628 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 23. 



SCIENCE m CAN-ADA. 



The awakening from long indifference 

 as to the constant wasting, fi-om various 

 causes, of the timber resources of this conti- 

 nent, which some dozen years ago gave 

 rise to a series of forestry congresses, has 

 produced a considerable mass of literature, 

 niainly economic, but to some extent also 

 scientific, in Canada as well as ia the United 

 States. Not only the Domiaion, but the 

 provincial authorities as well, took action 

 on the matter for the purpose of at once 

 arresting wanton destruction of still exist- 

 ing forests, of re-afforesting denuded areas 

 and of planting trees in the scantily tim- 

 bered region between the Great Lakes and 

 the Eocky Mountains. Something has also 

 been done in the introduction of varieties, 

 for sanitary and ornamental uses, from the 

 like climates of the Old World. The scien- 

 tific societies have done their share in keep- 

 ing alive the interest created by this far- 

 reaching movement. The latest of the 

 monthly meetings of the N'atural History 

 Society of Montreal was devoted to this 

 subject, the Hon. J. K. Ward having 

 rfead a comprehensive paper on ' Canada's 

 timber resources and lumber industry.' 

 Mr. Ward's paper was largelj^ historical 

 and economic. He gave an interesting 

 sketch of the lumber bustaess from the year 

 1667, when the first timber ship was des- 

 patched from Canada to Europe ; spoke of 

 the relations between lumbering and colo- 

 nization and touched on the great wealth of 

 precious timber growing in Canada west of 

 the Eockies. The lecture was scientific in- 

 directly only and in its suggestions. 



In view of the agitation for the admis- 

 sion of the island of ISTewfoundland into 

 the Dominion, it may be of iaterest to re- 

 call that Mr. B. L. Robinson and Mr. Her- 

 mann Schrenk, of Harvard University, 

 made a botanical exploration last Julj' and 

 August through the Exploits Valley and 

 other parts of that island. Thej^ obtained 



more than 7,000 sj)ecimens of flowering 

 plants and vascular cryptogams, as well as 

 (incidentally) a number of thallophytes. 

 What is especiallj' noteworthy, as parallel 

 phenomena are well known in Canada, is 

 that though the Exploits Yallej^ is more 

 than 200 miles north of St. John's it 

 ' showed a richer and more advanced vege- 

 tation, indicative of a deeper soil and milder 

 climate.' The report was published in the 

 Harvard Cr-raduates' Magazine. 



A society that is destined to give a fruit- 

 ful impetus to botanical research in the 

 Dominion is the Botanical Club of Canada, 

 which originated in a recommendation of 

 the Fourth Section (Biology and Geologj^) 

 of the Royal Society of Canada, at the an- 

 nual meeting held in Montreal, in May, 

 1891. It is, however, entirely independent 

 of that Society, with which it holds only 

 the relations common to the other associated 

 scientific societies of the Dominion. " The 

 objects of the Club are to adopt means, by 

 concerted local efforts and otherwise, to 

 promote the exploration of the flora of 

 everj' portion of British America, to publish 

 complete lists of the same in local papers as 

 the work goes on, and to have these lists 

 collected and carefully examined in order 

 to arrive at a correct knowledge of the pre- 

 cise chai-acter of our flora and its geograph- 

 ical distribution." This Club comprises 

 Newfoundland (as does the Royal Society of 

 Canada), not ontyin the scope of its opera- 

 tions, but by official representation. Prof. 

 George Lawson, Ph. D., LL. D., of Halifax, 

 N. S., is president; Dr. A. H. MacKay, B. 

 Sc, Halifax, is general secretary-treasurer. 

 Prof D. P. Penhallow, B. Sc, McGill Uni- 

 versity, is secretarj^ for the province of 

 Quebec; Dr. J. A. Merton Wingham, for 

 Ontario; Dr. A. H. MacKay, for Nova 

 Scotia; Mr. G. U. Hay, M. A., Ph. D., St. 

 John, for New Brunswick ; Mr. Francis 

 Bain, North River, for Prince Edward Is- 

 land; Rev. A. C. Waghorne, St. John's, 



