90 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     which purpose a bottle containing Atropina, a deadly poison, 
     
     rested on his dressing table, and which as a draught was mis- 
     
     takingly administered as Morphine, causing his demise in less 
     
     than five minutes. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In consequence of Prince Albert, -—Consort to her Majesty 
     
     —becoming patron of the Agricultural Society, it from this 
     
     date assumed the title of Royal. The usefulness of this 
     
     Society was evident from the great progress the Island was 
     
     making in the science of agriculture, and in improved stock, 
     
     particularly in horses. It may also be confidently asserted that 
     
     with the exception of a few bogs and swamps the whole Island 
     
     consists of valuable farm land, of which Mr. J. P. Sheldon, 
     
     Professor of Agriculture at the Wilts and Hants Agricultural 
     
     College, who visited the Island thus writes : “In some respects 
     
     this is one of the most beautiful Provinces in British North 
     
     America and it has probably the largest proportion of cultivated 
     
     land. The soil generally is a red sandy loam, of one character 
     
     throughout, but differing in quality. On the whole, the grass 
     
     land of the Island and the character of the sward, consisting 
     
     as it does of indigenous clovers and a variety of finer grasses, 
     
     reminded me strongly of some portions of old England. The 
     
     people, too, are more English in appearance than those of any 
     
     other of the Provinces, with the exception of New Brunswick. 
     
     This is probably owing to a cooler climate, and the contiguity 
     
     of the sea. Prince Edward Island is covered with a soil that 
     
     is easy to cultivate, sound and healthy, capable of giving 
     
     excellent crops of roots, grain and grass—~an honest soil that 
     
     will not fail to respond to the skill of the husbandman. The 
     
     Island grows very good wheat, and probably better oats than 
     
     most parts of that country. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A geological survey of the Island was made about this 
     
     period by Dr. Abraham Gresner. And recently Mr. Francis 
     
     Bain, who after much study produced a small treatise on the 
     
     Island’s natural history, comprising Geology, Botany and 
     
     Zoology. This latter work became introduced as a subject of 
     
     study for the junior classes in all the primary schools in the 
     
     Province. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The new Colonial Building which had cost some £28,000 
     
     being completed, was opened in January 1847, by the Legisla- 
     
     ture meeting therein for the first time. As on all previous