32 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



it extends from James Bay north-westward to the Yukon. In 

 1897 Mr. Henry O'SulHvan, D.L.S., C.E., explored the country 

 between Lake St. John and the mouth of the Nottavv-ay River. 

 In his report he says: " Pulp is the industry of the coming age, 

 spruce is the king of woods for pulp making, and this country 

 is the home of the spruce." He might have added that the im- 

 mense waterfalls in every part of the country furnish unlimited 

 power for saw, pulp and paper mills. 



The black larch (Larix americana, Michaux), or tamarack, 

 grows everywhere throughout the peninsula, and probably stands 

 next to the black spruce in abundance. It is the hardiest tree 

 of the sub-arctic forest belt, and continues as a tree to the very 

 edge of the northern margin, where the black spruce is dwarfed 

 to a mere shrub. In the interior it grows in all the cold swamps 

 and is always the largest tree in the vicinity. Of late years, 

 however, the European larch saw-fly has destroyed most of the 

 larch between Lake St. John and Lake Mistassini, and the pest 

 is spreading northward. The wood is rather coarse-grained, 

 hard, heavy and very strong. In color it is a light brown, with 

 thin, nearly white, sapwood, and contains broad, very resinous, 

 dark-colored bands of summer cells, a few obscure resin ducts, 

 and numerous, hardly distinguishable, medullary rays. This 

 explains why it is such a stiff wood, and is so durable in contact 

 with the soil. It is well adapted for use as scafEold poles, joists, 

 rafters, railway ties, fence posts, telegraph and telephone poles, 

 and for ship-building purposes. When thoroughly dry it weighs 

 39 pounds per cubic foot, and its fuel value of 62 seems to in- 

 dicate that it is a trifle better than red maple (Acer ruhrum) as a 

 heat producer. 



The balsam fir {Ahies halsamea, Miller) prefers a wet alluvial 

 soil, and occurs more or less plentifully about the margins of the 

 large streams and lakes almost to the edge of the treeless area. 

 From latitude fifty-six in the interior it ranges south-eastward 

 to Cape Harrison, and south-westward to the mouth of the Great 

 Whale River. In the Mistassini region and along the lower 

 Rupert, it grows in abundance with white spruce, aspen and 

 canoe birch. 



The wood is very light, soft, coarse-grained and perishable. 

 The heartwood is of a pale-brown color, often streaked with yel- 

 low. The sapwood is lighter in color, is quite thick, and contains 

 conspicuous narrow vessels of smaller summer cells and numerous 

 obscure medullary rays. Fuel value, 38; specific gravity, 24 

 pounds per cubic foot; makes a good pulp, and is sometimes 

 sawn into boards for the manufacture of packing boxes, or even 

 laths and shingles, if nothing better can be obtained. 



Beneath the smooth bark of the tree a transparent straw- 

 colored resin, faintl}^ tinged with green, collects in "blisters" or 



