BLACK SPRTJCB (Abies nigra) is an important tree, north of lat. 54. It is 

 a curious fact that the writer never saw this species a foot in diameter in 

 any part of Ontario, but after passing north of lat. 54 it was found nearly 

 three feet in diameter south of Green Lake. As this is certainly the 

 most northern species of fir, it is probable that the spruce forests, north 

 of lat. 57, may be composed exclusively of this tree. In Ontario, it loves 

 the deep, cool, peaty swamp, but west of Prince Albert it leaves the bogs 

 and is found on dry but mossy ground. 



BANKSIAN PixE(Pmus Banksiana) has often been confounded with Nor- 

 way or Red Pine. It and Pinus contorta are the " Cypre " o f the Half- 

 breeds. The Cypress Hills get their name from the groves of the latter 

 species at their western extremity. The former loves almost pure sand 

 for a habitat, and hence, wherever there is a barren or sandy tract in the 

 forest region of the North- West, this species is sure to be there. It is seen 

 at Point-aux-Pins, west of Sault Ste. Marie, and attains a large size in 

 many places along the Dawson Route, west of Lake Superior, and along 

 the Thunder Bay Branch of the C. P. R. to and beyond Rat Portage. It 

 is common between Duck Lake and Prince Albert, and near Fort a la 

 Corn6 and in all the sandy country west and north of the Saskatchewan 

 River. 



CYPRESS, Sugar Pine, Black Pine or Twisted Pine (Pinus Contorta) 

 grows in fine and extensive groves on the western end of the Cypress 

 Hills, but disappears about 500 feet below the summit or 3,500 feet above 

 the sea. About the same altitude, on suitable soil (it delights in poor 

 soil,) it is found along the eastern base of the Rockies, as far north as lat. 

 56. In northern British Columbia, it is the most abundant forest tree. 

 Neither of the last two species ever attain a large size, being seldom over 

 eighteen inches in diameter. 



BALSAM POPLAR (Populus balsamifera) is a very important tree, both as 

 regards its size and distribution. In the forest region where the soil is 

 permanently damp or subject to overflow at certain seasons of the year, 

 it takes the place of the Aspen. In all river valleys it is the most valu- 

 able tree, as it attains a large size and makes excellent lumber. Large 

 quantities of boards were manufactured from logs cut in the Assiniboine 

 Valley, above Portage la Prairie, in 1879. It is on Peace River, the Liard 

 and the Mackenzie, where this tree assumes those dimensions which 

 cause it to be reckoned the king of the northern forests. Here, a diameter 

 of from six to eight feet is not uncommon, and trees from sixty to one 

 hundred feet in height without a branch are found in groves. It is a 

 curious fact that this tree delights in the alluvial flats along the northern 

 rivers, and not one aspen is ever found in this situation. It was only 

 when we saw the aspen that we knew we wore on the old bank of the 

 Peace and Athabaska, when traversing the deltas of these rivers. Trees 

 of this^pecies are larger on the Liard in lat. 61 than anywhere else, and 

 fine forests of it grow down the Mackenzie, north of the Arctic Circle at 

 Fort Good Hope. 



