March 21, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



47 



the east coast, it is quite common: but on the gravel which 

 occurs between the coast and the base of the mountains, 

 it is frequent, and even on the west coast as far north as 

 Alberni. Nowhere on the island does tlie Dog Wood 

 come to greater perfection than around Nanaimo, and 

 here, in the middle of May, the borders of the woods 

 are white with the broad involucres of the cymes of 

 inconspicuous flowers. Trees forty feet high are not 

 uncommon, with trunks from six to twelve inches in 

 diameter. 



By far the finest deciduous leaved tree on the island is 

 the Broad Leaved IMaple {Acer macro phylhmi). In the 

 early spring, before the leaves are fully developed, it pro- 

 duces racemes of light yellow flowers over six inches 

 long, v/hich are pendant and add much to the beauty of 

 the tree, as they hang between the young leaves and 

 give the whole tree a superb appearance. Later in the 

 season the broad leaves cover up the fruit and one is 

 almost tempted to believe that he looks upon a denizen 

 of the tropics. Bordering ponds and lakelets, and form- 

 ing thickets so dense that the)' are almost impenetrable, 

 are three small trees. These are the Wild Crab {Pirus 

 rivularis), Wild Cherry (Pninus mollis) and "Barberr)'" 

 {Rlianmus Purshiana). The latter, named "Barberry" 

 by the settlers, is used medicinally and is widely distrib- 

 uted, being found far to the north. 



Poplars, Alders and Willows are of frequent occurrence, 

 but in no place do they become so abundant as to mon- 

 opolize much surface. Small groves of Balsam Poplar 

 {Popubis tricliocarpd) are found in low spots by the mouths 

 of rivers, and the trees attain a large size and are tall and 

 straight, but none of the other species, except one species 

 of Alder {Alnus rubra), can be considered of value. 



The various species of Conifers constitute the true for- 

 ests of Vancouver Island, and to these we will now turn 

 our attention. They divide themselves almost insensi- 

 bly into two groups — one of the coast or lower levels 

 and the other of the mountains — but some species pass 

 from the plain to the mountain, while others are re- 

 stricted to the coast or to the mountain summit. 



The coast species, which are never found on the 

 mountains, are Abies grandis and Picea Menziesii, to- 

 gether with the Yew {Taxus brevi/blia) and the Red Cedar 

 ( funiperiis Virgiiiiana). Owing to the peculiar distribution 

 of the last species, it has been mistaken for the more 

 southern Juiiiperus occidentalis, but all doubt regarding 

 it has been removed the past summer. On the shores of 

 Cameron and Home lakes, near the centre of the island, 

 fine trees line the shore and overhang the water, but 

 they are never seen in the forest. The Yew is not un- 

 common in many places near Victoria, but it is sparingl)' 

 distributed and seldom a marked feature of the forest 

 growths. 



The Fir (Abies graiidis) is a noble tree and is a most 

 striking object in the river valleys near the coast on both 

 sides of the island. In company with the Sitka Spruce it 

 forms many beautiful groves in the low country between 

 Nanaimo and Comox. Beyond the latter point the Spruce 

 becomes a more characteristic feature and even rivals the 

 stately Douglas Fir itself. Around Alberni and in the 

 valleys of the Somas River and the lakes connected with 

 it these trees attain very great dimensions and often tower 

 up 200 feet, with a beautiful pyramidal head of short, 

 light green branches. 



Pinus contorta is either represented by tree forms or has 

 a most peculiar habit. At one time it is found clinging 

 to the rocks close to the sea, at another growing in a bog 

 in company with Kabnia and Ledum, and at Qualicum 

 it forms a strip of forest nearly five miles wide that inter- 

 venes between the sea and the base of the mountains. 

 Here the soil is chief!)'' gravel, and the tree looks very 

 much like its cousin of the Rocky Mountains, Piuiis Miir- 

 rayana, and certainly grows under the same conditions, 

 except that of altitude. 



Ottawa, Canada. ' JohiL RlacOUIL. 



Propagation of Conifers from Seeds in the 

 Open Air. 



