FOREST TREES. 



205 



lines, which give the tree a very peculiar appearance, and from which 

 the incorrect name of Striped Dog-wood has been taken. This tree has 

 a very attractive appearance in Autumn, when the leaves turn to a 

 delicate creamy yellow. 



Ash-Leaved Maple. — Negiindo ciceroide>:, (INLench.) 



This tree, which is now grown in many parts of Canada as a shade 

 tree, seems in the North-AVestern Province of the Dominion to take the 

 place of the Sugar Maple, and the sap is utilized in a similar way for the 

 making of Sugar, as my son, Mr. W. E. Traill, in his letters from Fort 

 Ellice and Fort Qu'Appelle, writes of Maple Sugar made from the native 

 trees — though he adds : '■ The tree is unlike in foliage and grandeur of 

 size to our Canadian Sugar Maple. The leaves are more like those of 

 the Ash, and from that cause it is known as the 'Ash-leaved Maple.' It 

 is a handsome tree, and is much valued ; it grows on the Saskatchewan 

 River, and Southward, and should the country become civilized at some 

 future date, it will be valuable for ornamental as well as useful purposes, 

 as it is easy of cultivation." 



These remarks were made many years ago, when the prospect of 

 the Great Noith-Western country becoming a field for agricultural 

 speculation was very remote in the minds of the Hudson's Bay Company 

 gentlemen fur traders. 



There is a fine grove of these trees on the banks of the river 

 Humber, near Toronto. 



Spice Wood — Sassafras officinale., (Nees.) 



" Dark Maples where the Wood-thrush sings, 

 And bowers of fragrant .Sassafras." 



The Sassafras so well known for its purifying, agreeably medicinal 

 ■qualities and its sweet scented aromatic bark and wood, is a native tree of 

 the Western parts of North America, and the warmer portion of Canada 

 that lies between the shores of Lakes Erie and Huron. I do not think 

 it grows indigenously Eastward or North of Toronto. 



The wood and bark of this tree are highly esteemed by the Indians 

 and the old settlers — the former will take long journeys to obtain a 

 supply of the chips and twigs to smoke and chew, the women make tea 

 of the dried twigs, and the Sassafras is one of the simple luxuries of the 

 Squaws. 



A friendly Indian woman once brought me a small bundle of the 

 little branches, as an especial token of her regard. The fragrant offering 

 had been brought all the way from the Credit River in the A\'est, and 



