more,__ numerous, and as nutritive. Our Indian corn, especially, gives so much bulk of green fodder and fair amount of grain per acre, that, were it possible, to uphold animal life on one field product alone, Canada and the United States would easily cap the world in feeding your millions with beef, mutton and pork. The want as yet of the number of beeves and wethers from us to you is owing simply to the want of time, and not realizing the significance of the market thus opened : certainly not for the want of food. I am certain the area of root and fodder cultivation within the last three years would stand over 200 per cent, more than any former period, as well as the use of ten pure-bred bulls in place of one. But these are not enough. We can grow first-class beef and mutton with the products of our own soil, as fast and for less than you can do. We can take a Durham or Hereford cross bred steer from its milk when six months old, put it upon green and dry fodders, according to the season of the year, with bran and pea meal or corn meal, and within 24 months, place it on our sea-board at an average live weight of 1400 lbs., and a cost not exceeding £14. In this and all its connections there necessarily results a large profit. You have heard of the woodlands of this country, and the difficulty in many cases of clearing and getting rid of the stumps and roots. This is true to those new to the axe, and as true that our hard wooded lands give more choice of site and GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 95 soil than prairies, and certainly are more reliable for alternate farming and more valuable as an investment. The tree_crop . itself in Ontario is as costly as the best arable, so that.-when vuu come to purchase, the desire will be for more tree surface than is generally to be had. ^e sure of the long and dear- bought experience of our pioneers, that no land on this continent is so safe and so kindly as from the primeval forests. Then again, few Governments are so liberal as ours in encouragement to agriculture and arts. Our Township, County, and Provincial Exhibitions are a most important and interesting feature in connection with the progress of agricultural industry. We have also to offer you variations in your profession that now command the attention of our most enterprising capitalists. I refer to fruit-growing and dairying. Cheese and butter naaking is conducted here on a scale and by methods unknown to the average British farmer — a branch of our rural economy characterized by immediate returns on moderate capital. It appears almost unnecessary to note that the excellence in bulk and variety of our fruits take no second place in the World's competition. The farmer's orchard here means one sixth of the family keep. While a very large country, Ontario is not yet thickly populated. Ontario all over has only from 1,800,000 to 2,000,000 souls, and as we plough some 10,000,000 acres, an estimate of our surplus may be made. That surplus though not so large as it ought to be, will ere long be an immense one, even on the doubling of population. Our flour is well known in your own markets as of superior quality. The United States grade our No. 2 barley as equal to their own No. 1 (cause, soil and climate), and take all we can afford to send them. The herds and flocks of Ontario are now looked up to by all on this continent as fountain-heads of excellence, purity, and healthful- ness. We are at the present moment unable to supply the de- mand for Cotswold sheep and Hereford cattle, and thus all over we are desirous of adding to our wealth and skilful management by the accession to our ranks of those who have the pluck to endure a few years' personal labour with the certainty of success in the end. If now you say — " So far, good ; but what about the prices of land and cost of working it ?" As intelligent men of business, and practical farmers, you will readily conclude that the price of land in Ontario is regu- lated by various considerations : — 9G GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 1. Character of soil, shelter, and timber supply. 2. Condition of management. 3. Character of fences, buildings and water supply. 4. Situation as regards markets. 5. Similar good neighbourhood. 6. Demand, depending on outside and local causes. 7. Monopoly, by individual or corporate wealth. Such is the extent of our field and its variety, that almost any fancy can find its reality. As a case in point, partl}^ for and partly against, interesting at least, if not of much practical value, take the following memoranda made by myself before leaving Scotland in 1871, and afterwards the actual realiza- tion :■ — 1. Total cost of purchase, stocking, &;c., limited to £2000. 