ever passed by; a grove of orange trees was nothing in comparison to it. Since it was such a novelty I am mentioning it, for it is the first instance I ever knew of. The farmer, who had one hundred swarms of bees, explained that his bees had been feeding upon the basswood trees, but now that they had got too far developed he wanted this sweet clover for later feed. And this bee-keeper averred that it fully paid him for sowing the eight acres of sweet clover. Fruit prospects were never more promising than they were last spring. Our trees were one literal mass of blows. If they had all borne fruit the consequence would have been most disastrous, for all the trees would have been broken down. Of course, most of them fell off. It is not frost we so much fear in Ontario for blight of our buds, for we seldom get a frost severe enough for that after the blows come. Blight usually comes from a dry east or south-east wind, blowing steadily for a couple of days. This fact is so well known that on many trees the south-east side will be perfectly void of fruit, while the north-west side, which was sheltered by the rest of the tree, will be in bearing. We shall be able to send to British markets hundreds of thousands of apples this fall, which over there they so highly prize. But let the fruit-grower ever remember that he can’t get the prized red cheeks on his fruit unless Old Sol shines upon it. In order that he may do so the trees must be pruned quite open to let him peep among the branches. A goodly and beautiful land we possess. We can raise anything which will grow in this temperate zone. Our lands are fat and not exhausted. Artificial manures we do not need, and they are scarcely known among us. In thickly populated Germany and Switzerland hillsides are spaded where too steep for the plough, and the husbandman succeeds in that method upon small holdings. The French peasant, to whom ten acres is a good-sized farm, does not plough his land, but turns it over, away down deep, fourteen inches or so, with a bent bill-hook, and he succeeds, and he and his family are independent and save money. We have room in Canada, not speaking of the North-West, for millions upon millions of persons, who will cultivate many patches of land now unused or in pasture. Health, independence and success await those who will get upon our lands and make an honest, downright manly effort. CHAPTER XII. Ontario in June--Snake fences--Road-work--Alsike clover fields--A natural grazing country--Barley and marrowfat peas--Ontario in July--Barley in full head--Ontario is a garden--Lake Ontario surpasses Lake Geneva or Lake Leman--Summer delights--Fair complexions of the people--Approach of the autumnal season--Luxuriant orchards.