LETTERXXVI.
Of the Soil and Productions of Lower Canada.—Observations on the Manufacture of Sugar from the Maple-tree.—Of the Climate of Lower Canada.—Amusements of People of all Descriptions during Winter.—Carioles.—Manner of guarding against the Cold.—Great Hardiness of the Horses.—State of the River St. Lawrence on the Dissolution of Winter.—Rapid Progress of Vegetation during Spring.—Agreeableness of the Summer and Autumn Seasons.
Quebec.
THE eastern part of Lower Canada, between Quebec and the Gulph of St. Lawrence, is mountainous; between Quebec and the mouth of the Utawas River also a few scattered mountains are to be met with; but higher up the River St. Lawrence the face of the country is flat.
The soil, except where small tracts of stony and sandy land intervene, consists principally of a loose dark coloured earth, and of the depth of ten or twelve inches, below which there is a bed of cold clay. This earth towards the surface is extremely fertile, of whichthere cannot be a greater proof than that it continues to yield plentiful crops, notwithstanding its being worked year after year by the French Canadians, without ever being manured. It is only within a few years back, indeed, that any of the Canadians have begun to manure their lands, and many still continue, from father to son, to work the same fields without intermission, and without ever putting any manure upon them, yet the land is not exhausted, as it would be in the United States. The manure principally made use of by those who are the best farmers is marl, found in prodigious quantities in many places along the shores of the River St. Lawrence.
The soil of Lower Canada is particularly suited to the growth of small grain. Tobacco also thrives well in it; it is only raised, however, in small quantities for private use, more than one half of what is used in the country being imported. The Canadian tobacco is of a much milder quality than that grown in Maryland and Virginia: the snuff made from it is held in great estimation.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.
Culinary vegetables of every description come to the greatest perfection in Canada, as well as most of the European fruits: the currants, gooseberries, and raspberries are in particular very fine; the latter are indigenous, and are found in profusion in the woods; thevine is also indigenous, but the grapes which it produces in its uncultivated state are very poor, sour, and but little larger than fine currants.
The variety of trees found in the forests of Canada is prodigious, and it is supposed that many kinds are still unknown: beech trees, oaks, elms, ashes, pines, sycamores, chesnuts, walnuts, of each of which several different species are commonly met with; the sugar maple tree is also found in almost every part of the country, a tree never seen but upon good ground. There are two kinds of this very valuable tree in Canada; the one called the swamp maple, from its being generally found upon low lands; the other, the mountain or curled maple, from growing upon high dry ground, and from the grain of the wood being very beautifully variegated with little stripes and curls. The former yields a much greater quantity of sap, in proportion to its size, than the other, but this sap does not afford so much sugar as that of the curled maple. A pound of sugar is frequently procured from two or three gallons of the sap of the curled maple, whereas no more than the same quantity can be had from six or seven gallons of that of the swamp.
The most approved method of getting the sap is by piercing a hole with an auger in theside of the tree, of one inch or an inch and a half in diameter, and two or three inches in depth, obliquely upwards; but the most common mode of coming at it is by cutting a large gash in the tree with an axe. In each case a small spout is fixed at the bottom of the wound, and a vessel is placed underneath to receive the liquor as it falls.
A maple tree of the diameter of twenty inches will commonly yield sufficient sap for making five pounds of sugar each year, and instances have been known of trees yielding nearly this quantity annually for a series of thirty years. Trees that have been gashed and mangled with an axe will not last by any means so long as those which have been carefully pierced with an auger; the axe, however, is generally used, because the sap distils much faster from the wound made by it than from that made by an auger, and it is always an object with the farmer, to have the sap brought home, and boiled down as speedily as possible, in order that the making of sugar may not interfere with his other agricultural pursuits. The season for tapping the trees is when the sap begins to rise, at the commencement of spring, which is just the time that the farmer is most busied in making preparations for sowing his grain.
MAPLE TREES.
