Howe's poem called for remembrance of the pioneers who had bequeathed such a rich legacy to Nova Scotians and exhorting them to "Nourish the patriot flame that history dowers." Fenerty found much inspiration in Joseph Howe's works. Fenerty eventually wrote a poem about him (but was lost with some of his other works). The poem Betula Nigra is about a Black Birch tree that was located on his father's farm (a very large and old tree - 24 feet in circumference and over 1000 years old). He starts off comparing the tree to man made structures like the Pantheon and the Obelisk (wide and tall like the tree):

No mouldering Pantheon meets my eye, No crumbling Obelisk is nigh, No ancient tower uprears A seer and venerable form— Scarred by the warring of the storm, Bleached by the mists of years.