CHAPTER XIII.

DIRECTIONS FOR ASCERTAINING THE QUALITY OF LAND IN THE BUSH. -- SITE OF
LOG-SHANTY. -- CHOPPING. -- PREPARATION FOR SPRING-CROPS. -- METHOD OF
PLANTING INDIAN CORN. -- PUMPKINS AND POTATOES. -- MAKING POT-ASH.

I SHALL now endeavour to give the emigrant some information to guide
him in the selection of his land, and other matters connected with a
settlement in the bush. In the first place, the quality of the land is
the greatest consideration, and to make a good choice requires a
practical knowledge as to the nature of the soils, and the different
kinds of timber growing thereon.

The best land is timbered with oak, ash, elm, beech, bass-wood, and
sugar maple. A fair mixture of this species of trees is best, with here
and there a large pine, and a few Canadian balsams scattered among the
hard-wood. Too great a proportion of beech indicates sand or light
loam: a preponderance of rock elm is a sign of gravel or limestone-rock
near the surface.

The timber should be lofty, clean in the bark and straight in the
grain, and of quick growth. The woods should be open, free from
evergreens, and with little under-brush. Generally speaking, the soil
is of excellent quality, when timbered in the manner described.

It however, often happens, that the best land is full of boulders,
which are both troublesome and expensive to remove. Two-thirds of these