Abstract: Report of the Commission appointed under Address of the House of Assembly
relating to the Public Encouragement of Agriculture, 1857
In the mid-1850s, New Brunswick's agricultural sector was lagging behind that of other
locations in British North America and the northern American states. Appointed in 1856, the
Commission reported that P.E.I. and Canada had agricultural
surpluses, while one-third of agricultural products consumed in New Brunswick's were imported.
This problem of self-sufficiency was
not a result of "the culture of her [New Brunswick's] soil", but rather was a function of the
"backward state of Provincial Agriculture".
The report notes that New Brunswick's chief exports were lumber and ships and, as
those exports tended to fluctuate greatly in price, it was important that the colony be
agriculturally self-sufficient. Two main remedies to this problem were proposed: the creation of
a model farm to facilitate greater knowledge across the colony and a centralized agency to
oversee agricultural activities. The model farm was to be established along the Saint John River
at a proposed cost of £5600. In typical nineteenth century fashion, great emphasis was
put on the
regularization and science of practice. The report noted that "all things should be done by
number and measure and weight, and the establishment should be a model of order, energy, and
intelligence, combined with proper discretion and economy."
The Commission also found that there should be a Provincial
Board of Agriculture
composed of a member from each county, three from the Executive
Council, and the Professor of
Chemistry from King's College at Fredericton. This Board would meet periodically and make
recommendations about the state of agriculture in the province, which would be found in an
annual report.
Commissioners: James
Robb
George L.
Hatheway
Hugh McMonagle
George Kerr
Charles Perley
