30 LAWSON OCCURRENCE OF HEATHER IN CAPE BRETON. 



incredible ; while the adjoining State of Pennsylvania, to say nothing of 

 others, might sustain a still larger number without encroaching upon an 

 acre of land now used for stock-rearing, or any other purpose connected 

 with agriculture."* 



Here, then, we have a modern precedent for an experiment 



which I am convinced woilld answer in the case of the moose, 



a still larger and more profitable animal than the wapiti. What 



an admirable opportunity for utilizing those barren wastes which 



surround us ! Take for example that large triangular piece of 



waste country commencing at Dartmouth, extending along the 



shores of the Basin on one side, bounded by the Dartmouth 



lakes on the other, and skirted by the railroad from Bedford to 



Grand Lake as its base. With the exception of a few clearings 



on the shores of the Basin, the Avhole of this is a wilderness, 



containing some 13,000 acres of w^ild, undulating land, with here 



and there thick spruce swamj)s, mossy bogs, and barrens covered 



with a young growth of birch, poplar, and all the food on which 



the moose delights to subsist. That they have an especial liking 



for this small district may be gathered from the fact that I have 



never known it as not containing two or three of these animals. 



There is no reason why an experimental farm, conducted on the 



principle followed by Mr. Stratton, should not be able to breed 



and turn out into this district a very large number of moose, and 



in such a state of tameness that they would be induced to remain 



within enclosed portions of the wilderness, furnishing, in proper 



season, a profitable supply of flesh for the market. 



To the carriboo, on the other hand, these suggestions will not be 



applicable, as this animal requires, as a primary condition of its 



existence, a large and uninterrupted field for periodical migration. 



Art. III. Notice of the occurrence of Heather (Calhma 

 vulgaris) at .St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton Island. By Geo. 

 Lawson, Ph. D., L, L. D., Professor of Chemistry, Dalhousie 

 College. 



IRead December 5, 1864 ] 



It gives me much pleasure to bring under the notice of mem- 

 bers of the Institute, information and specimens which will, I trust, 



*In 1862. Mr. Stratton stutos that he had succoerled in raising thirty-seven elk. 

 He liad trained a pair to harness, and had sokl tlieni for $1,000. Whilst, as an 

 article of food he can now raise elk cheaper than sheep. 



