344 CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT'S 



crabbed, and mossy; consequently of no value: 

 but where the soil is pretty good, if they stand 

 too thick, yet they run clear and tall, and attain 

 substance sufficient for shallop 's-oars, skiff 's-oars, 

 stage-beams, rafters, longers, and other purposes, 

 for which length is principally required. Had not 

 nature disposed them to shoot their roots hori- 

 zontally, the adventurers in that country would 

 have found a great difficulty in building vessels 

 of any kind for it is from the root, with part of 

 the trunk of the tree; that most of the timbers 

 are cut; and no others will supply proper stems, 

 and other particular timbers. 



When a fire happens on a peat soil, at the end 

 of a very dry summer, the whole of it is burnt 

 away to a great depth; and will not only, produce 

 no good timber again, but also, is both dangerous 

 and troublesome to walk over; for great numbers 

 of large stones and rocks, are then left exposed 

 on the surface, and the Indian-tea, currants, &c. 

 which grow between, often prevent their being 

 discovered in time to avoid a bad fall: but if the 

 fire happens early in the summer, or when the 

 ground is wet, the soil takes no damage. The 

 burnt woods are also very bad to walk through, 

 until the trees are felled and pretty well gone to 

 decay; but in how many years that will be, I had 

 no opportunity to observe ; I know it is not a few, 

 and that it depends on particular circumstances. 



When the woods are left to nature, the growth 

 of the timber is very slow, for I seldom saw even 

 a young tree, which sent forth an annual shoot 



