A \')\\n;in\ Siiwiiirr /ti'ji/s 11/ Prince Ed\i.iud hiniid. I ."jj 



resents liere asolsowlierc tlie sprcadiiiif of civili/atioii lliat destroys 

 utterly the lorcst o( its own generation ami takes no tliouylit i"or 

 the possil)le necessities of the fntnrc. Uefore the woodman's axe, 

 the evergreen forest has melted away in many parts of our conti- 

 nent never to return, its jjlace l)ein<; taken, as is well known, 

 hy ileciduous trees, they sulleriiij^ in tiieir turn, and this process 

 is now well advanced even on I'rince Edward Island. 



The native tiees are chiefly conifene and more than nine 

 tenths of them spruce {Picca ni^ra and /'. alba) and (ii- (Aoics 

 bahamca). Among the more abundant deciduous trees are 

 maples (chietly Acer sacc/iarinittn), birches {Bctiila lenta^ 

 Ii. hitca, and />'. papyri fcra, all in considerable numbers), 

 beeciies {/ui^ns fcmiginca)., and some ol the willows and 

 poplars. Oi" the shrubs the heath family is well represented, 

 espeeiallv by tlie i^enera \'ar.ciiihim (blueberries), I^cdum (Lab- 

 railor tea), and Kalmia (A'. aiis^iis(/Jo/ia, sheep lamel). 

 Alders are generally distributed. As to the herbaceous plants, 

 they arc those of the i 'Mtli' rn woods and fields. It is said 

 that some plants of the adjacent mainland are not fomul 

 on the island. In otiier words, the twenty miles or so of the 

 Straits of Northumberland act as a hairier to the [possible 

 tinge of moie southern ibrms, and the same mav influence the 

 northward range of certain s|)ecics of birds more or less coimntjii 

 on tiie mainland. Onem.iy tliid fragrant banks of the tin\, nod- 

 ding Limnca, [)astures red with sorrel {Rtiwcx acciosc//a), 

 swamps blue with iris (/r/.v versicolor)., clearings green with 

 coarse ferns, beneath which gray mosses and clumi)s of the 

 scarlet bimchbeirv ( Corn/is cauadci/sis) may he foumi, and the 

 dark evergreen woods are carpeted with the greenest t)t" mosses. 

 Tiiere are many other tiees and bushes, notably larch (La/ix 

 a»ierica>/a) and arbor vita' ( T/iiiya occidcntalis) which are 

 rather common locally, but they are not especially conspicuous 

 features, and I merely wish to call attention to certain parts of 

 the flora to imlicate in a very general way its character. There 

 are many tracts of sectind-growth, usually almost wholly i)eech 

 or maple which, if small, are shunned by birds, and nowJiere can 

 one wander far without entering tracts of timber, from which per- 

 haps only the larger trees ha\e been culled. Wiuii lire rims 

 throutrh timber, dead anil blackened trunks are left that in a few 

 years become, by the rotting away of their branches, the nionoto- 



