OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS TIIROUGII LOWER C AN1\ D A~ The exports from Camcla. confifi of furs and pelts in immenfl: qm.n- . · tll!CS; 0 f W 1lC <l t , flot11•, fl·•t x -1r1e ed , 1 ot·1• 01 , timber, {bvcs, and lumbe r of all forts; dried .filh, oil, gin(cng, and various medicinal drug · The trade between CanaJa and Great Dritain employs, it is flid, about {cv n thouft.md tons of !hipping annually. L E T T E R XX VI. Of tbe Sotl m d Produ8iom of LoWC1' Canoda .-~iji.·rvotio:u o1z tbc !J1mm-faClzwe of Sugar from tbc Map!e-tree.-OJ. t~e Cltm~te if. Lo~em· Canada.-A mzifemcnts of PeojJfe q/ a!! DifcnjJttoJ/s durmg Ff/mti·r.Cm ·iolt:s.-Manncr q/guard£11g agai11jl tbe Co!cl.-Grcat Ilardinejs if tbe Horfcs.-State qf tbe River St. Lawrence on tl1e Dr-lfolution qf Winter. -Rapid ProgrejJ of Vt:gdatiou dunizg Spring.-Agrecablcnefs qf tbc Summer end Autumn Ser!}ons. Q!cbcc. T II E eaO:ern part of Lower Canada, between ~ebec and the Gulph of St. Lawrence, is mountainous; between ~ bee and the mouth of the Utawas River alfo a few fcattered mountain arc to be t 1et with; but higher up the River St. Lawrence the £lee of the coun- 11 y is flat. The foil, except where fmall tracrs of ftony and fandy land intervene, confi.O:s principally of a loo(e dark coloured earth, nnd of the depth of ten or twelve inches, below which there is a b d of cold day. This earth towards the furface is extremely fertile, of \'vhich th re cannot be a greater proof than that it continues to yield plentiful crops, notwith.O:anding its being worked year after year by the French Canadians, without ever being manured. It is only within a few years back, indeed, that any of the Canadians have uegun to manure their lands, and many fiill continue, from father to {on, to work the fame fields without intermiffion, and without ever rutting P R 0 D U C E. putting any manure upon them, yet the land is not c ~h1lt11cJ, • it would be in the UnitcJ StatLS. Tll: manure principally matlc nit: ()[' by thofc who arc the bdl. Lmners i marl, foLtnd in prodigious qu.llltitic in nny places along the fhor s of the River t. L·nvrencc. The foil ofLowcr Canada i pa rticularly fuitcd to the growth of Iimll wa in. Tobacco alfo th rives well in it; it is only rait<:d, however, i11 iinall <11antiti s for priv~tte u(e, more tl1n one lulf of wlut is ukd i 1 the cou:1try being imported . The CanJ.di<m tobacco i of a much milder qu ality than that grown in l\1arybnJ n1 d Virginia: t c fuutr made from it is held in great eflir 1:1tion. Culinary vegetab les of every dcfcription. come to the greatcfi I erfeCl: ion in Cana<b, as wcll as mofi of the European fruits: the c L:r ran! ~, goofeberric:s, and rafj)bcrrics arc in particular very fine; the l..tttcr are indi genous, and are found in profufion in the woods; the vine is allo indigenou~, but the grapes which it J rodurcs in its uncultivated £la te arc very poor, four, and but little larger than iJne currants. The variety of trees founcl in the forefis of Canada is prodigiou s, ancl it is fuppofcd that there many kinds arc fiill unknown: beech trees, oak s, elms, antes, pines, fycamorcs, chcfnuts, walnuts, of each of which feveral differen t fpecies arc commonly met with; the fur)':1r maple tree is alfo found in almo{l every part of the country, a tree never fcen but upon (}' od ground. Thc:.:rc arc two kinds of thi very ' ·aluable tree in Can:tda; the one called the fwamp maple, from it ~ lx:ing generally found upon 1 w lands; the other, the mountain or curled maple, from growing upon high dry ground, and from the grain of the wood being very bcautiftllly variegated with little flripcs and curls. The former yields a much gre:1ter quantity of £1p, in proportion to its :flzc, than the other, but th is f.1p do s not aftord lo much fugar as that of the curled maple. A pound of fugar is frequently procured from two or three gallon, or the f1p of the curled mapl , whereas no more than tbc f,tme qn.llltit} ,tn be had fiom fx or fcven gallons of that of the fwamp. The m {l approved method of g tting the fap is hy piercing a hole with an auger in thc fide of th tree, of one in h or an inch and half F f 2 111 |