each farm under woodland, so as to act as a source for firewood and fence rails, the forest was not totally removed, even in areas where all the land was suitable. The documents also contain a great deal of information on the methods that were used in forest clearance.

Forest exploitation - The forests of the island, most of which had been left untouched in the French period, were fully exploited during the British period, such that by the late nineteenth century the timber resources had been mostly used up and the island was having to import much of the larger timber and wood required. During the period of its exploitation, most of the utilization was viewed as a one—off asset-stripping harvest of the materials of the old-growth forests of the island. However, the harvest of firewood and fence poles from the surviving greatly altered remnants of the forest, appears to have been sustained over a long period thereafter.

Forest change — At the time of the British takeover of Prince Edward lsland in 1758, though there had been some effect due to the French colonization, especially in the large area in the north-east that had been ravaged by forest fires, by far the greater part of the forest was virtually untouched by Europeans. Thus the changes in the forests of the island due to their exploitation and utilization during the 150 years of the British colonial period and beyond, up to 1900, were drastic. During this period most of the upland hardwood forest was destroyed to make way for farmland, and what little remained was greatly altered through the harvest of its best timber for building wood, the timber export trade and for ship-building. What remained of the hardwood and other forests were then maintained to provide a sustainable crop of low-quality timber for firewood, fence poles and minor construction purposes. On those areas that were never cleared of forest, the surviving forest had also been greatly affected by continuous exploitation and by the action of forest fires. As a result, by 1900 there were no areas at all on the island where the forest had not been affected by the actions of Europeans. Also, during the British period, three forest-dwelling animals (the bear, the lynx, and the marten), as well as the otter and the passenger pigeon, became extinct on the island — as had the caribou and the wolf during the French penod.

Attitudes — In the records for the island are found expressed examples of virtually all of the wide range of attitudes to the forest that were recorded

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elsewhere in North America. The dominant attitude of course was utilitarian and antagonistic, with the forest, while it lasted, being viewed by most both as an obstacle to settlement, and as a source of building materials, ship timber, firewood, and other materials. At the same time, there were also individuals who recorded aesthetic opinions on the forests and its trees (both positive and negative), as well as attitudes towards the forest that were influenced by the Romantic movement in literature.

The records also contain evidence that there was considerable conflict, in terms of the ownership and utilization of the forest and its products, between landowners, timber merchants, and tenant and leasehold farmers, and it is likely that much of the island’s best timber was not harvested by its lawful owners. It was also the view of some recorders that eventually the entire forest would be replaced by cleared farmland, an outcome that was not viewed unfavourably, though others made an allowance for the retention of small woodlots to act as a source of firewood and fence poles. It was not until near the end of the nineteenth century, however, by which time the forest had been virtually destroyed, that anyone began to express a concern about the conservation of the remaining forests for its useful utilitarian products. However, the idea of the preservation of examples of old-growth forest, on account of their intrinsic value, was a concept alien to the period.

REFERENCES

Adams, A. L. (1873) Field and Forest Rambles with Notes and Observations on the Natural History of Eastern Canada. H. S. King & Co., London.

Allen, C. R. (1880) Meacham’s Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Province of Prince Edward Island. J. H. Meacham & Co., Philadelphia.

Anon. (1841) Public Documents — on various Subjects connected with the Interests of Prince Edward Island. Ordered by the House of Assembly

to be printed by Cooper & Bremner, Charlottetown.

Arsenault, G. (1989) The Island Acadians, 1720— 1980. Ragweed Press, Charlottetown.