em in the face; and to
which, but for such salutary precaution, the majority of them
must have long ago fallen victims. These dreadful deficiencies
have been the natural and inevitable result of a want of market;
since no person will expend his time and means in producing that
which will not ensure him an adequate return for his pains. So
long, therefore, as other channels of industry, yielding a more
certain compensation for labour, were open, the colonist would
naturally prefer such more profitable occupation, to the
comparatively precarious and unproductive culture of his land;
and it was accordingly found, that many, who had till then
devoted their sole attention to agriculture, abandoned at this
period all tillage but such as was necessary for the support of
their households, and employed the funds which they had acquired
by the former successful cultivation of their farms, in the
purchase and rearing of cattle, which continued a certain
lucrative employment, long after agricultural produce had become
of a depreciated and precarious value. The reason why these two
branches of husbandry did not keep pace in this as in other
countries, is obvious, from the remoteness of its situation,
which rendered the conveyance of cattle thither so extremely
difficult and expensive, that but a very limited supply of them
was furnished, in comparison with its necessities. The increase,
therefore, of these cattle could only be proportionate to their
number; while no bounds were as yet assigned to the extension of
agriculture, but, on the contrary, the whole combined energies of
the colonists directed to this single channel, by the great
demand which existed for their produce. Not but that the rearing
of cattle was from the commencement equally, and indeed far more
profitable than the cultivation of the land; but their exorbitant
price excluded all but a few great capitalists from embarking in
so profitable an undertaking; while, on the contrary, a stock of
provisions with a few axes and hoes, and a good pair of hands to
wield them, were the principal requisites for an agricultural
establishment; and, indeed, in the early period of this
settlement, all these essentials were supplied the colonists by
the liberality of the government, till sufficient time had
elapsed for the application of the produce of their farms to
their own support.

[* This epoch may be dated so far back as 1804: the
harvest of that year was so abundant, and