The aesthetic 
     
     appearance 
     
     of the woods. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Wind- thro ws 
     
     in clearances. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Land clearance: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Cutting and 
     
     ’junklng ’. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Use of fire. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The stumps 
     
     left standing. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The litter and 
     
    
   
   
    
     soil often burns. 
     
    
   
   
    
     next with wood, spruce, var, or white birch; and should none of these spring up 
     
     immediately, the land gets so poor and dried with the rays of the sun, which have 
     
     now free access to it, that it becomes unfit for any crop, without summer fallowing; 
     
     and to produce a succession of crops it must also have dung. From this you will 
     
     learn, that ground that has been overrun with fire, is damaged in more than one 
     
     respect. The land is rendered poor, and the wood is lost; for fresh green hard wood 
     
     is of more value than you can possibly be aware of. When the hard wood is burnt 
     
     upon a farm, the people have no convenient way of supplying themselves with fuel 
     
     for their fires at home, as they cannot muster cash to purchase coals from the 
     
     mainland, where there is plenty, and not far distant. 
     
    
   
   
    
     I may observe, that the woods, in an old cultivated country, are highly ornamented 
     
     as well as useful; but here they are the reverse; for although they are very needful for 
     
     several purposes, they are not at all attractive in their appearance. One cause of this 
     
     is, their being so extensive that the eye can discern little else but wood or water 
     
     every where; another reason is, that the woods on the borders of almost every 
     
     settlement have been destroyed less or more by fire; this renders them as described 
     
     above, a very unpleasant object indeed. But I must say, the woods here in their most 
     
     perfect state are far from possessing any thing like the beauty of those in 
     
     Britain.—Their bark is runkled, dry, and weather-beaten, like that of a tree several 
     
     years dead, (a defect which is probably caused by the severe frost in winter;) nor do 
     
     their branches beautifully expand into that luxuriant covering of foliage so common 
     
     at home, and, from their great height, they are no sooner broke into with clearances, 
     
     than the wind is overturning some of them by the roots, breaking others by the 
     
     middle, and rendering them an object still more unpleasant and revolting. But after 
     
     all l have said, I may end as I began, that to have a correct notion of the woods here, 
     
     you must come and see them. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Letter Fourth, Charlotte Town, Nov. 29th, 1820. 
     
    
   
   
    
     the manner of cutting the wood and clearing the land here. New settlers (who 
     
     should always be here as early in the spring as possible) begin to cut down the wood 
     
     where they intend to erect their first house. As the trees are cut the branches are to 
     
     be lopped off, and the trunks cut into lengths of 12 to 14 feet. This operation they 
     
     call junking them; if they are not junked before fire is applied, they are much worse 
     
     to junk afterwards. Thus, when the space intended to be cleared is cut down, junked, 
     
     and all lying in a promiscuous manner over the whole surface, fire is applied to it in 
     
     as dry and windy a day as can be selected, and if the fire runs well, the greater part 
     
     of the small branches will be consumed, but the trunks will only be scorched. These 
     
     are next rolled together and made up in piles, lying flat upon the ground; then the 
     
     remaining small branches are gathered up and thrown upon the heavier wood, to help 
     
     it to kindle for burning a second time. The stronger part of the family then go on to 
     
     make up more piles, while the weaker part set fire to those that are prepared. In this 
     
     way they proceed until the whole of what was cut down is gone over; then when the 
     
     piles go out they are kindled again, and those that continue to burn thrust closer 
     
     together, till all is consumed. After the wood is all burnt, the stumps are left 
     
     standing about two feet high, scorched black with the first burning, like so many 
     
     blocks, of a blacksmith’s anvil. The people then begin planting their potatoes 
     
    

    
     [pp. 107-08] 
     
     the wood will not burn early in the season When the fire runs well the first time 
     
     it is put to the wood, not only a great deal of leaves and rubbish are burnt, but also 
     
     a part of the surface soil. This enriches the land greatly ...... after a [second] crop 
     
     of potatoes has been taken next year, the same ground is sown with wheat and 
     
     timothy grass seed. after this, if the land is of a good quality, and has been well 
     
    
   
   
    
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