Under Talon’s wise direction and encouragement, the settlement of the country progressed rapidly.  Now that they could work in safety, the colonists set themselves to the task of clearing new farms.  In his Relation of 1668 Father Le Mercier wrote:  ’It is fine to see new settlements on each side of the St Lawrence for a distance of eighty leagues...  The fear of aggression no longer prevents our farmers from encroaching on the forest and harvesting all kinds of grain, which the soil here grows as well as in France.’  In the district of Montreal there was great activity.  It was during this period that the lands of Longue-Pointe, of Pointe-aux-Trembles, and of Lachine were first cultivated.  At the same time, along the river Richelieu, in the vicinity of Forts Chambly and Sorel, officers and soldiers of the Carignan-Salieres regiment were beginning to settle.  ‘These worthy gentlemen,’ wrote Mother Marie de l’Incarnation, ’are at work, with the king’s permission, establishing new French colonies.  They live on their farm produce, for they have oxen, cows, and poultry.’  A census taken in 1668 gave very satisfactory figures.  A year before there had been 11,448 acres under cultivation.  That year there were 15,649, and wheat production amounted to 130,979 bushels.  Such results were encouraging.  What a change in three years!

One of the commodities most needed in the colony was hemp, for making coarse cloth.  Talon accordingly caused several acres to be sown with hemp.  The seed was gathered and distributed among a number of farmers, on the understanding that they would bring back an equal quantity of seed next year.  Then he took a very energetic step.  He seized all the thread in the shops and gave notice that nobody could procure thread except in exchange for hemp.  In a word, he created a monopoly of thread to promote the production of hemp; and the policy was successful.  In many other ways the intendant’s activity and zeal for the public good manifested themselves.  He favoured the development of the St Lawrence fisheries and encouraged some of the colonists to devote their labour to them.  Cod-fishing was attempted with good results.  Shipbuilding was another industry of his introduction.  In 1666, always desirous of setting an example, he built a small craft of one hundred and twenty tons.  Later, he had the gratification of informing Colbert that a Canadian merchant was building a vessel for the purpose of fishing in the lower St Lawrence.  During the following year six or seven ships were built at Quebec.  The Relation of 1667 states that Talon ’took pains to find wood fit for shipbuilding, which has been begun by the construction of a barge found very useful and of a big ship ready to float.’