It is a very remarkable fact, that these trees,after having been tapped for six or seven successive years, always yield more sap than they do on being first wounded; this sap, however, is not so rich as that which the trees distil for the first time; but from its coming in an increased portion, as much sugar is generally procured from a single tree on the fifth or sixth year of its being tapped as on the first.
The maple is the only sort of raw sugar made use of in the country parts of Canada; it is very generally used also by the inhabitants of the towns, whither it is brought for sale by the country people who attend the markets, just the same as any other kind of country produce. The most common form in which it is seen is in loaves or thick round cakes, precisely as it comes out of the vessel where it is boiled down from the sap. These cakes are of a very dark colour in general, and very hard; as they are wanted they are scraped down with a knife, and when thus reduced into powder, the sugar appears of a much lighter cast, and not unlike West Indian muscovada or grained sugar. If the maple sugar be carefully boiled with lime, whites of eggs, blood, or any of the other articles usually employed for clarifying sugar, and properly granulated, by the draining off of the molasses, it is by no means inferior, either in point of strength, flavour, or appearance to the eye, toany West Indian sugar whatsoever: simply boiled down into cakes with milk or whites of eggs it is very agreeable to the taste.
The ingenious Dr. Nooth, of Quebec, who is at the head of the general hospital in Canada, has made a variety of experiments upon the manufacture of maple sugar; he has granulated, and also refined it, so as to render it equal to the best lump sugar that is made in England. To convince the Canadians also, who are as incredulous on some points as they are credulous on others, that it was really maple sugar which they saw thus refined, he has contrived to leave large lumps, exhibiting the sugar in its different stages towards refinement, the lower part of the lumps being left hard, similar to the common cakes, the middle part granulated, and the upper part refined.
MAPLE TREES.
Dr. Nooth has calculated, that the sale of the molasses alone would be fully adequate to the expence of refining the maple sugar, if a manufactory for that purpose were established. Some attempts have been made to establish one of the kind at Quebec, but they have never succeeded, as the persons by whom they were made were adventurers that had not sufficient capitals for such an undertaking. It ought not, however, to be concluded from this, that a manufactory of the sort would not succeed if conducted by judicious persons that had amplefunds for the business; on the contrary, it is highly probable that it would answer.
There is great reason also to suppose, that a manufactory for making the sugar from the beginning, as well as for refining it, might be established with advantage.
Several acres together are often met with in Canada, entirely covered with maple trees alone; but the trees are most usually found growing mixed with others, in the proportion of from thirty to fifty maple trees to every acre. Thousands and thousands of acres might be procured, within a very short distance of the River St. Lawrence, for less than one shilling an acre, on each of which thirty maple trees would be found; but supposing that only twenty-five trees were found on each acre, then on a track of five thousand acres, supposing each tree to produce five pounds of sugar, 5,580 cwt. 2 qrs. 12 lbs. of sugar might be made annually.
The maple tree attains a growth sufficient for yielding five pounds of sugar annually in the space of twenty years; as the oaks and other kinds of trees, therefore, were cut away for different purposes, maples might be planted in their room, which would be ready to be tapped by the time that the old maple trees failed. Moreover, if these trees were planted out in rows regularly, the trouble of collectingthe sap from them would be much less than if they stood widely scattered, as they do in their natural state, and of course the expence of making the sugar would be considerably lessened. Added to this, if young maples were constantly set out in place of the other trees, as they were cut down, the estate, at the end of twenty years, would yield ten times as much sugar as it did originally.
MAPLE SUGAR.
It has been asserted, that the difficulty of maintaining horses and men in the woods at the season of the year proper for making the sugar would be so great, as to render every plan for the manufactory of the sugar on an extensive scale abortive. This might be very true, perhaps, in the United States, where the subject has been principally discussed, and where it is that this objection has been made; but it would not hold good in Canada. Many tracks, containing five thousand acres each, of sugar maple land, might be procured in various parts of the country, no part of any of which would be more than six English miles distant from a populous village. The whole labour of boiling in each year would be over in the space of six weeks; the trouble therefore of carrying food during that period, for the men and horses that were wanting for the manufactory, from a village into the woods, would be trifling, and a few huts might bebuilt for their accommodation in the woods at a small expence.
