108 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October-November, 1914 



REINDEER HERD, purchased by the Dominion Government from Dr. Grenfell, of 

 Labrador, and sent into the Northwest Territory as an Experiment. 



IN ALGONQUIN PARK. 



The following is clipped from the Toronto 

 Mail and Empire and is from the pen of 

 Mr. J. W. Johnson, M.P.P. of Belleville, 

 Ontario. Mr. Johnson is not, we believe, 

 directly interested in the forests, as he is 

 an edneationist not a Inmbermau, but he 

 is deeply interested in them from the scenic 

 and patriotic standpoint. This brief article 

 shows the value of Algonquin Park, giving 

 as it does to the busy man an oppor- 

 tunity of getting immediately and easily 

 into the forest, and it also shows the 

 strength of the appeal which the forest and 

 forest conservation makes to every citizen 

 interested in the welfare of his country. 

 The article follows: — 



'While the thunder of a great storm 

 was seemingly rending the surrounding- 

 forest and the accompanying lightning 

 was leaping across the water of the lake 

 and finishing its pranks among the trees, 

 I was confined to the verandah of the High- 

 land Inn, and spent the time writing what 

 follows : 



' One sees hill rising above bluff, moun- 

 tain stretching higher than hill, all having 

 their base on the shores of deep and beauti- 

 ful lakes of clear, pure, sparkling and 

 translucent water, absolutely free from con- 

 tamination or the possibility of impurity; 



and growing on the bluffs and hills and 

 mountains is the primeval forest composed 

 of such a variety of trees and underbrush 

 that none but the forest rangers could name 

 and classify them, and only they could name 

 all the wild animals that range, without fear 

 of man or gun, in every portion of Ontario 's 

 great Forest Reserve. 



' Wandering through the woods, closely 

 observing, one witnesses reforesting by 

 nature on an extensive scale : life out of 

 death is rising from the trunk of the rotted 

 giant pine lying prone upon the ground, and 

 also from its now detached bark, which, 

 while preserving the original form and very 

 shape and encrustation, falls into dust and 

 ashes at the touch of the fingers. The young 

 tree is sprouting or has attained substantial 

 growth, its sustenance, as well as the place 

 of its origin, being the debris and mould 

 left by its predecessors of remote and recent 

 years. Not the pine alone is thus recreating, 

 but the fallen 'trees of every kind, notably 

 the balsam, spruce and birch, and also the 

 dead branches and the leaves that have lived 

 and died during a thousand years are as- 

 sociated with this miracle of life from 

 death. 



' The air filters through the branches of 

 the pine and spruce and balsam^ weighs 

 heavily on the eyelids, and gently induces, 

 yea insists on, sleep and rest. ' 



