58 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Harvey. — In northeastern Harvey some 8,000 acres were burned over 40, 20, 

 and 12 years ago. The last two fires ran only here and there, and second growth 

 from the three fires may be found on the same area. A strip of 7.8 acres was made 

 across the ridges and through the depressions with the following results : 



Number of Poles and Saplings of Various Species per Acre 

 (Average of 7 .8 acres) 



Species — Trees Per cent 



Poplar 271.0 90.30 



Paper Birch 16.0 5.32 



White Pine 9.7 3.23 



"WTiite Spruce 1.6 0.53 



Cedar 1.0 0.30 



Balsam 0.6 20 



Hemlock 0.2 0.08 



Black Spruce 0.1 0.04 



Total 300.2 100.00 



The coniferous species only were counted on 18 acres on a limestone plateau 

 and the average per acre was found to be : white spruce, 25 ; tamarack, 13 ; cedar, 

 11.6 ; balsam, 7.S ; white pine, 7.8 ; red pine, 5.4 ; black spruce, 0.8. 



Galway. — With the exception of relatively small areas occupied by farms, the 

 three northern concessions of Galway, about 14,000 acres in all, were burned 35 

 years ago. Judging from 36 acres of sample strips made in various places, the young 

 pine averages 3.5 trees per acre. This was originally a pure pinery. Patches oc- 

 cur, however, where the reproduction is much better than this, especially on the 

 moist flats, where sample plots amounting to five acres disclosed 27.2 white pine ; 

 11.6 hemlock ; 6.4 cedar ; 3.4 balsam ; and 0.4 tamarack poles and saphngs per acre. 



Cavendish. — Cavendish has 21,000 acres of burned lands, constituting 45 per 

 cent of the township. In the northwestern corner the reproduction of coniferous 

 species is very good. A sample strip consisting of 8.6 acres revealed 65 balsam, 

 18.3 cedar, 13.1 white pine, 8.1 white spruce, 3 hemlock, 2.9 tamarack, 0.9 black 

 spruce and 0.3 red pine poles and saplings per acre. East of Pencil lake the region 

 was burned 15 years ago, and 10 acres of sample strips showed 3.5 white pine and 

 1.3 red pine poles and saplings to the acre. The same area contained 66 pine stumps 

 over a foot in diameter per acre. 



LiuUerworth. — Lutterworth township contains 29,000 acres — 77.8 per cent of 

 its area — of burned lands. Most of this was burned in 1881 and by far the greater 

 portion is without reproduction of pine in commercial quantities. Two strips 

 were run through the old burn in the southeastern portion of the township. One 

 of 24 acres revealed young pine at the rate of 1.4 trees per acre ; the other of 29 

 acres disclosed one pine tree to every six acres. This region was formerly a pure 

 pinery. 



Methuen. — The township of Mcthuen has suffered severely from fires. Only 

 13 per cent of the land surface is covered by mature forest and the farms constitute 

 only 2.6 per cent of the area of the township. The rest, 53,000 acres, is bush land, 

 semi-barren and barren, owing to repeated fires. 



The Blueberry 'barrens,' situated in the east central portion of the township, 

 are the most severely burned areas and they cover some 9,400 acres. The area is 

 composed of low granitic ridges with frequent swamps between them. The rock 

 is in the last stages of decay, frequently crumbling between the fingers, and it yields 

 a soil of gravel and coarse sand. The ridges probably originally supported trees 

 only sparingly, owing to the dearth of soil, but the flats between the ridges have a 

 soil of sufficient depth to support a forest, and that they can do so is shown by the 

 presence of scattering red pine a foot or more in diameter. The fire scars on these 

 trees tell the story of the barrens. They indicate that fires of an intensity sufficient 

 severely to wound the trees occurred in 1836, 1853, 1865, 1874, 1882, 1897, and in 

 1911. The trees are 98 years old and they record fires at the rate of one every 14 

 years. The age of the young growth indicates several intermediate fires too small 

 or too local to injure the larger trees. 



