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eminent authority, Sir J. \V. Dawson, F. R. S. C. M. (3., Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University, Montreal, says :——‘ The great wealth of Prince Edward Island consists in its fertile soil, and the preservation of this in a productive state is an object of imperative importance. The ordinary soil of the Island is a bright, red loam, passing into stiff clay on the one hand, and sandy loam on the other. Naturally it contains all the mineral requisites for cultivated crops, while its abounding in peroxide of iron enables it rapidly to digest organic manures, and also to retain well their ammoniacal products. The chief natural manures afforded by the Island, and which may be used in addition to the farm manures to increase the fertility of the soil, or restore it when exhausted, are,—(t). Mussel mud, or oyster shell mud of the bays. Experience has proved this to be of the greatest value. (2). Peat and mars/z mud and swamp soil. These afford organic matters to the run out soil, at a very cheap rate. (3). Seaweed, which can be obtained in large quantities on many parts of the shores, and is of great manural value, whether fresh or composted (4). Fish qflal. The heads and bones of cod are more especially of much practical importance. (5). Limestone. The brown earthy limestones of the Island are of much value in affording a supply of this material, as well as small quantities of phosphates and alkalies. Where manures require to be purchased from abroad, those that will be found to produce the greatest effects are those capable of affording phosphates and alkalies, more especially bone earth, super-phosphates of lime and guano; but when fish ofi'al and seaweed can be procured in sufi‘icient quantity, or when good dressings of the oyster deposit are applied, these foreign aids may well be dispensed with, at least for many years.’ Of this deposit Professor Sheldon speaks as follows :—‘The Island possesses one advantage which is unique and very valuable. I refer now to its thick beds of “mussel mud” or “oyster mud," which are found in all bays and river mouths. The deposit, which is commonly many feet thick, consists of the organic remains of countless generations of oysters, mussels, clams, and other bivalves of the ocean, and of crustaceous animals generally. The shells are generally more or less intact, embedded in a dense deposit of mud-like stuff, which is found to be a fertilizer of singular value and potency. The supply of it is said to be almost inexhaustible, and it is indeed a mine of wealth to the Island. A good dressing of it secures fertility in a striking manner to the poorest soils; clover grows after it quite luxuriously, and, as it were, indigenously by its aid heavy crops of turnips and potatoes are raised, and, indeed, it may be regarded as a manure of great value and applicable to any kind of crop. Nor is it soon exhausted, for the shells in it decay year by year, throwing

in

off a film of fertilizing matter.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

According to the census of 1891, the proportion of oats and potatoes grown in the Province per thousand acres is higher