consists of highly valuable cultivable land. The soil, which is well watered 
     
     with numerous springs and rivers, is formed for the most part of a rich 
     
     layer of vegetable matter above a bright loam, resting upon a stiff clay and 
     
     sandstone; the land in its natural state, being covered with timber and shrub 
     
     of every variety. The under-lying rock through the main part of the Island, 
     
     belongs to the upper Permian, capped about New London and Cavendish, 
     
     with a triangular section of Triassic of considerable size; but in Prince 
     
     County, west of Summerside, where the denudation has been greater, the 
     
     lower Permian comes to the surface. All kinds of grain and vegetables 
     
     grown in England ripen here in great perfection. The principal crops 
     
     raised are wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and turnips, of which oats and 
     
     potatoes are exported in very large quantities. Mr. J. l’. Sheldon, Professor 
     
     of Agriculture at the Wilts and Hants Agricultural College, Downton, near 
     
     Salisbury, who visited the Island in 1880, thus writes of it:—‘In some 
     
     respects this is one of the most beautiful Provinces in the Dominion, and 
     
     it has probably the largest proportion of cultivable land. The soil generally 
     
     is a red sandy loam, of one character throttghout, but differing in quality. 
     
     On the whole, the grass land of the Island and the character of the sward, 
     
     consisting as it does of indigenous clovers and a variety of finer grasses, 
     
     reminded me strongly of some portions of old England. The people, too, 
     
     are more English in appearance than those of any other of the Provinces 
     
     with the exception of New Brunswick. This is probably owing to a cooler 
     
     climate, and the contiguity of the sea. Prince Edward Island is covered 
     
     with a soil that is easy to cultivate, sound and healthy, capable of giving 
     
     excellent crops of roots, grain and grass, an honest soil that will not fail 
     
     to respond to the skill of the husbandman. The Island grows very good 
     
     wheat, and probably better oats than most other parts of the Dominion. 
     
     Of the former the crops are from 18 to 30 bushels, and of the latter 25 to 
     
     70 bushels per acre. Barley, too, makes a very nice crop. Wheat, at the 
     
     time of my visit, was worth 45. per bushel of 60 lbs., oats ts. 9d. per 
     
     bushel of 34 lbs., and barley 25. 6d. to 33. per bushel of 48 lbs. The 
     
     Island is noted for its large crops of excellent potatoes, which not [In- 
     
     commonly foot up to 250 bushels an acre of fine handsome tubers. Swedes 
     
    
   
   
    
     make a fine crop, not uncommonly reaching 750 bushels per acre of 
     
     sound and solid bulbs.’ 
     
    
   
   
    
     In addition to the natural fertility of the soil, the great facility for 
     
     obtaining manure may be set down as one of the principal advantages. In 
     
     most of the bays and rivers are found extensive deposits of musselmud, 
     
     formed by decayed oyster, clam and mussel shells. These deposits vary 
     
    
   
   
    
     from five to twenty feet in depth, and their surface is often several feet 
     
     below low water level. Machines placed upon the ice and worked by 
     
     horse power are used for raising this manure, which is then carried off by 
     
     sleds and distributed over the fields while the covering of snow still remains. 
     
     Procured in this way, in large quantities, and possessing great fertilizing 
     
     qualities, it has vastly improved the agricultural status of the Island. An