42 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The Forest Trees of Canada. 



By R. C<. IjEWIS. 



CoxiFEROUS forest growth px^evails over the 

 greater part of Canada's potential foi'est area. 

 If we eMniinate froni onr conception of potential 

 forest that which grows on land fit for agriculture 

 we elinxinate most of the hard-wood forests of 

 commercial value. In the rigorous climate of 

 Canada deciduous-leaved trees, as a general rule, 

 are found in commerci.il sizes and quantities only 

 on the better sites. Where coniferous forests are 

 de.stroyed by fire or lumbering operations and 

 deciduous-leaved trees, such as the birches and 

 jjoplars, establish themselves by means of their 

 light wind-borne seeds, the change is only a 

 temporary one. The original coniferous forest 

 will eventually re-establish itself by its more 

 persistent growth. 



In Canada there are aiiproximately 1 50 dift'erent 

 species and varieties of trees. Only 32 of these 

 are conifers, but the wood of these forms 95 per 

 cent, of our forest i)roducts, and the trees them- 

 selves cover an even larger proportion of our 

 potential fore.st area. 



While the actual number of species of deci- 

 duous-leaved trees seems large in comparison to 

 their comnxercial importance, out of a total of 

 some 118 species and varieties, only four or five 

 are worthy of comparison with the conifers. The 

 others fornx the northernmost fringe of the great 

 interior hardwood fore.st type of the United 

 States. Many of these species are confined in 

 Canada to a narrow strip of territory along the 

 north shore of Lake Erie, and as far as the discus- 

 sion of Canada's timber resources are concerned 

 they nxay be classed with exotic tree growth. 



The five native spi^uce species are all of com- 

 mercial inrportance. Sprvice lumber formed over 

 one-third of the total output of Canadian saw- 

 mills in 1914. Spruce pulpwood is used in pre- 

 ference to all others, and in the same year formed 

 over two-thirds of the total (quantity of pulpwood 

 consumed in Canadian iiulpmills and exported in 

 the i-aw or unmanufactured state. The wood has 

 a long, tough, colourless fibre and being free from 

 resin is considered to be the best matferial for 

 pulp nxanufacture on the market of the world. 



Spruce is also used for railway ties or sleepers, 

 telegraph, telephoye and electric light and iiower 

 line poles, cooperage, mining timbers, fencing and 

 firewood. Of the five native spruce species the 

 white spruce (Picea canadensis) is the most abun- 

 dant and the most important commercially. 

 With black spruce (Picea mariana) it ranges from 

 Labrador to Alaska, extending northward almost 

 to the limit of tree growth and southward into the 

 United States. Tow^ard the northern limits of its 

 distribution the tree, of course, does not reach 

 conimercial size, being in many cases little more 

 than a prostrate shrvib. 



The black spruce (Picea mariana) is of less value, 

 being a smaller, slow-growing tree, often confined 

 to swampy situations and reaching saw log or 

 I^ulpwood sizes only under more favourable condi- 

 tions of growth. The red spruce (Picea rubra) is 

 confined in its distribution to the Province of 

 Qviebec and the Maritime Provinces. Its wood is 

 considered to be of greater technical value than 

 that of the other spruce species, but it is not 

 usually so abundant on the market as the white 



spruce. The western species (Picea Engelmanni 

 and Picea Sitchensis) are not found east of the 

 Rocky ^Mountains, and their utilization is confined 

 to the Province of British Columbia, they being 

 essentially Pacific Coast trees. Their wood is of 

 high technical value, and can usually be obtained 

 in larger dimensions than that of the other 

 spruces, as the trees attain great size in this region. 



As their distribution is restricted and as they 

 are found growing with trees of greater commercial 

 value, their lumber does not assmne great 

 national importance at the present time. 



There are nine distinct pine species native to 

 Canada, and of these, six are of great commercial 

 importance. The eastern white jiine (Pinus 

 Strobus) is the nao.st valuable coniferous wood in 

 Canada. It has superior qualities for the wood 

 worker and enjoys a world-wide reputation. Up 

 to a few years ago it w^as the most important wood 

 in Canada in point of quantity of lumber sawn and 

 exported in the form of square timber (Quebec 

 pine). Ovving to increased scarcity of good 

 material the wood has fallen off in production, till 

 its place has been taken at the head of the list by 

 the spruces, of which there is a greater supply of 

 available material. The wood of white pine is 

 soft, easy to work, fairly durable and strong in 

 comparison to its weight. Its uaost valuable 

 quality in addition to these is its faculty for 

 holding its shape with a minimum of shrinking 

 or swelling once it has been properly seasoned. 

 In this latter resj^ect there are a few woods of 

 commerce that can surpass it. The western w^hite 

 pine (Pinus monticola) is similar in mo.st respects 

 to the eastern species. It is a smaller tree, of 

 comparatively rare occurrence and is of miiior 

 commercial importance. In distribution it is 

 confined to the province of British Columbia, while 

 the eastern white pine is found from eastern 

 ^lanitoba to the Atlantic seaboard. The remain- 

 ing pine species are sometimes classed as " hard 

 pines," their wood being harder and nxore 

 resinous than that of the " soft " or white pines. 

 The red or Norway pine of eastern Canada and 

 the we.stern yellov\ or " Bull " pine of the interior 

 of British Columbia (Pinus resinosa and ponde- 

 rosa) are valuable sources of light structural 

 tiniber. and are also sawn into lumber. The two 

 jack pines (Pinus Banksiana of the east and north 

 and Pinus Murrayana of the Rocky Mountains 

 and British Columbia) are not considered as 

 valuable tiniber jjroducing trees, although they 

 are both used locally for rough construction. 

 Jack pine railway ties are used to an enormous 

 extent on the newly constructed transcontinental 

 railway lines as the wood is handy to the right-of- 

 way and can be obtained in sufficient quantity 

 with a minimum of haulage. In 1911 over forty 

 per cent, of the ues used in Canada were of this 

 wood. Its cheapness and abundance are its most 

 important characteristics in this respect. In the 

 manufacture of " Kraft " pulp by the sulphate 

 process it has been found that jack pine is a 

 satisfactory raw material, and the use of the wood 

 for this purpose has increased in the last few years 

 very greatly. There are three other species of the 

 genus Pinus that reach tree size in C^anada, but 

 these are only of local importance for firewood. 



The Douglas fir (Pseudotsviga mucronata) often 

 erroneously called " Oregon Pine," of British 

 Columbia and the Pacific Coast, is the only repre- 

 sentative of its genus in Canada. It yields more 



