16 IN UPPER CANADA. 



beautiful creeping plants. It is in tlie Ohio valley tliat 

 we see the full splendour of the American forests ; so 

 absolutely diflferent from those of the Amazons, or the 

 Tropical wildernesses of Borneo and Java; yet in their 

 own way by no means inferior, and perhaps excelling them 

 in variety and freshness. There may be seen the gigantic 

 deciduous cypress ; the tall tulip-tree with its wealth of 

 flowers ; several species of noble oaks ; the black walnut, 

 the American plane, the sugar - maple, magnolia, and 

 hickory. 



The Dominion of Canada contains millions of acres of 

 fertile soil, covered with mighty forests. " Upper Canada," 

 says a writer, " is the most fertile, and in many respects is 

 one of the most valuable, of the British colonies in the 

 west : every European grain, and every plant that requires 

 a hot summer and can endure a cold winter, thrive there. 

 The forest consists chiefly of black and white spruce, the 

 Weymouth and other pines — trees which do not admit of 

 undergrowth ; they grow to a gi^eat height, like bare spars, 

 with a tufted crown casting a deep gloom below. The 

 fall of large trees from age is a common occurrence, and 

 not without danger, as it often causes the destruction of 

 those adjacent ; and an ice-storm is awful." 



When a heavy fall of snow has taken place, succeeded 

 by rain and a partial thaw, the trees and all their branches 

 are quickly crusted with glittering ice ; oak and pine bend 

 beneath the burden, and the icicles pendent from every 

 bough drop in radiant showers at the lightest breath of 

 wind. The hemlock-spruce, with its long drooping branches, 



