THE ST. LAWRENCE LOWLANDS are underlain by nearly horizontal Palaeozoic strata, and covered with glacial debris and river deposits ; they are, on the whole, flat or gently undulating, fertile, and suitable for cultivation. The climate is somewhat more extreme than in the Maritime Provinces, but less so than in the centre of Canada. Its general character is indicated by the undernoted figures :— The precipitation of the whole region is considerable, being between 30 and 40 inches ; most of the cyclonic disturbances which pass across North America leave by the St. Lawrence valley.
The agriculture and manufactures of Ontario and Quebec are practically confined to the St. Lawrence Lowlands, where soil and climate are favourable, and where the rivers and lakes offered a great means of communication along which settlement took place.
The change in agricultural conditions, indicated in the section on the Maritime Provinces, is more pronounced in this region, and especially in Ontario. During the last thirty years the area under wheat has decreased, while increased attention has been paid to dairying, fruit-farming, and stock-raising. The change was due to the opening up of the wheatfields of the west ; the eastern farmer, his land exhausted by successive crops of wheat, found himself unable to compete with the virgin soils of the west, and after a time abandoned the cultivation of that cereal in the less suitable districts, finding in the products of the dairy, the orchard, and the pasture, articles for which there was a considerable demand both at home and abroad. The change is less marked in Quebec, where the main object of the French habitant is to obtain from his farm a living for himself and his family rather than to grow for the market, and where the great conservatism of the bulk of the people renders them impervious to new ideas.
Manufactures in Canada are still in an early stage of development, and consist chiefly in preparing the products of the farm, the mine, and the forest for export abroad. Further progress has been retarded by a variety of conditions. For one thing there is not a large amount of available capital ; much money has been invested in land and in agriculture ; much is required to finance agriculturists at certain seasons of the year ; and large sums have also been spent in laying down railways and in opening up communications. Another
drawback has been the smallness of the Canadian market ; the French habitant has always made it his aim to purchase as little as possible ; for long the Ontario farmer was too poor to buy much ; export to a foreign country was impossible. Moreover, the Cana dian, belonging to an essentially agricultural community, was not, until recently, seriously interested in manufactures ; and there was the additional difficulty that the requisite skill was not always easily obtainable. On the other hand, Canada has great advantages in her large exports of wheat and timber, both offering opportunities for the expenditure of additional labour ; in her mineral wealth, which is only now becoming properly known ; in her rapidly increasing agricultural population, demanding alike food and clothing, and the means wherewith to cultivate the soil ; in her expanding railway system, with its constant demands for rolling stock ; and in all the needs of a vigorous and prosperous community.
The St. Lawrence Lowlands contain the chief manufacturing districts in the country, and about 80 per cent. of the total value of the manufactured products of the Dominion may be credited to the two provinces of Quebec and Ontario, the industrial life of which is largely, though not entirely, concentrated in the lowlands.
Ottawa is the centre of the timber industry ; pulp-mills have been established in several places where water-power is available ; and paper is manufactured at Toronto. The tanning of leather and the manufacture of boots and shoes are leading industries of Quebec, and Montreal provides the Dominion with ready-made clothing. Flour-milling is carried on at a number of towns, especi ally in Ontario, and butter and cheese are made for export at thousands of places throughout the region. Cotton is manufac tured near Quebec with power derived from the Montmorency Falls, and at Sherbrooke and elsewhere in the Eastern Townships. Iron and steel works have been established, among other places, at Montreal, Hamilton, and Toronto, where agricultural implements are also manufactured.