whole year, leaving no time for weeds to extend themselves; even there, these noxious plants are not unknown, and the moment the soil is abandoned, only for a season, they return with renewed vigor.
In this new country, with a fresh soil, and a thinner population, we have not only weeds innumerable, but we observe, also, that briers and brambles seem to acquire double strength in the neighborhood of man; we meet them in the primitive forest, here and there, but they line our roads and fences, and the woods are no sooner felled to make ready for cultivation, than they spring up in profusion, the first natural produce of the soil. But in this world of mercy, the just curse is ever graciously tempered with a blessing; many a grateful fruit, and some of our most delightful flowers, grow among the thorns and briers, their fragrance and excellence reminding man of the sweets as well as the toils of his task. The sweet-briar, more especially, with its simple flower and delightful fragrance, unknown in the wilderness, but moving onward by the side of the ploughman, would seem, of all others, the husbandman's blossom.
Thursday, 7th.—There was an alarm of frost last evening, and cautious people covered their tender plants, but no harm was done. It happens frequently, that late in May or early in June, we have a return of cool weather for a day or two, with an alarm about frost, at a very critical moment, when all our treasures are lying exposed; some seasons, much mischief is done to the gardens and crops, but frequently the alarm passes over and we are spared the evil. It seldom happens, even after heavy frosts at such unseasonable times, that the blight is half as severe as people at first suppose; things usually turn out much better than
