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lake lays open all Canada and the west-its commerce and importance are likely to augment. In anticipation of this, it has already been incorporated into a city. My readers must not interpret this as indicating a very rapid or high degree of prosperity, since the language of this State, as I have already explained, recognises nothing between a village and a city.

Through this port, a large part of Upper Canada is supplied with salt from the salines of Syracuse; and along the wharfs lay numerous little mountains of saltcasks, waiting to be shipped.

From Oswego to Sackett's Harbour was a run of fortyfive miles, along a shore which is still very much wooded. Now and then, in the midst of the forest, a few burnings became visible, showing the work of clearing to be still in progress.

Beyond Sackett's Harbour, on its north-eastern side, is laid out the railway now in progress, which is to connect Kingston in Upper Canada, across the Ten Thousand Isles, with Rome in the State of New York, and thence by the existing line with Albany. It will be a great boon to Canada when it is finished, and a matter of much moment also to the city of New York.

The village of Sackett's Harbour shows nothing to arrest attention, beyond its hotel, and some signs of increase in size. After stopping about an hour we started again for Kingston, which is forty miles across the lake, making in all a distance, by this route, of two hundred and thirty miles from Lewiston to Kingston.

The harbour (Sackett's) and the islands about its mouth, and among which we steamed, made this part of the voyage very pleasant. We passed the main channel of the St Lawrence, which is about a mile in width, bore up N. by E. at Simcoe Island, on which the lighthouse stands, and then sailed a straight course of many miles for Kingston. Long before the eye could make out the

262 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANADA AND NEW YORK.

houses of the city, the towers of a lofty building raised themselves like a beacon, far above every other object in massive proportions and in height. As we neared the coast this proved to be the Roman Catholic cathedral, occupying the highest ground in the city. In many other parts of North America, as well as here, I have found the Romish churches ambitiously securing the most prominent and imposing positions. They are all selected with an eye to the future.

At 6 P.M. we landed on the pier. I almost felt myself at home again as I set my foot on shore in sight of the British flag; and the kind welcome of a Kingston family added double pleasure to the agreeable week I subsequently spent in this place.

In manners and in sympathies, a sensible difference still prevails between Upper Canada and western New York. Notwithstanding the proximity of the two countries, and the increasing intercourse between them, this will probably long continue to be the case.

Part of the difference which is felt, in crossing from either side, may be in idea only, and connected with one's political prejudices, republican or monarchical; yet sensible differences, both in men and women, exist nevertheless. One feels the de trop the tendency to exaggerate among the men on the one side, obtruding itself sometimes offensively, especially in the newer States of the Union, and among the newer people. An opposite tendency, and not unfrequently symptoms of discontent lurking at the corners of the mouth, are met with along the Canadian border, so often as to arrest attention to the circumstance. But the Upper Canadians have in themselves, and in their country, the materials of a firstrate people, if their eager spirit, anxious too speedily to excel, would permit them to proceed steadily on their way.

The Upper Canadian women have their character too.

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"I'll go over to Canada for a wife when I marry, said a young south-shore farmer to his friend. "When I come home at night she'll have a nice blazing fire on, and a clean kitchen, and a comfortable supper for me; but if I marry a New Yorker, it'll be, when I come home, 'John, go down to the well for some water, to make the tea; or, 'John, go and bring some logs to put on the fire, to boil the kettle.' No, no; a Canadian woman's the wife for me.'

One circumstance which will materially modify the population on the opposite shores is the large number of Germans who have settled in the States, while the population of Upper Canada is almost wholly British. This, I think, promises a more active future to Canada than the population of New York would give her.

I have already drawn attention to some of the places in the valley of the Mohawk, where Germans especially abound. But all along the western region they are numerous. In Buffalo, the German correspondence is so extensive that a separate bureau, as I was informed, is established at the post-office for German letters; and in the far north-western State of Minnesota-the New England of the West-the annual message of Governor Ramsay to the Legislature for 1850 was printed in German as well as English, which shows how many of that tongue are already numbered among its adventurous inhabitants.

CHAPTER X.

Kingston.-Soils of its neighbourhood.-Importance of agriculture in Canada.-Show of the Upper Canada Agricultural Society.-Porkraising in the provinces.-Adaptation of breeds to local circumstances. Implements in the show-yard.-Infancy of root-culture in the province.- Alleged difficulty in the turnip-culture.-Rocky Mountain beans.-Canadian coffee.-British sympathy with colonial grievances.-Alleged pusillanimity of the Governor-general.-Farming in Home district.-Wheat the surest crop in Canada West.— Excellence of the winter wheat.-Best wheat-belt round Lake Ontario. Total produce of Canada West, and average yield per acre.— Large consumption of oats.-Less productiveness of the wheat-crop than in former times.-Cause of this.-Social position of the farming class in Upper Canada.-Means of improvement now in progress.— United Empire Loyalists.—Limited capital of the farming proprietors.-Condition of the grants made to the United Empire Loyalists.-Renting of land, and farming on shares.-Indian-corn whisky, and malt.-Extensive manufacture of such whisky at Cincinnati in Ohio.-Use of Indian corn in the Canadian distilleries, and of mixed rye and pease.--Whisky from pease.-Prospects of Kingston.-The Ten Thousand Isles of the River St Lawrence.-Descending the rapids.-The Sault St Louis.-Nature of this rapid, and of the descent.-Approach to Montreal.-Metamorphic limestone rich in phosphate of lime.-Agricultural value of this rock, and of the mineral phosphate as an article of export.-Deposits of mineral phosphate in the State of New York.-Origin or source of this mineral phosphate, and of garnet, graphite, and other minerals found in crystalline limestones.-Graphite and phosphate of lime in an altered rock, evidences of the former presence of organised bodies. -The crystalline limestone interstratified with gneiss.-Singular contortions exhibited by the limestone.-Dr Emmon's explanation of the cause.

SEPT. 19.-Kingston, on my arrival, partook of two different forms of excitement-one in common with the

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whole province, arising out of the political differences and recent burnings at Montreal; the other peculiarly its own-connected with the show of the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada, which was to be held in its suburbs during the course of the week. The interest taken by all parties in the political question was great; and the comments on the procedure of the Government and the Governor-general, numerous and free. The influence of all this was not insensible upon the affairs of the agricultural meeting, at which, until almost the last hour, his Excellency's presence was expected. On the whole, however, the meeting went off very well, and very creditably to the agriculture of the province-though with the introduction into the after-dinner speeches of more politics than would have been permitted by an experienced chairman on such occasions at home.

The neighbourhood of Kingston is an inferior agricultural district. A thin, generally light soil, rests on the Trenton limestone-a solid deposit of dark-blue fossiliferous rock, which here skirts the northern shores of the lake, and extends inland to a considerable distance. The richest lands of this division of Canada lie towards the north and west, a portion of the province which I regretted that my previous arrangements did not permit me to visit.

In Canada, every one is satisfied of the paramount importance of the agricultural interest; a very general desire exists, therefore, to advance it by every reasonable or available means. The superior class of settlers, of whom so many are scattered over Upper Canada, will greatly facilitate the adoption of such means of improvement as are usually employed, or are easily available by agricultural societies.

The Agricultural Society of Upper Canada had been in existence only three years, and the excited state of political parties had retarded that general union, even