2. Good soil, neither light nor heavy, and naturally dry. 3. To have been previously well managed. 4. One-fifth to be under good hardwood bush. 5. To have an abundant water supply. 6. To be pleasantly and healthily situated. 7. To be well sheltered and to have a good exposure. 8. To be within two hours' drive of a good market. 9. Houses, good, sufficient and well arranged. 10. To possess a good garden and orchard. 11. Fences to be substantial and sufficient. 12. Roads to be in keeping with progress of country. 13. The title and boundaries to be indisputable. 14. The estate to be susceptible of such increase by improve- ments and the natural progress of the country, that it will double itself in value within fifteen years. I purchased 220 acres for $5280 (£4 18s. 6d. per acre) ; beautifully situated on the shores of a navigable lake within five miles of a town, which is the centre of a rising district of a midland county of Ontario, that soon became the junction of two railways. Soil, a rich clay loam, naturally dry, except ten acres, and about fifteen very stony; has been poorly cultivated, is well sheltered (lake, south and east, excepted) by one-third of the area which is under a maple, beech and birch bush ; garden and small orchard indifferent, fences old and poor, houses fair, roads good ; a stream runs diagonally through the farm, and MOWER. SCUFFLER GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 97 there existed no difficulty to a good title and a well-surveyed boundary. Here I considered that judiciously-laid-out money in per- manent improvements, with better farming, and steady self- application to labour, would bring about a change. I shall place in juxtaposition to the Ontario case, that of a farm many years in my own hands in a midland county of Scotland, which consisted of 100 acres arable, 40 acres of meadow pasture, and 800 acres of hill grazing, and which comes in well in most respects as a fjiir comparative example. The case of both was for a husband, wife and five children : — Ontario Proprietorship. $ c. Taxes : including road money, school rates, railway bonus, and county rate 55 00 j or £11 6 4 Scotch Tenantship. £ s. d. Rent and taxes : Arable, 30s. per acre 150 0 0 Meadows, 18s ... 36 0 0 Hill pasture 40 0 0 Poor rates (half ) 4 16 0 Road tax (half) 2 18 0 Fire insurance on build- ings 2 2 0 Cartages for proprietor . . 13 0 "Kan" 15 0 Interest on fence protect- ing from game 17 15 0 £255 9 0 Cost op Entry. % c. Passage to Canada 400 00 220 acres at $24 5,280 00 Implements. 980 00 Livestock 1200 00 House furnishings , 250 00 First year's crop laid down .... 530 00 Feed and fodder to start with 360 00 Household keep 110 00 $9,110 00 •r £1,900 0 0 I Cost op Entry. £ I. d. Sum to out-going tenant, ex- tra value on houses and fences 57 0 0 Manure from him (compul- sory) 72 0 Crops (compulsory) 490 0 Sheep (compulsory) 390 0 Other live stock bought .... 491 0 Horses and harness 200 0 Implements 650 0 House furnishings 250 0 £2,600 0 0 PBBaMANENT IMPROVEMENTS EXECUTED. £ S. d. Se« previous notes 252 0 0 8 NH, Permanent Improvements. £ s. d. 0 0 0 9S GUIDE TO ONTARIO. Annual Maintenance or Farm. $ c. Labour 600 00 Repairs and incidental* 250 00 Keep of stock 750 00 Seed 110 00 $1,710 00 or £352 0 0 Annual Maintenance op Farm. £ 8. i. Carpenter work 16 0 0 Blacksmith 9 0 0 Veterinary surgeon 4 4 0 Saddler 8 0 0 Two ploughmen and one lad 180 0 0 Joint shepherd and cattleman 65 0 0 Keep of live stock 280 0 0 Artificial manures 75 0 0 Seed 90 0 () £727 4 0 Household Expenses. $ c. Butcher 170 00 Baker 60 00 Clothing 285 00 Grocer 230 00 Church Medical 15 00 Fuelandlight 30 00 Serrant 85 00 Miscellaneous 50 00 Household Expenses. Butcher £47 Baker , Clothing Grocer 25 00 i Medical Fuel and light Servant $950 00 or £199 0 0 Schooling 35 s. d. 0 0 15 0 0 60 0 0 52 0 0 9 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 Miscellaneous. 10 0 £265 0 0 Gross Annual Receipts. (Average from 5 years. ) $ c. Wheat 315 00 Oats 300 00 Barley 270 00 Pease 243 00 Forage crops 430 00 Turnips or mangolds 530 00 Carrots 50 00 Potatoes 100 00 Hay 450 00 ♦Sales of live stock 400 00 $3,088 00 or £635 0 0 Gross Annual Receipts. (Average from 11 years.) £ s. d. Wheat.: 40 0 0 Oats 210 0 0 Barley 170 0 0 Hay 72 0 0 Turnips 88 0 0 Potatoes 60 0 0 ♦Cattle sales 280 0 0 Sheep and wool , 275 0 0 Swine 32 0 0 Poultry 8 0 0 Dairy products , 73 0 0 £1,308 0 0 OOMPARATH^E ABSTRACT. Ontario Proprietorship. £ Sum invested 2,152 Taxes 12 Annual maintenance of farm . . 