The cold air of the northern interior frequently flows over the province in winter. The average rainfall is about
to 45 inches. The snowfall is very heavy in the north of the province, where it exceeds ioo inches. The harbour of St. John is open throughout the year. The autumn is the best season of the year, especially during the "Indian summer," after the first frost, but before the weather has broken.
Not including the territorial sea, the area of the province is 27,985 sq.m., of which 74 are water. It thus occupies an area rather larger than that of the mainland of Scotland. The population in 1921 was 387,876; in 1881 it was 321,233. There was a marked increase (10.23%) during the decade 1911-1921. The population in 1931 was 408,219, an in crease of 20,343. The bulk of the people are of English descent, the remainder Irish and French. The Scots, so prominent in nearly all the other provinces of the Dominion, are here less conspicuous. Of the original Indian inhabitants of the province, who were of Algonquin stock and divided into two tribes, the Micmacs and the Malicites, few remain, many of whom have a greater or less proportion of white blood. The principal towns are St. John (PoP. 1931) 47,514, Moncton (20,689), and Fredericton, the capital of the province, with a population of 8,83o.
The province sends ten senators and eleven (1926) members of the House of Commons to the Federal parliament. Since the abolition of the legislative council in 1892 the provincial legislature has consisted of a lieu tenant-governor and a legislative assembly. Both city and county districts have an elective municipal system. Primary education is free and undenominational, with a compromise (1875) by which practical, though not theoretical, satisfaction is given to the Roman Catholic Church. At Fredericton there is a teachers' college and a school for the deaf and dumb. The lazaretto for lepers, at Tracadie, and the marine hospital, at St. John, are sup ported by the Dominion. At Fredericton is a small provincial university, founded in 1800 and re-established in 1859; at Sack ville is the university of Mount Allison college, under Methodist control, and at Memramcook one, working chiefly among the French, is owned by the Roman Catholics. Their interests are
more in arts than in science.
Either owing to the beauty of its scenery or to the excellence of its education New Brunswick has produced a school of poetry, headed by Charles Roberts, which is unique in the Dominion.
The great predominance of the lumber indus try has tended to keep agriculture in the background. The total area under field crops in 1926 was 891,631 acres. Of these, 10,916 ac. were wheat lands, 204.686 ac. oats, and 6,558 ac. barley. These. together with potatoes (42,744) and roots (12,235), formed the main crops. There were 559,019 ac. under hay and clover. In all the river valleys, and especially on the fertile diked lands along the head of the Bay of Fundy, many rich and pros perous farms are found, varying in size from 1 oo to 24o acres. The raising of sheep and cattle, and the production of cheese and butter, are industries of importance.
The State owns about i0,000 sq.m. of forest, and in 1925 the Crown and granted lands produced 405,203,00o ft. board measure. The most valuable and most widely-spread tree is the black spruce (Abies nigra), from which is made a yearly increasing quantity of wood-pulp for paper-making. The hemlock (Abies Canadensis), the cedar, birch, beech, oak, ash and many other valuable trees, are also widely spread. The chief ports for shipping are St. John, at the mouth of the St. John river, and Chatham, at the mouth of the Miramichi.
The great forests, through which flow numerous rivers with excellent harbours at or near their mouths, have long made New Brunswick a centre of lumbering. This industry has affected the whole development of the province, and the wilder and more unsettled line of its woodsmen contrasts with that of the farmer of Ontario or of the west.
In 1902 the Provincial Government set aside a large area of the highlands at the sources of the Tobique, Nipisiquit and Miramichi rivers for a national park and game preserve. Moose, caribou and deer may be shot in limited numbers during two autumn months in other parts of the province.