Forest clearance for pest and predator control — Though, as we have seen, quite a number of recorders commented on the great annoyance caused to the first settlers by mosquitoes and other biting flies, and several noted that as the forests were cleared away the problem was reducedm, no one actually put forward mosquito control as a direct reason for forest clearance, rather than simply as a beneficial side—effect.263 Nor is there any evidence that the removal of the forest was ever advocated for the purpose of reducing the problem from the larger vertebrate predators, namely the black bear and the lynx, though people were aware that, like the mosquito, they declined with forest clearance and destruction.264

THE METHODS USED IN FOREST CLEARANCE

The standard method of forest clearance — Now that I have reviewed the circumstances in which

clearing occurred on the island, I shall next consider the actual methods used, here concentrating on clearance for agricultural

purposes, though much of what I say will also apply to clearance for other purposes. There are a number of descriptions in the literature of the steps involved in forest clearance, almost all of

them written to give some idea of the procedures

to prospective immigrants from the British Isleszes.

Lord Selkirk's (1805) contains one of the more detailed descriptions of the tree-felling stage:

settlers, who “deluged the house and mill with water felled trees and used every precaution".

2” M’Robert 1776; Stewart 1806; Anon. 1808; MacGregor 1828; Hill 1839.

263 Thus the only recorded evidence that l have of mosquito control being a reason for forest clearance remains that from the French period noted in my earlier report (Sobey 2002, pp. 18, 88, 91). It was Jean-Pierre Roma at Trois-Rivieres who in 1734 said that he had cleared a section of land near the settlement to ‘destroy' the mosquitoes [maringouins] that came from the woods in that area.

26‘ No one states this explicitly but it is implied by the comments of several recorders: namely, by Bain (1890), who said that bears were at that time restricted to the “large wooded tracts" in the east and west of the island, and Lawson (1851), who noted that both the bear and the lynx were being displaced by settlements and villages. Also, [Lawson] (1877-1878) noted that bears had declined in number after a “great fire" had destroyed the forest in the area between Miminegash and North Cape.

265 These comprise [Cambridge] (1796?), Selkirk (1803), Selkirk (1805), Stewart (1806), [Hill] (1819), Johnstone (1822), MacGregor (1828), and Lewellin (1832).

44

The brush—wood, with which the forests generally abound, is first cut close to the surface, to allow the workman free access; he then begins on one side of a piece of land and tells the trees in a regular progress. By making his cut on the two opposite sides of the tree only, he can regulate the direction in which it is to fall, and generally lays it towards the quarter where he

began.266 The stumps are left about three feet high.267 The timber lies till the proper season arrives, when fire is

appliedzes, and runs over the whole field, burning not only the branches, but the vegetation on the ground, and leaving the whole surface, to appearance, charred. This first fire is not of sufficient intensity to consume the larger branches; these must be cut off, and the trees

cut across into logs of about 12 or 15 feet longzsg, which are rolled together, piled up, and again set on fire. When the timber is of great size, oxen are used for dragging the logs together; but their assistance is not in

general necessary on this island.

Johnstone’s (1822) account contains more detail on the procedures involved in the burning stage:

New settlers begin to cut down the wood where they intend to erect their first house. As the trees are cut the branches are to be lopped off, and the trunks cut into lengths of 12 to 14 feet. This operation they call

junking themzm; if they are not junked before fire is applied, they are much worse to junk afterwards. Thus, when the Space intended to be cleared is cut down, junked, and all lying in a promiscuous manner over the whole surface, fire is applied to it in as dry and windy a day as can be selected, and if the fire runs well, the greater part of the small branches will be consumed, but the trunks will only be scorched. These are next rolled together and made up in piles, lying flat upon the ground; then the remaining small branches are gathered up and thrown upon the heavier wood, to help it to kindle for burning a second time. The stronger part of the family then go on to make up more piles, while the weaker part set fire to those that are prepared. In this

266 MacGregor (1828) gives more detail on the cutting: “a notch

[is cut with an axe] into each Side of the tree, about two feet above the ground, and rather more than half through on the side it is intended the tree should fall. The lower sides of these notches are horizontal, the upper makes angles of about 60° with the ground. The trees are felled in the same direction".

267 [Cambridge] (1796?) said the stumps were left at “from two to three feet"; [Hill] (1819) and MacGregor (1828) at two feet high; and Lewellin (1832) at “about a yard".

25" In his diary (Selkirk 1803), he said that this first burning was done at “the beginning of Spring".

269 There was some variation in the lengths: Lewellin (1832) said “nine feet"; Stewart (1806) “ten feet"; [Cambridge] (1796?) "ten or twelve feet"; Johnstone (1822) “12 to 14 feet”; [Hill] (1819) “about fourteen feet”; and MacGregor (1828) “twelve to fifteen feet".

27° Sekirk (1803) and Lewellin (1832) also knew of the use of the word ‘junking' for this procedure.