TRANSACTIONS OV SECTION F. 



873 



ase of 10 



(import.? 



I ports and 

 '(.'lit. : ami 

 .■^I'd I'O p,.r 

 ) iiR'iea.^i'd 



ami Spain 



5 lt'.-<s than 

 , the divfv- 



■ 0011111 rii'.<, 

 oi'ica. 

 li^77 ninvfi 

 im 1.S77 to 

 ) per fi'iit., 



Iff CtMlt. 



her taviH"?i, 

 .<i upon the 



piT Cl'llt. of 



meiit of till' 

 ictical pviii- 

 itive tor the 

 itic to tlii'ir 



II its (lejrrees 



, juioy fane, 

 live ajrain.'-t 

 and cumfoi't 



of aiiotluT 



"aiiada, ami 

 till' trvains, 

 iilucl.s and 

 into this 

 , tobacco, 



ready asked 

 ■niilar line 

 • U'legrapli 



lent of telc- 

 ,(.011 Canada 

 ants of thU 

 iivo tiiiu'.'* 

 lerco will he 



LLB. 



Tlio mixed 

 Doiiiiuwii) 



iind fro a.'' bifrh as latitude 50° and 50°, in longitude 80° and 90° west, and to north 

 of ()t)°, in longitude 1^*0°, in the viiliey of tiio Mackenzie Kiver. These fore.'^t.s 

 prnhahly cover two millions of square miles ; and the conifers to the nortli an 

 additional million. The coiu'-bearinjr trees are found in a hroad helt west of the 

 Kocky Mountains, sweepinpr around the siiores of tlie Nortli Pacific and Arctic 

 .soas, down the coasts of Hudson ]5ay and Lahrailor, and across the lower St. 

 Linvreiioe, keeping in the cooler and more humid climates of the Paoifio, Arctic, 

 and Atlantic oceans. Among those forests are also found white hirch and poplar. 



The liociduous trees cover the parts of the continent iiaving higli temperatures 

 and more or less copious rains in the summer months. The maple, beech, has.s- 

 wiiod {liiidfn), elm, oak (Qncrrns alba), asii, and some others, require a summer 

 lit' from t!3° to 06°: and tiie wliite wood (Liriodcndran tulipifera), huttonwood 

 {liatmuts orcidsntalis), pepperidge {Xjixmi viultijlora), sassafi'as {Sassafras offiviiialc'), 

 and others, are found only in the south of Canada, where the summers are higlier 

 than fio". 



The roiiifers are also found among the deciduous forests, and iu some places 

 predominate ; hut where they are burned down or die, their place is aluio,«t exclu- 

 sively taken by deciduous trees. About \ShO a very exteii.-;ive forest of pines 

 [Vinus Strulius), covering many million acres hi the south-west of Ontario, died. 

 When the writer passed through that region in 1802, not one live pine could be 

 found, but poplars, oaks, and other deciduous trees had sprung up in the dead 

 forest. 



The uniform rainfall during the summer numtlis in Canada and the eastern half 

 fif the United States, with summer tompevatures varying from 50" to 80^, are 

 conditions favourable to the growth of forest trees. The absence of rain in the 

 ivistern half of the Republic is a suflicieiit causi! for the absence over extensive 

 redons of all vegetation except the cactus and arteniesia, or sage of the desert — 

 aiblems of an arid region. .Much of this part of the continent la, like the 

 il'^ert of Sahara, rainless, treeless, find dt'solate. 



lletwoen this arid region and that of tiio regular summer rains to the north and 

 «;bt— the areas of the woodlands — lie the prairies. In these grass zones there is 

 iMt rain enough for forest trees, but enough to keep alive the wild grasses. The 

 t'jis of tliese die during the (Iroughts of summer, but the roots have vitality 

 tnouirh to gorminfite under the rains of autumn and spring. Trees, however, 

 which may have lieoii killed liy droughts have no such vitality. North of the 

 parallel of 4(t°, east of the liocky Mountains, there are about 120,000 square miles 

 ifprnirie land. ]5etwoen this and the north Saskatchewan, to latitude 5.">° and 54°, 

 prairies predominate ; north of that river two-thirds of the land i.-i covered with 

 ffirests. Along the eastern base of the Ilocky Mountains, and extending up into 

 their recesses, is a belt of conifers, the principal tree being the Douglas pine 

 (this tree i.s, however, an Abies), and the white and blaidj .<]irii('e. East of the 

 niouutains the watersheds are mostly covered with lieavy forests of spruce, but 

 tlii^ dry ground, where there are trees, with poplars (Pupitltis fnvinloidcs). The 

 halsam poplar (/'. b,ilsainift>ra) grows to au enormous size on the Athabaska 

 (latitude 55° to 58°) and Mackenzie rivers (north of 00°), often from seven to ten 

 f^ef in diameter, and one hundred feet in height. 



The forests of British flolumbia west of the Cascade Mountains are very fine, 

 and here the Douglas pine or spruce {Abies DoiKjlusii) and giant cedar attain 

 their greatest dimensions. On the western slopes of the l?ocky ]Mountaiiis are 

 many species of pine ami fir, which in the near future can supply the eastern 

 plaiu.swith enoriiious quantities of timber. 



The comparative value of prairie and woodland for agricultural purjioses is a 

 '|iifstion often discu.«.sed. The absence of trees is undoubtedly cau-ed by a 

 fliniatic defect, and that defect is manifestly the deficiency of moisture. The 

 ^'n* of summer dronglits in the Old and New Worlds, in Australia and South 

 America, arc; identical with the treeless regions. This climatic defect must operate 

 I fwmaneiitly and with increasing intensity upon plants wliere euch lands are 

 "Miiirht under culture. A climate destructive to trees could not be propitious to 

 friiit-trees, and certainly not to any of the grains, grasses, and root-crops. Tern- 



