CONDITIONS BY TOWNSHIPS 81 



the township and near the mouth of the Mississagua river, and they 

 cover 8.6 per cent of the area. A little over i per cent of the township 

 has been recently burned. 



Victoria County 



Somerville Township 



Watersheds. — ^The township is drained almost entirely into Balsam 

 lake by three streams. Burnt river flows diagonally from the north- 

 eastern to the southwestern comer of the township, Gull river forms 

 the western boundary of the township. Midway between these 

 streams, near the central portion of the township, is Four-Mile lake, 

 which, with its receiving and discharging streams, makes another valley 

 parallel to those of the first mentioned rivers. The drainage of the 

 extreme southeastern comer of the township flows into Sturgeon lake 

 after passing through the northern half of Verulam. 



Topography. — The topography of the township is determined 

 by the three streams mentioned above, since they have worn rather 

 wide valleys into a plateau. The ridges are low, often with flat divides 

 between the streams. 



Rock and Soil. — If an irregular wavy line be drawn from the south- 

 eastern comer of the township to the central point of its northern bound- 

 ary, it would separate in general the granitic rocks on the east and north 

 from the sedimentary limestone on the west and south. The extreme 

 northwestern portion of the township, however, is granitic. The 

 transition from the granite to the limestone is in many places marked 

 by an abrupt escarpment, as may be seen along the road on the 13th 

 concession line. The soils both on the limestone and on the granite 

 in the northern portion of the township are thin and sterile. Those 

 on the limestone in the southern half of the township are deeper, but 

 even there the best farms are in the wide valleys of the Burnt and 

 Gull rivers. 



Forest Conditions. — Somerville has practically no forest containing 

 saw-logs, outside of a few swamps and farm wood-lots. Sixty-one and 

 seven-tenths per cent of the area is occupied by the old bum type. 

 The mixed forest comprises 5.1 per cent, the hardwoods 4.4 per cent, 

 and the conifers 1.3 per cent of the area ; and all three of these types 

 have been severely culled. 



Haliburton County 



Cardiff Township 

 Watersheds: — ^About 12 square miles in the northeastern comer 

 of CatdiGE township drain eastward into the York river waters ; the 

 drainage of the remainder of the township goes into the Trent waters. 



