Ontario is the richest agricultural province in the Dominion. Her agricultural wealth in 1927 was estimated to be $2,265,000,000 (c. £453,000,000). Yet the percentage of the value of the net production in the industry to the total net out put of production of all industries is overtopped by that of manufactures, agriculture representing 27 per cent. and manu factures 4o per cent. Field crops are responsible for more than half of the annual revenue from the farms, while dairy products come next in importance. Wheat production has ceased to hold the dominant sway that it still retains in the three prairie provinces, with the consequence that farmers are not subjected to rapid changes of good or ill fortune, so common to their compatriots further west, who depend upon the fickle wheat crop. In the number of milch cows, cattle, sheep and swine, Ontario leads the other Canadian provinces, and the valuation placed on its live stock ($261,673,000, or c. L52,334,600) is more than one-third of that on all live stock in Canada. Rich fruit grow ing areas extend throughout the Niagara peninsula and along the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries and grapes are the principal commercial fruits, and fruit canning is a local industry of some importance. Over 33,000 acres in the south-western part of the province are devoted to the production of tobacco. The average farm varies from ioo to 200 acres, and the majority of farms are worked by their owners.
The manufactures of Ontario steadily in crease in importance, and the province has little difficulty in maintaining supremacy among the provinces of the Dominion in gross value of manufactured products, which in 1925 repre sented nearly 52 per cent. of those of the whole Dominion. At that date there were 9,386 establishments with an annual pro duction of $1,527,154,660 (c. L305,430,932). Some of the chief manufacturing industries and industrial products are: automo biles; flour and grist-mill products; slaughtering and meat-pack ing; pulp and paper; rubber goods; butter and cheese; electric light and power; castings and forgings; sawmills; hosiery, knit goods and gloves ; bread and other bakery products ; non-ferrous metal smelting ; printing and publishing ; agricultural implements; planing mills, and steel and rolling mill products. Most of Ontario's leading manufactures are dependent upon the primary products of forest or farm, but the automobile industry is a striking exception, since the largest quantity of its materials is imported from the United States. The province has no coal, a disadvantage offset by the presence of immense water power.
Among Canadian provinces Ontario ranks second to Quebec in the amount of horse power developed and in potential power resources. The estimated amount of power
developed in the province in January, 1928, was 1,816,00o h.p. (turbine installation), while the undeveloped amounted to 5.330,000 h.p. This power is developed principally in central electric stations, but a considerable amount is produced by pulp and paper mills and other industries. Ontario was the pioneer province in the public ownership of hydro power. In 1906 it formed the Hydro-Electric Power Commission, which bought power generated at Niagara and transmitted it at cost to the municipalities, the initial capital being provided by issues of bonds, guaranteed by the Government of Ontario. Since then the Commission has become much more than a merchant pur chasing power. It has extended its control over the generation of power on the Niagara river, and retains for public ownership the most vital force in the industry of the province. In 1926, 249 municipalities with 420,590 consumers were supplied by the Commission.
In mineral production Ontario has the largest out put and the greatest variety of products of any Canadian prov ince, and she dominates the world's nickel market. Judged by value, gold is the most important metal, with nickel, silver, and copper following in the order named. The production by quantity of these metals in three succeeding years was as follows: Practically all the commercial non-metallic minerals except coal are produced within the province, the principal ones being corun dum, graphite, mica and talc, felspar, petroleum, and salt. The richest mining territories are in Northern Ontario, where pre Cambrian rock stretches for hundreds of miles to James Bay. Petroleum and salt are found, however, in south-western Ontario.
In lumber production Ontario ranks second to British Columbia. Twenty-five different woods are commercially produced, of which eight are softwoods and seventeen are hard woods. White pine proves to have the widest market, with red pine, spruce, jack pine and hemlock ranking next in importance. Although the forest area steadily contracts with the spread of settlement, the province makes efforts at reforestation, and dis tributes at least 7,000,00o trees annually from its six nurseries. In the Algonquin National Park the ancient forest and its life are preserved intact, affording opportunity for a study of the prob lems of scientific forestry and providing in addition an excellent retreat for the tourist and sportsman. Due to her resources of timber—covering some 240,000 squares miles—Ontario is a lead ing province in pulp and paper production. In 1926 there were 45 mills in operation, of which 12 were pulp, 17 paper and 16 combined pulp and paper.