41. per acre. He has now 107 acres of land cleared, excepting the stumps of the trees; 74 acres were cleared since May last; and the crop raised from this land last season was 900 bushels of good clean wheat, weighing 63 pounds to the bushel, 400 bushels of Indian corn, nearly 1000 bushels of potatoes, besides a quantity of beans and garden stuff, of which no particular account was kept. This crop alone will leave a profit of about 100l. over and above the expense of clearing the whole of the land.

" Mr. Joseph Bedell commenced clearing his farm at Richmond, in the parish of Woodstock, about four miles from the river St. John, in May 1821. Without any other assistance than that of his three sons, the oldest of whom is now but 16, the next 12 years of age, and the other still younger, he has cleared 50 acres of land, from which he raised last season 240 bushels of wheat, 250 bushels of oats, 50 bushels of buck-wheat, 600 bushels of potatoes, 150 bushels of turnips, and a small quantity of Indian corn. He has paid 110l. since he went on the farm, is now clear of debt, and owns four cows, one pair of horses, eight head of young cattle, twelve sheep, and 800 acres of good land.

"It is also mentioned, that from one acre Mr. Upton raised 84 bushels of Indian corn, and that from the same quantity of land Mr. Miles raised 34 bushels of wheat; and the report concludes by stating, that the Southdown sheep could not now be purchased for three times the price for which they were sold in 1826, so superior are they and their lambs to the native breed.

"It is no wonder that in a new country, whose first inhabitants, many of whom are yet living, had to struggle unassisted in what was a few years ago a gloomy wilderness, and where the fisheries and the manufacture of timber have always employed a considerable portion of its population, the more improved modes of farming have but in a few instances been practised.

"The goodness of Providence has cast our lot in a highly favoured land; and all that is requisite on our parts, is the general adoption of that industry of which, in various parts of the province, there are so many honourable examples, and that industry differently and more judiciously applied." *

Besides the numerous individual instances of thriving farmers, we find settlements merely agricultural, which have flourished with extraordinary rapidity. Among these we may allude to the Cardigan settlement of Welsh emigrants near Fredericton, and joining the New Brunswick Company's lands; the Irish settlement of New Bandon, consisting of a colony from Ireland, who formed a sort of compact of mutual assistance on settling in the province; the English settlement, of which the British Colonist, a newspaper printed at St. John, says, "We feel pleasure in having to report so favourably of this thriving little colony. It is eight years since the inhabitants began to clear the forest; and, short as is the period, the settlement at this time affords a surplus of produce adequate to the support of double its population. It has thirty families, thirty farms, each of which has from twenty-five to thirty-five acres under cultivaton, about 300 head of horned cattle, and a proportionate number of horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, &c. It is within our knowledge that they were burdened with a number of small children at the time of their going on their allotments of land; add to which, they were destitute of almost every resource, and nothing but a steady perseverance and industrious course could, in so short a time, have placed them in circumstances comparatively independent. They have with the axe chopped out a home for themselves and their rising progeny, and feel that they are lords of the soil they till."

It is therefore evident, that industry, economy, and skill, will insure the prosperity of the present settlers, and of those who hereafter inhabit this colony.

AVERAGE PRICES OF LABOUR AND COMMON ARTICLES IN NEW

BRUNSWICK.

Men servants, 20l. to 30l. per year, board, &c. - Labourers, per day, 2s. 6d. to 4s. - Maid servants, 8l. to 121. - Tradesmen, 6s. to 7s. 6d. finding their own provisions. - Tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, &c., are paid for the articles they make. - Wheat, 4s. 6d. to 6s. - Indian corn, 4s. 6d. to 5s. 6d. - Oats, 1s. 6d. to 2s. Barley, 2s. to 4s. - Rye, 3s. 6d. to 4s. per bushel. - Potatoes, 1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d. - Turnips, 1s. 6d. - Beef, 3d. to 6d. - Mutton, 4d. to 8d. - Veal, 3d. to 5d. - Pork, 4d. to 7d. - Ham, 6d. per lb. - Geese, 2s. 6d. - Fowls, 8d. to 10d. - Herrings, salt, 16s. per barrel. - Mackerel, 20s. - Salmon, 50s. - Shad, 40s. - Flour, 35s. to 40s. per barrel of 196 lbs. - Hares, 6d. - Partridges, 8d. - Pigeons, 1s. to 2s. per dozen. Eggs, 4d. to 1s. - Indian meal, 20s. per barrel. - Buck-wheat meal, 18s. - Fresh salmon, 2s. to 3s. each. - Fresh herrings, 2d. to 4d. per dozen. - Cod, 6d. to 1s. each. -Butter, 10d. per lb. all in currency, which reduces the price nearly twenty per cent.

CHAP. XII.

POPULATION. RELIGION.

EDUCATION. - COLLEGE OF NEW

BRUNSWICK. - MADRAS SCHOOLS.

THE population of New Brunswick, according to the census taken in 1824, was 74,176. This was considered much below the actual number, from the well-known suspicion which prevails among the labouring classes all over America, that the object of numbering the inhabitants has in view a poll-tax, or some species of taxation to be borne by them, in consequence of which it is pretty well understood that the names of all the individuals of a family are not given.

The present population, according to the best information, and the opinion of intelligent men residing in the province, may be considered somewhat over 110,000. The augmentation has arisen from natural increase, and the arrival of emigrant settlers.

This population, like that of all the other colonies, consists of a mixed people from various parts; but differing, in their relative proportion to each other, from those of the adjacent colony of Nova Scotia, in which Scotchmen and their descendants predominate.

The oldest families are those, or the descendants of those, who settled in the colony previous to the American Revolution. They are scattered over most parts of the province; but chiefly on the banks of the River St. John and its tributaries. A still more numerous body than these, consists of the loyalists, or their families, who removed to the colony from sincere attachment to the government and laws of England, for which they submitted to the sacrifice of much valuable property, which they possessed in the United States, and exposed themselves to all the sufferings that I have already adverted to in the first chapter of this Book. These are also to be found principally in the parishes fronting on the River St. John, and partially among the other settlements.

The French Acadians who are settled in the province I have also alluded to in a former chapter.

Emigrants from Europe, consisting principally of English, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh, among whom those from Ireland greatly predominate, are found either intermixed among the early inhabitants, or, in some parts, forming distinct settlements.

In a few places, we find a number of negro families huddled together as cottagers; but I have discovered them to be, like those of Nova Scotia, all in a state of miserable poverty. Whenever I asked a thrifty old farmer, what was the cause that prevented the negroes from thriving, the reply invariably amounted to their being restless and dissipated in their habits, improvident, and destitute of the steady energy of mind so essential in the labours of husbandry. The grown-up male and female negroes are, however, chiefly employed as domestic servants. I find, that a settlement of these wretched beings, at Lochlomond, near St. John, were, in February (1833), actually, from improvidence, only prevented from famishing by benevolent contributions.