THE EMIGRANT'S HAND-BOOK. 13 



bad sign. Land which bears the timber, we have now 

 named, or some kinds of it, is sure to be good. 



If the trees be low in size, and scraggy, the soil is clayey 

 and cold, and inclined to be too wet for cultivation. The 

 trees which grow on wet and swampy lands are the oak, 

 pine, hemlock, tamarack, black-ash and cedar ; but the 

 pine and hemlock are often found on dry soil, and so is 

 the oak. 



Some people judge by the surface of the land also. This 

 is not always a safe criterion. If the land appears un- 

 even, rising into little knolls or knobs, they reject it, think- 

 ing that the knolls are caused by rocks and large stones 

 beneath the surface. This is not right. In Canada and 

 various portions of the States, the old settlers do not reject 

 a piece of land because of its uneven surface. Quite the 

 contrary; for they know that the more uneven the land 

 appears with these small heights and hollows, the better 

 the soil probably is. We have known really sagacious 

 purchasers to take a small iron rod, a ramrod for instance, 

 into the woods with them, and run the rod into the knobs 

 and knolls, to ascertain what they were composed of. 

 This is a good plan. The end of the rod should be sharp- 

 ened. By this means you can tell whether the subsoil 

 be clayey or the reverse, which you could not otherwise so 

 readily determine, as the top of all soils is usually covered 

 with the black mould of decayed vegetable matter. 



A lot of land should not be rejected, if a corner of it, 

 even fifteen acres, is covered with black-ash, pine, or 

 cedar. For fencing the cleared fields, black-ash and 

 cedar are invaluable. For boards and shingles, the pine 

 is of great value. 



Tfte quality of prairie land is so easily known by the 

 eye, and is so universally good, that but few words need 

 be said on the subject. It should be dry, clear land, of a 

 deep rich soil, and as near as possible to timber-land ; say 



