CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



Railway Ties. 



Banksian pine 320,000,000 pieces 



Cedar. . . 50,000,000 pieces 



370,000,000 pieces 



Besides, and over that, fir would also supply several billion feet of lumber for 

 domestic uses, when the country is settled, viz. : in the Abitibi territory. 



Explorers have ascertained that yellow birch (Eetula excelsa) grows as far north 

 as fifty miles back of Betsiamites and as far back of Lake St. John, where they have 

 measured trees of twenty-four inches in diameter. This tree also grows in the southern 

 section of the Abitibi territory, also black ash (Fraxinus sambucifolia) and elm 

 (Ulmus americana), but those trees are not in a quantity sufficient to make them of 

 commercial value; they will be used for domestic purposes when the country is settled. 



II. CENTRAL REGION. 



With regard to the variety and quality of the forest growth, this region is unques- 

 tionably the richest of the three. The forest covers an area of 31,649,632 acres, or 

 302,745 acres more than the whole territory of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, whose 

 collective superficies is only 31,346,937 acres. This Central Region is bounded to the 

 south by the river St. Lawrence, and to the north by the 48th parallel, except in the 

 upper part of the counties of Champlain, St. Maurice, Maskinonge, Berthier, Joliette 

 und Montcalm, where the line bends southward in order to throw into the Northern 

 Region about 5,376,000 acres of forest in which spruce, particularly black spruce, pre- 

 dominates. 



All the kinds of commercial timber growing in the province of Quebec are found 

 in this central region. The conifers include white pine (Pinus strobus), red pine 

 (Pinus resinosa), Banksian pine, white spruce, black spruce, balsam-fir (Abies bal- 

 samifera), double-balsam fir (Abies americana), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and 

 cedar. In deciduous trees, or hard woods, we have yellow birch (Eetula excelsa), 

 black birch (Betula lento), white or silver maple (Acer dasycarpum), rock or sugar maple 

 (Acer saccharinum) , mountain maple (Acer spicatum), red or soft maple (Acer 

 rubrum), white oak (Quercus albus), blue or swamp oak (Quercus prinus), red oak 

 (Quercus rubra), hickory (Carya amara), butternut (Juglans cvnerea), white ash 

 (Fraxinus americana), black ?sh, white elm (Ulmus ame-ricana), red or slippery 

 elm (Ulmus fulva), beeeh (Fagus sylvatica), basswood (Tilia americana), hornbeam 

 {Carpinus americana), iron wood (Ostrya virginica), all the poplars and white or 

 canoe birch. 



White pine ranks first in the forests of this region, especially in the western part. 

 Between the Saguenay and the River St. Maurice, this timber is thinly scattered 

 amongst the other trees of the forest, of which it constitutes only a minute propor- 

 tion. In those 5,004,180 acres of forest, it is probable that twenty-five to thirty mil- 

 lion feet of white pine could be cut, of medium quality for the most part. It is more 

 abundant in the western section of the St. Maurice territory, which contains at least 

 150.000,000 feet. There is undoubtedly as much on the Rouge, Lievre and Petite- 

 Nation rivers. The richest pineries, and by far the most abundant are situated in 

 the counties of Wright and Pontiac. They cover an area of 14,596,690 acres. On 

 an average, they can yield 2,000 feet B.M. per acre, which would make a total of 

 thirty billion feet. In those rich pineries, there can be counted by the score the local- 

 ities where 10,000 feet and more could be cut upon one acre of land.' 



Red pine is one of the trees characteristic of this central region. This timber 

 grows on the sandy and gravelly hills, which are numerous all over that district; it 

 forms thick groves on the hill sides, where gravelly soil has accumulated and on the 



