The historiographic controversy now surrounding the "agricultural crisis in Lower Canada" suggests a geographical review of the data which led to the premise of agricultural unrest during the first half of the 19th century. This article is the first of a series of two which attempt to take this review into consideration. The questions raised are primarily conceptual and methodological, and deal as much with the classical premise as with certain historians' interpretations of such spatial phenomena as land subdivision and changes in the cultivation System. It also discusses the notion that there was a lack of farm technology during that period.