FISHERIES. OD a rio shares with the United States in the fishing advantages of the Great Lakes.. The value of the annual catch has beet above $2,500,000, about one-fourth the product hieing exported. Trout, whitefish, herring, and piekerel, in the order named, are the most impor tant.
This, the leading industry, is highly developed throughout the lowland region. The productivity is great, the acreage yield for most crops being greater than the average for the same crops in the United States. No por tion of the Dominion is superior in adaptability to mixed farming. Oats and hay lead in acreage. approximately 2,400,000 acres in each ease being the average for the six years ending with 1900. Wheat increased during that period from 950,000 acres to 1,400,000. Peas ;ire a staple crop and averaged about S00,000 acres. The average for corn and for barley has been about 500,000, the conditions being especially favorable for barley. Rye, buckwheat, beans, inangehwurzels, potatoes, and turnips are of considerable importance.
Great attention is paid to apple-raising through out the lowland especially in that por tion lying west of Toronto. here too are ex tensive vineyards. Peaches and other varieties of fruit are successfully grown.
Stock-hreeding is extensively carried on, and the province excels in the purity and quality of the various breeds raised. Cattle-raising re ceives the greatest attention; the number, con stantly gaining, exceeded 2.400,000 in 1900. The number of sheep and swine is likewise increas ing, each numbering about 1,700,000 in 1900. llorses show a decrease, the present number be ing about 600,000. Dairying is an important industry, the principal brunch being cheese making. In 1900 there were 1173 cheese fac tories, the value of whose products was $13,023, 025. This industry is rapidly growing in promi-. nence.