CHAPTER XIV.
Rapid Increase of Population--Mineral Wealth--Cereals--Imports and Exports--Climate--Agriculture--A Settler’s Life--Reciprocity Treaty--Report of the Committee of the Executive Council--Mr. Galt--Senator Douglas--A Zollverein--Terms of the Convention--Free Trade, and what is meant by it--Mr. Galt’s opinion on the subject--Canadian Imports and Exports.
The rapid increase of population and settlements in Canada, and the growth of cities and towns, are among the great marvels of the last and of the present century, so rich in wonders of the kind. It is not too much to say, that any approximation to a similar rate of increase will make British North America a great power in the world. The direction of emigration has not been favourable. The Germans and the Irish have rather sought the United States. The emigrating powers of Scotland are rapidly decreasing, and the few English who emigrate prefer Australia, New Zealand, even the States of the Union, to a country which suffers from the early neglect of the home government, the studied aspersions and misrepresentations of powerful agencies, and the ignorance of the poorer classes who seek to improve their condition by going forth in search of new homes.
Mr. Sheridan Hogan, the writer of a prize essay on Canada of no ordinary excellence, has devoted some of his pages to show that the growth of Canada in population has been overlooked in the scope of the wondering gaze which Europe has fixed on the development of the United States, although, in fact, the increase of Canadians in the land has been quite as astonishing as that of Americans south of the St. Lawrence. In 1800, he says the population of the United States was 5,305,925. In 1850 it was 20,250,000. The increase was therefore 300 per cent. nearly. In 1811 the population of Upper Canada was 77,000, and in 1851 it was 952,000, an increase of over 1100 per cent. in forty years. Within the decade up to 1855 the rate of increase in the United States was 13·20 per cent. In Upper Canada it was 104 per cent. from 1841 to 1851. Upper Canada exhibited in forty years nearly four times the increase of the United States in fifty years. Even the population of Lower Canada increased 90 per cent. from 1829 to 1854. In a table in the same work it appears that the Irish in Lower Canada were more than double the English and Scotch together, and that they equalled both in Upper Canada. The writer says:--
“The ‘World’s Progress,’ published by Putnam, of New York,--a reliable authority,--gives the population and increase of the principal cities in the United States. Boston, between 1840 and 1850, increased forty-five per cent. Toronto, within the same period, increased _ninety-five_ per cent. New York, the great emporium of the United States, and regarded as the most prosperous city in the world, increased, in the same time, sixty-six per cent., about thirty less than Toronto.
“The cities of St. Louis and Cincinnati, which have also experienced extraordinary prosperity, do not compare with Canada any better. In the thirty years preceding 1850, the population of St. Louis increased fifteen times. In the thirty-three years preceding the same year, Toronto increased _eighteen times_. And Cincinnati increased, in the same period given to St. Louis, but twelve times.
“Hamilton, a beautiful Canadian city at the head of Lake Ontario, and founded much more recently than Toronto, has also had almost unexampled prosperity. In 1836 its population was but 2,846, in 1854 it was upwards of 20,000.
“London, still farther west in Upper Canada, and a yet more recently-founded city than Hamilton, being surveyed as a wilderness little more than twenty-five years ago, has now upwards of ten thousand inhabitants.
“The City of Ottawa, recently called after the magnificent river of that name, and upon which it is situated, has now above 10,000 inhabitants, although in 1830 it had but 140 houses, including mere sheds and shanties; and the property upon which it is built was purchased, not many years before, for _eighty pounds_.
“The Town of Bradford, situated between Hamilton and London, and whose site was an absolute wilderness twenty-five years ago, has now a population of 6,000, and has increased, in ten years, upwards of _three hundred per cent._; and this without any other stimulant or cause save the business arising from the settlement of a fine country adjacent to it.
“The Towns of Belleville, Cobourg, Woodstock, Goderich, St. Catherine’s, Paris, Stratford, Port Hope, and Dundas, in Upper Canada, show similar prosperity, some of them having increased in a ratio even greater than that of Toronto, and all of them but so many evidences of the improvement of the country, and the growth of business and population around them.
“That some of the smaller towns in the United States have enjoyed equal prosperity I can readily believe, from the circumstance of a large population suddenly filling up the country contiguous to them. Buffalo and Chicago, too, as cities, are magnificent and unparalleled examples of the business, the energy, and the progress, of the United States. But that Toronto should have quietly and unostentatiously increased in population in a greater ratio than New York, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, and that the other cities and towns of Upper Canada should have kept pace with the Capital, is a fact creditable alike to the steady industry and the noiseless enterprise of the Canadian people.
“Although Lower Canada, from the circumstance already alluded to of the tide of emigration flowing westward, has not advanced so rapidly as her sister Province, yet some of her counties and cities have recently made great progress. In the seven years preceding 1851, the fine County of Megantic, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, and through which the Quebec and Richmond Railroad passes, increased a hundred and sixteen per cent.; the County of Ottawa, eighty-five; the County of Drummond, seventy-eight; and the County of Sherbrooke, fifty. The City of Montreal, probably the most substantially-built city in America, and certainly one of the most beautiful, has trebled her population in thirty-four years. The ancient City of Quebec has more than doubled her population in the same time, and Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu, has increased upwards of four times; showing that Lower Canada, with all the disadvantages of a feudal tenure, and of being generally looked upon as less desirable for settlement than the West, has quietly but justly put in her claim to a portion of the honour awarded to America for her progress.”
