126 FOSSIL FUEL AND LAND CLEARING. 



valuable timber of this sort will be as dear in the inte 

 rior parts of North America as it is now in most parts 

 of England. 



But as regards the obtaining of fuel, it is possible that 

 no evil may ultimately result from clearing away the 

 trees which are most esteemed for this use. Should the 

 anticipations hitherto encouraged as to the abundance of 

 coal in this province, and even in this very neighbour 

 hood, be realised by future inquiry, then the clearing 

 the land of timber of all kinds will be a gain to agricul 

 ture, and no loss in other respects. But should it be 

 otherwise, then those farms which have reserved no 

 natural wood for domestic use, will be less valuable to 

 their possessors than others on which ten acres of good 

 fuel-land, at least, have been reserved and carefully 

 nursed for the winter s use of the proprietor s family, 

 while the cost of fuel to the poorer inhabitants will 

 every year increase. To the province generally the 

 same remarks apply, In every country where wood is 

 the common and only available fuel, the desirableness 

 and value of farms is very much augmented by the pos 

 session of a sufficient reserve of natural firewood forest ; 

 and in an infant colony, in which this may ultimately be 

 the case, it is very desirable that early attention should 

 be paid to so important a consideration. 



Rust and mildew, as with us, generally attack the 

 wheat more in the valleys than on the uplands ; but I 

 am not aware that it has been observed in other coun 

 tries, as I was informed is the case here, that in tidal 

 rivers they are more frequent and destructive above the 

 reach of the tide where the water is, of course, entirely 

 fresh than on the banks of the lower parts of the 

 rivers, to which the daily ebb and flow ascends. If a 

 current of air always follows the tide, it may be possible, 

 by its action, to explain the occurrence of such a differ 

 ence, if it be really generally observed. 



