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Courtesy Forestry Branch

Characteristic of the Tree.

Trunks

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Douglas Fir, Showing the Large, Clear

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SPORESTS AND TREES

BY

B. J. HALES, B.A. LL.B.

PRINCIPAL, NORMAL SCHOOL
BRANDON, MAN.

! SD Hales, Benjamin Jones
145 Forests and trees
H3

ESCs

TORONTO; THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
OF_LCANADA, LTD., AT ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE
MCMXIX

i CopryriGHT, CANADA, 1919,
: By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA,
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PREFACE

Tuts book has been written to assist in impressing upon
the young the value of our forests and to give them some
appreciation of what is being done, as well as of what must
yet be done, in order to preserve them. It is not a hand-
book on forestry, but contains interesting information
which, it is hoped, will tend to create a healthy public
opinion regarding the use and care of trees.

While the book is really the expression of that apprecia-
tion of trees which comes only from long and intimate
acquaintance, yet the literature on the subject has been
freely used, and the author wishes to acknowledge the help
received from the following: Sargent’s ‘‘ Manual of the
Trees of North America’’; Britton’s ‘“‘ North American
Trees”; Fernow’s ‘Care of Trees’”’; Britton and Brown’s
“Tllustrated Flora of the Northern States and Canada’”’;
“Gray’s New Manual of Botany” by Robinson and Fer-
nald; Rydberg’s “Flora of the Rocky Mountains and Ad-
jacent Plains”; Coulter and Nelson’s “Rocky Mountain
Flora”; and Macoun’s “Catalogue of Canadian Plants.”

Very particular mention should also be made of the many
excellent publications of the Forestry Branch of the Depart-
ment of the Interior; and special thanks are due to Mr.
R. H. Campbell, Director of Forestry, for valuable sugges-
tions and assistance, as well as for a very careful and sug-
- gestive reading of the proof sheets by the staff of the

Forestry Branch.
B, J. H.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I
FORESTS

I. THe Forest AnD LIFE

II. THE VALvuE oF Forests

Ill. Forest DévastTaATION :

IV. Forest DEVASTATION (Continued) .

V. Forest PRESERVATION (ORGANIZATION)
-VI. Forest PRESERVATION (ADMINISTRATION)

VII. Tree Growinc : ; : ‘
VII.) Tae Tree PLANTATION ON THE PRAIRIE FARM
IX. CANADIAN FORESTS

PART I
TREES

‘Tue PINE Famity

THE Yew Famiry

THE WILLow FaAmILy
THE Poplars

THE Brrcw FAMILy
THE BrecH FAmMILy .
Tae NETTLeE Famity.
THE Rose FamiIty
Tue Marte Famity .
Tue Basswoop FamILy
THE Docwoop Famtty
THE OLIVE FAmILy
Tue Heat Famity .
THE BUCKTHORN FAMILy .

IOI
108

117
154
157

161
169
173
177
181
186
192
1904
196
199
201

LIST. OF ILLUSTRATIONS

vii

PART I
PAGE
‘Douglas Fir : Frontispiece
1. Jack Pine Forest in Peace River District 6
2. Douglas Fir Timbers for Use in Toronto, Ont., Harbor Contras
tion : 6
3. Diagram of Vamher Produtiean te Spee 13
4. Diagram of Lumber Production in Different Binyinces 14
5. Burned-over Tract in Mountainous Territory, British shake 28
6. Brélé, or Burned Area, in a Manitoba Forest 31
7. Base of a Dying Bull Pine, Showing Tunnels Made ies Bark Beetles 47
8. A Fire Ranger’s Lodge, Lake Nipigon 57
9. Railway Fire Patrolman Traversing His Beat on a “Speeder” 59
1o. A Lookout Tower on a Dominion Forest Reserve 63
11. Fire Ranger’s Notice on the Kemogami River, 125 Miles North
of Jack Fish, Ont. 64
tz. A Corner of the Nursery at Beandan Norns! School 83
13. A Scotch Pine Transplanted in Winter, Brandon Normal Schiol 86
14. Trees Growing in Sod, Brandon Normal School 03
15. Trees Growing in Cultivated Soil, Brandon Normal School 04
16. A Russian Poplar Which Has Undergone a Nes ig a
Brandon Normal School : ; 96
17. Force Pump for Spraying Trees 99
18. Plan of Farm House and Grounds 106
tg. An Alternate Plan 107
PART II
t. White Pine . ; ‘ i , : : P 120
2. Western White Pine . : : : : Z 121
3. Yellow Pine . , : fs : : : 124
4. Red Pine . ; : a ; 2 P ‘ , 125
5. Jack Pine. 2 ‘ ‘ . 3 126 '
6. Lodgepole Pine 127

Vili List of Illustrations

. Scotch Pine .

. White Spruce

. Black Spruce

. Sitka Spruce

. Balsam Fir .

. Alpine Fir

. Amabilis Fir.

. Lowland Fir

. Douglas Fir .

. Western Hemlock

. Black Hemlock

. Western Larch

. Alpine Larch

. White Cedar

. Western Cedar

. Yellow Cedar . :
. Rocky Mountain Red Cedar
. Western Yew :
. Peach-leaved Willow

. Western Willow

. Aspen

. Balsam Poplar

. Black Cottonwood

. Cottonwood . :

. Long-leaved Cottonwood

. White Birch .

. Mountain Birch

. Red Alder

. Bur Oak

Garry Oak

. White Elm .

. Hackberry

. Bird Cherry . :

. Western Bird Cherry
. Oregon Crab

. Mountain Ash

. Manitoba Maple .