T T NTIL about thirty-tive years ago no one had succeeded 

 *-^ in growing Conifers from seed in America, except under 

 glass. Consequently our American nurseries were stocked with 

 imported seedlings of the foreign kinds and with native seed- 

 ling's collected in tire forests, 



I had seen large quantities grown in the full sunlight in the 

 Xorth of England as easily as Carrots and with no shelter, and 

 therefore began by investing $70 in seeds of the common Eu- 

 ropean kinds and in several hundredweight of seeds of the na- 

 tive kinds collected for me in the Green Mountains. I sowed 

 them on four acres ; they germinated finely, and were a beau- 

 tiful sight. I had about a week of unalloyed pleasiu'e, except 

 for an hour now and then consumed in wondering where 

 a market could be found for such a large amount of stock. 

 This problem, however, was soon solved. A bright dav, 

 a gathering thunder-shower, a heavy rain and tlie sudden 

 reappearance of tire scorching sun at about 2 P. M.! I went to 

 examine my seedlings, and found them all down flat, damped 

 off or scorched off, except a part of those latest in starting 

 that were just breaking ground. I immediately sent for 4,000 

 feet of lumber, and this, with the help of an adjoining rail fence, 

 was soon worked up into a shelter ; but at the end of the sea- 

 son not one seedling 'vvas left. 



I should gladly have given up and made no furtlier experi- 

 ments, but I had announced that success was coming, and it 

 was too late to retreat. So I took to the woods and studied 

 the surroundings of the seedlings in the forests. It was plain 

 that Nature had a decided adx'antage ox'er nie, as it cost her 

 nothing for seeds, and she apparently did not raise more than 

 one or two trees froi'n a million of them. Finally, after the 

 next xvinter was nearly over, and I had seciu'ed a large stoclv of 

 seed for spring so'wing, I bethought me of several hundred 

 gimny bags tliat had lain for years unclaimed in a steamboat 

 warehouse. Securing them, we sowed our seed in four-feet 

 beds, stretched the guniiy bags tightly on the frames one foot 

 from the ground, and succeeded in raising a fair crop, as the 

 bags let the rain through evenly. 



if was soon evident that the more open the sacking was, the 

 less the plants damped off, showing that they required more sun- 

 light. We then built frames of lath, leaving spaces between, 

 lixperiments were made to ascertain tlte degree of sunlight 

 most favorable to the seedlings, and it was found that we suc- 

 ceeded best wlien one-inch spaces were left between the 

 laths, with the frames they rested on six inches high. We fol- 

 lo'wed this lath-shading for several years, until we found it 

 almost impossifile to get the quantity of lath we needed, as at 

 the lumber mills they were only prepared to sell a certain pro- 

 portion of lath with a cargo of lumber. 



Finally, ox'cr twenty years ago, we adopted oin- present 

 mode oi shading with posts, poles and brush. Not that we 

 considered it cheaper or better than the lath screens, but the 

 material can be more readily obtained. Rows of posts seven 

 feet liigh are set ten feet apart and eight feet distant in the 

 rows. "Fence-boards six or eight inches wide and sixteen feet 

 long are nailed upon these at the top. Slender poles are laid 

 across, and on these are placed branches of trees with the 

 leaves on them. The beds are four feet wide and are laid out so 

 that the row of posts runs up the middle of each ;ilternate bed. 

 If the soil is tenacious we throw it up in ridges the previous 

 fall. The beds are raked very fine, the seeds sown dry in 

 sprinsr, broadcast, and r.-iked in — the fine seeds lightly, the larger 

 seeds more deeply. We cannot protect the seeds from birds 

 with the brush shade as conveniently as with lath screens, but 

 niust cover theni with brush or straw, or they will be scratched 

 out. 



The seeds are sown thickly, the European Larch more 

 thicklv than the others, as the imperfect seeds cannot be sepa- 

 rated,' for thev are merchantable when one-third to one-half 

 are " blind" seeds. Froni the time tlic seedlings appear above 

 "'round until thev begin their second growth, they are liable to 

 "damp off" during murkv weather, in xvhich case the screens 

 must be taken off; but great care must be taken to have them 

 replaced without loss of tinie when the sun appears. We 

 formerly used dry sand, sprinkled over the beds, to check the 

 damping off, but could perceive little or no benetit from it. ■ 

 "Rich soil encoiu-ages dampins' olT." Tlie l.ieds must he 

 thoroughly hand-wee"ded during the sunnner. Late in auttmni 

 the beds should be covered with forest leaves, with a light 

 covering of straw or brush to pi'event their being lilown off. 

 Larches are usually thinned out of the beds at one .vear old ; 

 other Conifers at two years old. Robert Douglas. 



