ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 15 



guardians in preventiiig robberies and fires, and tbeir 

 action, united to that, of the government, will produce 

 immediate good effects. 



One of the chief objections, made by certain lumber- 

 men, is, that they have not sufficient control over their 

 servants to insure the following out of the plan. This 

 objection does not seem even plausible. 



Let the lumbermen instil strongl]^ into the minds 

 of their head-men the ideas we have put forward, and 

 hold them responsible for their execution. All will then 

 go well ; for the ti'uth is, that up to the present time an 

 incredible atQount of carelessness has ruled in this 

 branch of commerce, whence chiefly spring the principal 

 evils which we are combating. 



CHAPTER IV, 



THE DUTIES OF SETTLERS AS REGARDS THE PRESERVATION 

 OF THE FORESTS. 



It is vain to deny it : our settlers have been more 

 guilty of the destruction of our forests than any other 

 class of men. Dispersed here and there in the bush, 

 obliged to clear and sow at the most rapid possible rate, 

 the settlers do not go gingerly to work. Axe in hand^ 

 the woodman chops away freely, until the piece of land 

 he intends to sow is cleared. Then, he piles up the trees 

 and sets them on fire, it -may be in the height of sum- 

 mer, when the last year's leaves and the moss-covered 

 branches are as dry as tinder, only waiting for a 

 spark to set them blazing. Burning-time is come, burn 

 we must, and, in truth, the whole burns together. Soon, 

 the flame passes beyond the clearing ; it runs along the 

 dry leaves which cover the ground, reaching out its fiery 

 tongues in all directions — the forest is on fire ! The first 



