The supply of firewood - During the years when land-clearing operations were an annual event on a pioneer farm, some of the trees cut down to create new farmland would undoubtedly have been set aside for firewood499 — though in areas through which runaway fires had already passed, there may not have been much wood to set aside5°°. Later, when that time came in the life of a farm when no further clearances were required, the harvesting of firewood from the woodland remaining within the farm boundaries would continue as a part of the annual routine of work on the farm. In fact Lawson (1851) states that the reason that ”a man takes and pays for 100 acres of land, while he cultivates from five to twenty only” was to have an area of woodland that could provide ”a sufficient quantity of fuel for himself and his descendants”. In similar vein, Johnstone (1822) observed that "the distant end of the farm is carefully kept for firewood for future generations”, though, unfortunately neither he — nor anyone else — tells us whether the ’care’ he implies included some form of deliberate management of the wood-lot for firewood production. It may be that any ’management’ that took place was as a result of trail and error — as well as receiving advice from longer settled neighbours.501 By the 18205 and 303, certainly, some of the writers giving advice to immigrants were including the potential firewood supply as one of the factors for consideration in choosing a farm site.502

likely that the use of wood for fuel has exceeded any other demand on the American forest".

‘99 No writer actually recorded that this was done, though Selkirk (1805) hints at it when he refers to the wood from clearance being beyond “the consumption of any settler for fuel or other purposes". Stewart (1806) said that in land clearing operations some of the wood was set aside for “other purposes", and undoubtedly one of the more important of these purposes would have been for firewood. In the French period Jean-Pierre Roma had specified that during the clearance ofthe land at Three Rivers, wood was set aside for burning in the house (see Sobey 2002, pp. 86, 82).

50° Johnstone (1822) makes reference to fires in hardwood forest destroying the fuel supply of the settlers, and two respondents to the Questionnaire (1876) refer to the ‘destruction' (Peter Sinott)

and ‘scarcity‘ (John Brooks) of firewood as one of the results of forest fires.

5‘" The only other comment pertaining to wood-lot management is a vague statement in evidence given to the Land Commission (1860) by Mr. W. McGowan, a delegate from Lots 44 and 45, who said that “more than a few acres" of woodland were required on each farm for firewood (as well as for fence rails) — otherwise "these necessaries would soon be exhausted". The statement of Lawson (1851) just cited, would suggest that these ‘few acres' was actually very large — i.e. 80 to 95 acres!

5” Johnstone (1822) wrote: “A man had better settle in any part near to where he lands provided he keep out of a swamp, and

77

Within the annual routine of work on the farm, we are told that the wintertime was the period for firewood cutting and haulingm. Significantly, five recorders state that beech was the preferred firewood“. Though all of the other hardwoods were presumably also used as firewood, and sometimes also softwoodsm, the only other tree species that receives a mention is white birch5°6.

Firewood shortages — Despite peoples’ awareness of the importance of retaining and managing a wood-lot on the farm for firewood, it is evident that fuel shortages began to occur early.507 Johnstone (1822) commented that at the ”long settled Malpeque or Prince Town” (settlement had begun in 1770), "the firewood is nearly all destroyed, and far to haul”. Evidently, either a

has plenty of hard wood upon his farm for burning"; while Lewellin (1832) noted: “the emigrant should be careful in selecting his land; and whether it has a sufficiency of firewood".

5“ M’Robert (1776), [Cambridge] (1796?), Stewart (1806), [Hill] (1819), MacGregor (1828), Anon. (1836) and Hill (1839) (pp. 23, 24, not extracted) all record that the winter was the period for cutting and bringing home firewood. This is supported by an analysis of the entries in the diary of Benjamin Chappell (1775- 1818): of 158 references to the cutting or collecting of cordwood or firewood (not all extracted), 135 occur in the months of October to March, and only 11 between May and August.

5°“ Walsh 1803, Stewart 1806, Plessis 1812, Sutherland 1860 and Bain 1890 — I also note that Benjamin Chappell (1775-1818) records measuring beech for firewood on 16 March 1802. We are not told by any of them why beech was the preferred wood — I note from Williams (1989) (p. 77) that beech has the same heat content as ‘birch' (80% of that of coal), but slightly less than that of ‘maple’ (84%). Beech was also the preferred firewood elsewhere in British North America: e.g. Munro (1855) (p. 98, not extracted) and Perley (1847) (p. 315, not extracted) say it was so in New

Brunswick, and Murray (1839) (p. 333, not extracted) in Upper Canada.

505 Macphail (1939) recalled that in the home of his youth softwood was burned in the house during the summer rather than hardwood, which were reserved for winter.

5°5 Plessis (1812) says that along with beech, the ‘bouleau' (i.e. white birch) was used on the island for heating. I note also that on 29 November 1798 Benjamin Chappell (1775-1818) recorded collecting white birch for firewood “over the water" (i.e. in Lot 48, across the river from Charlottetown).

507 In some areas in the north—east of the island it is likely that firewood shortages were present from the very beginning of the British period as a legacy of the French period fires. There had already been a fuel shortage at Havre Saint-Pierre during the French period as a direct result of the fire (see Sobey 2002, p. 24), and the same may also have been so at Tracadie, if we can believe the military officer who carried out a survey of the island (Anon. 1762), who said that the inhabitants of Tracadie (presumably the refugee Acadians) retired to ‘Grand Rustico' each winter, it being “more commodiously situated for firewood". I also note Governor Patterson’s (1770) disparaging comment concerning the woods in the Charlottetown area, that “a great part of them [are] not even good for firing".