178 



the ease, rapidity and spontaneous manner in which this tree reproduces itself. 

 Unlike white pine, which requires a century to grow a standard log, spruce is 

 almost irrepressible, and a spruce forest from which all the trees measuring 

 twelve inches and upwards in diameter have been taken, will, after a rest of two 

 decades, be ready for work again. 



It does not appear that any systematic attempt has been made by the 

 authorities to reduce to figures the available quantity of mature spruce now growing 

 in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the immense forest belt which lies between 

 the Ottawa river basin in the west and Mingan in the east. All these districts, 

 however, according to Mr. Joly, late Premier of the Province of Quebec, contain 

 immense quantities of spruce.* 



The following tables exhibit the total number of pieces of squared white 

 and red pine and other woods, and of pine saw logs cut in the upper Ottawa 

 territories of Quebec and Ontario, on Crown lands, and also on private lands 

 from 1826 to 1881 (30th June) inclusive, that is before and since Confederation 

 as closely as can be learned from the records of the Crown Timber Office, Ottawa.-f- 



FROM 1826 TO 1866 INCLUSIVE. 



*The pitch-pine referred to iu this chapter is the Pinus Australia of Michaux, otherwise the Southern 

 Pine, the trade in which has been entirely developed during the last twenty years. Its importation to 

 Great Britain is extending rapidly. It is shipped from the so-called Pitch Pine States, situated to the 

 east of the Mississippi River, namely, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, ana Mississippi. 



The wood of the pitch-pine tree is the heaviest of the pine family, and, like all high resinous woods, is 

 supposed to possess great durability in climates of moderate severity. A very large industry has been 

 developed in the Southern States in connection with the gathering of its resinous products, such as tar, 

 turpentine, pitch, and the like. Turpentine is the raw sap of the tree, and the " boxing " or tapping neces- 

 sary to collect this is supposed by some to be injurious to the "alburnum" or sapwood, although it has 

 probably little effect on the heartwood, or "duramen." 



tA. J. Russell, Crown Timber Agent, Ottawa, in Reports on the Forests of Canada, London, (England) 1885. 



