SOME LABRADOR TREES 



out the rings more plainly and it was often 

 possible by shifting around the circle to count 

 the full number of rings, when in a direct line 

 to the periphery from the centre, portions of 

 the rings might be illegible. Pins used in the 

 larger sections to mark off various points in 

 the counting were also of help. Most of the 

 sections were counted two or more times and 

 an average struck in case of disagreement, so 

 that I believe my counts are fairly accurate. 



I made in this way an examination of twenty- 

 six trees, larches, balsam firs, and black and 

 white spruces that varied in height from one 

 and a half inches to fifty-five feet. The most 

 stunted specimens, the ones that grew the 

 slowest and were least in height, were to be 

 found on the sea-shore and in the bogs. Be- 

 yond the Mingan Islands the shore and par- 

 ticularly the islands took on a more arctic 

 appearance, and, in places exposed to the full 

 fury of the wind, the trees were prone on the 

 ground, although, even as far east as Natash- 

 quan, trees of twenty feet in height were found 

 close to the shore in fairly protected places. 

 The bogs, with their deep sphagnum moss and 

 acid waters, their underlying ice even in June, 



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