The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-05 00:00:00

COLONIAL PRODUCTS.-CANADA.

The vast extent of our American colonies, and their
value to this country as an emigration field, render au inves-
tigation of their natural resources, and of their progress in
arts and manufactures, questions of first-rate importance
and interest to the English politician and economist. The
former will be gratified by a visit to the section of the
Crystal Palace devoted to Canadian products, because it
affords such incontestable evidence of the desire of the Ca-
nadians to preserve their connexion with the mother coun.
try ; and the latter will see in the variety of products ex.
hibited sources of hitherto undeveloped wealth, and mean.
of settling all the difficulties of surplus population in the way
most consistent with humanity and the prosperity of all
parties concerned. More warmly, than perhaps any other
of our colonists, have the Canadians responded to the sum-
mons from Hyde Park. They have brought all their trea-
sures, natural and artificial, to the Gr•at Exhibition, and
they introduce to thil English merchant and manufacturer

many valuable articles which hitherto have been almost
profitless, from the ignorance that prevailed of their quali-
ties, and the consequent want of markets for their disposal,
The article to which the Canadians attach the greatest im-
portance, and which they are most anxious to bring under
the notice of their English cousins, is their timber, that is
to say as applicable to cabinet work, and distinguished
from " lumber," the trade in which has been much damaged
by recent fiscal regulations. The Canadian forests are
capable of supplying an almost limitless quantity of the
black walnut, a beautifully grained and coloured hard
wood, and the Canadian collection is almost filled with ape.
cimens of various articles of furniture, manufactured not so
much with a view of calling attention to the skill of the
artists, as of 'bowleg the capabilities of the wood fur the
purposes of the cabinetmaker. There is a suite of antique
furniture in this material from Montreal, which, perhaps,
would not come quite up to imperial notions of design or
execution, but is well calculated to display the qualities of
the American wood. In colour it is darker than the
I English or French walnut, but it takes a high polish, and
the manner in which it has submitted to the carver shows it
to be possessed of an exquisitely fine grain. For caned and
ornamented furniture this wood is admirably adapted, and
its great abundance would permit it to he supplied at an
infinitely lower rate than the English or French wood.
of the same description. Not content with showing the
capabilities of their favourite article by means of furniture
specimens in their compartment, they have erected an im-
mense trophy in the centre of the nave, composed of planks
and logs of various sorts of timber, the principal being the
black walnut, in all stages of preparation, so-that our
cabinet makers can have no difficulty in forming an opinion
as to its eligibility for the purposes of their trade. Next in
importance to the timber, are the specimens of cereal pro-
ducts and of agricultural implements. Several samples of
wheat are exhibited, both white and red, and some casks of
peas, all of which have been much visited by English farmers,
and pronounced by those competent judges to be excellent in
quality. The invoice price of the former is 32e. the quarter,
and of the latter 2s. fid. the bushel, and the weight of
the best wheat specimen is 671 b. the bushel. The
casks were surrounded yesterday by a knot of Surrey
farmers, who praised the contents highly, especially the
peas, of which one of them offered to buy the whole con-
signment at once. It may be observed here, en passant,
that the agricultural mind, as developed in these respectable
gentlemen, appeared to be in a state of considerable buoy-
ancy. They said that now they could get good land at 2.55. to
30s. the acre, tithe free ; and that with a few reductions in
their local burthens, they were not afraid of still keeping
the market from all foreign competition. They were par-
ticularly struck with the collection of agricultural imple-
ments, which are really well worthy of a visit, from their
great comparative elegance and lightness, combined with a
high degree of strength and durability. The farmers handled
the various kinds of hay-forks and pitch-forks with
the delight of a connoisseur poring oser a cameo,
and when they heard the prices, protested at once
that sale could be had at once for all that
the Canadians could send over. There are also in this de-
partment " stump plough" for the use of the bush, cradle
scythes for various kinds of grain, and the well-known Ca-
nadian axe with which forests are cleared and new worlds
are opened to industry and civilisation. A peculiarity in
the latter instrument struck us forcibly as showing how ad-
mirably experience enables men to improve upon whatever
circumstances and location may have made them specialty.
The edge of the Canadian axe has no shoulder, technically
speaking, but goes off at once in the form of a wedge, in
the thick end of which the handle is inserted. On asking
for an explanation of this peculiarity we were informed that
an axe of this form when struck into a tree flies out itself,
whereas, if made in the fashion of the English axe, it would
stick in the incision, and require nearly as much force to
pull it out as to strike it in. The truth of the principle is
self-evident, for the elasticity of the suddenly divided wood
is quite sufficient to force out the smooth sides of the
metallic wedge. A sight of these admirably adapted im-
plements is quite sufficient to convince the spectator that to
face the American forest is not, to men of ordinary strength
and activity, such a very dreadful task as has been hitherto
imagined. The collection also gives a valuable hint to the
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heaviest and most expensive portion of his luggage. Every
thing that is best adapted for his purpose in his new home
is to be had on the spot, and all he need take, besides
clothing, is a sufficient stock of that generally popular
symbol of value, an English sovereign. The goodness
of the Canadian flour is well known, and the specimens
exhibited are of course the best that could be procured.
The invoice price is 14.. the barrel of led lbs., with