BLANC SABLON 



to the situation and at once explains the exist- 

 ence of the ancient stumps. From a study of 

 a number of partial clearings in various places 

 about Blanc Sablon I found that the wood- 

 cutter often chooses a spruce or fir bush with a 

 large central trunk, first cuts off the branches, 

 and then the whole top of the trunk, leaving a 

 stump exactly like the stump figured by Pro- 

 fessor Fernald, which so irresistibly compels in 

 us the conception. of a lofty tree, a conception 

 which, to a botanist, is rendered still more com- 

 pelling by the presence in the neighborhood of 

 the stumps of a type of vegetation found only 

 in forests. 



I regret that a photograph which I took of 

 one of these trees that had been partly cleared 

 of branches proved to be one of the mysterious 

 failures which happen at times to all except 

 superhuman photographers, but I am able to 

 give the dimensions of this tree, which it seems 

 to me thoroughly sustain my contention. The 

 tree was a black spruce with a trunk forty-seven 

 inches in circumference one foot from the 

 ground. Its diameter was, therefore, about one 

 foot, two and a half inches. This size of the 

 trunk was maintained nearly to the highest 

 257 



