way they proceed until the whole of what was cut down is gone over; then when the piles go out they are kindled again, and those that continue to burn thrust closer together, till all is consumed.271 After the wood is all burnt, the stumps are left standing about two feet high, scorched black with the first burning, like so many blocks, of a blacksmith’s anvil. The people then begin planting their potatoes.

As we can see even from these two extracts, there were variations in the procedure: in Selkirk’s description the ’junking’ of the trees followed the first burn, whereas Johnstone said that it was far better to ’junk’ the trees before burning. Other descriptions provide additional information, especially on the timing of the various activities. Though in the year of a settler’s first arrival on the island there would have been little choice as to the season at which to begin land-clearingm, it seems that for established settlers winter was the chief season for the tree-felling involved in such operationsm. Even so, Stewart (1806), considered June and July to be a better time for tree-felling, because, he said, the stumps of trees cut in full leaf decayed more quickly and were less likely to send up suckers; also, since the leaves remained on such trees after felling, they ”greatly assisted in burning the timber", which he said generally took place the following May.274 In terms of the time involved, Selkirk (1805) reports that it took "six or eight days" for ”an expert workman" to ”cut down and cross-cut” the trees on an acre of land, while ”to pile and burn them

required about as much labour”.275

27‘ Selkirk (1803) noted that hemlock in particular was difficult to

burn in such clearing operations.

272 Selkirk (1805) (p. 178. not extracted) records that as soon as

his settlers (who arrived in August) had “secured themselves a shelter they immediately applied themselves with vigour to the essential object of clearing their lands“; while Johnstone (1822) (p. 147, not extracted) gives an example of a man clearing land at Bedeque on the second day after his arrival from Scotland.

273 Cambridge (1796?), in describing the annual cycle of activity

on the island, wrote that it was in the winter that “some are employed in cutting the trees down for clearing new land”, while Selkirk (1803), in recording the “usual method of clearing" on the island, also noted that the trees were cut down in the winter.

2" Selkirk (1803), however, citing the method of “Jo Laird, a Loyalist settler” at Vernon River, gives a different chronology: he said that a first burning was carried out in the winter directly after tree- felling — in order to “burn off the branches and bushes"; “then the remaining logs [were] piled and burnt more completely in summer" — though he also mentions the spring as a possibility for this burn. (He later repeats more or less the same chronology, giving as his source this time, a Scot called Angus Currie, a tenant in Lot 50.)

2’5 Similarly, Stewart (1806) said that felling. piling the brush and cutting the trunks took eight days per acre, while [Hill] (1819) said

45

The deliberate end result of the standard method of land clearance was that no trees were left standing, either singly or in groups, in the area that was to be occupied by the new dwelling and farm buildings or on the area to be converted to arable or pasture. This was because of two potential dangers: we are told by Walter Johnstone that trees that had grown up in the island’s old-growth forest, when left standing on their own, were particularly vulnerable to wind-throwm; and, also that any patch of wood left standing near the farm

buildings presented a risk of fire spreading to the

farm dwellingm. 27a

’Stumping’, the removal of the tree stumps, was an entirely separate operation that usually took place five or more years after felling, when the roots had rotted sufficiently so as to be more easily removed. Hardwood trees and spruce could be stumped within four to eight yearsm'; however pine and hemlock, which were often minority elements in the hardwood forest, took much longer to rot sufficiently, as long as twenty or thirty yearsm. A good description of stumping is given by Johnstone (1822):

Poor settlers, who have no oxen, have to dig round them with what they call grubbing hoes, and cut some of the roots upon one side, and then by inserting a lever

it took about a week to cut the trees down, “lop" the limbs, cut the trunks and pile all for burning.

m Johnstone (1822) stated that “[the woods] are no sooner broke into with clearances, than the wind is overturning some of them by the roots, breaking others in the middle".

2" Johnstone (1822) said that the reason clearing operations

began where the settler intended to erect his first house, was that it was "absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the dwelling, and place it beyond the reach of the flames that may arise from the burning of the woods”. It was for this reason that, as Lawson (post 1777), tells us, all of the spruce and pine was cleared from around the mill at Stanhope, belatedly — after two mills in succession had burned down on account of forest fires.

2” We note a third reason for total clearance from Selkirk (1805): "there is a great advantage in clearing a considerable field. rather than the same extent of land in separate places, as it does not suffer so much from the shade of the surrounding woods“.

2’9 The upper limit is given by Selkirk (1803), who said that “it is eight years before the stumps are quite easy", - though I note that [Robinson] (1798) said “eight, nine or ten years" for the hardwoods, while Carrington (1837) said “at least seven years". The lower limit is given by MacGregor (1828) who gave four years as the minimum for “spruce, beech, birch and maple", though Johnstone (1822) said that for beech it was “more commonly" seven years. (See Appendix 1 for specific details on each species.)

23° Selkirk 1803; MacGregor 1828.