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RED OAK. We have but one species of this tree that I have seen ; it 

 resembles the red oak in the States, but is harder and stronger. It grows 

 chiefly upon poor land ; the best I have seen was upon very sandy inter- 

 vales. It is more durable when exposed to the weather than any other 

 wood we have. It is used for planks and timbers for ships, for staves, 

 for fish and pork barrels, cart wheels and many other purposes. It is 

 scattered over every part of the Province, but that which is of a size 

 to be valuable is mostly in the eastern district The red oak is of little 

 value for fuel ; the bark is nearly worthless for the use of the tanner. It 

 is, however, a beautiful tree, a rapid grower, and flourishes in every 

 situation, but grows best on a poor, gravelly or sandy soil. 



WHITE ASH. This is a very tall tree, and a very strong and useful kind 

 of wood, except when it grows in cold swamps, where it is soft and 

 brittle. It usually grows on rich lands and by the sides of brooks ; it is 

 very light and easy to split. It is the most suitable timber to make 

 handles for tools, ploughs, carriage wheels and for many other purposes. 

 When green it is better fuel than any other we have. 



BLACK ASH. This grows only in swamps, which, though rich, are some- 

 times so wet as to require draining to produce grass. The Canada flour 

 barrels are made from this tree, but I have never seen any great quantity 

 of it of a size fit for staves in this Province. It is here used to make 

 baskets. To fit it for this purpose it is beaten with a maul, which separ- 

 ates the grains or year's growth. It makes very bad fuel when green. It 

 is the most slender of all deciduous trees of any considerable magnitude, 

 often attaining a height of 60 feet and not over 6 to 8 inches diameter. 

 When planted in an open plain on good land it spreads out its limbs ? 

 forming a broad top, and is a handsome proportioned tree. 



BLACK or PIGEON CHERRY. This tree is very rare except upon intervales ; 

 it is not so large in this Province as in the United States further south- 

 ward, where it is often used to make tables, as it has nearly the colour 

 of mahogany. In Nova Scotia it is seldom more than 10 inches in 

 diameter. The fruit is small, growing in large bunches; it is, when 

 fully ripe, pretty good to eat, and is accounted very good to put in 

 spirits. 



RED CHERRY. This tree seldom reaches more than 10 inches ; it com- 

 monly springs up on dry, stony land after a fire. The fruit is small and 

 very sour. 



CHOKE CHERRY. This is only a bush, being seldom more than 2 inches; 

 it is common upon intervales by the sides of brooks, on rich, moist 

 upland. It has long branches of fruit, rather larger than that of either 

 of the other species, but is scarcely eatable, having a disagreeable astrin- 

 gent taste. 



TREMBLING or ASPEN and WHITE POPLAR. These trees differ little from 

 each other ; they always grow upon land that has been burnt over. 

 They are tall, but seldom more than 16 inches in diameter. The wood 

 is soft and light, and is used to make trays. It is sometimes sawed into 



