122 



suit from awakening public attention to such questions except, perhaps, exposing my 

 ignorance and want of judgment. 



" The general opinion is, that soft wood, say pine and spruce, grows much faster than 

 hard wood, oak and black walnut, for instance. I have met with the greatest incredulity 

 everywhere when stating that it was exactly the reverse. 



" If you take the Douglas pine (abies Douglasii), which is described as one of the most 

 rapid growers of the coniferous family, making about one inch in diameter in four years, 

 there is not much difference to what there is in favour of our oak and black walnut ; but 

 if you take our white pine you will find that it grows about one inch in six years. I 

 have often seen Canadian oak (Qtiercits alba) and black walnut (Juglans nigra) that 

 had grown one inch in three years and a-half. As for white spruce, it is nowhere as com- 

 pared with either oak or walnut or pine ; men who have handled it all their lives have 

 never thought of ascertaining what its rate of growth was ; if they would only count the 

 annual rings from the heart to the circumference, or even one or two inches long of them, 

 they would be surprised to see what a slow grower white spruce is. 



" If our black walnut and oak do really grow faster than the pine and spruce (as I 

 think they do, and it is very easy for one who chooses to find out for himself), it is one 

 point in their favour. A second point is that they are easier to grow from seed (nut and 

 acorn) than pine, and that they bear transplanting better ; the drj«ing off of the top is not 

 so fatal to hardwood trees as it is to conifers. Having sown a good many of each kind, 

 I have often noticed that the oak and black walnut acquire strength and vigour sufficient 

 to protect them against ordinary accidents much sooner than the young pine, which is 

 much more brittle. 



" Then, again, a forest of oak and walnut is not exposed to the same danger from 

 fire as a pine forest is ; I would refer to the chapter of fires by settlers, in the first part 

 of this report, for proofs of the correctness of this assertion. 



" As the timber of the black walnut and oak is much more valuable than the pine 

 and spruce, as their growth is more rapid and more secure, and as they are less exposed 

 to the danger of fire, they appear to be entitled to preference over pine and spruce for 

 planting wherever the soil is favourable to them, as it is in the western prairies, whose 

 fertility is well known, and where, as Professor Macoun says, all our forest trees will be 

 easily grown. 



" In dry, sandy soil, of course, the conifers mustTiave the preference." 



THE HEIGHTS OF LAND OF ONTARIO. 



We will now proceed to consider, in the light afforded us by the preceding, what 

 should be done to preserve the due proportion of forest and consequently regular summer 

 rainfall in Ontario. My readers will have noticed of what vital importance it is 

 to preserve the higher lauds in forest. There are four elevated ridges or plateaux in 

 Ontario. The first and nearest of these is that, well known as the Oak Ridges, north of 

 Toronto about thirty miles, which passes round to the west, coming at Hamilton close to 

 the Lake, going round the head of the Lake, and dying away in the Niagara peninsula. 

 Going eastward from the same point, thirty miles north of Toronto, it gets much nearer 

 to the Lake at Cobourg ; passes on, strikes the Lake at the Trent and dies away there. 

 This ridge being near the front, and entirely in the older settled portion of the Province, 

 has probably long ago altogether passed out of Government hands. Much of it is by no 

 means the best of soil, and could it have been retained in timber, and the height of the 

 trees increased by replanting, the benefit to the Province would have been incalculable ; 

 for this long belt of forest would have met, and precipitated into rain, the moisture of the 



