Hospitality
demanded it. The habitant, as a rule, was very fond of
the flagon. Very often, as the records of the day lead
us to believe, he drank not wisely but too well. Idleness
had a hand in the development of this trait, for in the
long winters the habitant had little to do but visit his
neighbours.
The men of New France smoked a great deal, and the women
sometimes followed their example. Children learned to
smoke before they learned to read or write. Tobacco was
grown in the colony, and every habitant had a patch of
it in his garden; and then as now this tabac canadien
was fierce stuff with an odour that scented the whole
seigneury. The art of smoking a pipe was one of the first
lessons which the Frenchman acquired from his Indian
friends, and this became the national solace through the
long spells of idleness. Such as it was, the tobacco of
the colony was no luxury, for every one could grow enough
and to spare to serve his wants. The leaves were set in
the sun to cure, and were then put away till needed.
As to the methods of farming, neither the contemporary
records nor the narratives of travel tell us much. But
it is beyond doubt that the habitant was not a very
scientific cultivator. Catalogne remarks in his valuable
report that if the fields of France were cultivated like
the farms of Canada three-fourths of the people would
starve. Fertilization of the land was rare. All that was
usually done in this direction was to burn the stubble
in the spring before the land went under the plough.
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