Arbutus’“. The trees listed comprise in fact a succinct description of what we recognise as the flora of the island's ’boreal’ forests. 'Barrens’ in this wider sense must also encompass John Stewart's (1806) application of the term in his reference to ”pine barrens” — of which he noted there were ”no extensive” ones on the island.69 It thus appears that the term as used in the Prince County records refers in part to poor forest land, probably mostly under conifers, and occurring on the poorly or imperfectly drained soils evident in modern soil maps.

Very useful information on what the word barren meant to people on-the-ground in west Prince County and elsewhere is contained in statements made by individual tenant farmers and landowners to the Land Commission of 1875.70 It is evident that the term was applied to natural areas both with and without a tree cover“. The principal tree associated with the barrens appears to have been ’spruce’”, some of the witnesses even using the term ”spruce barren" as a land-type name”. The species in question was undoubtedly black spruce

68 Bain 1890. Andromeda may be Andromeda g/aucophylla (bog

rosemary); Ledum, Ledum groenlandicum (labrador tea); Whortleberries (according to Oxford (1989) this is a name used in the British Isles for any species of Vaccinium (ices blueberries and cranberries), but whether this is Bain's meaning I do not know): and Arbutus, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (see Erskine 1960, p, 212). 69 Stewart's use of the term ‘pine barrens' reminds us of Selkirk’s (1803) comment on pine trees as an indicator of soil fertility: “where the pines are alone [i.e. occur on their own] the land is generally barren [my italics] and sandy".

7° In the evidence heard by the Land Commission (1875), there is extensive reference to ‘barren land' in Lots 7, 9, 10. 11, 12, 13 and 16. Of particular value is that whenever the word ‘barren' was used by a witness, the commissioners, or their counsel, usually made a point of questioning the witness as to what he meant by the word,

7‘ Land Commission 1875: this distinction between barrens with and without trees is made by several witnesses, some explicitly and others by implication: Robert Holton of Lot 9 said “part of the barrens were never covered with wood, and part had been covered with black spruce"; Felix McKinnon, also of Lot 9, similarly seemed to distinguish between “plain barren where nothing ever grew except blueberries", and “spruce barren"; while in the same lot, John McKaller also referred to “plain barren" that consisted of "nothing but moss — it has not a stick upon it to make a fence pole". Then, John Cocheran of Lot 7 distinguished between the barren land that is “wholly barren" and that “where low spruce bushes groW',

72 Land Commission 1875: referring to spruce on barrens are John Cocheran (Lot 7); Robert Holton, Felix McKinnon and Alexander Anderson (for Lot 9); Samuel Ramsay (Lot 13); and John Ramsay (Lot 16).

73 Land Commission 1875: Felix McKinnon (Lot 9); John Ramsay (Lot 16),

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though only one witness specifies it“. Tamarack and balsam fir were also found on particular barrens’s. Whatever the species, the trees on these barrens were considered to be small in size and of little or no value”, several witnesses in fact making the point that what were called ”spruce barrens” were quite different from ”spruce land” with its larger more valuable trees". At least some of the treeless barrens were characterized by blueberries, and the term ”blueberry barrens" was used as if it were a well-known land-type name by six witnesses from widely scattered parts of the island”. Interestingly, a witness from Lot 9, said that blueberries were specifically associated with what he called the "dry barrens” that had been burnt (as opposed to most of the barrens that he knew of, which were wet)”, while a witness from Lot 7 said that in the spring the barren land on that lot was wet, including both that which was ”wholly barren” and that with "low spruce bushes", and then it was impossible to travel on

7‘ Land Commission 1875: Robert Holton (Lot 9),

75 Land Commission 1875: Samuel Ramsay said “the barrens" of Lot 13 were “covered with juniper [i.e. tamarack] or clear”, though shortly after he said that “the principal part of the barren land” on Lot 13 was “covered with spruce, var [balsam fir] etc"; and Patrick Smith, referred to "blueberry barrens with ferns and juniper" on a farm in Lot 36. (I should note here that in John McKaller's statement concerning Lot 9: “There is good land near the Centre Line Road. Back of that is barren. it is spruce land with some cedar’ — I think that the spruce and cedar are on the ‘good land‘ that he mentions, and not on the barren.)

76 Land Commission 1875: Robert Holton called the spruce on the barrens of Lot 9 “loW' and "scrubby"; Alexander Anderson said the barrens of Lot 9 were characterised by “small [spruce] as big as your wrist"; John Ramsay of Lot 16 referred to “small spruce“, and John Cocheran of Lot 7 to “low spruce bushes". William Gregg of Lot 12 said “there is never more than fencing stuff on what is called barren". Similarly, John Yeo, the proprietor of Lot 13, said the trees on "the barrens” of Lot 13 (a specific area of 500 acres known locally by that name) were of value only for “fence poles", a point re-iterated by Samuel Ramsay, as well as by George Bollum's use of the word “longers” as a product of the same trees,

77 Land Commission 1875: the surveyor Alexander Anderson distinguished "barren land“ on Lot 9 from “spruce land" defining "the [land] known as barrens [as that which] has nothing on it but a few bushes and some small spruce as big as your wrist". In setting a value on the vacant land in the same lot, John McKaller also distinguished between barren land and spruce land; and

Donald McPhee (also of Lot 9) said that he did “not call spruce land barren".

7“ Land Commission 1875: Robert Holton (Lot 9); Donald Campbell (Lot 16); James Bernard (Lot 18); John Doughart (Lot 20); Patrick Smith (Lot 36); Francis Campion (Lot 50). Mollison (1905), also noted the blueberry as an important plant component on the barrens of Prince County in general.

79 Land Commission 1875: Robert Holton of Lot 9.