Читать книгу Documents Relating to the Constitutional History of Canada 1759-1791, Part I - Adam Shortt - Страница 147

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The Laziness of the people, & the alluring & momentary Advantages they reaped from their Traffick with the Indians in the Upper Countrys, & the Counterband Trade they Carried on with the English Colonies, have hitherto prevented the progress of Husbandry, so that out of very near One Hundred Thousand of Acres of Land, granted by the Seigneurs of the different Parishes, there are not sixteen Thousand under Cultivation, whereof hardly Five Thousand have been Employed for sowing of Wheat, which for many years past have not been sufficient for supplying the Inhabitants of this Government with Bread; and has obliged them to procure Yearly from the Governments of Montreal, or Quebec, several Thousand Bushells of Wheat, in Exchange for Fish, Oats, & Tobacco. The Soil tho' light & sandy in some Parishes produces in general, good Crops of Wheat, Oats, Pease, & all sorts of Vegetables. Tho' the Lands are not near so well Cultivated as they might be, Fruit trees such as Apples, Pears, & Plumbs, have been often planted in this Government, but don't thrive — The Inhabitants attribute it to a Stratum of marle that lyes within a foot, or fourteen inches from the surface, which Occasions the Tree to Decay, as soon as the Root touches it. In the sandy Parts of this Government, musk & water melons are produced in great abundance, good of their kind, and with very little trouble. The difficulty for some years past for procuring Tobacco, from the English Colonies, has encouraged the Inhabitants of this Government to Cultivate it, by which means many of their Corn Fields have been turned to that use, and those Lands greatly Impoverished.