ENPages
(seq. 21)
17
whole Country would be so difficult & destitute of communication a to be next to uninhabitable but that noble river which is navigable for the largest ships to Quebec and every where deep enough for all the Inland navigation of Canada quite to the falls fo Niagara is the great Channell of com= =munication between the different parts of the Country
Indeed Canada is but a narrow slip of cultivated land along the Banks of this river which to such parts answer every purpose that can be wished of traveling and the conveyance of Merchandize and the product of the Farms to the Towns of Quebec Montreal and Trois rivieres in each of which are regular marketts
The unsettled country which includes all but the banks of the River is a forest generally filled with various sorts of pines. Oaks. birch etc. - many of the trees
are
(seq. 22)
18
are large. In parts of the forests the underwood is thick in other there is none at all. The soil in them has the same varieties as in the cultivated feilds. Large tracts are excellent and would if cleared of wood produce as good crops as any of the feilds now in culture but there is not Inhabitants enough to extend the cultivation.
I may observe that all the immense tracts of Country to the south of the river St. Lawrence which is part of New England and Nova Scotia has very fine tracts in it by report of the Indians which are not capable of cultivation.
It forms a square of three hundred miles every way which is much larger than Great Britain and consists of forests on a good soil or rich marshes.
Cultivation
(seq. 23)
19
Cultivation would improve the Climate - drive away the fogs and make the country much more inhabitable than at present ~
New England
This province lies between 41º and 45º North Latitude but like all the territories of America it must not have an Idea formed of its climate by a comparision with the European paralells~
That latitude in the latter is the southern parts of France and the northern ones of Spain in which the Climate is unexceptionable but in New England the winter is much longer than it is here and at the same time severe beyond any thing we
ever
(seq. 24)
20
ever experience in the sharpest frosts
The summer in heat exceeds that of Spain and it comes as it does in most parts of North America without the intervention of a spring but what is worse they sometimes experience tho not so often as farther to the South sudden changes from Hot to Cold when the North west wind blows but in general the weather is pretty uniform in both summer and Winter. The sky is clear and serene & for some months together exhibits a pure auzure expanse without a Cloud or speck to be seen
The Climate has been vastly improved since the Country has been cleared and brought into Cultivation. The cold in winter is less intense the air in summer purer and the country in general much more wholesome.
It is the climate of this province which intirely regulates its agriculture and therefore should be well
attended
(seq. 25)
21
attended to the great heat in summer and the severe frosts in winter with the North west winds which blow with such sharpness these render the Culture of common wheat not near so advantageous as that of Maise.
The soil of this province differs considerably as may be supposed ina country of such great extent. The south and Eastern parts are the most fertile such as Masachusets Bay-Connecticut Rhode Island and the whole tract that borders on New York quite to Lake Champlain. In these territories are found very considerable tracts of fine and rich land. It consists of black mould on a red loam or Clay - of loams some stoney but not therfore unfertile and parts of clay alone which is not their worst land. They have also very good sandy land which soil agrees best with their Capital production Maise.
New England being the oldest of our American
Colonies