326 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND . much finer, and of longer duration than in , and the winter setting in generally much later, the farmers have, in reality, little cause to complain of the seasons, as they have abundant time to plough all the grounds in the fall, which is, at the same time, known to be the most proper season for American tillage. The common plan of laying out farms in this colony, is in lots containing one hundred acres each, having a front of ten chains, either on the sea-shore, a bay, river, or road, and running one hundred chains back. This plan, from the farms being in strips instead of square blocks, is often objected to ; but it has many advantages, by giving a greater number of settlers the benefits of roads, shores, and running streams. It is curious and interesting to observe the pro¬ gress which a new settler makes in clearing and cul¬ tivating a wood farm, from the period he commences in the forest, until he has reclaimed a sufficient quantity of land to enable him to follow the mode of cultivation he practised in his native country. As the same course is, with little variation, followed by all new settlers in every part of , the follow¬ ing description may, to avoid repetition, be consi¬ dered applicable to all the American settle¬ ments :— The first object is to select the farm among such vacant lands as are most desirable, and after ob¬ taining the necessary tenure, the settler commences, usually assisted in his first operations by the nearest