Tree/ess barren.

Spruce land.

Cedar — ’a valuable wood’.

Not much

cedar now.

Lot 76.

Juniper swamp.

Large timber gone.

Blueberry barren.

Spruce barren.

Lot 22.

Lot 67.

Lot 9: a surveyor ’s viewpoint.

There is good land near the Centre Line Road. Back of that is barren. It is spruce land with some cedar.

Cross-examined: There is some land that is plain barren that is worth nothing. It is nothing but moss. It has not a stick upon it to make a fence post. There are about 3000 acres of such in the two places. [pp. 102-103]

Dona/d McPhee, Lot 9 2 There are about three miles from the Brae River to the line of Lot 10. I suppose there are about 3000 or 4000 acres there. A great deal of it is barren. It is swampy and wet. There are from 400 to 500 acres of good hard wood, the rest of it is barren and swampy. There is some spruce land. I do not call that barren. The odd hills are worth something for cultivation. There is some lumber on them. Where there is no lumber the land is worthless. [p. 103] Cross—examined: The front [of my farm] is hard wood, and toward the rear it is soft wood—a cedar swamp. Cedar is a valuable kind of wood. It is the most valuable kind of wood in that part of the country. There is not a great portion of the wild lands covered with cedar. There has been some but there is not much now. A good many cedar posts come from Lot 9. More posts come from Lots 6 and 8. Cedar is the most durable wood in the country. The barren lands are covered with blue berry bushes. I do not know valuable farms that were once blue berry bushes. I do not think that such land is capable of being cultivated and made good farms. Cedar posts are worth on the spot out about 8 cents. That is what is generally given for them. I cannot say how many can be got from an acre. In some places they grow close together; in other places not. There is not much cedar on the vacant land now. There is some—not much. There is not enough to justify a man in going into lumbering. There might be some in odd places, but there is not much that I know of. [p. 104]

Donald Campbell, Lot 16 :

There is a block of vacant land at the west end [of the Lot]. There are perhaps 2000 acres . The timber is stripped off. There is scarcely any of it fit for cultivation. There is a great deal of juniper swamp covered with water. There is vacant land between the Railway and the River. That land is a little drier. It is covered principally with spruce. It is all stripped now. Sleepers have been culled off of it. The only valuable wood that was left was shingle-wood and the Frenchmen have taken that for sleepers. Any timber that was of any size was taken off before. Then there is vacant land at the head of the South West River. A great deal of it is barren, with nothing but a few blue berries on it. it is not customary to make good farms of blue berry barrens. There is a strip of fence poles through the middle. People can scarcely get in in the winter to cut ash, for it is overflowed. [pp. 105-061

John Ramsay, Lot 76 :

The land at the head of the South West River is of very inferior quality. It extends toward the main Western Road. That is what is known as a spruce barren. There is small spruce upon it. [p. 112]

J. Simpson sen., Lot 22 :

When the original settlers went there the land was barren. It had been burned over 1000 or 1,500 acres north of Hope River. The second growth was not up. The lumber was all taken off Lot 22 by the people of Lot 21 [p. 115]

Adam White, Lot 67 :

I live on St. Mary's Road at the east end of Lot 61. Swampy land and dry land is mixed up. [p. 122]

Alexander Anderson (surveyor) :

I know the portion of Lot 9 which adjoins Lot 10. A good deal of that land is wooded

with spruce, and two or three pieces are wooded with hardwood. Hardwood land is

called good. Some of the spruce land is very good. That called barren is another

description. The spruce land when cleared makes tolerable good farms. Spruce and 187