Reproduction of Forests in British North America. 261 



support a covering of trees. When viewed from the summit 

 of a hill, the forest presents a continuous undulating surface 

 of a more or less dark colour and uneven form, in proportion 

 to the prevalence of the deep colours and uneven outlines of 

 the evergreen coniferae, or of the lighter tints and rounded 

 contours of the deciduous trees ; and these two classes are 

 usually arranged in belts or irregular patches, containing 

 mixtures of trees corresponding to the fertility and dryness 

 of the soil. In general the deciduous or hardwood trees 

 prevail on intervale ground, fertile uplands, and the flanks 

 and summits of slaty and trappean hills ; while swamps, the 

 less fertile and lightest upland soils, and granitic hills, are 

 chiefly occupied by coniferous trees. 



The forest trees spring from a bed of black vegetable 

 mould, whose surface is rendered uneven by the little hil- 

 locks of earth and stones thrown up by windfalls ; and which, 

 though usually named Cradle hills, are in reality the graves 

 of departed members of the forest, whose trunks have mould- 

 ered into the mossy soil. These cradle hills are most nume- 

 rous in thin soils ; and are chiefly produced by the coniferous 

 trees, and especially by the hemlock spruce. There is usually 

 little underwood in the original forest; mosses, lycopodia, 

 ferns, and a few herbaceous flowering plants, however, flou- 

 rish beneath the shade of the woods. 



The woods perish by the axe and by fire, either purposely 

 applied for their destruction or accidental. Forest firea 

 have not been confined to the period of European occupation. 

 The traditions of the Indians tell of extensive ancient con- 

 flagrations ; and it is believed that some of the aboriginal 

 names of places in Nova Scotia originated in these events. 

 In later times, however, fires have been more numerous and 

 destructive. In clearing land, the trees when cut down are 

 always burned, and, that this may be eff^ected as completely 

 as possible, the driest weather is frequently selected ; although 

 the fire then is much more likely to spread into the surround- 

 ing woods. It frequently happens that the woods contain large 

 quantities of dry branches and tops of trees, left by cutters 

 of timber and firewood, who rarely consider any part of the 

 tree except the trunk worthy of their attention. Even with 



VOL. XLII. NO. LXXXIV. — APRIL 1847. 8 



