Botanical Society of Edinburgh. 65 



gave an account of the botanical features of the country in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Stillwater, and concluded with an examination of the 

 woodland grounds in the vicinity of Whitehall ; the present i^ortion 

 embraces the journey from the latter ])lace to Montreal. 



" The southern extremity of Lake Charaplain is winding and nar- 

 row, having considerable tracts of level ground extended on each 

 side. The woods for the first sixteen miles are very various, the 

 principal trees being the wild cherry (Prnnus virgimana), elms, wal- 

 nuts, sugar-maple, and the aspen poplar (Po/7m/m5 tremuloides) . The 

 rocky grounds overhanging the lake were densely clothed with the 

 Arbor vitse. After having fairly entered upon the expanse of the lake, 

 the appearance of the lofty white or Weymouth pines {Pinus Strobus), 

 towering above the deciduous trees, along the rising grounds at the 

 base of the hills, was remarkable ; most of them being destitute of 

 branches, which gave them more the appearance of palms than pines. 

 About Essex, half-way along the lake, it widens, and all at once the 

 wooded rocky land by the water's edge is changed for a rich champaign. 

 The fields of the different farms being laid off in squares, and each 

 farmstead having a large orchard attached to it, render this tract very 

 interesting. The soil seemed a light- coloured clay, and the wood on 

 the lower grounds was not very plentiful ; but the rising grounds 

 behind were closely studded with scraggy pines. 



" Near the northern extremity the lake contracts : by this time 

 we had entered upon Lower Canada. The country here presented 

 a totally different appearance, owing to the dense dark masses of 

 pines, elms and spruces, which covered a vast extent of the country, 

 and having every here and there, along the edge of the lake, rustic 

 but picturesque log-houses, inhabited by French Canadians, employed 

 in felling the timber, dressing and carrying it to the lake for the pur- 

 pose of being floated down to the harbour at Lapraire, on the St. 

 Lawrence river, for exportation. On reaching St. John's, the north- 

 ern extremity of Lake Champlain, the forests presented the same 

 appearance as they did when we first entered the lake, with the addi- 

 tion of the balm of Gilead fir, Abies balsamifera : numbers of this tree 

 were seen covering the drier grounds ; the largest observed did not 

 exceed thirty feet in height and four feet in circumference. On the 

 dry surface of these woods, the spice -root, Dalibarda repens, formed 

 exceedingly beautiful tufts, resembling in its ground-clothing pro- 

 pensity the Epigcea repens, as seen in the New Jersey forests. The 

 sugar-maple, Acer saccharinum, is here in greater quantities, and 

 attains a larger size than hitherto noticed, and notwithstanding the 

 great mutilation to which they are yearly subjected in spring, for 

 their sap, which is here extensively used in the manufacture of sugar, 

 appears in the most perfect state of health. 



"At St. John's we picked in the swampy grounds and in the shal- 

 low water by the edge of the lake, luxuriant flowering specimens of 

 the sweet flag, Acorns Calamus, Iris versicolor and Utricularia vulga- 

 ris. In drier soil, the Eupatorium verticillatum was the chief plant 

 in flower, and covered a great extent of gi'ound. 



" Passing onwards to Lapraire, the only tree of any interest and 

 Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Vol.xv. F 



