Canadian Forestry Journal, August, ipi6 



667' 



that where some of the duff is left 

 or has not been burned off, it would 

 very much assist in holding mois- 

 ture during- the dry season of the 

 year, which would assist materially 

 in the more rapid growth of the 

 young trees. Wherever I had the 

 opportunity to talk with settlers 

 who were clearing land, I strongly 

 advised them to do their burning 



carefully and to burn as little of the 

 duff as possible, because when 

 breaking, the mixing of the duff or 

 leaf mould with the under-soil adds 

 humus, which is necessary to make 

 a soil productive. If the burning 

 can be done in the spring while the 

 duff is wet and the slash dry enough 

 to burn, it would seem the wiser- 

 plan." 



The Man Who Named the Douglas 



-^- Fir — - — - 



Adventurous Life and Terrible Death of David Douglas ; 

 Introduced 217 Plants to English Gardens 



Douglas was the family name of 

 Lord Selkirk, founder of the Red 

 River Settlement, and it was the 

 name of other men who have been 

 prominent in Western Canada, so 

 that considerable doubt exists in the 

 popular mind as to the particular 

 man after whom the famous Doug- 

 las fir was named. It is found that 

 it was not named after a founder, 

 governor, or chief justcie, but after 

 a remarkable man in a humbler 

 sphere of life. It should also be 

 noted, too, that while the name of 

 Douglas will always be associated 

 with the common name of this mag- 

 nificent tree, yet the scientific name 

 fails to show any connection. It is 

 called scientifically Pseudotsuga, 

 literallv, false hemlock. It is not 

 false hemlock. It is a much finer 

 tree than any hemlock, and it is to 

 be hoped that a later generation of 

 botanists will change the name and 

 give Douglas a place in it. 



Regarding Douglas. Dr. Charles 

 S. Sargent, Director of Arnold Ar- 

 boretum at Harvard University, has 

 this to say of him in a footnote in 

 his famous work "Silva of North 

 America" : — 



"David Douglas (1798-1834) d. 

 Scotch gardener sent by the Horti- 

 cultural Society of London to ex- 

 plore the forests of the Northwest 

 Territory, is, from his courage, 

 energy and success in the presence 

 of great difficulties and dangers, and 

 from his untimely and horrible 

 death, a conspicuous figure in the 

 annals of American botanical ex- 

 ploration. Douglas, who had been 

 trained by Sir William Hooker, and 

 had made a short botanical journey 

 in Eastern America in 1823. was 

 sent, in 1824, by way of Cape Horn 

 to the Columbia River, where he ar- 

 rived in April. 1825. He spent two 

 years in Oregon, discovering some 

 important trees, including Abies no- 

 bilis (noble fir), Abies amabilis- 

 (Lowland fir), and Pinus Lamber- 

 tiana (sugar pine) the largest of its 

 race. 



In March, 1827, Douglas started 

 from Fort X'ancouver, on the Co- 

 lumbia River, crossed the continent 

 by Hudson's Bay Company posts, 

 and embarked for England, which 

 he reached in October of the same 

 year. Two years later he left Eng- 