The great labour requisite for conveying the sap from the trees, that grow so far apart, to the boiling house, has been adduced as another objection to the establishment of an extensive sugar manufactory in the woods.
The sap, as I have before observed, is collected by private families, by setting a vessel, into which it drops, under each tree, and from thence carried by hand to the place where it is to be boiled. If a regular manufactory, however, were established, the sap might be conveyed to the boiling house with far less labour; small wooden troughs might be placed under the wounds in each trees, by which means the sap might easily be conveyed to the distance of twenty yards, if it were thought necessary, into reservoirs. Three or four of these reservoirs might be placed on an acre, and avenues opened through the woods, so as to admit carts with proper vessels to pass from one to the other, in order to convey the sap to the boiling houses. Mere sheds would answer for boiling houses, and these might be erected at various different places on the estate, in order to save the trouble of carrying the sap a great way.
The expence of cutting down a few trees, so as to clear an avenue for a cart, would notbe much; neither would that of making the spouts, and common tubs for reservoirs, be great in a country abounding with wood; the quantity of labour saved by such means would, however, be very considerable.
When then, it is considered, that private families, who have to carry the sap by hand from each tree to their own houses, and often at a considerable distance from the woods, in order to boil it, can, with all this labour, afford to sell sugar, equally good with that which comes from the West Indies, at a much lower price than what the latter is sold at; when it is considered also, that by going to the small expence, on the first year, of making a few wooden spouts and tubs, a very great portion of labour would be saved, and of course the profits on the sale of the sugar would be far greater; there is good foundation for thinking, that if a manufactory were established on such a plan as I have hinted at, it would answer extremely well, and that maple sugar would in a short time become a principal article of foreign commerce in Canada.
AIR AND CLIMATE.
The sap of the maple tree is not only useful in yielding sugar; most excellent vinegar may likewise be made from it. In company with several gentlemen I tasted vinegar made from it by Dr. Nooth, allowed by every one present to be much superior to the best Frenchwhite wine vinegar; for at the same time that it possessed equal acidity, it had a more delicious flavour.
Good table beer may likewise be made from the sap, which many would mistake for malt liquor.
If distilled, the sap affords a very fine spirit.
The air of Lower Canada is extremely pure, and the climate is deemed uncommonly salubrious, except only in the western parts of the province, high up the River St. Lawrence, where, as is the case in almost every part of the United States south of New England, between the ocean and the mountains, the inhabitants suffer to a great degree from intermittent fevers. From Montreal downwards, the climate resembles very much that of the states of New England; the people live to a good old age, and intermittents are quite unknown. This great difference in the healthiness of the two parts of the province must be attributed to the different aspects of the country; to the east, Lower Canada, like New England, is mountainous, but to the west it is an extended flat.
The extremes of heat and cold in Canada are amazing; in the months of July and August the thermometer, according to Fahrenheit, is often known to rise to 96°, yet a winter scarcely passes over but even the mercury itselffreezes. Those very sudden transitions, however, from heat to cold, so common in the United States, and so very injurious to the constitution, are unknown in Canada; the seasons also are much more regular.
The snow generally begins to fall in November; but sometimes it comes down as early as the latter end of October. This is the most disagreeable part of the whole year; the air is then cold and raw, and the sky dark and gloomy; two days seldom pass over together without a fall either of snow or sleet. By the end of the first or second week, however, in December, the clouds are generally dissolved, the frost sets in, the sky assumes a bright and azure hue, and for weeks together it continues the same, without being obscured by a single cloud.
WINTER AMUSEMENTS.
