1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



843 



em America. "Sequoia sempervirens," belonging 

 to the same family as the well-known California 

 giant trees, the "Sequoia gigantea or Wellingtonia," 

 reaches similar dimensions and, contrary to these, 

 is still fomid in numerous and compact forests, 

 which begin in Northern California in the Hum- 

 boldt district and stretfh Southward to Sonoma, 

 only occasionally broken by other formations, for 

 a length of some 150 miles, by an average breadth 

 of five to eight miles. A. rich soil, that is regularly 

 inundated every spring, lets these trees reach a 

 height of 150 feet or more, and single trees 

 have been known to give 60,000 feet of timber, 

 at a value of over $1000. 



In the " Proceedings of the California Academy 

 of Natural Sciences " we read, " The Sequoia 

 sempervirens " is one of the very few coniferous 

 species that shoot forth from the root, and so 

 rapidly that they soon cover the whole soil, sup- 

 pressing every other growth. After the trunk 

 has grown to a diameter of two to three feet, it re- 

 sists fire, and it is a common occurrence to see 

 trees, whose branches have been entirely destroy- 

 ed by fire, covered all over with young shoots as 

 with ivy. These woods have the most benefi- 

 cial influence upon the neighboring regions, as 

 they condense the moisture of the atmosphere, 

 which then falls either as light rain or as one 

 of those heavy fogs which the farmers value as 

 particularly fruitful. But here two narrow 

 guage railroads are being built, the quicker to 

 transport the immense quantities of timber to 

 the saw mills. Dr. Bolander, in a treatise writ- 

 ten for the " California Academy of Sciences," 

 says, " It is my firm conviction that the disap- 

 pearance of the Sequoia forests— and they will 

 very speedily cease to exist if the government 

 does not protect them by very stringent laws, 

 which are rigidly enforced — will make California 

 a barren desert in every sense of the word. On 

 these forests depends the future weal and woe of 

 our State. They alone are our safeguard. Wise 

 laws have in Europe newly planted devastated 

 regions, and in the course of two or three gene- 

 rations new forests have grown under judicious 

 care; but no government, nor no human care 

 and power could recall to life these Sequoia 

 forests of California if once destroyed." 



Thus much of the forests and forestry in the 

 United States ; in conclusion we beg to say a few 

 words in reference to the same in British North 

 American possessions. From an official report 

 on "Colonial Timber " to the British Parliament 

 we gather that in none of the six provinces into 



which the Dominion of Canada is divided, laws 

 have been passed for the regulation of replant- 

 ing and growing the cut-down sections of wood- 

 land ; and only in the Province of Quebec two 

 ordinances have been passed in relation to 

 unauthorized cutting of timbers and forest 

 fires, both, however, remain entirely ineffec- 

 tive. In Nova Scotia all trees are cut with- 

 out reference to size, and the forest fires 

 aiding, another generation will no longer see 

 the mighty forests of yore. In New Brunswick 

 extensive forests are still found, but Weymouth 

 Pines of more than a few inches diameter are 

 rarely found, and the Hemlock Fir is almost 

 extinct. As early as lfi97 the governors of, at 

 that time, French Quebec were urged to pass 

 some law for the protection of timber lands, 

 since then the devastations have continued for 

 nearly two centuries, nor has the law of 1874, 

 forbidding that from May 15th to Oct. 15th fires 

 be lit nearer than half a mile distance from any 

 woods, brought about any change. A law (Do- 

 minion Act of 35 Victoria Cap 23, Section 51) 

 for the protection of forests contains some- 

 what stringent regulations as to the cutting of 

 timber on government lands, and entirely for- 

 bids the felling of pine trees which measure le&s 

 than twelve inches diameter above the root; but 

 it has never been enforced ! The report for 1877 of 

 the "Council of Agriculture " to the Minister 

 says, that even more timber was destroyed by 

 fires than was cut down. 



In Ontario some species of trees, notably the 

 Weymouth pine, [arbor vitfe and birch tree, 

 have already become so scarce that they hardly 

 count as an article of commerce. On Prince Ed- 

 ward's Island the oak, the elm and the ash have 

 almost entirely succumbed to the indiscriminate 

 cutting down and forest fires. Really magnifi- 

 cent forests are still found in British Columbia, 

 consisting chiefly of Abies Douglasii, Pinus Stro- 

 bus, Pinus ponderosa, Abies canadensis arid Abies 

 Menziesii. To the local authorities these forests 

 seem inexhaustible, and they would indeed be 

 so under wisely protective regulations, but, 

 says the Report to the British Parliament, it is 

 to be feared that in consequence of the demand 

 from those provinces where the timber hiis be- 

 gun to decrease, if it have not entirely disap- 

 peared, the consequence of a total want of na- 

 tional legislation will in a very near future be felt 

 here too. The occurrence of forest fires is a fre- 

 quent one, and these are the more dangerous as 

 most of the trees are extremely resiniferous. 



