FOEEST TREES. 283 



runs better than others. Strange to say, this great deple- 

 tion 8 Ibs. of sugar represents about 32 gallons of sap 

 does not seem to hurt the tree, which is tapped season 

 after season without any bad result to its health. The 

 average run of large trees is about 20 gallons in the season. 

 The stranger is astonished to see this very ornamental 

 and useful timber used as firewood. Rock maple is the 

 best of fuel, and constitutes the staple firing of Lower 

 Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Hundreds of 

 thousands of trees are burned every winter. Many thou- 

 sand stoves in Lower Canada alone glow all winter with 

 red-hot maple brands, and yet they make no perceptible 

 difference in the maple forests. With fair play the maple 

 and the other valuable woods in the Canadian forests will 

 suffice not only to warm and to shelter many generations 

 of Canadians yet unborn, but also to adorn and beautify 

 their country for ages to come. Detestable forest fires, 

 the result of gross carelessness, do more harm to the 

 forests in twelve hours than all the stoves in Canada do in 

 a year. The rock maple indicates good dry soil, and is 

 generally found growing with beech, black birch, and 

 white maple. The white maple is an equally ornamental 

 tree, but the wood is inferior both as timber and as fuel. 

 There are also two or three other varieties of the maple, 

 one of which, A. Pennsylvanicum, is the favourite food of 

 the moose. 



Cupuliferse. 



The white oak (Quercus alba) occurs here and there 

 in the lower provinces, but is abundant in Canada West. 

 It is a large and valuable tree, indicating the best quality 

 of land. The wood is made into staves, and used for 



