40 feet of rock salt, then encountered rock 23 to 30 feet thick, then a second layer of salt 23 feet thick, then rock 5 feet thick, then 38 feet of salt. The rock salt is beautifully white in colour, and very free from impurities, particularly from lime, and as a result the company is able to turn out a very pure salt. These works have a capacity of about 600 barrels a day.

682. The total production in 1890 was 43,754 tons, of the value of $198,897. This was an increase, as compared with 1889, of 10,922 tons in quantity and of $70,350 in value. In 1891 the production was 45,021 tons, valued at $161,179, an increase of 1,267 tons, but a decrease in value of $37,718. In 1892 the production was 45,486 tons, valued at $162,041, and in 1893, 62,324 tons, valued at $195,926, an increase of 17,838 in the number of tons and of $33,885 in value.

PRODUCTION OF SALT IN CANADA, 1886-1893.

683. The exports of Canadian salt, almost all of which was manufactured in Ontario, have been since 1876 as follows :—

684. The imports of salt have been as follows:

IMPORTS OF SALT FOR HOME CONSUMPTION INTO CANADA,

685. The total output of salt in the United States in 1889 was 8,005,565 barrels, valued at $4,195,412; in 1890, 8,776,991 barrels, valued at $4,752,286; in 1891, 9,987,945, valued at $4,716,121; and in 1892, 11,698,890 barrels, valued at $5,654,915.

686. The total production of silver in Canada in 1890 was 400,687 ounces, valued at $420,722. In 1891 it was 415,493 ounces, valued at $407,183, in 1892 305,026 ounces, valued at $264,510, and in 1893 414,975 ounces, valued at $321,423. The argentiferous provinces are those of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, the silver produce of Quebec being calculated, as usual, from the known percentage of the metal contained in the copper ore exported from the Capelton mines.

687. The following table gives the exports of silver ore during the years 1873 to 1893, exclusive of the production of the Capelton mines:

688. Phosphate or apatite, in its purest form, contains 92:26 per cent of phosphate of lime, equivalent to 42:26 per cent of phosphoric acid. The total quantity of this mineral mined in Canada during 1890 was 31,753 tons, valued at $361,045, which was an increase over 1889 of 765 tons in quantity, and of $44,383 in value. A certain number of tons, which cannot be estimated, should be added to the above quantity, representing the results of desultory operations by farmers on their own lots, particularly in Ontario. The only two places where this mineral is worked at present are in Ottawa county, Quebec, and north of Kingston, Ontario, and the quantity shipped came from the two districts in the following proportions :-Ottawa county mines, 27,172 tons; and Ontario mines, 4,581 tons. In 1891 the quantity produced was 23,588 tons, valued at $161,693; in 1892, 11,932 tons, valued at $157,424; and in 1893, 8,198 tons, valued at $70,942.

689. The following table of exports since 1878 shows the position of this industry during the last sixteen years. The quantity exported in 1893 was 11,890 tons, valued at $132,475, being a decrease as compared with 1892, of 5,353 tons in quantity, and in value of $248,000. The exports almost all go to Great Britain. It must not be forgotten that the figures of exports from Quebec include a certain amount of material produced in Ontario, but shipped to Montreal for export, and at that port credited to the province of Quebec.

692. It will be seen that the demand and the supply are nearly balanced. In these circumstances, only, the most easily and cheaply provided phosphates have a living chance in the competition. There is, however, a great future for phosphates. The United States are using only one-quarter of the quantity of fertilizers which should be employed to keep pace with the annual extraction of plant food from the soil. The Canadian Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Mr. Angers, in his report for 1893, refers to this matter in the following terms:

"I am informed that comparatively little or nothing has been done during the past year as regards the phosphate industry of this country, the low prices ruling in the home market and the cheap rate of production which has enabled the Florida supply of the raw material to be laid down in Europe materially tending to injure if not destroy the Canadian trade. In this connection there is a point deserving of much consideration and to which I desire to call marked attention, viz., the amount of phosphoric acid that is taken out of the soil by a cereal crop, the shipment of the greater part of which abroad takes this phosphoric acid with it out of the country instead of returning it to the soil whence it is taken. Professor H. W. Wiley points out the fact that 19 lbs. per acre of phosphoric acid are absorbed by grain, and 12 lbs. per acre are absorbed annually by the grass crop. This constituent element of the proper plant food, one of the chief essentials to all vegetable and animal life, must be restored to the soil unless the latter is to become entirely exhausted d; and the agriculturist should understand that his farm is not a bank on which he can draw at pleasure, but a laboratory which will only do its work well when the needed supply of material is forthcoming. Exhaustion of this nature can only be remedied by reintroducing artificially the material that has been abstracted. If a thorough knowledge of the need of phosphate for the soil prevailed, and practical application of such knowledge were more general it would materially help to develop the phosphate industry of this country, and would lead to the manufacture of fertilizers on a large scale, while an extensive home market tending to a lower price for the manufactured article, instead of exportation of the raw material, would be the result. I am in formed that the cereals and the grass crop of Canada extract from the soil annually an average of 235 million pounds of phosphoric acid, equal to 117,972 tons of 2,000 pounds each. Supposing one-half only of this to be returned to the soil in the stable manure, there is still left a deficit of 59,000 tons of phosphoric acid. The percentage of phosphoric acid in Canadian