In fro what partie of the earth that men dwell, outher aboven or benethen, it seemeth always to hem that dwellín there that they gow more right than any other folk.”

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

A. W. Lane

NOTES

ON

NORTH AMERICA

AGRICULTURAL, ECONOMICAL,

AND SOCIAL

BY

JAMES PAW JOHNSTON

M.A., F.R.S.S.L. & E., F.G.S., C.S., &c.

READER IN CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM

TWO VOLUMES

VOL. II.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MDCCCLI

Hist. Soo
Clark.
11-3-23
9374

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XV.

FROM THE RESTIGOUCHE TO THE MIRAMICHI ROUND THE NORTH-EASTERN

PART OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

Page

Dalhousie to Bathurst.—Red land and thriving farms.-Settlers

from Ayrshire.— Their prosperity.- Petit Rocher.— Kind of

land possessed by the Acadian French.—Bathurst; its situa-

tion and bay.-Crops, wages, advice to emigrants.-Wheat-

midge.-Substitution of the oat for the wheat as a crop and

for food.- Tatagouche River.-Unsteadiness of the French as

labourers.—The Papineau and Nepisiguit rivers.—Blazing the

bark of birch-trees.—Causes of bad farming in these districts.

– Healthiness of the climate.-Extraction of wax from the

Myrica cerifera.-Red land along the north-east horn of New

Brunswick.—Relation of human art and natural capability.-

Roman Catholic Ireland in the settlement of New Bandon.-

Winter winds of the Bay de Chaleur.—Mr Ritchie's.—Superior

character of the French of this district.-- Relation of the soil

to the intellectual character.—Caraquet Settlement.—Collector

Blackhall, an old Aberdonian.—Influence of early associations.

-Sullivan's corner.—Pocmouche River and Ferry.-Carriboo

plains.—Little Tracadi.—Leper hospital.-Singularity of this

local leprosy.-Sweet-fern country.-Dark nights in the woods.

-Excellence of the roads in this province.-Annual expendi-

ture upon them,

1

CHAPTER X VI.

FROM THE MIRAMICHI TO RICHIBUCTO.

The Miramichi.-Influence of clearing on local climate.--Incidents

Page

of the great fire of 1825.—Breadth, velocity, and course of the

flame.—Great Darkness. — Firing of woods by lightning.-

Influence of fires on the quality of the land.—The north-west

Miramichi.-First and second growth of trees.-Wisconsin

fever.-Case of an Irish patient.- Sales of land in the different

new States an index of the intensity of the fever.-Improvers

at Chatham.-Beautiful ploughing.–A smashed carriage.- A

second break-down. —Bears and bear-traps in the woods.-

Fallow-deer and wolves; their appearance in the province.

- Former abundance of wolves in the Atlantic States.—Sweet-

fern meadow.—Connection of physical characters and agricul-

tural capabilities.- Agricultural maps, their uses.— Richibucto

and St Nicholas rivers.—Hemlock-tree forests.-Flow of sap

in the maple-tree affected by the direction of the wind.-Pro-

gress of clearing in the province.-Alleged superior nutritive

power of the flour of winter wheat.-Supposed richness of New

Brunswick in fossil fuel.-Statements of local writers.—Exag-

gerated expectations.—Tea dinner with an Irish settler.-

Numerous bridges in the county of Kent.-Wide river mouths

and estuaries.--Comparative influence of the Church of England

clergy.-Settlements of single denominations.—Practice of

the Roman Catholic French in this respect.-Opening for set-

tlers of the Free Church of Scotland.-Cost of farms,

31

CHAPTER XVII.

FROM RICHIBUCTO TO SHEPODY BAY, ROUND THE SOUTH-EAST

CORNER OF THE PROVINCE.

Galloway and Glenelg settlements.-Buctouche River.-Shediac.-

French settlement of Barachois. — Character of the south-
eastern promontory of the province-House-burnings.—Idle
young men.- Mr Murray's farm and success.-Prudence as
necessary as knowledge.—Red drift.-Red rocks of Cape Tor-
mentine.—An Irish settler's luck.- Bay Verte and Joliecoeur
settlements.—Rich land and cheerful houses.—Proposed Canals
and Railways.-Cumberland fort and ridge.-Extent of the
Sackville and Amherst marsh-lands.—Produce they are capable
of yielding in corn and cattle.—Town of Amherst.--Minudie
flats.—Blue mud.--Deposits of gypsum.--Abadeaus, or river-
sluices.—Town of Sackville.-Geological section and structure
of this valley.-A prosperous Aberdonian.—Bogs in the upper
part of the marsh. - Improvement by warping.–Canals for the
purpose.—Town of Dorchester.— River Memramcook. She-
pody Ferry, .

60