1870.] BELL — PLANTS OP NEWFOUNDLAND. 59 



and pasture for countless herds of cattle, the surplus of all which 

 will find a ready market at the ports and fishing stations, at the 

 lumbering, manufacturing and mining establishments, which ere 

 long will make this old and neglected colony one vast scene of 

 active and profitable industry. The climate of the island is 

 favourable to the developement of its agricultural resources of 

 every kind. Instead of the cold foggy atmosphere, which is 

 generally supposed to hang over this island, quite the reverse is 

 the case — the air is clear and warm, and the temperature during 

 the year remarkably equable, the mercury in winter seldom falling ' 

 below zero of Fahrenheit's scale, or in summer rising above 90°, 

 while the mean temperature of the year is about 44°. I never 

 saw finer weather than during the two months I was on the 

 island. It is only on the S.W. corner that fogs prevail to any 

 extent, from the proximity of that part to the Gulf stream. 



At half the distance between the sea and the main fork of the 

 Humber, the river spreads out into a broad expanse of about 

 fifteen miles in length, called Deer Lake, from which the moun- 

 tains rise range after range, and stretch away into the dim 

 distance. Along the banks of the river, before reaching Deer 

 Lake, I observed the Black Ash (^Fraxinus sambuci/oUa) to be 

 quite abundant. The Aspen Poplar (^Populus ' tremuloides) was 

 not uncommon^ and the Scarlet-fruited Thorn (^Cratcegus coccined) 

 here and there shewed its spring branches along the rocky banks. . 

 A pretty little white composite f ower grew on the damp rocks 

 with the pinguicula and violets ; but I was unable to get a speci- 

 men of it. In other places the green and hoary alders, red osier 

 dogwood, sweet-gale and dwarf willows bordered the stream to the 

 water's edge. The woods were principally composed of the follow- 

 ing trees : — Black and white Spruce and Balsam-fir (^Abies nigra, 

 alba et balsamea), Mountain Ash (^Pyrus AmericarM^, Black Ash, 

 Choke and wild Red Cherries (Primus Virginiana et Pennsyl- 

 vanica), Cranberry trees and Sweet Viburnum (^Viburnum opulus 

 et lantago). On a little island on the north side of Deer Lake I 

 found the Mountain Painted Cup (^Castilleia septentrionah's) and 

 one of the deciduous Equisetums. In the shallows of the lake 

 the Water Milfoil {My riophyllian spicatum) floated in abundance, 

 with other weeds. On entering the Humber at the upper end of 

 Deer Lake, our progress was often arrested by the oars becoming 

 entanged in masses of Ee]-2;rass and Pond-weeds, which filled the 

 dark-brown waters at the sides of the slowly flowing stream. lu 



