BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 221 
Bay Company, we are permitted to publish the following notes on the 
Vegetation ; premising, however, that the surveyor is no botanist, that 
in naming the plants entire dependence cannot be placed on them, and 
that by the comparison of the flora with that of Britain it is merely 
intended to speak of the general aspect, such as might be expected 
in somewhat similar latitudes in the northern hemisphere, both of these 
two countries surrounded by sea. 
* Speaking generally," the writer says, “as might be expected from 
the relative latitudes, the flora here and in the British Islands is very 
similar. In timber, the Oak, which is abundant here, is merely the 
smooth-leaved variety of the English Oak” (more probably the Quercus 
Garryana, Dougl., of which some of our specimens are from Puget 
Sound). *I may perhaps mention that where the forest appears the 
most dense, pretty little prairies are constantly met with :—one gene- ` 
rally passes through a thick belt of Pines into a rich lawn or glade 
where Oaks are scattered with park-like regularity, and the deer move 
quietly away on your approach.—A Cypress-tree, Cupressus thyoides”’— 
(more likely Thuja gigantea, Nutt., and Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. vol. ii. 
p. 165, Th. plicata, Lamb.), “called by the Americans Cedar, is also 
plentiful here. It grows to a large size, two to twelve feet in diameter, 
and is particularly valuable for building purposes. It supplies the 
shingles with which houses are roofed. | 
* Of the Pines there are three kinds in these districts. Of these, No. 1, 
the Pinus (Abies) Douglasii, Sabine (Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. vol. ii. p. 162. 
t. 183), is by far the most abundant. The timber is red, and very 
valuable in furnishing spars, as well as for ship-building purposes 
generally. The properties of the Douglas Pine are very similar to 
those of P. sylvestris of Memel or Dantzig. Compared with the North 
American timber usually sold as ‘Red Pine’ in the English market, 
and used almost indiscriminately with Memel or Scotch Fir, the Dou- 
glas Pine will, I think, be found to possess advantages which the other 
has not ; for example, it does not taper so much, is less knotty, and 
logs that have been many years in the forest indicate equal durability. 
I might add that, growing, it is scarcely distinguishable from Pinus 
religiosa ” (P. religiosa is a Mexican species :—P. resinosa, Sol., and 
Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. vol. ii. p. 161, is no doubt intended, the Red 
Pine of the United States and Canada, and also found in Oregon by 
Douglas), “so highly spoken of by Americans, almost exclusively used 
