crops, owing to the fogs, are uncertain; but, in the interior, all kinds of grain and vegetables, besides some others, ripen in full perfection, and on alluvial lands yield great returns. The average return of Indian corn may be rated at eighty bushels an acre. The general returns of wheat crops are about eighteen bushels per acre or upwards. On intervales, or newly cultivated lands, the returns are often thirty bushels or more. Much depends upon the seed being good. Accident bequeathed to the province a great benefit in this respect. Some years ago, a person, on opening a chest of tea, found in one corner a small quantity of wheat; how it got there no one can tell. Whether in London, on the chest being opened by the East India Company, or in China, is equally uncertain; but the seed was sown in New Brunswick; it grew and flourished better than any previously sown. The produce was preserved, sown again, and multiplied so rapidly, that it is, at the present time, the kind of seed-wheat generally sown, and known by the distinction of "tea-wheat." What I have remarked, in treating of the agricultural productions, seed-time and harvest, of Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, applies equally to this province. Vast quantities of hemp and flax, for which the intervale lands are well adapted, might be raised in A lumberer, at the south-west branch of the River Miramichi, killed a hog that weighed 1232 lbs.; its head alone weighed 93 lbs. all parts of New Brunswick. Beans, peas, turnips, carrots, mangel-worsel, and beets, thrive well. Good uplands will produce 200 bushels of potatoes per acre. Uplands are always fertile when they naturally produce maple, beech, black or yellow birch, with a mixture of other trees. In several parts of the woods, usually on small brooks, there are several wild prairies or meadows interspersed. They owe their formation to the industry of the beaver, and produce a rich grass called blue-joint. A plant called cow-corn abounds on the hardwood uplands, on which cattle, that are turned out very lean in the spring to range the woods for food, fatten rapidly. Red and white clover and timothy are the grasses most cultivated; two to four tons per acre are the usual crops. Buck-wheat, oats, and barley fill well in the ear, and ripen in perfection. The following extracts from the Reports of the New Brunswick Agricultural Society may be interesting, as affording proofs of successful cultivation. " It is most gratifying to the Society at this early stage of its progress to announce that the operations of this and the several county agricultural associations, have tended powerfully, though silently, to the advancement of agriculture, not only with regard to the cultivation of the soil, but also with respect to the improvement of the breed of our domestic animals. "Mr. Nicholas Cunliffe, of Woodstock, commenced clearing his farm in May 1824. The work was done by contract, at the rate of from 31. 10s. to 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 de inga of утыя і It is also mentioned, that from one acre Mr. Upton raised 844 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 pro-t duce 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 cultivation, about 300 head of horned cattle, and a proportionate number of horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, &c. It أحسس أسما * Reports of 1826, 1827 1828. rtideiled O 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 12l. - 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. |