56 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

amount in each case was smrll, But in the aggregate it was so heavy a drain upon the community that the prosperity of Prince Edward Island was greatly hindered. Besides this, there was a feeling prevalent that the men who subdued the forest and and gave all its value to the land, ought not to be com- pelled to pay rent to the N \ heirs and assigns of those who had given nothing i i for their right to act as landlords, and who had each and all neglected to fulfil the conditions upon which they re- ceived their g r ants from the Crown. After a long agitation, the rights of the landlords were surrendered as the result of an en- forced sale and pur- chase, shortly after the Island became a mem- ber of the Canadian

Confederation; and the farmers are now, with

rare exceptions, holders of ' 1' their lands in fee simple. The soil of Prince Ed- ' ward Island is not strong in the sense that the soil of Ont— ario and some of the West-

ern and middle States is strong. But it responds readily and generously to good cultivation. It is for the most part light, warm and easily tilled. When well manured it imparts a richer sheen to the green 05 its meadows and grainfields than any soil in America. Its productiveness is, upon the whole, at least equal to that of any of the older Provinces of Canada. According to the census of 1391, the proportion of oats and potatoes grown in the Province, per thousmd acres, is far higher than that of any other part of Canada east of the great prairies, while the proportion of wheat, turnips,

scan: NEAR NEW GLASGOW

and other grains and roots is, on the average, equally high. In the year 1890, the agricultural products of about fifteen thousand farmers in Prince Edward Island, cultivating or partially cultivating 1,239,090'acres, included:—

Wheat, - — - - 596,761 bushels. [ Turnips - - - 2,005,453 bushels. Barley - - - — 147,880 " LA’pples - - - - 52,018 ” Oats — - - — 2,922,552 " {Plums — — — — 1,479 " Buckwheat - - - 84,460 ” 1;.Cherries - - - 4,265 ”

Potatoes - — - 7,071,308 " {Hay - - — 132,659 tons.