Prince 
     
     Edward Island 
     
     Resources 
     
    
   
   
    
     Agriculture 
     
    
   
   
    
     fi’WENTY years ago the farming of Prince Edward 
     
    

    
     1 Island was exlmsz‘ve. the chief products being hay, oats, 
     
     and potatoes. To-day, it is intensive—butter, cheese, beef, 
     
     bacon, poultry and fruit being the leading products sold. 
     
     The Island is pre-eminently an agricultural province and 
     
     few countries, considering everything, are better adapted 
     
     for profitable farming. It is the most thoroughly cultivated 
     
     territory on this side of the Atlantic, 85.44 per cent. of its 
     
     area being occupied as farms and lots, and 80 per cent of its 
     
     total population connected with the industry. Yet so great 
     
     are its natural resources that twice its present population 
     
     might be maintained with ease. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Island is noted for the fertility of its soil, 
     
     nearly the whole of its beautifully undulating 
     
     expanse, with the exception of a few bogs and swamps 
     
     composed of a soft spongy turf or a deep layer of wet black 
     
     mould, consisting of highly valuable cultivable land. The 
     
     soil, which is well—watered with numerous springs and rivers, 
     
     is formed for the most part of a rich, light, warm sandstone, 
     
     with here and there somewhat richer clay areas. It is 
     
     very deficient in lime, requiring a generous application of 
     
    
   
   
    
     [62] 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Soil