The timber was also an 470

is required""68.469 important article of export.

Yellow birch stumps did not present a great obstacle to forest clearance, MacGregor (1828) stating that they could be removed after four or five years. And, in terms of aesthetics, Bain (1882) paints a picture of the yellow birch in the pre-European forest, with ”its great trunk buttressed by roots, [mounting] aloft, sometimes straight as a Grecian column laced with golden bark, or embossed with lichens”, while Stewart (1806) observed that ”yellow birch trees growing singly on old cleared lands are frequently very fine ornamental timber”.

In contrast with the yellow birch, the wood of the white birch was considered to have limited value as a building material‘“, Hill (1839) going so far as to say that it was only useful for firewoodm. However its unique bark had several specific uses: it was noted that it was used by the Mi’kmaq for

‘68 Bain 1890.

469

Benjamin Chappell (1775-1818) used Befula alleghaniens/s throughout his carpentry and cabinet-making career at both New London and Charlottetown. At New London in 1778 he was actively looking for “black birch’ to use in a mill he was working on for Philips Callbeck (eight logs were cut in lengths ranging from 26 feet. 10 inches to 72 feet, 7 inches). He also used “inch boards" of the same species in making a chest. At Charlottetown in 1779 he recorded that he was "cleaving and barking a quantity of best Black birch for to dry to convert to useful working timber“, and in 1780 he used “dry black birch“ to make a pump handle for the town pump, and "young yellow birch" for the “upper box or valve" of the pump. He also used both ‘black‘ and ‘yellow' birch to make components for many of his spinning wheels, as well as other articles (records occur for 1798, 1799, 1801, 1802, 1806 and 1807).

“7° Stewart (1806) noted that the export of the wood had recently begun. By 1860 Sutherland (1860) could say that it was the largest and best timber for export, and even in 1890 Bain recorded that “large quantities are exported as ton-timber". The Islands House of Assembly (1773-1849) had singled out ‘birch‘ as the particular hardwood for which it set standard sizes for the logs exported as ten timber‘. (See footnote 76 for the definition of ton timber.) (There is also a reference in the Land Commission (1875) to birch “square timber" (evidence of Daniel McDonald of Lot 10), which is just another name for ‘ton timber' (Lower 1973, p. 253).)

‘7‘ However, Benjamin Chappell (1775-1818) did frequently use white birch for parts of his spinning wheels (records occur for 1798. 1799,1802,1803,1804 and 1815),

‘72 Apart from Hill (1839) and Bain (1890) who note its use for firewood, Plessis (1812) recorded: “on se chauffe avec le bou/eau [they keep warm with birchl", the French tree name bouleau, [i.e. birch] being specifically applied to the white birch

(see Sobey 2002, p. 136). I also note that Chappell (1775-1818) recorded he or his son getting white birch for firewood in 1798 and 1804.

canoes473 and lodges“, and for ”bowls and all

sorts of dishes’ms, and by the European settlers as a roof surface on the first temporary log cabins built during forest clearance“, and as a water- proofing layer under shingles”. At the same time it was observed to be a handsome tree aesthetically, due to its white trunk: Stewart (1806), observing it on the old French cleared lands, termed it ”a very ornamental tree", and a later travel writer described it as "picturesque’mm, while Bain poetically termed it "the virgin beauty of the forest"“79_

Conclusion — Yellow birch was an important element of the island’s upland hardwood forests, seemingly in those on moister soils, where it could occur either in mixtures with other hardwood species or in single species stands. Its wood was particularly valued for carpentry and cabinet work, and was an article of export from the island. By contrast white birch was observed to be largely a successional tree on abandoned farmland, especially on areas left from the French period, as well as on cut-Over areas and on areas burned in forest fires. Its bark had several specific uses, but its wood was mostly used for firewood.

"3 Selkirk 1803; Stewart 1806; Hill 1839; Sutherland 1861 — he called it the ‘canoe birch‘; Bain 1890. Stewart (1806) noted that the Mi'kmaq could make a canoe from the bark of a single large tree, and that they also used it to make “various useful articles, such as buckets, bowls and baskets" that could hold water, were light and lasted a long time. MacGregor (1828) (pp. 33 and 39 — not extracted) noted that the Mi'kmaq also made torches from birch bark fixed on the end of sticks, and that these were used to give light while they Speared eels at night from their canoes.

m Bain 1890 — ‘tents’ as he called them. Selkirk (1803) (p, 15, not extracted) calls them ‘whigwams', and wrote that it “is of large pieces of birch bark which they carry in their Canoe — the Poles to support it are found everywhere - they are set conically & a hole left at the top for the smoke".

"5 Selkirk (1803). He said that he saw “troughs made of [birch bark] standing at the foot of the Sugar maples” — presumably they were used in collecting maple sap.

‘76 Selkirk 1803; Selkirk 1805; Johnstone 1822; MacGregor 1828 (p. 60, net extracted); Marryat 1829; Lawson 1851. MacGregor (1828) also says that birch ‘wythes‘ [i.e. twigs] were used to keep the whole structure secure. Selkirk (p. 14, not extracted) said that when used on such roofs “it must be immediately thatched over & covered from the sun (usually by “a kind of long grassy seaweed" — presumably eelgrass, Zostera marina) — otherwise “it dries and curls up and becomes useless“. Bain's comment indicates that this was a former use of the bark.

‘77 Selkirk 1803; Bain 1890. "8 Anon. 1877.

"9 Bain 1890.

208