Agriculture and industry were flourishing in New France.  Hemp was being grown successfully, and a larger quantity of wool was made available by increasing flocks of sheep.  The intendant insisted that women and girls should be taught to spin.  He distributed looms to encourage the practice of weaving, and after a time the colony had home-made carpets and table-covers of drugget, and serges and buntings.  The great number of cattle ensured an abundance of raw hides.  Accordingly the intendant established a tannery, and this in turn led to the preparation of leather and the making of shoes; so that in 1671 Talon could write to the king:  ’I am now clothed from foot to head with home-made articles.’  Tobacco was grown to some extent, but Colbert did not wish to encourage its cultivation by the Canadian farmers.  The minister was better pleased when the intendant wrote concerning potash and tar.  A Sieur Nicolas Follin undertook to make potash out of wood ashes, and was granted a privilege with a bounty of ten sous per ton and free entry into France for his product.  The potash proved excellent.  In the meantime an expert on tar named Arnould Alix came from France and found that the Canadian trees were eminently fit for the production of that article, so necessary in shipbuilding; indeed at this time Colbert was doing his best to manufacture it in France so that the shipyards of the kingdom might use French tar instead of the foreign product.  The news that it could be made in Canada was very welcome to the minister.

The intendant continued his search for mines, but without substantial results.  There had been much talk of iron ore at Baie Saint-Paul and also in the region of Three Rivers.  The Sieur de la Potardiere was sent to examine these ores; but, although his report was favourable and Colbert seemed highly interested and began to speak of casting cannon on the shores of the Saint-Maurice, for some reason nothing was done, and sixty years were to elapse before the establishment of the Saint-Maurice forges.

In another chapter we saw that Talon was always ready to help the religious institutions and that he was very friendly towards the Hotel-Dieu at Quebec.  This hospital had become too small for the requirements of the growing population.  At his own expense the intendant had a substantial wing erected, superintending the work himself and at the same time securing for the institution an abundant supply of water.  The Ursulines also received ample evidence of his goodwill and friendship.  He was greatly pleased with their Seminaire Sauvage (Indian seminary), where they displayed an unceasing zeal for the instruction and civilization of the little red-skinned girls.  The Jesuit Relation of 1671 mentions the baptism of an Indian girl with her mother.  Talon wished to be godfather and asked Madame d’Ailleboust to act as godmother.  Laval officiated.  In 1671 the Ursulines had fifty Indian girls in their Seminaire Sauvage, and in Montreal the Sulpicians and the Sisters of the Congregation, as already narrated, were devoting themselves to the Indian children.  In this good work the intendant was greatly interested.  He rejoiced in educational progress, as is shown by the following from one of his letters to the king: