’Softwood forest’ — Oddly, the term ’softwood forest’ or ’softwood land’ is used for a forest-type by only one of the earlier recorders, namely the Scottish visitor, Walter Johnstone (1822), though he noted that the name ’softwood’ (along with ’hardwood’) were the names that the island people themselves used to distinguish the main forest- types. Even in the absence of the name, the softwood forest-type is clearly evident in the ’forest-as—soil—indicator’ classifications of Selkirk (1803), Stewart (1806), MacGregor (1803), Hill (1839), and Lawson (1851) - usually under the names of the dominant conifer trees occurring.49 Then, over fifty years after Johnstone's first recorded use of the term, ’softwood’ as the name for a forest-type turns up frequently in the evidence given by a number of tenant farmers to the Land Commission of 1875.50

The tree species mentioned in connection with 'softwood' forest vary, but from both the earlier recorders and the evidence recorded by the Land Commission, it is evident that such a forest-type comprised areas where the predominant tree cover was any of pine, spruce, fir, tamarack or cedar, either as single-species stands or sometimes in specific combinations. In fact, frequently, rather than using the term 'softwood forest’, there is the direct designation of the forest-type by the predominant conifer species, as for example the common use of the terms ’spruce land’51 or ‘cedar land’52 in evidence given to the Land Commission (1875).53 It is also evident from the witnesses’ statements that the boundaries — both

‘9 See Tables 3 and 4, pp, 25-29.

5° Land Commission 1875: the name ‘softwood' for a forest-type is used by: James F. Stewart, proprietor of Lot 7; Donald McPhee, Lot 9; Joseph Mooreshed, Lot 10; James Gregg, Lot 10; Albert Williams, Lot 12; William Tuplin, Lot 19; John Doughart, Lot 20; James Smith, Lot 20; Owen Curtis, surveyor of Lots 35 and 36; and Alan Campbell, Lot 53. As can be seen, much of this evidence comes from parts of the island (i.e. in the east and west) where such forests predominated, and though 1875 is a late date, and is long after many other areas on the island had had a century of settlement and forest clearance, the period of the first settlement of many of these particular areas, especially in the west, was within the living memory of many of these witnesses.

51 Land Commission 1875: The name “spruce land" for a forest- type is used by Robert Holton, John McKaller, Donald McPhee, and the surveyor Alexander Anderson, all referring to Lot 9, and by Peter Doyle of Lot 7.

52 Land Commission 1875: The name “cedar land" for a forest- type is used by George DeBlois referring to Lot 9, and James Warburton, referring to Lot 11.

53 Also the name “pine land” is used by Henry Lawson of Lot 24 (Land Commission 1875).

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conceptually, and probably also physically on the ground, between the softwood forest-types and the land—types known as the 'barrens’ and the ‘swamps’ were not always sharply defined, for, as we shall see, the swamps and the barrens usually also had a high conifer component comprising some of these same species.

The presence of softwood forest was taken to be a sign of soils poorer than those under the hardwood forest, though they were not always considered unsuitable for agriculture“, the factor responsible for their distribution being considered to be higher soil moisture levels and/or lower soil fertility levels.5‘5

The ’barrens’ — The name ’barrens’ or ’barren land’ was used on the island for a land—type that was considered — as the name implies — to be non- productive (and of no use for agriculture, and also, as we shall see, of little value for its trees.56 The term appears to have been used in two different senses, one more restrictive than the other, and both meanings seem to have been in use at the same time, with one seeming to have been more frequently applied in the eastern part of the island and the other in the west — though this may simply be a reflection of the surviving written sources.

In its narrower meaning, as used by Johnstone (1822), MacGregor (1828) and Gesner (1846), the term appears to have been used for a land-type with soils so poor that they were not able to support a tree cover. Instead, the vegetation is variously described as consisting of "a kind of shrub, they call myrtle”57, ”dry moss or a few

5‘ This is stated by some of the witnesses to the Land

Commission (1875), who valued the spruce and other conifer- dominated (and at less than (and under hardwood forest but greater than the land under the ‘barrens’ (i.e. evidence of John McKaller and the surveyor Alexander Anderson, both referring to Lot 9, Daniel McDonald of Lot 10, Peter Doyle of Lot 7, Samuel Ramsay, Lot 13; R. P. Haythorne, agent for Lots 35 and 36).

55 See Tables 3 and 4, pp. 25—29. 56 The term is used as a land—type by Stewart (1806), Palmer (1816), Johnstone (1822), MacGregor (1828), Gesner (1846), Cundall (1854-1865), Bain (1890), Mollison (1905) and in two submissions to the Land Commission (1860) and in many to the Land Commission (1875). Three authors (MacGregor 1828,

Gesner 1846 and Mollison 1905) explicitly signify the name to be an island term.

57 Johnstone 1822. He said the shrub called myrtle “over-ran the surface like heath [he must mean by this the heather plant, Cal/una vulgaris], but resembles galls that grow on the mosses in Scotland". According to Oxford (1989) ‘gall' is a form of the word ‘gale' and in the British Isles refers to bog-myrtle Myn'ca gale (a