Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/855

Rh England, which are all raised in abundance, Canada grows tobacco, rice, maize or Indian corn, and fruits of warmer climes than the British Islands. The full and steady heat of the summer matures with surprising rapidity the most valuable productions, while the long period of repose of the Canadian winter is not only amply atoned for by the rapid and luxuriant vegetation of the summer, but, no doubt, contributes to such results. Fruits and Vegetables. The fruits of Canada embrace all that are familiar to the English gardener, with others which the summer there is not warm enough to bring to maturity. The finest melons are grown in abundance in the open ground. In favourable seasons peaches are plentiful in the Niagara peninsula, and in the south-western portions of Ontario, along tha shores of Lake Erie and the Detroit River. The vine is cultivated largely in open gardens. The Isabella, the Delaware, Clinton, and other varieties of grapes attain to perfect size and excellent flavour in the open air ; and the manufacture of native wines is now successfully prosecuted to a considerable extent. Wild fruits abound in great variety throughout many Canadian districts. The wild vine ( Vitis vulpina) is abundant everywhere, twining its tendrils around the trunks and over the branches of the forest trees, and yielding- clusters of small grapes, inviting to cultivation. Among the other wild fruits may be mentioned plums, cherries, raspberries, brambles or blackberries, strawberries, whortle berries, blueberries, gooseberries, black and red currants, juniper berries, cranberries, hickory and hazel nuts, and walnuts. The raspberries ripen in such abundance that enormous quantities are annually preserved and sold both in the Provinces and the United States. The blueberry is also extensively sold ; and the wild strawberry furnishes an agreeable dessert in many parts of the eastern provinces throughout the latter part of July and August. Apples and pears are now largely cultivated. The island of Montreal has long been famous for its fruits ; and the annual produce of the orchards of Ontario is exported to the States and to Europe. Vegetables for the table are also successfully cultivated in greater varieties than in England, and in such quantities that they are largely exported. The tomato flourishes and yields an abundant crop. Cauliflower, vegetable marrow, squash, French beans, pease, lettuce, spinach, celery, asparagus, rhubarb, and all the more common vegetables are grown in abundance in the older provinces. The climate of Manitoba, notwith standing its exceptionally low temperature from December to March, gives promise of equally satisfactory results. Professor Bryce, after noting such examples of agricultural produce as that of one old settler who obtained 420 bushels of wheat from 11 acres, and another who by garden culture produced the enormous yield of 134 bushels per acre of oats, thus proceeds : &quot; These arc given both as proof of the capabilities of the country, and of the advantage of careful culture. The ordinaiy table vegetables are surpris ing in their growth, and reach a prodigious size. The writer has seen nothing in his previous experience equal ling the vegetable production of the province ; and the late lieutenant-governor, Hon. Mr Archibald, after testing the matter in his own garden, gave the same as his experience.&quot; The exports of fruit and vegetables, the growth and pro duce of the five eastern provinces of Canada, for the year 1874, included fruit to the value of $128,904, and vege tables to the value of $332,068. But while this produce of the finer fruits and vegetables for the table shows exports to the value of $460,972 in a single year, and thus bears evidence to the character of the soil and climate, it conveys a very imperfect idea of the actual produce of Canadian orchards. Apples especially are in constant use at the table. Throughout the southern portion of Ontario 773 thousands of acres arc planted with fruit-trees, yielding valuable crops of the finest quality, and forming an ever- increasing source of wealth to the fanner. Floicers. The flora of Canada naturally comes in order along with its agriculture and garden produce ; but to deal with the subject effectually would require a botanical treatise on the whole flora of North America. There is the rich flora of the forest, which disappears with the clearing of the land for purposes of agriculture, and is even replaced in part by an immigrant flora, brought in with the hay and grass seeds of the European settler. Again, there is the brilliant flora of the prairies, which, in the full season of summer bloom, are resplendent with blue, scarlet, and ye^ow petals. The Rocky Mountains, and the rugged slopes of the Pacific province, have also their characteristic flora ; while the shallows of the lakes and rivers abound with beautiful aquatic plants, foremost among which is the Nymphaea odorata, the magnificent sweet-scented white water-lily, which converts many a broad lagoon into a beautiful floating garden. It will better accord with the practical aim of this article, to note that the honey-bee flourishes in all the pro vinces of Canada ; and, as will be seen by the following table showing the produce of a single year, is cultivated with profitable success in the four older provinces : Hives of Bees. Pounds of Honey. Nova Scotia 3 038 21 374 New Brunswick .1 854 90 004 Quebec 41,295 648 310 Ontario 94,604 1 239 C12 Total 144,791 1,999 300 Forests. The forests of Canada abound in fine timber, adapted to almost every variety of useful or ornamental work, and furnishing one main element of wealth to the province. Foremost in point of utility are the white and red pine, annually exported in large quantities to the United States and to Europe. Three-fourths of the square and flatted timber produced in the Ottawa region in 1873 was of white pine. Cedar, red pine, and railway-ties chiefly made of tamarac, were the others which were produced in largest quantities. Pine trees of 100 feet high are not un common ; and instances are not rare of trees greatly exceeding that height. The pine prepared for exportation is made into squared timber, measuring from 60 to 70 feet in length ; or into waney timber (as it is called when only partially squared or flatted), averaging generally the same lengths though sometimes running to 100, or even 120 feet. For the native market the unsquared log is cut into convenient lengths of from 12 to 15 feet for the saw-mill. The white oak, besides being made into squared timber not greatly inferior in dimensions to the white pine, serves also largely to supply staves both for the English and the West Indian markets. The number of pieces of squared and flatted timber produced in the Ottawa district alone in 1873 was 303,268, and the number of unsquared logs for the same year amounted to 2,024,980. The elm, beech, ash, maple, walnut, cedar, birch, and tamarac are all valuable products of the Canadian forests. The black walnut and the birds -eye and curled maples are now in special demand in England for cabinet and fancy work. The sugar maple is also of value for the sap which it yields during early spring, from which excellent sugar is made in ever-increasing quantities. The yield of maple sugar produced in the four older provinces in 1871 amounted to 17,276,000 lb. A maple grove, as it is called, is accordingly regarded as a valuable feature on a Canadian farm.