352 Household expenses 199 Gross annual returns 635 Surplus revenue during 5 years 363 Realization after 5 years 2,550 Scotch Tenantship. Sum invested Rent and taxes Annual maintenance of farm Household expenses Gross annual returns Surplus revenue during 5 years ... . Realization after 5 years . . . £ 2,600 255 724 265 1308 305 2,400 * These receipts from live stook sales allow for any increase in value of youag animals retained. GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 9$ It appears, then, that a capital of £2600 invested in British farming takes fully one-third of itself for annual support, of which one-fourth is household; and that there is an annual gross revenue equal to half the invested sum, which sum does not always increase in value, but may be considerably lessened under certain conditions. It also appears that £2152 invested in the purchase of land and the farming of it, in Ontario, requires one-fourth of itself for annual maintenance, of which nearly one-half is household ; and that there is a gross annual revenue equal to nearly one- third of the invested sum, which sum increases 22 per cent, in ralue during five years under special conditions. The return per acre is much larger in Britain ; living is not so different for your class as may be supposed, and the great differ- ence of annual maintenance is largely in rent and labour. I could say much more that should be of interest to old countrymen and colonists, but a letter having to be a letter only, I must defer until a better opportunity for details. I trust very many of you will at once take advantage of the present condition of things, that is (1) your own difficulties, and (2) theifact of land here being 25 per cent, lower in price than four years ago. I have the honour to be, dear Sir, Your obedient servant, WM. BROWN. •wELPH, 15th October, 1879, 100 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, BRITISH TESTIMONY TO ONTARIO AS AN AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY. Among the representatives of the farming interest in Great Britaia who have lately visited Ontario, was Mr. Thomas Irving, one of the most prominent Cumberland agriculturalists, and residing at Bowness on Sol way. Mr. Irving has given some particulars of his trip, and hig impressions of the countiy, to the Carlisle Patriot^ and as such indepen- dent testimony is valuable and important some extracts from his state- ment are given below. Speaking of the two Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, he says : — " It is a splendid country for farmers, and I have no hesitation in say- ing that a Cumberland farmer can go there and buy a farm and stock it reasonably for the same expenditure of capital that he would require to stock a farm here and pay one year's rent." He describes the laud as in various grades of improvement — some lately cleared of the bush, some well cleared, and some badly cleared, but all capable of producing excel- lent crops. It is a sandy loam or clay loam — just the sort for raising green crop or corn. Harvest was over by the time he arrived. He saw some fine wheat in the Huron (Ontario) district. " To give you an exam- ple of the good quality of the soil there," Mr. Irving says, "I may tell you I saw one field of 100 acres which had had four crops of wheat. I saw the fifth crop, and the yield is 40 bushels per acre. Without any manure, too ! You may think that is an overdrawn picture, but it is a fact. In some parts of Western Ontario the land is of the finest quahty." After mentioning that land can be obtained at from £6 to ^20 per acre, he says : — "As a rule, farm houses are better than in England. Farming as a whole, in Canada, is not up to the mark ; there is a want of system apparent in almost every direction. But," he added, "what can you expect ? As you go along you can easily distinguish a good farmer from the appearance of the turnips, and the fine-conditioned cattle moving about. Many of the farmers commenced with very little knowledge of crop raising ; log huts were built, then out-houses were added, but these have in many instances been superseded by large and convenient farm- houses of brick and stone. No better evidence of the prosperity of many of the farmers can be had than seeing a good stone or brick house, with a iilanidated log house near. Some of the farms are now as well cultivated GUIDE TO ONTARIO. 