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  HISTORY OF
  FARMING IN
  ONTARIO

  BY

  C. C. JAMES

  [Illustration: Publisher's Device]

  REPRINTED FROM

  CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES

  A HISTORY OF THE CANADIAN PEOPLE
  AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS
  BY ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES

  EDITED BY

  ADAM SHORTT AND A. G. DOUGHTY




  HISTORY OF FARMING
  IN ONTARIO

  BY

  C. C. JAMES

  C.M.G.

  [Illustration: Publisher's Device]

  TORONTO
  GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
  1914




This Volume consists of a Reprint, for private circulation only, of the
One Hundred and Sixteenth Signed Contribution contained in CANADA AND
ITS PROVINCES, a History of the Canadian People and their Institutions
by One Hundred Associates.

Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty, General Editors




HISTORY OF FARMING


THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

From the most southern point of Ontario on Lake Erie, near the 42nd
parallel of latitude, to Moose Factory on James Bay, the distance is
about 750 miles. From the eastern boundary on the Ottawa and St Lawrence
Rivers to Kenora at the Manitoba boundary, the distance is about 1000
miles. The area lying within these extremes is about 220,000 square
miles. In 1912 a northern addition of over 100,000 square miles was made
to the surface area of the province, but it is doubtful whether the
agricultural lands will thereby be increased. Of this large area about
25,000,000 acres are occupied and assessed, including farm lands and
town and city sites. It will be seen, therefore, that only a small
fraction of the province has, as yet, been occupied. Practically all the
occupied area lies south of a line drawn through Montreal, Ottawa, and
Sault Ste Marie, and it forms part of the great productive zone of the
continent.

The next point to be noted is the irregularity of the boundary-line, the
greater portion of which is water--Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario,
the St Lawrence River, the Ottawa River, James Bay, and Hudson Bay. The
modifying effect of great bodies of water must be considered in studying
the agricultural possibilities of Ontario.

Across this great area of irregular outline there passes a branch of
the Archaean rocks running in a north-western direction and forming a
watershed, which turns some of the streams to Hudson Bay and the others
to the St Lawrence system. An undulating surface has resulted, more or
less filled with lakes, and almost lavishly supplied with streams, which
are of prime importance for agricultural life and of incalculable value
for commercial purposes. To these old rocks which form the backbone of
the province may be traced the origin of the large stretches of rich
soil with which the province abounds.

An examination of the map, and even a limited knowledge of the
geological history of the province, will lead to