20 



It is not a favorite as an ornamental tree, the outline being harsh and 

 stiff, but the timber is valuable and of very general use. This Province 

 appears peculiarly favorable for the production of spruca The wood is 

 light and strong, grows rapidly and to a large size, and is of great value 

 for all purposes where any of the pine family may be used, such as ship- 

 building, house-building, shingles, laths, staves, and manufactured into 

 deals is largely exported. For flooring it is the only wood used here, 

 and I believe for that purpose is largely used everywhere. 



BEECH This is a very common tree, and forms the chief supply of 

 firewood. The kind of land termed hardwood land is nearly always 

 covered with beech and a small sprinkling of birch and maple. The 

 flowers are beautiful, in roundish tassels or heads ; each flower is a hairy 

 or silky, bell-shaped cup, with its border divided into six segments. The 

 fruit forms on a hairy stalk, and is called beech mast. It is a rich, oily 

 nut, and there is considerable difference in flavour and quality of the 

 fruit of different trees. The beech is of rapid growth, but short lived, 

 compared with the ash or birch. Country people speak of the red and 

 white beech, as they do of black and yellow birch, but there is only one 

 kind of beech in the province. The difference in the appearance of the 

 wood which has given rise to these names is said to be produced by the 

 more or less rapid growth of the wood. The wood of the white beech is 

 more tough and lasting, while the red is more brittle. The mechanical 

 purposes to which the beech wood is suitable is chair-making and turning, 

 and it is preferred to all other wood for plane-stocks, saw-handles, &c., 

 and the white or sap wood is always preferred, being the smoothest and 

 closest grained, and less liable to warp, the red or heart wood being more 

 brittle. In the forest the beech grows to a height of 60 or 70 feet, and 

 about 20 inches in diameter at the ground ; but in open pastures it is a 

 low tree, with spreading branches. For a depth of shade it has no equal, 

 and as it is singularly clean and neat, and the leaves not liable to the at- 

 tack of any insect and vermin, remaining on the branches longer than any 

 other deciduous tree giving a cheerful and sheltered aspect to the wood, it 

 is well deserving the consideration of those who cultivate ornamental trees. 

 Another peculiarity of this tree is that no one has ever known a beech 

 to be struck by lightning. Hedges of beech are very beautiful, and it is 

 very astonishing that in a country where one sees old pastures taken 

 possession of by young beeches no one has ever made an effort to grow a 

 beech hedge. It would grow in about half the time of the common thorn 

 hedge, and present a much more pleasing appearance, and in every way 

 as useful, indeed better, as a shelter. 



HARD, ROCK or SUGAR MAPLE. This tree is easily distinguished from 

 the other maples by the roundness of the notch between the lobes of the 

 leaves and the appearance of the bark. The wood is hard and compact, 

 hence the name hard or rock. It is called sugar maple from the sap or 

 juice which it yields. The wood of this tree is very frequently curled, 

 the grain running in small waves, sometimes becoming what is called 

 bird's-eye. This is so called from a contortion of the fibres at irregular 