101 as any in England. The farm buildings are generally of wood, occa- sionally the barns and stables are of stone, and in almost every ease are in rear of the farm-house. Holders or owners of farms sell their land whenever they can get an offer to their advantage. They think no more of selling their land than selling a cow or horse. Thus plenty of good farms, large and small, are always in the market. There is no difficulty in transferring land in Canada, and the expense is trifling. Plenty of homesteads can be purchased in the Province of Ontario, in the western portion of wbich is as good land as any farmer could desire." In the county of Oxford, Province of Ontario, Mr. Irving met with a farmer owning 600 acres, who claimed Dalston, near Carlisle, as his native ground. This gentleman went out several years ago, and is now in a prosperous condition. " He had very little when he went out, but he was Indus! rious." Farmers in Canada have every facility now for disposing of their farm produce. Railways are opened out in nearly every direc- tion ; seaports are numerous. Mr. Irving thinks there are few farms in the part cf Canada he visited as far from a market town as his farm at Bowness is from Carlisle. "They beat us in England," he says, "in corn growing; the carriage of corn to this country is now almost noth- ing ; the working expenses are much cheaper — that is, for purely agri- cultural work— because the food required by the workers is almost solely produced on the farm, and wages are not much, if any, higher than at home. In my opinion Canada will be the farming country of the world in the course of the next fifteen or twenty years. They have no taxes to pay. I think the school tax is the only one worth mentioning, and that is not heavy. It is yet in a transition state, but we may look to the future with confidence." He believes a sovereign has a purchasing power of double its value in Canada, compared with that it has at home, when spent in providing the necessaries for subsistence. Yet money cannot be had on loan for less than 8 per cent. " Any person with capital to spare can lay it out in Canada at 8 per cent, on mortgage security.'' To persons thinking of going out, this is the advice Mr. Irving gives : — " I would not advise a man that drinks to go to Canada. I don't think clerks or shopkeepers are wanted. Any man able and willing to work is sure to do well. A poor man can do better than in this country, because he can get work ; and meal and flour, and such like necessaries, are much cheaper. It is the grandest country I have seen for a man and family, especially if he has a little bit of money at his command ; and if a man goes there with sufficient capital to buy some land, and stock it to some extent, he has a wonderful start in life, and need not look back." Speak- ing of the price of farm stock, Mr. Irving says : '* An ordinary working horse costs from ^610 to ^'25, English money ; a fair good dairy cow from £5 to ^6 ; ewes are about 20s.; lambs at this time of year about 10s. or 128. each ; turkeys about 3s. each ; geese from about 28. to 2s. 6d. each ; and chickens from 6d. to Is. each. All kinds of dairy produce are cheap. There is very little game, such as we have in England, but there is plenty of wild fowl. Fishing is plentiful." Mr. Irving had an opportu- nity, while in Ottawa, of paying a visit to the Dominion Exhibition, the royal show of Canada. He witnessed a wonderful display of farm pro- duce of all kinds. Amongst the cattle were Shorthorns, Galloways^ Herefords, Polled-Angus, Ayrshires, Devons, and perhaps other kinds, much Hke our big shows at home. Some grand specimens were to be 102 GUIDE TO ONTARIO. seen in almost every class. The Shorthorns were the finest, however — but some of the Shorthorn breeds in Canada are noted. In the sheep classes were to be seen Leicesters, South Downs, Hampshire Downs, and other kinds. He was disappointed with the horse classes. There was no sign rf the heavy Clydesdale breed ; the farming and harness horses seemed •• too long drawn," resembling the Cleveland horses that used to be known in the north of England. Yet the Canadian horses have a great deal of go in them, and are magnificent trotters. Nor are heavy horses particularly required, the land being, as before mentioned, of a sandy or clay loam ; and when spring ariives, after a hard winter, farm- ers are anxious to make the most of the first fine weather, so that light, sharp, quick-going horses are in requisition in preference to others. A great variety of farm implements were also to be seen. When in the western portion of the Province of Ontario he visited a local show in London, a town which had its River Thames near, and which had adopted many other names from the metropolis. At this show he found a most admirable collection of stock. Speaking of the fruit grown in Canada, he says, " grapes are grown in many places in the open air, the peaches are most delicious, and the apples — some as big as turnips — are of fine quahty." ** I saw," he added emphatically, " one vineyard of 50 acres, and I was told a fine