Psychological effects of the forest.

Large clearings preferred.

House materials.

The soil.

Common trees.

Timber products.

Forest clearance.

interspersed with grassy glades. These spots, though inconsiderable as objects of cultivation, afforded a convenient situation for the encampment, indeed the only convenient place that could have been found, for all the rest of the coast was covered with thick wood, to the very edge of the water. [p. 174]

To obviate the terrors which the woods were calculated to inspire, the settlement was not dispersed, as those of the Americans usually are, over a large tract of country, but concentrated in a moderate space. 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. when the forests were seen receding on every side, all were animated by the encouraging prospect of advancement. To their families, this social style of settlement was a comfort of the utmost importance for cheering their minds, and preventing them from sinking under the gloomy impressions of the wilderness. [pp. 17677]

The first buildings of the American woodsmen, from which our people took their model, are constructed without any other materials than what the forests afford, and without the aid of any tool but the axe. The walls are formed of straight logs, about eight inches in diameter, rough and undressed, laid horizontally, and crossing each other at the corners The roof is formed of bark. either of the birch or spruce fir, peeled off the trees in large unbroken pieces, which are secured by poles tied down on them with wythes or pliable twigs. This covering, if well laid, is sufficient to keep out any rain, but must be protected from the sun by a thatch of aquatic grasses, or the small twigs of the spruce and other sorts of fir. Houses of this kind, of fifteen or eighteen feet, by ten or fourteen, were the dwellings of many of the settlers in the first season. [pp. 177-78]

The prevailing soil of Prince Edward’s Island may be described as a sandy loam, such as in England would by reckoned of a medium quality. In some spots on the coast, it seems a mere barren sand; yet the crops in these places are generally much better than a stranger would expect from the appearance of the soil. It is a remarkable fact, that the land immediately adjoining the coast and rivers, is almost without exception worse than that which lies further back, even at a short distance. The country, in its natural state, is entirely covered with timber; with the exception only of the salt— marshes, which form but a small portion. The most common species of timber are the beech and the maple, among which are frequently intermixed birch of different kinds, spruce firs, and other species of the pine tribe. In some places the pines entirely predominate: this is considered as indicating a soil of an inferior quality; but, to compensate this disadvantage, the timber of the white pine is valuable for exportation. That of the black birch is also in great estimation. Some of the many

varieties of maple are valuable and beautiful timber, but these are not in so great abundance.

The mode in which the woods are cleared away, is a matter of surprise to the European, who has been accustomed to consider timber as an article of value. The extent of land, which an industrious man may bring into cultivation in the course of a year, furnishes a quantity far beyond the consumption of any settler for fuel and other purposes. A small proportion only is fit for exportation; the rest must be destroyed by fire, and the ashes serve as a manure.

The brush-wood, with which the forests generally abound, is first cut close to the surface, to allow the workman free access; he then begins on one side of a piece of land and tells the trees in a regular progress. By making his cut on the two opposite sides of the tree only, he can regulate the direction in which it is to fall, and generally lays it towards the quarter where he began. The stumps are left about three feet

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