The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Let us now turn to the map of British America. Beginning at the east,
the waters of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are rich
in fisheries. They yield salmon, mackerel, codfish, haddock, ling,
herring, and oysters, in great abundance. Newfoundland has not enough
of agriculture to save its own population from absolute suffering
when there is a failure in the catch of fish along its shores. It
possesses rich though undeveloped deposits of copper, iron, and other
ores. Prince Edward Island, in the centre of the mackerel fisheries,
is, perhaps, more favored by nature than the other maritime
provinces. Every acre of its surface may be reckoned as arable land.
Its agriculture, always limited to the growth of hay, oats, potatoes,
and turnips, is only partially developed, though even now yielding
a considerable surplus for export. Its forests are exhausted of
timber. And though, from habit, its people still continue to build
wooden ships to send "home" for sale, they are obliged to import
the material for their construction. The southern part of Nova
Scotia contains a considerable portion of good farm lands; yielding
the invariable crops of hay, oats, potatoes, and turnips. In some
districts, apples and pears, of excellent quality, are grown in
abundance. The eastern portion, especially the island of Cape Breton,
is rich in coal, lime, freestone, and marble; all so placed as to be
easily accessible to commerce. Even now, despite protective duties
on colonial products, the streets of some of our Atlantic cities are
lighted with gas from Nova Scotia coal.
Gold has been found in sufficient quantity to afford opportunity
for speculation, but not for profit. The yield for 1867 was 27,583
oz. = $413,745; for 1868, 20,541 oz. = $308,115. The same amount of
capital applied to the growing of potatoes would doubtless afford
a much larger return. Coal is the most important mineral product;
and its chief market is found in the United States. The net amount
mined in one year was 418,313 tons; sold for home consumption and
to neighboring colonies, 176,392 tons; sent to the United States,
241,921 tons.
New Brunswick offers the same agricultural products as the
neighboring provinces of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. A
great part of its territory, like the northern part of Maine, is
cold, rocky, and inarable. But its forests yield large quantities
of pine lumber, oak, beech, maple, and other valuable woods, and
bark for tanning leather. This source of wealth is, however, rapidly
failing. The forests begin to give evidence of exhaustion. St.
John already asks what shall be her resource when the lumber is
gone. Formerly, ship-building was a large interest in these lower
provinces. But from the growing scarcity of ship timber, as well as
from the more general use of iron vessels, it has been declining from
year to year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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