Save and except coal, the want of which is to a considerable extent compensated by the vast stores of forest, of bog and of mineral oils in the Provinces, Canada is very rich in many minerals of the first importance. Iron is deposited in exceeding abundance in the Laurentian System—lead, plumbago, phosphate of lime, sulphate of barytes, and marbles are found in the same wide-spread formation of gneiss and limestone.
The Huron System of slate, &c., contains copper, silver, and nickel, jaspers and agates. The Quebec group in the East promises to be equally valuable. The bases of metallic and ochreous pigments, every description of marble and slate, minerals, and substances useful in chemistry, in arts, in agriculture, in architecture, are scattered throughout the land, from Lake Superior to Gaspé. Notwithstanding the long winter, Upper Canada yielded, according to late averages, 21 bushels of winter wheat and 18½ bushels of spring wheat to the acre; Lower Canada, where agriculture has not received the same development, yields a smaller proportion to the acre, but the wheat is of excellent quality. In Upper Canada the yield of oats is about 30 bushels to the acre; in Lower Canada it is 23 bushels. Barley is a little less in Upper, and about the same as oats in Lower Canada, and Indian corn is about as much as oats. The potato yields from 125 to 176 bushels per acre. All these crops, as well as those of roots of every description, are increasing rapidly, and it is calculated that the value of the farms of Upper Canada is no less than 60,000,000l. sterling, whilst the live stock in the same Province was estimated to be worth nearly 9,000,000l. In 1860 the value of the timber exported was, 1,750,000l., and the forest yielded altogether just 2,000,000l. sterling. As there is reason to know that in 1851 the value of agricultural exports was 6,000,000l., it may be assumed with some degree of certainty as a near approximation that Canada sends abroad about ten millions’ worth of forest and farm produce. It is estimated that the imports of the same year were worth eighteen millions sterling.
There are many other illustrations of the rapidity of Canadian increase, but the foregoing must suffice for the purposes of this volume. It is only surprising that the Provinces should have advanced at all, considering the misrepresentations which have been circulated concerning their climate, condition, and prospects, and the attractions held forth to emigrants by the United States.
The popular idea as to the barrenness and cold of Canada would be most effectually dispelled by a glance at garden products and cereals in autumn only, or by the experience of a winter in New York and a winter in London or Hamilton. The author of a pamphlet, published by authority of the Bureau of Agriculture, observes:—
“The most erroneous opinions have prevailed abroad respecting the climate of Canada. The so-called rigour of Canadian winters is often advanced as a serious objection to the country by many who have not the courage to encounter them, who prefer sleet and fog to brilliant skies and bracing cold, and who have yet to learn the value and extent of the blessings conferred upon Canada by her world-renowned ‘snows.’
“It will scarcely be believed by many who shudder at the idea of the thermometer falling to zero, that the gradual annual diminution in the fall of snow, in certain localities, is a subject of lamentation to the farmers in Western Canada. Their desire is for the old-fashioned winters, with sleighing for four months, and spring bursting upon them with marvellous beauty at the beginning of April. A bountiful fall of snow, with hard frost, is equivalent to the construction of the best macadamised roads all over the country. The absence of a sufficient quantity of snow in winter for sleighing, is a calamity as much to be feared and deplored as the want of rain in spring. Happily neither of these deprivations is of frequent occurrence.
“The climate of Canada is in some measure exceptional, especially that of the Peninsular portion. The influence of the great Lakes is very strikingly felt in the elevation of winter temperatures and in the reduction of summer heats. East and West of Canada, beyond the influence of the Lakes, as in the middle of the states of New York and Iowa, the greatest extremes prevail,—intense cold in winter, intense heat in summer, and to these features may be added their usual attendant, drought.
“Perhaps the popular standard of the adaptation of climate to the purposes of agriculture is more suitable for the present occasion than a reference to monthly and annual means of temperature. Much information is conveyed in the simple narration of facts bearing upon fruit culture. From the head of Lake Ontario, round by the Niagara frontier, and all along the Canadian shores of Lake Erie, the grape and peach grow with luxuriance, and ripen to perfection in the open air, without the slightest artificial aid. The island of Montreal is distinguished everywhere for the fine quality of its apples, and the island of Orleans, below Quebec, is equally celebrated for its plums. Over the whole of Canada the melon and tomato acquire large dimensions, and ripen fully in the open air, the seeds being planted in the soil towards the latter end of April, and the fruit gathered in September. Pumpkins and squashes attain gigantic dimensions; they have exceeded 300 pounds in weight in the neighbourhood of Toronto. Indian corn, hops, and tobacco, are common crops and yield fair returns. Hemp and flax are indigenous plants, and can be cultivated to any extent in many parts of the Province. With a proper expenditure of capital, England could be made quite independent of Russia, or any other country, for her supply of these valuable products.
“The most striking illustration of the influence of the great Lakes in ameliorating the climate of Canada, especially of the western peninsula, is to be found in the natural limits to which certain trees are restricted by climate. That valuable wood, the black walnut, for which Canada is so celebrated, ceases to grow north of latitude 41° on the Atlantic coast, but under the influence of the comparatively mild Lake climate of Peninsular Canada it is found in the greatest profusion, and of the largest dimensions, as far north as latitude 43°.”
This subject is well illustrated by the subjoined table, showing the mean temperature and rainfall at Toronto from 1840 to 1859:—