96 DANGER OF ORNAMENTAL TREES. 



great fire, especially as to the fearful rapidity with which 

 it hurried on, with the roar of a great sea, before the 

 sweeping hurricane which propelled it. On our way we 

 saw fires burning in the woods in many places, which, in 

 this dry season, only required a little wind to spread in 

 one blaze over the whole forest. At one spot, where the 

 road ran along the edge of the forest, separating it from 

 the cleared land, which lay between the road and the 

 river, we passed six or eight men employed in watching 

 for the fall of sparks, and extinguishing any which might 

 come over from the burning woods, to the imminent 

 danger of their crops. 



In a country like this, one learns to look upon trees in 

 a new light. Not only are they an obstacle to cultiva- 

 tion, which must therefore be cut down and burnt ; but, so 

 long as natural woods are near, it is dangerous to leave 

 any about the dwelling-house for shelter or ornament. 

 During this summer's tour, I was shown places where the 

 spreading of fire from the forest to a few ornamental 

 trees had caused the destruction of the whole farm build- 

 ings, to the almost total ruin of the proprietor. Thus a 

 reason appears for the nakedness wdiich an Englishman 

 almost feels when in the midst of a large clearing. An 

 unsheltered house appears, while the stumps of magnifi- 

 cent trees all around show how well it might have been 

 protected from wind and sun. 



Except upon the immediate banks of the river, there 

 are few settlements along this road ; and, in general, the 

 upland is very poor until we descend to within twenty or 

 thirty miles of the mouth of the Miramichi. About a 

 dozen miles from Boistown, I had a conversation with a 

 small farmer, Irish by birth, but resident from his infancy 

 in this country. lie had been in his farm only three 

 years. By hiring himself as a working lumberer, he had 

 saved =£^80, and with this he bought his present farm. 

 It contains two hundred acres, and had ten acres cleared 



