34

NATURAL RESOURCES OF QUEBEC

variations are noted. In the counties along the St. Lawrence from Montreal
 to Quebec and from Montreal to the Ontario boundary, the main
revenue of most farmers is derived from hay and grain, although dairying
is gradually superseding these. In the greater part of the Eastern Townships,
 together with the counties bordering the state of Maine, in the
St. Lawrence valley from Quebec down to and including the lake St. John

Having time on the Island of Orleans

district, and in the Labelle, Gatineau and Mattawinie districts, dairying
is the main source of revenue. Beef production, though it has been declining
 for many years, is still practised with a certain degree of success in
the Ottawa and Gatineau valleys and in a few sections of the Eastern
Townships. It is principally on the farms of the Eastern Townships
where the most numerous flocks of sheep are to be found. Raising of
sheep has made great progress in Beauce and in almost all the counties
of the lower St. Lawrence as far as Gaspé.
Quebec holds a leading place among the provinces of Canada in the
value of its agricultural production. Field crops surpass all other branches
of agriculture in value. Of these, oats show the largest production, valued
in 1927 at $35,932,000. The value of potatoes grown was $18,569,000.
The most valuable of all field crops, however, are the fodder crops, and of
these hay and clover stand first. Of the total value of field crops produced
in 1927, viz., $144,273,000, hay and clover valued at $67,509,000 consti-