Wilderness land. 
     
    
   
   
    
     An old tree used 
     
     for a signpost. 
     
    
   
   
    
     No ’interminable 
     
     forests ’ on 
     
     the island. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some forest 
     
     animals. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Collecting 
     
     map/e sap. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Land clearing 
     
     and prosperity. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some native 
     
     shrubs. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The first crops 
     
     after clearance. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A goal: to replace 
     
     the forests with 
     
     orchards. 
     
    
   
   
    
     fuel; At the head of the Bay [i.e. Cascumpeque] there are two arms, [one] called 
     
     Mill River, crossing the western road at Yeo’s Mills, an excellent establishment, 
     
     comprising both grist and saw mills. From Cascumpeque to Tignish, the road 
     
     passes through a great deal of land still in a wilderness state; but you cannot fail to 
     
     be struck with the beauty of the Settlement at the head of the Kildare; There is an 
     
     immense quantity of the very best land still lying in a state of wilderness, from no 
     
     other reason than that no one likes to be the first to break ground; [pp. 4447] 
     
    
   
   
    
     About a mile from the place where you stop to bait in Tryon, in the midst of the 
     
     woods, you come across an old dead tree (rampikes we call them here, unde derivatur 
     
     I know not), upon which at about 15 or 20 feet from the ground, you see projecting 
     
     from it, on the one side, a sign board . this ”hollow beech tree," [p. 49] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Another, and a very great difference between the travelling in Prince Edward Island 
     
     and the adjacent Colonies, is, the want of those apparently interminable forests that 
     
     are so complained of by travellers visiting the latter. It is true that a great, by far the 
     
     greatest part of our Island is still in a state of wilderness; but the roads that lead 
     
     through these are cultivated, more or less on both sides [p. 53] 
     
     [since the survey of Samuel Holland] there have some hundred Settlements and 
     
     Villages started up in places where bears, foxes, loupcerviers were wont to consider 
     
     their exclusive property. [p. 54] 
     
    
   
   
    
     About the middle, or toward the latter end of March, when a powerful warm sun has 
     
     succeeded the sharp frost of the preceding night, those who are anxious to collect 
     
     maple sap for the purpose of boiling down into sugar, go early into the woods and tap 
     
     the trees, which is done by making a slanting cut with an axe upon the butt of the 
     
     tree, to the lower end of which is inserted a small wooden spile [p. 54] 
     
    
   
   
    
     In these new countries, one, perhaps, of the best criterions of the real increase of 
     
     wealth, is the comparative increase of cultivated land. Here, every acre of land 
     
     redeemed from its wilderness state and subdued by the plough, may be computed at 
     
     an addition of £3 sterling, at least, to its sunken capital. [Using census data, he then 
     
     calculates that in 7827 there were 2.4 acres of cleared land per person, compared 
     
     with 3.4 in 1848] The gradual but steady increase in the acquisition of arable land 
     
     is to my mind, one of the most convincing proofs of the increasing prosperity of the 
     
     Island. (pp. 57-581 
     
    
   
   
    
     Tell her [i.e. your good lady] to bring seeds of every possible variety of Summer 
     
     flowers, they thrive as well, and bloom as tolerably with us, as in their native climes, 
     
     and when contrasted with the dark green of the indigenous Fir or placed in juxta 
     
     position with the red-berried Sumach, the splendid Tree Cranberry, the delicate, the 
     
     lovely, lady-like Messilus, the blushing Alodea, the Kalmiea Ledum and a number 
     
     whose names I cannot call to mind—all natives—will form as pretty a shrubbery and 
     
     flower garden as she will leave behind. [pp. 66—67] 
     
    
   
   
    
     In all new countries, the crops taken out of the wood, as it is termed, are the most 
     
     profitable; cutting down, rolling and burning, and taking crop after crop with out 
     
     adding anything to the soil, in return, has been and is the invariable practice all over 
     
     America, and it is not until the poor mother earth refuses to bear any longer, that 
     
    
   
   
    
     they think of supplying food for the plants, it is their wish to raise off her bosom; 
     
     [p. 68] 
     
    
   
   
    
     Stick to your farms make apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes and peaches take 
     
     the place of pine, the maple and the fir, and you will earn purer fame and be entitled 
     
     and receive more tokens of respect and esteem, than if you made tiresome speeches 
     
     of four hours’ duration. [p.76] 
     
    
   
   
    
     155