This drawing was included by the British American Land Company in one of its promotional publications in 1836 It follows the contemporary convention of English art by exaggerating the picturesque in nature, thus the farms are located on an impossibly steep hillside slope. No doubt the popular appreciation of this convention explains why a company wishing to sell land in the region would actually reproduce and distribute such a drawing. Furthermore, the bucolic atmosphere created (the oxen seem to be contemplating the beautiful scene while the driver prods them on) does little to portray the arduous labour of clearing the land.
It is ironic that several of the drawings in this promotional booklet, including possibly this one, seem to have been done by Robert Shore Milnes Bouchette, son of the Surveyor-General of Lower Canada. The younger Bouchette was an active member of the parti patriote which strongly resented the company's purchase of crown lands in the Eastern Townships. The London-based speculators were supposed to stimulate British colonization in the hope that this would offset American influence in the region but of course this would also make it difficult for the French-Canadian habitants to move into the area from their over-crowded seigneuries. Of greater concern, the company had contributed $600,000 to the crown land fund. This fund was controlled by the Governor and his appointed Executive Council, providing them with a source of revenue independent of the elected Legislative Assembly and its crucial power over government expenditures. In 1838 the young Bouchette was wounded and captured while leading an abortive rebel attack on the Eastern Townships from across the Vermont border.
