78 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



average depth of 15 inches, well sprinkled with boulders and pebbles. 

 There is a similar soil west of Eagle lake, Deer lake and Cranberry lake, 

 and scattered patches in the eastern part along Eels brook. The rest 

 of the soil throughout the township is mostly shallow gravel and sand. 

 The granite hills in the interior are largely devoid of soil of any kind, a 

 condition brought about by repeated fires. 



Forest Conditions. — The forests of the township have been thorough- 

 ly culled, with the exception of some 5,000 acres in the neighborhood 

 of Eagle lake, where the commercial timber is chiefly hemlock. There 

 were about 1000 acres of pine and hemlock in concessions xiii and 

 XIV along Stony creek, but one more season's cut will finish that. These 

 two groups, with some other areas of a similar nature, make 15.5 per 

 cent of the forest now standing, as coniferous. Approximately 7 per 

 cent of the forest is of the mixed type — maple, beech, pine, and hem- 

 lock — and 20 per cent is pure hardwoods. Last year 1.5 per cent was 

 burned. The remaining 56 per cent is second growth, of which 51 per 

 cent is the poplar-birch type, the result of fire. 



Cavendish Township 



Watersheds. — About three-fourths of the area of Cavendish drains 

 into the Mississagua river ; most of the remaining portion is drained 

 into Squaw river and thence into Pigeon lake. A few square miles 

 in the extreme northwestern comer are drained into the Irondale river 

 and thence by Burnt river into Cameron lake. The water surface of 

 the township is 7,600 acres, or 14 per cent of the total area. The largest 

 lakes are Catchacoma and Mississagua. 



Topography. — There is very little diversity of topography in the 

 township, it being a succession of low ridges of similar elevation and 

 depressions, and the highest points are in the northwestern comer of 

 the township, where they are about 100 feet above the general level. 



Rock and Soil. — The rock is, for the most part, crystalline limestone, 

 with frequent intmsions of granite and hornblende schist. The soil 

 is shallow, sandy, filled with pebbles and stones, and only in a few places 

 approaches a loam below the first two or three inches. 



Forest Conditions. — ^A little more than one-half of the forest area is, 

 or was, controlled by the hardwoods. On the flats and gentle slopes, 

 maple is the principal species, often composing three-fourths of the 

 stand. On the ridges and other situations where the soil is shallow, 

 the beech replaces the maple. The minor species are elm, basswood, 

 hemlock, yellow birch, black cherry, and hornbeam. Thirty-six 

 per cent of the hardwood forest is moderately culled, i.e. the merchant- 

 able elm, basswood, and hemlock have been cut ; 1 7 per cent has been 