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 60,000,000_l._ sterling, whilst the live stock in the same Province was estimated to be worth nearly 9,000,000_l._ In 1860 the value of the timber exported was, 1,750,000_l._, and the forest yielded altogether just 2,000,000_l._ sterling. As there is reason to know that in 1851 the value of agricultural exports was 6,000,000_l._, 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:--
TABLE of Mean Monthly and Animal Temperature at Toronto, Canada West, from 1840 to 1859, taken from the Records of the Provincial Magnetic Observatory, by Professor Kingston.
+-----+--------------------------------------------+ | | MONTHS. | +-----+--------------------------------------------+ | | Jan.| Feb.|March.| April.| May.|June.|July.| +-----+-----+-----+------+-------+-----+-----+-----+ | | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | |1840}|23.72|22.83| 30.07| 41.00 |51.38|61.27|67.06| |1859}| | | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+------+-------+-----+-----+-----+
+-----+-----------------------------+--------+ | | MONTHS. | Mean | +-----+-----------------------------+ Annual.| | | Aug.|Sept.| Oct.| Nov | Dec | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------+ | | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | ° | |1840}|66.12|57.98|45.27|36.65|25.97| 44.11 | |1859}| | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------+
MEAN Monthly and Annual Fall of Rain at Toronto, from 1840 to 1859.
+-----+--------------------------------------------+ | | MONTHS. | +-----+--------------------------------------------+ | |Jan. |Feb. |March.|April. | May.|June.|July.| +-----+-----+-----+------+-------+-----+-----+-----+ | | In. | In. | In. | In. | In. | In. | In. | |1840}|1.480|1.043|1.553 | 2.492 |3.305|3.198|3.490| |1859}| | | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+------+-------+-----+-----+-----+
+-----+-----------------------------+--------+ | | MONTHS. | Mean | +-----+-----------------------------+ Annual.| | | Aug.|Sept.| Oct.| Nov.| Dec.| | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------+ | | In. | In. | In. | In. | In. | In. | |1840}|2.927|4.099|2.557|3.109|1.606| 30.859 | |1859}| | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------+
The Rev. Mr. Hope, who has been indefatigable in his efforts to promote the interest of his adopted country, quotes the following passage from the Toronto _Globe_ of September 21st, 1860, to show that people at home are much mistaken in considering Canada a region of frost and snow.
“The display of fruit, in quantity and quality, surpassed what has been shown at any previous Exhibition. The results in this department were very satisfactory, proving that the climate of Canada admirably adapts it for the raising of many of the most valuable kinds of fruit. One of the principal exhibitors was Mr. Beadle of St. Catharine’s nurseries. On one side of the central stand in the Crystal Palace, he had 115 plates of apples, pears, peaches, &c., and 30 jars of cherries, currants, raspberries, blackberries, &c. Mr. Beadle exhibited ten varieties of peaches grown in the open air. Several of these varieties were of very large dimensions, and were much admired for the delicate richness of their tints. He exhibited also numerous varieties of apples; 41 in one collection of three of each sort, and 20 in another collection of six of each sort. He had also a large show of pears, comprising a large number of varieties. Among the varieties of open-air grapes shown by Mr. Beadle, were the Blood-blacks, the Delaware, the Diana, the Northern Muscadine, the Perkins, Sage’s Mammoth, and the Wild Fox.”
In 1828, when the whole population of Upper Canada amounted to 185,500 inhabitants, the number of acres under agricultural improvement was 570,000, or about 3-1/14 for each individual; in 1851 the average for each inhabitant was very nearly four acres. The comparative progress of Upper and Lower Canada, in bringing the forest-clad wilderness into cultivation, may be inferred from the following table:--
LOWER CANADA. UPPER CANADA.
Year. No. acres cultivated. No. acres cultivated. 1831 2,065,913 818,432 1844 2,802,317 2,166,101 1851 3,605,376 3,695,763
Hence, in a period of twenty years, Lower Canada increased her cultivated acres by ·75, and Upper Canada by 3·5. Before proceeding to describe in detail the progress of agriculture in Upper Canada, it will be advisable to glance at the efforts made by societies and the Government of the Province to elevate the condition of husbandry in all its departments, and to induce the people at large to join hand in hand in the march of improvement.
The Board of Agriculture for Lower Canada took decisive steps during the year 1862 to secure the proper disbursements of the provincial grant, and to devote liberal awards of public money to the promotion of agricultural industry in all its important branches. The Lower Canadian Provincial Shows had previously partaken more of the character of an agricultural festival than of a meeting for the purpose of securing the progress of the Science and Art of Agriculture by fair and open competition and peaceful rivalry. In this respect they differed materially from the same annual expositions in Upper Canada, where astonishing advances in the proper direction had been made. The Board determined to establish an Agricultural Museum, and to give assistance to county societies towards the importation of improved breeds of horses, cattle and sheep. The Board is willing to advance to any society funds for the purchase of stock, retaining one-third of the annual government allowance for three successive years to discharge the debt thus incurred. If this new spirit of enterprise should continue, the progress of agriculture in Lower Canada will be much accelerated. Although it must be acknowledged that in the face of many difficulties, national prejudices, and peculiarities of character, a very marked improvement has taken place in many departments of husbandry, and in many parts of the Lower Province, much, very much, remains to be done. The influence exercised by the Agricultural School at St. Anne is already favourably felt, and this establishment appears likely to work a beneficial change in Lower Canadian husbandry. The details of its operations show its great utility.
The indirect assistance given by the Imperial Government to Agriculture in Upper Canada dates from a much earlier period than the encouragement given to Agricultural Societies by the Provincial Government; for we find among the donations of George III. to the U. E. Loyalists the old English plough. It consisted of a small piece of iron fixed to the coulter, having the shape of the