crop had been got ; I saw orchards 49 acres in extent, and the peaches are like apricots." Mr. Irving has formed a very high opinion of the capabihties of the country geuerally. He is much pleased with the towns, wJiich are all open and healthy-like, and he declares the people to be " kind, hospitable, and very loyal, much more so than we are at home. They speak of England as their homS." At a meeting of the Gala Water Farmer's Club, held at Stow on Friday the 19th December, 1879, Mr. Elliott,^ one of the delegates recently re- turned from Canada, gave a very interesting account of his visit, of the places he had seen, and the opinions he had formed of the Province of Ontario. This statement was in the form of a diary of each day's experi- ences, but his conclusions were summed up in the following words : — " I have described the country through which I passed, as fairly as I was able to judge. The roads in some counties are very good, in others again inferior. The * gravel' roads are in generally good repair. The railway communication is s;ood and cheap, and they are always building more. Regarding the climate it is hotter in summer and colder in winter than at home. The autumn or fall is delightful, as I can testify from ex- perience. The atmosphere being clear and dry, one does not feel the ex- tremes 60 much. Winter (which is considered such a draw-back to Ca- nada) generally commences about the middle of December and goes in March. Althouc^h little or no ploughing is d -ne, farmers have plenty of work preparing wood for next season's fuel, and other odds and ends. I find after due inquiry, that cattle are not housed longer than in Scot- land, and it is the universal testimony of the people that their winters are most enjoyable. I consider that farming in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec is in a transition state. The growing of wheat in Manitoba, GUIDE TO ONTARIO. lOa and the north-west territories, which will increase with rapid strides, must soon affect the growers of wheat in these provinces. They are al- ready alive to that fact, and for sometime back have been increasing their stocks of cattle and sheep. Calves, instead of being mostly killed, as for- merly, are now all reared, which in a very short time must enormously increase the supply of cattle for exportation to this country. The Domi- nion of Canada, li'om the energetic nature of its people and boundless re- sources of every kind, has a great future before it. With regard to farmers emigrating to Ontario or the Eastern Townships of Quebec, I have not the slightest hesitation in recommending them to do so ; as I am satis- fied, from what I saw, that men with moderate capital could do better there than they can at home ; and that for several reasons : — In the first place you can buy and stock a farm for Httle more than it takes to stock one at home ; then there is no rent to pay ; and taxes are very light — they do not exceed 4d. to lOd. per acre, according to the value of the property. You can make the most of the land by growing the most profitable crops, and those best suited to your soil and climate. There you have no law- yer factor, prescribing in a long antiquated lease, which almost no man can understand, what crops you shall grow and what seed you shall sow, as if you did not understand your business better than he is able to teach you, and, generally speaking, binding you to protect the landlord's hares to eat your own crops. In my own case, however, I have been very liber- ally dealt with, both as regards cropping clauses and game. Again, a man going there with his family, can get a first-class education free for his chil- dren, which at home costs a great deal of money. I consider their educa- tional system one of the best possible. In a new country there are many more opportunities and openings turning up than there are in an old countrv, that voung men of intelligence and enterprise can take advan- tage of!" Another delegate, Mr. James Biggar, of Dumfries, gives in the course of his report, the following practical information gained during his visit to Ontario : — '* At Mr. McCrae's, Guelph, county of Wellington, we saw good tur- nips and a nice herd of Galloways, including some of the principal prize winners at Ottawa. At Mr. Hobson's farm we saw some excellent short- horns. Mr. Hobson feeds a good many cattle, buying half-fat cattle in December and January, and feeding till June. He allows 12 to 15 pounds of meal daily, and 60 pounds of roots. He also feeds off 400 lambs on rape, buying them in August at 10s. to 12s. each and making them worth 22s. to 25s. by the middle of December. The rape is sown in drills and worked the