50 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

mud was plazzd, and this was surmjunted by an ample chimney, composed of mud

and sticks. Usually the chimney was built on the outside of the structure, and carried up beyond the apex of the roof. It was traversed in its midst by a green hardwood stick, and to this stick was attached a chain, or an iron hook, from which the pots and kettles were suspended over the fire. The chinks in the walls having been filled with moss, the house was considered ready for habitation, and the well-pleased pio- neer family moved in. By degreesias the settler found 0;- portunity—a floor of logs, flattened on the upper sides, was laid and a loft was made under the roof, by covering the beams between the rafters. In rare case , too, when absol'itely ne- cessary, a rude par—

.. tition was put up. 500“. THERE WAS A CLEARINGJ'

Meanwhile the sound of the woodman’s axe was heard from early morn till dewy eve. Soon there was a clearing large enough for the first patch of potatoes. The seed, brought in with difficulty from the nearest port, often upon the settler’s back, was placed on the top of the burnt land, among the stamps, and covered with earth by means of a hoe. Then, if the season were not too far advanced another bit of the forest was cut down, burned off, and sown with wheat or oats, which was also covered with a hoe. The logs and branches of the trees, cut down and re- maining unb u r ned, were rolled or carried THE PRESENT-DAV METHOD to the outskirts of the clearing, and formed a sufficient fence all around it.

While the first crop was growing, our pioneer farmer continued his attack upon the forest, happy if his heavy and continuous labors were cheered by the smiles, and his food well prepared by the loving hands, of a pioneer wife. With his gun, fishing-rod, and scoop-net, he had usually not much difficulty in stocking the family larder from time to time,—-for game and fish were plentiful. But there are on record some cases of keen privation and of Providential escapes from starvation. At the end of the short summer, the first little, bountiful crop of wheat was cut with