Enoch Alsop, who had been armourer to the Hudson’s Bay Company at Moose river, informed the investigating Committee of 1749 that he had sown barley and oats there, the same seed three years successively, and that it grew very well. He sowed a handful or two of barley and oats at first, mixed with dust and ashes, which produced two or three quarts or a gallon of barley, and he thinks in the third year he had above half a bushel. Governor Stanton then FORBADE HIM TO SOW ANY MORE but gave no reason for such prohibition. Robert Griffin, another of the witnesses, stated that he had been informed that the soil one hundred miles up the country would produce corn. He had seen oats grow to perfection at Albany. He had also seen peas, beans, turnips, salading (_sic_) and cabbage, and some few carrots. The beans were generally blighted, but the turnips, peas and cabbage, were “in great plenty and perfection.” They had fresh seed sent over every year. The land was then cultivated for about a mile round Albany, being dug with spades upon the breaking of the frost, which generally happened from April 20 to 27. In his evidence, Mr. Joseph Robson, perhaps the principal witness, explained that there was grass in abundance a yard high in the most northern parts of Hudson bay region he had seen. He did not believe corn would grow in the far north but grain would grow over large areas. He had eaten peas and beans which had been grown at York Factory, in latitude 57°, but he never knew any other corn tried there. The quantity of peas and beans he spoke of was as much as six or eight people could eat, but there were a thousand acres of ground in latitude 57°, which, if cultivated, would produce the same, and there was a much larger tract to the southward. The peas and beans grew by common cultivation, without any force, but the produce was not so large as in England. Being asked if it would not be a great advantage to the Company to grow corn at York Factory or their other settlements, Mr. Robson said it would doubtless be so, and it was reasonable to think they would do it, but there were many things not done which would be of great advantage besides that, and there must be some secret cause for it to which the witness was a stranger. It had been demonstrated that the soil about Hudson bay would bear roots, such as carrots, radishes and turnips. It also produced coleworts, and all of these roots and greens grew in as great perfection as they do in England; yet he did not think that there were two acres cultivated at both the factories where he had resided.