The Timber of Canada. 363 



when we consider that 60 per cent, is paid for labor, and 

 that nearly all to men, representing a large population, it 

 is readily seen how important it is, either by legislation or 

 otherwise, to protect and conserve the source of this great 

 factor in our prosperity. How can we extol sufficiently 

 this monarch of the forest that we are so much Indebted 

 to? The tree when growing in the open country is of 

 little or no value, except as a shade tree, its lateral 

 branches reaching almost to the ground. It is in the 

 dense forest we have to look for the great tree of com- 

 merce, where nature acts the primer. There the branches 

 decay and drop off, the trunk shoots upward high above 

 its neighbors, seeking that which it was deprived of below 

 — light and air. By this action of nature we get our 

 clear pine, so much prized by mechanics. As the branches 

 (hop off, the wood grows over them, and we get the stately 

 tree carrying its size well up, and often attaining 60 or 70 

 feet to the branches. I once saw a tree that measured 40 

 inches in diameter 70 feet from the ground, without a 

 knot or defect visible in this space. Naturally, however, 

 it is very rare to get a log or the best of timber without 

 finding knots or defects as you get near the heart, the 

 remains of the dead branches that fell off during the 

 tree's youth. My experience teaches me that white pine 

 is of slow growth. ' The smallest trees that ought to be 

 taken for saw logs or timber should be at least fourteen 

 inches at the butt. This would take not less than fifty 

 years to produce, and such a tree as I have before 

 described as much as one hundred and fifty; more than 

 three inches in twenty years. Large groves of pine are 

 usually found on poor light soil, I think, consequently, 

 that the bulk of the pine found under such circumstances 

 is apt io be punky or defective for the want— so t" speak 

 — of nourishment. The best pine is usually found on 

 Btronger soil mixed with hardwood. It is unpleasant to 

 contemplate the want of this valuable timber. Oncegone 



