The French Settlement, Upper Canada

Thursday, September 18th, 1823 – I set out in the morning in company with Dr Richardson for Sandwich, on the east bank of the River Detroit. For three miles up from Amherstburg the ground is thickly covered with woods. Passed a long settlement, intersected by natural ditches. On passing the swamp, which is fully four miles long, we came to what is called "The French Settlement" [in Upper Canada]. The fields are well cultivated and divided by fences; attached to each house is a neat garden laid out & kept with taste.

Upper Canada, the predecessor of modern Ontario, was created in 1791 by the division of the old colony of Quebec into Lower Canada in the east and Upper Canada in the west. A wilderness society settled largely by Loyalists and land-hungry farmers moving north from the United States, Upper Canada endured war with America, an armed rebellion, and half a century of economic and political growing pains until it was merged again with its French-speaking counterpart into the Province of Canada.

 The first leader of this new wilderness society was Lt-Gov John GravesSimcoe, whose avowed purpose was to create in Upper Canada a "superior, more happy, and more polished form of government," not merely to attract immigrants but to renew the empire and by example to win Americans back into the British camp. Governmental institutions were established, first at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and then at the new capital at York (Toronto). Simcoe used troops to build a series of primary roads, got the land boards and land distribution under way, established the judiciary, grandly abolished slavery and showed a keen interest in promoting Anglican affairs. When he left the province in 1796 he could take pride in his achievements — although he had failed to convert Americans from republicanism, and to persuade Britain to turn Upper Canada into a military centre. 

 During the war [of 1812] Upper Canada, whose inhabitants were predominantly American in origin, was invaded and partly occupied. American forces were repulsed by British regulars assisted by Canadian militia. The war strengthened the British link.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/upper-canada/

It's easy to see that Douglas is travelling in an uneasy and to some extent still-disputed borderland.  Tread carefully, Mr Douglas.

There are a few pears, which are scarcely seen in the western part of the State of New York; probably the emigrants took them from France at the first settling of the country. They have a few peaches, in appearance the same as in the States. I am informed they ripen in ordinary seasons; they have not that sickly appearance which they have in the States, occasined probably by excess of heat

Four miles from Sandwich the ground rises of a brown loam on gravel

Friday, September 19th, 1823 – [Douglas is botanising all day and his journal is essentially a catalogue of the plants he found.  Link is in the sidebar]