NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



295 



as forest fires and the woodman's axe 

 will permit. 



The Canadian National Railways runs 

 northwestward from the city of Quebec 

 and passes over the height of land at 

 Monet, 308 mi. from Quebec, at an 

 altitude of 1454 ft. It affords an excel- 

 lent opportunity of studying a section 

 of the highlands. 



2. Climate 



The rainfall ranges from 25 to 45 in. 

 throughout the portion of the province 

 for which records are available. The 

 distinctly continental characteristics of 

 the western portion give way to those 

 that are largely oceanic along the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence. In the south the 

 temperatures range from a summer 

 maximum of 95°F. to a winter minimum 

 of — 30°F., with a growing season of 120 

 days. There are all gradations between 

 this and a growing season of 60 days in 

 the north. 



S. Vegetation 



The forests of the St. Lawrence plain 

 were similar to those of eastern Ontario 

 {q.v.). They were of the mixed hard- 

 wood type in which maple {Acer sac- 

 charum) and beech {Fagus grandifolia) 

 with a mixture of hemlock (Tauga 

 canadensis) and j-ellow birch {Betula 

 Ivtea) dominated the climax areas. 

 In the western portion of the area red 

 and burr oak {Quercus rubra and Q. 

 ynacrocarpa) and hickory {Canja cordi- 

 formis) formed a portion of the stand 

 and some modified remnants of such 

 forests are to be seen on the Island of 

 Montreal. As in eastern Ontario white 

 and red pine {Pinus strobus and P. 

 resinosa) were found on the sandy areas 

 mixed with the hardwoods. 



At present farm crops have replaced 

 the forests except on the rugged slopes 

 of the Monteregian Hills and on the low 

 swampy lands too wet for cultivation 

 and too low to be readily drained. In 

 many of these areas grey birch {Betula 

 populifolia) as a pioneer is forming 

 second-growth forests on areas origi- 

 nally occupied by arbor vitae {Thuja 



occidenlalis) and ashes (Fraxinus avieri- 

 cana and /''. nigra). Farm wood lot.s of 

 modified hardwoods are fairly abundant 

 and include "sugar bushes" or groves of 

 sugar maples used for the production of 

 maple sugar. This industry reaches its 

 greatest development in the adjacent 

 Appalachian region. 



The Eastern Townships, as the east- 

 ern i)ortion of the Appalachian high- 

 lands is commonly designated, were 

 settled early in the nineteenth century 

 by English speaking people from United 

 States and Great Britain. They origi- 

 nally i)()ssessed a forest similar to that 

 of the St. Lawrence plain except for a 

 smaller portion of pine and oak and an 

 increasing amount of spruce as the Maine 

 boundary was neared. Hardwood 

 stands occupied all the better soils. 

 These consisted of maples {Acer sac- 

 char uin, A . saccharinuni and A. rubrum), 

 basswood {Tilia americana), ashes (Frax- 

 inus americana and F. nigra), birches 

 {Betula lutea and B. papj/rifera) and 

 beech together with hemlock and, 

 upon swampy areas, arbor vitae and 

 tamarack. Much of the area has been 

 cleared for farming and almost all the 

 coniferous timber has been cut but con- 

 siderable areas of hardwood remain, 

 more particularly the stands of maple 

 which give the large yields of maple 

 sugar harvested from the region between 

 the counties of Brome and l^eauce. 



East of a line drawn southward from 

 the city of Quebec the hemlock largely 

 disappears and spruces {Picea canaden- 

 sis and P. rubra) together with balsam 

 fir {Abies balsamea) become increasingly 

 abundant, forming immediately west 

 and north of the Maine boundary 60'"o 

 of the forest stands. Nearer to the St. 

 Lawrence River arbor vitae becomes 

 increasingly abundant occupying much 

 of the flat low-lying areas in the counties 

 from Kamouraska to Gasix'. The hard- 

 woods, however, persist in decreasing 

 abundance to Gaspo. The flat tops 

 and higher mountains in Gasp6 give 

 considerable areas of subalpine and 

 alpine forest, scrul) and fell-field. This 

 is still untouched and largely unvisited. 



