1836.] 



F A H M E R S ' REGISTER. 



517 



manner at the stern, at right anjjles to the boat, 

 the olher ends extemling across ihe tow-paili on 

 tlio niuririn of tlie canal. By ihcse polos the men 

 push the boat alont^ in a rapid walk, and at the 

 same time lean on them so as: very much to 

 lighten their labor. Four experienced hands ac- 

 comptinied our boat, who relieved each other 

 fi'om time to time. Ii seemed straniie to me that 

 horse power had not been substituted liir that of 

 man for this business ; for tlioui^h it would be cost- 

 ly to provide enouo;h solid earth to make a tow- 

 path tbrliorses, when once done, one horse would 

 l)ull as many boats as perhaps 15 or 20 men could 

 eho\e. 



This canal was dug 12 feet wide, 4 feet deep, 

 and is 10 miles in length, and very nearly straight. 

 Its water is almost a level — a gentle current 

 flowing fi-om the middle part towards each end. 

 The firm Ifmd soon was passed through— (in 

 which the banks are from 1 to 2, and for a short 

 space 3 to 4 feet high — ) and we then entered the 

 swamp. The tow-path still continued to be a 

 firm but low bank lor a short space more — and 

 then for the remaininn- 7 or 8 miles was scarcely 

 above the surface of the adjoining swamp, and 

 merely afforded belter footing by being trodden, 

 and thereby consolidated, and by the poles and 

 other wood placed along where water covered the 

 ground, for the boatsmen's steps. The earth 

 thrown out in digging the canal must have made 

 on each side a wide and high bank. But so little el- 

 evation now remains, that it furnishes alone suffi- 

 cient jToof of the correctness of my previous 

 opinion, that such land, if kept dry, will rot awaj^, 

 leaving nolhmg but the very small portion of 

 earthy matter in the soil. A permanent liorse 

 tow-path could therefore only be made by earth 

 boated fl'om the firm land, or by wood. Wooden 

 roads for mules are made throughout the swamp, 

 to convey the shingles to the borders of the canal, 

 or lake — and these roads are so rough, and bad, 

 that it seems as if as much power must be lost on 

 them, as by using hand labor to propel the loaded 

 boats. Some of these roads are 5 or 6 miles in 

 length — and their united length must be very 

 great. They are constructed as follows. Double 

 lines of poles are laid in the direction of the road, 

 about the distance apart of the cart wheels. 

 Across these are laid split pieces, merely long 

 enough for a single track of a cart, of 4 to 6 inches 

 in diameter, and as angular and irregular as 

 may be supposed, from mauling. These lie close 

 to each other across the sleepers, and present a 

 very rough and unstable surface for the wheels, 

 and still worse for the feet of the mules. Still, I 

 was told that on such roads, a mule will draw as 

 heavy a load as an ordinarj^ roads, on land. If so, 

 it would seem that they would draw ten times as 

 much on smooth longitudinal tracks, or such wood- 

 en rail, or tram-roads, as are described in Vol. I. 

 of the Farmers' Register.' 



The escape of the water in numerous places 

 over the margin of tiie canal, served to explain 

 how there could be a regular current always set- 

 ting towards the dosed end of a level canal. 



We soon reached juniper trees, (or white ce- 

 dars) and the softest swamp soil, in which situa- 

 tion only these trees irrow. I had never before 

 seen a juniper — and should not now have distin- 

 gushed them from the red or true cedars, but tor 

 their situation, greater height, and the beautiful 



straiijhtness of their long naked trunks. The 

 lenntli of the branches, and the spreading and 

 bulk of the whole top, bear but small proportion 

 to the tiiameter and length of the trunks of the 

 juniper. The trees are beautiful, and especially 

 when they stand thick, forming a high roof of 

 their evergreen tops, supported by numerous co- 

 lumns formed by tlieir long and straight stems. 

 They are not often large, or are too valuable 

 as timber to be permitted to reach n)ucii size. 

 Most of our whole course was through the "burnt 

 wootls," a large track of which nearly all the 

 growing ti'ees had been formerly killed and con- 

 sumed by great fires in former times. 



Though the form of the juniper is well adapted 

 to stand on its soft and yielding foundation of 

 mire, still when large it is easily overthrown by 

 winds — and perhaps as many such were lying be- 

 neath the surface of the peat, as were standing 

 erect. When throv/n down, they are soon cover- 

 ed by water, and keeping wet, they never rot, except 

 the sap wood, which is less than an inch thick. 

 Much of the tindjer now got, is from trees long 

 covered a foot or two deep under the surface soil, 

 and which are found by the workmen by sound- 

 ing, and then duff to and sawn off into shingle 

 cuts, though half covered by water. Some of the 

 great fires, in certain places, have brought to view 

 and into use, more good timber than they injured, 

 by burning the soil down to where numerous trees 

 had lain perhaps for a century concealed, and 

 their existence unsuspected. By the way — in dig- 

 ging down into the swamp, charcoal, the plain ev- 

 idence of the former fires, and of the height at 

 which the surface had then stood, is often found at 

 several feet below the present surfiice — thus givintJ" 

 practical proof of the growth of the soil in thick- 

 ness by tlie operiition of the natural causes before 

 reasoned from. But I get on slowly upon the 

 canal. 



The canal, when perfectly straight for a long 

 course, with the trees on each side almost joining 

 their branches across, presents a beautiful vista 

 and perspective view — and with our singular boat 

 and its equipage would have furnished a fine sub- 

 ject for a painter. Still more striking were the 

 same scenes when we returned at night, with the 

 bright light of our fire partially displacing the 

 general darkness. The landscape painter would 

 find many new subjects in this region, where eve- 

 ry thing is strange and new — and so might the 

 student of botany and other branches of natural 

 history. A writer like Irving might here find 

 enough interesting matter fordescription and narra- 

 tive, to fill a volume. The land and the water — 

 the vegetables and the wild animals — the inhabit- 

 ants in their habits and occupations — are all as 

 different from the surrounding country, as if the 

 traveller had suddenly passed mto a fiir remote re- 

 gion. 



I landed several times in the course of the day, 

 at places of different appearance and growth, 

 and of diflTerent levels, and walked far enough to 

 see the smamp in all its various conditions. The 

 parts most easy to walk through (and these are 

 scarcely passable) are where the original gigantic 

 forest groivth has not been destroyed or hurt by 

 fire, or where the reeds, forming a thick erowth, 

 have all died, and thus permit one, with some ef- 

 fort, to break Ins way through such a brittle though 

 close barricade. The getting of timber being con- 



