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oak ("Canadian !") (Quercus alba) merits the care of all planters, especially in the groves. 

 Though it be rather slow in its early growth, it may be supported by rapidly growing 

 species that must be gradually removed as the oaks need the space they have occupied. 

 Oaks, or their acorns, may be planted among the poplars and willows of the outside rows, 

 and they will be ready to spring into a vigorous growth when these pioneers are removed. 



The sugar maples will make lovely groves that will yield their sweet tribute, as well 

 as lend their beauty to the landscape while living, and furnish valuable timber or fuel 

 when cut down. The invaluable white ash should be much more largely planted in 

 groves and by the roadside, as it makes a beautiful and most useful tree. The American 

 elm, too, has its uses as timber, and is especially adapted for avenues, where room is 

 given for the development of its wide-spreading and wind-resisting branches. The wild 

 cherry — the back, not the red — (Prunus serotina) is commended for its elegance, its 

 thriftiness, and rapid growth, as well as for the great beauty and usefulness of its lumber, 

 which is quickly produced. 



In your discussions on the subject of shelter, as reported in one of your volumes, a 

 native tree is named, which is well to have recognised for its beauty as well as for the 

 merit you very properly attribute to it as a bee-pasture. The America linden or bass- 

 wood {Tilia Americana) may very well be made a leading component of the home groves. 

 Its rapid growth will soon make it effective, and its sweets will certainly be welcomed by 

 the bees. The timber of the linden, too, has its uses, though very soft and inferior to 

 many other species, and its inner bark has a commercial value as the material of bast 

 matting, while the wood is used for paper pulps. 



There are many other trees v/ith which you can experiment in your planting, but 

 they need not now be mentioned. 



In the selection of evergreens for these shelter-groves and belts, the hardy natives of 

 your own country should first claim your attention. Nothing can better serve your pur- 

 pose than the common white pine (Pinus strobus), and the red pine (Pinus resinosa). 

 Both are rapid growers when fairly started^ and both are well adapted to your soil and 

 climate. For a shelter-grove or wind-break they connot be surpassed. Next to these, 

 and in the same genus, come the foreign kinds, known as the Scotch {Pinus sylvestris), 

 and the Austrian {Pinus Austriaca), which are rugged and thrifty ; of great value, both 

 growing and when felled ; but not equal to our natives above-named, either for their 

 future lumber nor in the rapidity of their growth. Neither of these can compare with 

 our natives as ornamental trees, though they are often planted with that end in view. 

 They belong to the forest rather than to the lawn, for which we have lovelier sjjecies. 



Of spruces, you have the natives, the beautiful white spruce (Picea alba), and the 

 black, which often has a blue tint (Picea nigra), and the variety often called red spruce 

 — trees of medium size and beautiful, but excelled in size and utility, whether standing 

 or felled, by the foreign exotic Norway spruce {Picea excelsa), which yourselves have 

 decided, and very correctly, to be the A'ery best of all evergreen trees for the shelter-belt, 

 on account of its hardiness, its adaptability to all soils, its rapid growth, dense spray and 

 foliage, and its comparative cheapness. The Norway is also a very pliable tree, and bears 

 transplanting remarkably well ; and in the shelter-hedge it patiently submits to the free- 

 use of the knife in close trimming. For the shelter-grove, and especially for the single or 

 grouped trees of the lawn, nothing can excel the beautiful grace of form, nor the depth 

 and purity of green presented hy the common American hemlock spruce {Tsuga Cana- 

 densis). This species was common in much of your early forests, and must be familiar to- 

 you all. The hemlock has a northerly limit, as shown by Mr. Drummond's map, extending 

 from the north-west and northeast coasts of Lake Superior, by the head waters of the 

 Ottawa River, crossing the St. Lawrence below Quebec, and traversing New Brunswick 

 to the ocean in latitude 47 degrees. 



The hemlock makes such a dense growth of foliage and of slender twigs that it is. 

 perhaps the very best plant for the protective shelter-hedges that should be found about 

 the dwellings and out-houses of every farm in your broad domain of Ontario. 



The native balsam {Abies balsamea), as you seem to be aware, is hardy enough and 

 very beautiful when young, but unsatisfactory for planting, because it is apt to grow 

 shabby when older. 