The greatest degree of cold which they experience in Canada, is in the month of January, when for a few days it is sometimes so intense, that it is impossible for a human being to remain out of doors for any considerable time, without evident danger of being frost bitten. These very cold days, however, do not come altogether, but intervene generally at some little distance from each other; and between them, in the depth of winter, the air is sometimes so warm that people in exercise, in themiddle of the day, feel disposed to lay aside the thick fur cloaks usually worn out of doors.
Those who have ever passed a winter in Canada, have by no means that dread of its severity, which some would have who have never experienced a greater degree of cold than what is commonly felt in Great Britain; and as for the Canadians themselves, they prefer the winter to every other season; indeed I never met with a Canadian, rich or poor, male or female, but what was of that opinion; nor ought this to excite our surprise, when it is considered that they pass the winter so very differently from what we do. If a Canadian were doomed to spend but six weeks only in the country parts of England, when the ground was covered with snow, I dare venture to say that he would be as heartily tired of the sameness which then pervaded the face of nature, and as desirous of beholding a green field once more, as any one of us.
Winter in Canada is the season of general amusement. The clear frosty weather no sooner commences, than all thoughts about business are laid aside, and every one devotes himself to pleasure. The inhabitants meet in convivial parties at each other’s houses, and pass the day with music, dancing, card-playing, and every social entertainment that can beguile the time. At Montreal, in particular,such a constant and friendly intercourse is kept up amongst the inhabitants, that, as I have often heard it mentioned, it appears then as if the town were inhabited but by one large family.
WINTER TRAVELLING.
By means of their carioles or sledges, the Canadians transport themselves over the snow, from place to place, in the most agreeable manner, and with a degree of swiftness that appears almost incredible; for with the same horse it is possible to go eighty miles in a day, so light is the draft of one of these carriages, and so favourable is the snow to the feet of the horse. The Canadian cariole or sledge is calculated to hold two persons and a driver; it is usually drawn by one horse; if two horses are made use of, they are put one before the other, as the track in the roads will not admit of their going abreast. The shape of the carriage is varied according to fancy, and it is a matter of emulation amongst the gentlemen, who shall have the handsomest one. There are two distinct kinds, however, of carioles, the open and the covered. The former is commonly somewhat like the body of a capriole, put upon two iron runners or slides, similar in shape to the irons of a pair of skates; the latter consists of the body of a chariot put on runners in the same manner, and covered entirely over with furs, which are found by experienceto keep out the cold much better than any other covering whatsoever. Covered carioles are not much liked, except for the purpose of going to a party in the evening; for the great pleasure of carioling consists in seeing and being seen, and the ladies always go out in most superb dresses of furs. The carioles glide over the snow with great smoothness, and so little noise do they make in sliding along, that it is necessary to have a number of bells attached to the harness, or a person continually sounding a horn to guard against accidents. The rapidity of the motion, with the sound of these bells and horns, appears to be very conducive to cheerfulness, for you seldom see a dull face in a cariole. The Canadians always take advantage of the winter season to visit their friends who live at a distance, as travelling is then so very expeditious; and this is another circumstance which contributes, probably not a little, to render the winter so extremely agreeable in their eyes.
