Читать книгу The Canadian Settler's Guide - Catharine Parr Traill - Страница 28

When the Backwoodsman first beholds the dense mass of dark forest which his hands must clear from the face of the ground, he sees in it nothing more than a wilderness of vegetation which it is his lot to destroy: he does not know then how much that is essential to the comfort of his household is contained in the wild forest.

Let us now pause for a few minutes while we consider what raw material is there ready to be worked up for the use of the Emigrant and his family.

Here is timber for all purposes; for building houses, barns, sheds, fencing and firewood.

The ashes contain potash, and the lye added to the refuse of the kitchen is manufactured by the women into soap, both hard and soft: or if spread abroad in the new fallow, it assists in neutralizing the acid of the virgin soil, rendering it more fertile and suitable for raising grain-crops. From the young tough saplings of the oak, beech and ironwood, his boys by the help of a common clasp knife, can make brooms to sweep the house, or to be used about the doors.—The hickory, oak and rock-elm supply axe handles and other useful articles. From the pine and cedar he obtains the shingles with which his log-house is roofed. The inner bark of the bass-wood, oak and many other forest trees can be made into baskets and mats. Dyes of all hues are extracted from various barks, roots and flowers. The hemlock and oak furnish bark for tanning the shoes he wears. Many kinds of wild fruits are the spontaneous growth of the woods and wilds.

The forest shelters game for his use; the lakes and streams wild fowl and fish.

The skins of the wild animals reward the hunter and trapper.

From the birch a thousand useful utensils can be made, and the light canoe that many a white settler has learned to make with as much skill as the native Indian.

Nor must we omit the product of the sugar-maple, which yields to the settler its luxuries in the shape of sugar, molasses and vinegar.

These are a few of the native resources of the forest. True they are not to be obtained without toil, neither is the costly product of the silkworm, the gems of the mine, or even the coarsest woollen garment made without labour and care.