41 



This is supplemented by a Provincial Act of the Quebec Legislature, 34 

 Tic., cap. 19 (1871), fixing the time for fallow- burning and protecting the 

 forests from fire, and another still more stringent Act, 46 Vic., cap. 10 

 (1883), by a Provincial Act of the Ontario Legislature, 41 Vic., cap. 23 

 (1878), and by a New Brunswick Act of the Revised Statutes of that Pro- 

 vince, caj>. 107 (1877). All of the above Acts specify heavy penalties for 

 their infringement. 



CANADIAN TREES AND THEIR WOODS. 



The extent of our forests is not more remarkable than the various 

 kinds of trees which compose them. Some species are not only very 

 widely diffused, but are also persistent over great areas, being found 

 almost everywhere within the limits of their distribution, while others, 

 although having an extensive range, are nowhere very common, and are 

 sometimes absent for considerable intervals. Others again are confined 

 to comparatively small tracts. As a general rule, says Dr. Bell in his 

 report in the Geological Survey proceedings of 1879-80, the more northern 

 species occupy the greatest extent of country, while the southern ones 

 are progressively more and more restricted even in a more rapid ratio 

 than would be implied by the narrowing of the continent from north to 

 south. This is owing to the great differences experienced in climatic 

 conditions in going from east to west in the more southern latitudes. 

 Some kinds of trees in approaching their northern limits, show a tend- 

 ency to diminish gradually in size, and to become more and more scat- 

 tered, rendering it difficult to draw any boundary of the species, while 

 others vanish abruptly. The latter habit is more characteristic of 

 southern than northern species, as far as the Dominion is concerned. 

 The various species appear to die out more gradually as they range 

 northward in the western than in the eastern regions. 



Forest trees east of the Rocky Mountains may be divided, says Dr. 

 Bell, into four groups, as regards their geological distribution within the 

 Dominion : first, a northern group including the white and black Spruce, 

 Larch, Banksian Pine, Balsam Fir, Aspen, Balsam Poplar, Canoe Birch, 

 "Willows and Alder. These cover the vast territory, down to the line of 

 the white Pine : Second, a central group, occupying the belt of country 

 from the white Pine line to that of the Plane-Tree or Button- Wood : 

 Third, a southern group, embracing the Plane-Tree, black Walnut, Sassa- 

 fras and flowering dogwood, which are found only in a small area in the 

 southern part of Ontario : Fourth, a western group, consisting of the ash 

 leaved Maple, burr Oak, Cottonwood and green Ash, which are scattered 

 sparingly over the prairie and wooded regions west of Red River and 

 Lake Winnipeg. 



In the western peninsula of Ontario the forests present a remarkable 

 richness in the number of species to be found growing together. In some 

 localities as many as fifty different kinds may be counted in a single 

 farm lot. A more varied mixture is probably not to be met with in any 

 other part of the continent, or perhaps in the world. 