Though the cold is so very intense in Canada, yet the inhabitants never suffer from it, constant experience having taught them how to guard against it effectually.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
In the first place, by means of stoves they keep their habitations as warm and comfortable as can be desired. In large houses they generally have four or five stoves placed in thehall, and in the apartments on the ground floor, from whence flues pass in different directions through the upper rooms. Besides these stoves, they likewise frequently have open fires in the lower apartments; it is more, however, on account of the cheerful appearance they give to the room, than for the sake of the warmth they communicate, as by the stoves the rooms can be heated to any degree. Lest any cold blasts should penetrate from without, they have also double doors, and if the house stands exposed, even double windows, about six inches apart. The windows are made to open lengthwise in the middle, on hinges, like folding doors, and where they meet they lock together in a deep groove; windows of this description, when closed, are found to keep out the cold air much better than the common sashes, and in warm weather they are more agreeable than any other sort, as they admit more air when opened. Nor do the inhabitants suffer from cold when they go abroad; for they never stir out without first wrapping themselves up in furs from head to foot. Their caps entirely cover the ears, the back of the neck, and the greatest part of the face, leaving nothing exposed except the eyes and nose; and their large and thick cloaks effectually secure the body; besides which they wear fur gloves, muffs, and shoes.It is surprising to see how well the Canadian horses support the cold; after standing for hours together in the open air at a time when spirits will freeze, they set off as alertly as if it were summer. The French Canadians make no scruple to leave their horses standing at the door of a house, without any covering, in the coldest weather, while they are themselves taking their pleasure. None of the other domestic animals are as indifferent to the cold as the horses. During winter all the domestic animals, not excepting the poultry, are lodged together in one large stable, that they may keep each other warm; but in order to avoid the expence of feeding many through the winter, as soon as the frost sets in they generally kill cattle and poultry sufficient to last them till the return of spring. The carcases are buried in the ground, and covered with a heap of snow, and as they are wanted they are dug up; vegetables are laid up in the same manner, and they continue very good throughout the whole winter. The markets in the towns are always supplied best at this season, and provisions are then also the cheapest; for the farmers having nothing else to engage them, and having a quantity of meat on hand, that is never injured from being sent to market, flock to the towns in their carioles in great numbers, and always well supplied.
The winter generally continues till the latter end of April, and sometimes even till May, when a thaw comes on very suddenly. The snow soon disappears; but it is a long time before the immense bodies of ice in the rivers are dissolved. The scene which presents itself on the St. Lawrence at this season is most tremendous. The ice first begins to crack from side to side, with a report as loud as that of a cannon. Afterwards, as the waters become swollen by the melting of the snow, it is broken into pieces, and hurried down the stream with prodigious impetuosity; but its course is often interrupted by the islands and shallow places in the river; one large piece is perhaps first stopped, other pieces come drifting upon that, and at length prodigious heaps are accumulated, in some places rising several yards above the level of the water. Sometimes these mounds of ice are driven from the islands or rocks, upon which they have accumulated, by the wind, and are floated down to the sea in one entire body: if in going down they happen to strike against any of the rocks along the shore, the crash is horrible: at other times they remain in the same spot where they were first formed, and continue to obstruct the navigation of the river for weeks after every appearance of frost is banished on shore; so very widely also dothey frequently extend in particular parts of the river, and so solid are they at the same time, that in crossing from shore to shore, the people, instead of being at the trouble of going round them, make directly for the ice, disembark upon it, drag their bateaux or canoes across, and launch them again on the opposite side. As long as the ice remains in the St. Lawrence, no ships attempt to pass up or down; for one of these large bodies of ice is equally dangerous with a rock.
THAW.
The rapid progress of vegetation in Canada, as soon as the winter is over, is most astonishing. Spring has scarcely appeared, when you find it is summer. In a few days the fields are clothed with the richest verdure, and the trees obtain their foliage. The various productions of the garden come in after each other in quick succession, and the grain sown in May affords a rich harvest by the latter end of July. This part of the year, in which spring and summer are so happily blended together, is delightful beyond description; nature then puts on her gayest attire; at the same time the heat is never found oppressive; it is seldom that the mercury in Fahrenheit’s thermometer then rises above 84°: in July and August the weather becomes warmer, and a few days often intervene when the heat is overcoming; during these monthsthe mercury sometimes rises to 96°. There is a great difference, however, in the weather at this season in different years: during the whole of the time that I was in the country, I never observed the thermometer higher than 88°; for the greater part of the months of July and August it was not higher than 80°, and for many days together it did not rise beyond 65°, between Quebec and Montreal.
The fall of the year is a most agreeable season in Canada, as well as the summer.
It is observed, that there is in general a difference of about three weeks in the length of the winter at Montreal and at Quebec, and of course in the other seasons. When green peas, strawberries, &c. were entirely gone at Montreal, we met with them in full season at Quebec.