agrees with Bain's (1890) description of cedar as "a large rough tree", but conflicts with MacGregor's (1828) comment that the cedar on the island was "not of a size large enough for house or ship-building". Also, Craswell 8! Anderson's (1856) use of the word ”pole" to describe the trees on one part of Lot 11 may denote a size class. Watson (post 1904) at the turn of the twentieth century, noted that ”nearly all the big trees have been cut down”, the surviving cedar ”rarely exceeding ten to twelve feet in height”, though he added that ”a few tracts

of large timber are being retained" by an unspecified owner. Habitat and community relationships - Walsh

(1803) said that cedar occurred in ”marshes" (he must have meant swamps) — though it is doubtful that he would have visited the far west of the island. Gesner (1846), using more correct terminology, noted its occurrence in ”low tracks and swamps" — along with spruce, fir and ash — though his wording need not imply that any of these species occurred directly with cedar. Craswell 8: Anderson (1856) also used the word "swamp” in connection with the cedar of Lot 11, as did the 1841 census-taker for the cedar of Lot 7289, and Watson (post 1904) for sites in Prince County, and the word was also widely used in evidence given to the Land Commission of 1875290.

In terms of its tree associates (or lack of them), both Craswell 8t Anderson (1856) and Watson (post 1904) use the word 'grove’, a word generally implying a single species stand, as does Watson’s use of the phrase ”large cedar tracts”, as well as the use of the phrase ”cedar land” in evidence to the Land Commission (1875)”‘. There is also in the testimony to the Land Commission a reference to ”spruce land with some cedar”292, and another to land that had ”a mixture of cedar and spruce”293 — though the phrase

measured four French pieds in diameter (4 foot 3 inches in English measure) (see Sobey 2002. pp. 105, 108, 109, 133).

259 Census 1841.

290 Land Commission 1875: for Lot 9. the evidence of George

DeBlois, Robert Holton, Felix McKinnon, Donald McPhee; for Lot 12, of Albert Williams.

29‘ Land Commission 1875: evidence of George DeBlois (Lot 9)

and of James Warburton (Lot 12).

292 Land Commission (1875): evidence of John McKaller (Lot 9).

293

10).

Land Commission (1875): evidence of James Warburton (Lot

186

”cedar and juniper swamps”29“, also recorded by

the Commission, need not imply that the two species occurred together.

As for the soil relationships of cedar, apart from its occurrence in ”low tracts and swamps”, there is Gesner's (1846) additional comment that the ”imperfectly drained” ash and cedar swamps of Egmont Bay had a ”light and sandy" soil, as well as the comment of a witness to the Land Commission (1875) that ”cedar land" had ”a good black soil", and that where it could be drained, it

could be made into good pasture295.

Properties and uses — The visitor Walsh (1803), presumably mis—informed by someone, said that the cedar on the island was ”soft and of little service”, though the better informed resident Hill (1839) noted that on account of its durability it made the best shingles. However, rather than their local use — which must have occurred — he noted their export to the West Indies and Newfoundland.296 Gesner (1846) also makes reference to the potential of exporting the island’s ”valuable” cedar, and Watson (post 1904) makes the interesting comment that the "large cedar tracts" of Prince County once yielded substantial revenue to their landowners. We get more direct evidence for this in the report of the Land Commission of 1875, where several witnesses testify to the great value of the cedar in their area, though all comment that by that date most of it had been ”taken off”297. In the same report there is also the repeated mention of its use for fence posts and fencingm, as well as for sleepersm (the railway had just been constructed), one witness calling it ”the most valuable [and] most durable wood in the country"3°°. Finally, Bain (1890)

29‘ Land Commission (1875): evidence of George DeBlois (agent

for Lot 9). 295 Land Commission 1875: evidence of George DeBlois (agent for Lot 9).

296 The colony's House of Assembly (1773-1849) attempted to set standards (in 1820 and 1849) for the size and quality of cedar shingles offered for sale,

297 Land Commission 1875: evidence of Felix McKinnon and Donald McPhee (Lot 9); of Daniel McDonald and James Warburton (Lot 10); and of Albert Williams (Lot 12) .

295 Land Commission 1875: evidence of George DeBlois (agent for Lot 9) and Donald McPhee (Lot 9); of Peter Doyle (Lot 7); and of Joseph Mooreshed (Lot 10).

299 Land Commission 1875: evidence of George DeBlois (agent for Lot 9).

3°° Land Commission 1875: evidence of Donald McPhee of Lot 9. Plessis (1812), many years earlier, had also alluded to the