486 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, ipi6. 



H. R. Christie, of B.C., is going- to 

 Ottawa, for the purpose of enlisting. 



The activities of the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch will continue along 

 the same lines as last season. 



A. H. Unwih, of England, is go- 

 ing- to Nokling, via. Lagos Nigeria, 

 Africa, for the next twelve months. 

 Mr. Unwin is the only European 

 member of the Canadian Society of 

 Forest Engineers. 



R. O. Sweezey writes from the 

 Royal Military College at Kingston 

 that he is carrying on a detailed sur- 

 vey for M. J. O'Brien in the Upper 

 Ottawa, area 1,125 square miles, and 

 that he gets away occasionally from 

 his military duties to see how his 

 parties are progressing. Recently 

 he made a brief examination of the 

 limits of the Mattagami Pulp & 

 Paper Co., in Northern Ontario. 



®0 a ptt^ iFnrrat! 



T 



"A pine forest is one of the most 

 beautiful features of nature. Of all 

 Cjuiet scenes it is surely the quietest. 

 The harsh sounds of the busy hu- 

 man world, and even the dreamy 

 murmurs of summer, are hushed 

 there ; no song of bird or hum of 

 insect disturbs the solemn stillness ; 

 and only at rare intervals the mourn- 

 ful coo of a dove, making the soli- 

 tude more profound, is heard in the 

 deeper recesses. The weary, care 

 worn spirit bathes in the serenity of 

 the silence, and feels the charm and 

 refreshment of its highest life. The 

 trunks of the trees have caught the 

 ripened red of many vanished sum- 

 mers, and are bearded with long 

 streaming tufts of grey lichen, which 

 impart to them a weird, savage ap- 

 pearance ; but they are touched 

 with grace by the wild flowers 

 growing at their roots ; childhood 

 sporting in unconscious loveliness at 

 the feet of old age. They form long 

 drawn aisles and vistas, like the 

 pillared halls of Karnak, or the 

 Thousand Columns of Constantin- 

 ople, which are indescribably attrac- 

 tive, for they appeal to that love of 

 mystery which exists in every 

 mind ; they reveal only enough to 

 stimulate the imagination, and lead 

 it onward to lovelier scenes beyond. 

 Life itself without these vistas of 

 expectation would not be worth liv- 

 ing. 



Beautiful indeed is the pine forest 

 in all seasons-: in the freshness of 

 spring, when the gnarled boughs are 

 penetrated and mollified by the soft 

 wind and the warm sun, and, thril- 

 led with new life, burst out into 

 fringes and tassels of the richest 

 green, and cones of the tenderest 

 purple ; beautiful in the sultry sum- 

 mer, when among its cool, dim sha- 

 dows the cheated hours all day sing 

 vespers, while the open landscape is 

 palpitating in the scorching heat ; 

 beautiful in the sadness of autumn, 

 when its unfading verdure stands 

 out in striking relief amid changing 

 scenes, that have no sympathy with 

 anything earthly save sorrow and 

 decay, and directs the thoughts to 

 the imperishableness of the heavenly 

 Paradise ; beautiful exceedingly in 

 the depth of winter, when the tiers 

 of branches are covered with pure, 

 unsullied wreaths of snow, sculp- 

 tured by the winds into curve of ex- 

 quisite grace. 



It is beautiful in calm, when the 

 tree tops scarcely whisper to each 

 other, and the twitter of the golden 

 wren sounds ' loud inthe expectant 

 hush ; it is more than beautiful in 

 storm, when the wild -fingers of the 

 wind play the most mournful music 

 on its great harp-strings, and its full 

 diapason is sublime as the road of 

 the ocean on a rock bound shore. — 

 (From "Teachings in Nature," by 

 Rev. Hugh MacMillan.) 



