12 JOHN MACOUN ON 



trees. Included in this group are four species of Cratœgus and the June hevry {Amelanehier), 

 which in the vicinity of Niagara-on-the-Lake are very noticeable. Even the wild grape, 

 Vitis œstivalis, has often a stem over four inches in diameter, and Cornus alternijlora, Sainbucus 

 racemosa and yihnrnum Lentago become trees, and in fence corners make a line shade for 

 cattle and sheep. 



Were my paper intended to illustrate climatic conditions or the many lessons to be 

 learned from the natural distribution of the forest, I might show from the wild grape, the 

 plum, the wild apple and the wild cherry the economic importance of this district as a 

 fruit producer. Only a few years since our own people believed that peaches and certain 

 varieties of the grape could be grown only in favoured localities, yet the forest growth if 

 read aright would have told them that with proper local shelter all the finer fruits of tem- 

 perate climates were suited to the district under consideration, and not alone to this district 

 but to the whole of Ontario along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. With the exception 

 of the peach, every other species can be profitably raised as far east as Ottawa, if proper 

 shelter be forthcoming, for it is not a low temperature so much as unsuitable conditions 

 that prevents the successful culture of fruits in (Ontario. A lesson hard to learn is that 

 shelter from nipping winds is just as necessary for vegetation as it is for the shorn lamb, 

 and when horticulturists and others realize this to its full extent there will be fewer failures 

 in fruit growing. 



Lying between the west end of Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods on the south 

 and Hudson's Bay on the north is a tract of country that is indeed a province in itself It 

 is a land of lakes and rivers which discharge their waters to the noi'th, and although its 

 trees are those of the sub-arctic forest, they are as a i-ule well developed and indicate a 

 climate well suited for the growth of vegetables and the coarser grains at least, and there is 

 no climatic reason why the greater part of this region should not produce wheat. I wish, 

 however, to draw attention to the forests. Mr. A. P. Low's report on his exploration of a 

 part of this region in 1886 shows that both soil and climate are good, and that black and 

 white spruce, and aspen, and balsam poplar grow to a large size and will produce in the 

 future much merchantable timber. I am speaking more particularly of the country near 

 Trout Lake, but the district along the upper Severn River is of the same character. A railway 

 from Rat Portage by way of Lake Seul to penetrate this region can be built at small cost 

 and would open it up tor settlement and bring its timber within reach. 



Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. 



The trees of the forests of this immense region are few in number and nearly all be- 

 lontr to the sub-arctic forest, and as a whole have been treated under that head. Two trees 

 which we have had with us from Nova Scotia appear in Manitoba, but they are never found 

 in much abuiulance and seldom out of the river valleys. These are the elm and the balsam 

 poplar. The green ash (Fraximts viridis) and red ash {Fra.rinus racemosus) are found in 

 the valleys of the Red, Assinaboine and Souris rivers but do not leave their vallej's. On 

 the other hand the over-cup oak {Qnercns macrocarpn) forms thickets and open forests in 

 many parts of Manitoba, becoming a fine tree at times, but dies out west of the Assiniboine 

 above Fort Ellice. The elm disappears on the Red Deer River — not far west of Lake 

 Winni})egoosis, and at its extreme limit is still a well-developed and large tree. The last 