same as turnips. On this farm of 300 acres, 240 cleared, four men. are employed in summer and two in winter, with some extra help at busy seasons. Mr. Hobson estimated the necessary capital for such a farm at iJS per acre. Of course where pedigree stock is kept it is much higher. We visited a farm of 180 acres, all good land except 20 acres, which was for sale at about ^13 per acre. It was a nice place near a rail- way station. The house was new — had cost ^£800 — and the buildings fair. Another farm of 200 acres let at 12s. an acre was considered too dear. The soil was a fair sandy loam on a clay subsoil, intersected by a gravelly 104 GUIDE TO ONTARIO, ridge. The turnips were a very good crop. The divisions of crop on this farm were as follows : — 75 acres hay, 60 acres pasture, 15 turnips, 20 fall wheat, 20 peas and 20 oats. The taxes payable by the tonant, were about £13 in addition to eight days' statute road labour. This farm was part of a block of 500 acres for sale at £V1 per acre. Near Guel[)U we saw two farms of 400 acres, farmed by two sons of the late Mr. Gerrard Marchfield. They pay j6203 a year rent and taxes, and are said to be doing well. These seemed very desirable, in a good situation, and were for sale : price £12 to £13 pir acre. We passed through part of the Paisley Block, a district settled a good many years ago by erai.,'rants from Paisley, few of whom had been brought up to farming. They liave in nearly all cases been successful, and possess very comfortable residences, and tidy, well-managed farms. We next visited Gait, where a large pro- portion of the people are of Scotch descent. Mr. Cowan, a native of Dumfii- s-Fliire, has a good farm of 549 acres in the neiglibourhoo 1. We saw a first-rate flock of ewes. He also breeds short-horns. The land is mostly roiling — a deep sandy loam and free from stones." Mr. Biggar in conclusion, says, as to the farmers' prospects in Canada : " In a statement drawn up for us by a committee of practical farmers, the iuterpst on farming capital is shewn at 6 per cent, on an average of the last five seasons. No exact system of rotation has been followed. Successive grain crops have bejn grown too long, till wheat is in many cases not a paying crop, and the famers of Ontario are no\y bagianing to see that they must pay more attention to green crops and stock-raising. A few, very few, use artificial manures, but by and by they are likely to come into more general use. A large buyer of barley told us that a few farmers who used superphosphate, sent him barley as much as five and six lbs. per bushel heavier than their neighbours'. Labour in Ontario is about 15 per cent, dearer than in this country, but thefarm^are evidently worked with fewer hands. We are told, again and again, that no farmer should go there who did not intend to work, but taking the whole year round we think we know many farmers here who work as hard as farm- ers seemed to do there. We now come to the question of immigration. I feel that there is much responsibility in answering that question. 1 am satisfied that men with some capital could make more of it in Canada than in this country." Mr. C3wan, the delegate from Wigtonshire, was at Stranraer on the 19th December, 1879, and referred, among other things, to the great cheese making industry of Ontario. He said : — " In the Province of Ontario we visited the town of Stratford, county of Perth, in the immediate neighbourhood of which are several large cheese fac ories. I was fortunate enough to have a letter of introduction to Mr. Ballantyne, M.P.P., who resides in Stratford, and wlio received me in a most kindly manner. Mr. Ballantyne, a highly intelligent gen- tleman of active business habits, is a great enthusiast in the manufacture of cheese, and has, perhaps, done more than any other man in Canada to perfect the system of factory cheese-making. He owns one or two fac- GUIDE TO ONTARIO, 105 tones, and is also an extensive buyer of cheese tlirouo^liont the Province. We were privileged to see througli the Black Ci'eek Factory, which is situated in a fine, well watr'red grazing countiy, well suited for dairy pur- poses, about eight miies f'Om Stratford. " This factory, whicli gathers it^ supply of milk from about 1000 cows, was one of the very first established in Caaada,in the year 18G4. It belongs to Mr. Ballantynf , but is conducted on the co-operative principle; Mr. Ballantyne chargi\ig the farmers a certain sum per gallon for hauling the milk and making the cheese. Mr. Ballantyne fully explained the whole process of factory clieese-making, of which he is a thorough master. The season begins in Canada on the 1st of May and closes on the 1st of Novrmb