1&2 AGRICULTURE. 



RANGE OF FOREST TREES. This great forest of eastern 

 North America was composed of many varieties of trees, each 

 variety growing where it thrived best. In some places they 

 were mixed, as though scattered by mere chance ; usually, 

 however, the different kinds were confined to certain districts , 

 where the conditions were favorable. Thus we here and there 

 come upon a white pine belt ; in one place we find a forest of 

 maples, in another oaks or elms. As climate and soil are the 

 two things that largely control or determine forest growth, we 

 may expect to find the various kinds of trees confined to 

 certain limits. If we trace across the country a line marking 

 the places up to which each kind of tree is found growing, 

 but beyond which it will not grow in any very large numbers, 

 we shall thereby get lines which mark what are known as the 

 " northern limits " of these trees. These lines will not run 

 east and west, nor will they be parallel in all places. The 

 Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the inland lakes and Hudson's 

 Bay have the effect of making them very irregular. 



The northern limits of the most common trees will be found 

 to be about as follows: Chestnut, black walnut, hickory, 

 butternut, red cedar, white ash, beech, and basswood in 

 southern Ontario ; somewhat further north, hemlock, red oak, 

 sugar maple, yellow birch, red pine, and white pine; still 

 further north, white elm, black ash, balsam, poplar, and spruce. 



It must be noted that this order is not always followed, as 

 both soil and climate have their influence, and the effect of 

 fire has been to change the nature of the forests. As a rule 

 evergreens will grow in colder climate than the trees that shed 

 their leaves (deciduous), and of the latter the nut-bearing 

 varieties are usually found in the milder climate. 



An interesting study is to find out the different trees growing 

 in a locality, and to determine the nature of the soil in which 

 they thrive ; which, for instance, grow in low, damp places, 

 and which in dry, gravelly soil, or on rocky hills. 



