THE FORESTS OF ACADIE. 25 



be studied from the road-side or along the ed^res of 

 the cleared lands. To read its mysteries aright, we must 

 plunge into its depths and live under its shelter through 

 all the phases of the seasons, leaving far behind the sound 

 of the settler's axe and the tinkling of his cattle-bells. 

 The strange feelings of pleasure attached to a life 

 in the majestic solitudes of the pine forests of North 

 America cannot be attained by a merely marginal 

 acquaintance. 



On entering the woods, the first feature which natu- 

 rally strikes us is the continual occurrence of dense copses 

 of young trees, where a partial clearing has afforded a 

 chance to the profusely sown germs to spring up and 

 perpetuate the ascendancy of vegetation, though of 

 course, in the struggle for existence, but few of these 

 would live to assert themselves as forest trees. As we 

 advance we perceive a taller and straighter growth, and 

 observe that many species, which in more civilised 

 districts are mere ornamental shrubs, throwing out their 

 feathery branches close to the ground, now assume the 

 character of forest trees with clean straight stems, 

 though somewhat slender withal, engendering the belief 

 that, left by themselves in the open, they would offer but 

 a short resistance to wintry gales. The foliage predomi- 

 nates at the tree top ; the stems (especially of the 

 spruces) throw out a profusion of spikes and dead 

 branchlets from the base upwards. Unhealthy situa- 

 tions, such as cold swamps, are marked by the utmost 

 confusion. Everywhere, and at every variety of angle, 

 trees lean and creak against their comrades, drawing a 

 few more years of existence through their support. The 

 foot is being perpetually lifted to stride over dead stems, 



