THE TREES OF THE NORTHWOODS 



The woods were not only God's first temple; they 

 will always be God's temple. None of the work of 

 the Creator so deeply impresses every human mind as 

 the great trees of a primeval forest. 



What a story our northern trees might tell! Many 

 of the mature trees : pine, spruce, tamarack, hemlock 

 and birch, are. at least, a hundred years old, and some 

 of the largest white pines reach an age of two hun- 

 dred and fifty j^ears. They have, so to speak, seen 

 the old days of the Indian and the fur trader, and 

 witnessed the coming of the lumbermen and the 

 settlers. 



Nor are they quite as silent as they appear to be: 

 Each ring in the wood tells of the growth of one sea- 

 son. In their youth, many trees, especially the white 

 pine, must grow under the shade of older trees, and 

 this period is represented by many thin rings. I once 

 rut a tamarack fish pole, which had struggled under 

 older trees for thirty years; but I have also observed 

 cottonwoods and willows on rich open soil, which 

 irrew to a height of eighteen feet in three seasons. 



The royal tree of the Northern forests is the white 

 pine, with the Norway pine following closely in rank. 

 ^<>iiie of the old white pines have trunks so large that 

 three men can just reach around them. Viewing one 

 of these giants, one can hardly realize that it was for 

 ;i decade or more a helpless tree infant, exposed to 

 many dangers and accidents. It is a curious fact 

 that our large, long-lived trees, such as the white 

 pine, pass through a long period of feeble infancy, 

 when they are like children in delicate health, while 



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