34 NATURAL RESOURCES OF QUEBEC variations are noted. In the counties along the St. Lawrence from Mont- real 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 Town- ships, 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 decli- ning 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-