ROTATION OF CROPS IN THE FOREST. 271 



may be seen in the gigantic half-charred stems, thoroughly 

 dried by fire and weather, which remain standing amongst 

 the young green wood for twenty or thirty years. These 

 immense trunks, standing high over the heads of the 

 young forest trees with uplifted arms, and stems blanched 

 white with successive storms and sunshine, look like the 

 ghosts of the forest primeval, and present a weird and 

 rather melancholy appearance. 



In Lower Canada and the maritime provinces spruce and 

 fir are the weeds of the country. They seem to spring up 

 everywhere and under any circumstances. They grow 

 equally well in the open or under the shade of larger trees. 

 The latter has often surprised me, knowing the difficulty 

 that is experienced in getting under-cover to grow in 

 English woods. On land that has been left in pasture for 

 a few years, the weeds that grow up, and warn the farmer 

 that his land is ready for the plough, are spruce and fir trees. 

 In rocky districts of the lower St. Lawrence and of Nova 

 Scotia, of the Thousand Islands and of the Laurentian 

 Mountains, wherever there is a crack in a rock large 

 enough to hold a thimbleful of soil, there one may see a 

 little spruce or fir tree. 



Walking in the woods brings more of the muscles into play 

 than road walking, and what with stepping over this wind- 

 fall and stooping under that one, it is no doubt fatiguing 

 work ; but it is a very different [and a much pleasanter 

 sort of fatigue than that caused by road tramping. 

 A little rest makes the latter grow or increase, whilst 

 the fatigue caused by walking in the woods, though more 

 distressing at first, vanishes after a short rest, and leaves 

 no trace behind ; in fact, if one may compare oneself to a 