Mountain Maple .

. Silver Maple
. Broad-leaved Maple

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List of Illustrations — oun: a

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PAR a
FORESTS

CHAPTER I
THE FOREST AND LIFE

“The forests of America must have been a great delight to God;
for they were the best he ever planted.’”’ — Jonn Murr.

How bare and parched the world would be without the
‘forests! Trees are the earth’s natural clothing. They
protect it from the scorching sun and the withering blast,
keep the water in the streams and spread freshness and
.greenness all around. Woods and water are always found
together; the one helps the other; and together they help
all other things. The great rivers of the world take their
rise in forests, and no great lake is found except where
trees are plentiful. Little lakes, too, in great numbers
nestle among the trees and one of the commonest wood-
land sounds is the voice of running water. Dryads and
nymphs, the goddesses of trees and streams, are always
thought of together. If, then, the waters are not to dry
up and leave the world parched and barren, we must see
that the forests which preserve them are not destroyed.

A forest is not merely a collection of trees. It is_a
community of living beings that struggle and live and die
as men do, each doing its share for the good of all, though

iS

2 Forests and Trees

some rob others of air and sunshine and food, even as

people are robbed. ‘Trees, like men, succeed or fail; some-_

die young, some struggle on, scarred or dwarfed or broken
by the forces with which they contend; many reach middle
age, while a few live to be very old or grow to a great size.
With trees as with men only a few become really old or
really great. But the forest lives on, and the dead bodies
of trees that die, the roots in the earth and the leaves
that fall on the surface, all go back to the soil, making it
rich and mellow so that other plants may live. It took
perhaps millions of years to supply the fertility that is
stored up in a few inches of the surface soil, and man ~
often wastes this in a few seasons, or allows it to be burned
off in a few hours.

All animal life, too, depends on the. trees for food,
shelter or protection. A few of the larger beasts sought
the open and for a time became numerous. The bison
grew fat and multiplied, nourished by the rich grass
of the prairies and, migrating in immense herds, were
apparently. lords of the domain over which they trod.
They defied the frosts and the fires; the floods and the
droughts left their numbers apparently unchanged. They
seemed perfectly suited to their surroundings and _ their
numbers were limited only by the extent of their pasture.
The first serious enemy they met was man, and in a few
years they were gone. Exposed to attack on all sides, un-
protected by trees and the course of their enemies un-
impeded, they could not stand the struggle and only a
remnant that took refuge in the woods now remains.

The Forest and Life 4

So it has been or will be of every large animal that lives
in the open. The mice and shrews may survive in the
grasses of the marsh. That to them is a forest and offers
them the same protection. The badgers and gophers
take refuge underground; but no animal can live on the
open plain without some form of shelter.

The shelter which all animals need is supplied by the
forest. Under the protecting canopy of the trees is a world
teeming with life. You only need to sit down hidden
by some sheltering bough and watch. With such a stage
spread before you the drama will goon. First the squirrels
will appear. They are the most restless and most fearless.
They scamper here and there in open day because their
greatest enemies hunt by night. Then the wood mice come,
timid, secretive and silent, yet each busy with his affairs
and intensely interested in the simple matters which
make up his life. No act is trivial which helps a living
being to get its food or shelter or to provide for the rearing
of its young. Next comes a hare in hot haste, closely
followed by a red fox; or perhaps a red deer comes close
enough to scent you, and you see his white flag and hear the
lip tip as his feet lightly touch the ground — no other
sound though he threads his way through a maze of brush.

So the stream of life goes on beneath the covering of
trees and night brings no cessation. Other actors appear.
More of tragedy is enacted as the lynx and the gray wolf
go out to kill, that they and theirs may live. But all
alike depend upon, and are screened and sheltered by the
forest roof. Scenes of bloody murder or deadly conflict

*

4 Forests and Trees

are relieved by touches of the tenderest: and purest of all
passions, that mother love which softens and ennobles the
life of all the higher animals. But over and around all is
the forest which shelters this life and makes it possible.

The birds, too, play their part. The ruffed grouse twits
and struts and drums; the blue jay, fresh from pilfering |
some nest, screams out his satisfaction with himself, while
on some high stub the cock of the woods pounds monoto-
nously as he extracts the juicy grubs. The glossy black of
his back makes a beautiful contrast to the fiery red on his
head, yet his is no holiday attire. He is an industrious ~
woodsman and has his living to make. The little birds,
too, warblers, nuthatches, chickadees and creepers, keep
up their search for insects, each in its own way and in its
own place.. No one intrudes on the domain of the other.
They all go about their work with an earnestness that -
shows how serious is the struggle to live. In fact the
tree tops as well as the ground beneath throb with life,
which they enfold with a security that enables each living
thing to do its work in comparative safety. The woods
has made these creatures what they are, has shaped their |
habits and sharpened their senses, and the woods protects
and provides for them. And it is not only the winged or the
four-footed that the forest has nurtured. What is true
of bird and beast is true also of mankind.

The forest has had tremendous influence upon the life
of man. In earliest times it supplied his fuel and shelter.
His rude tools and weapons were shaped from its roots and
stems, while nuts and berries were his surest supply of

The Forest and Life 5

food. Later, it furnished the material for the house in
which he lived, the carriage in which he rode, the bridges
with which he spanned the rivers and the ships in which
he sailed the seven seas. The sun at noonday filtered
through the leaves of the trees which sheltered his dwelling.
The winds which blew over his fields were tempered by the
adjoining wood lot, and the water in the springs was con-
served for his use by the woods on the hillsides.

When North America was discovered, its whole eastern
coast presented an unbroken forest which extended west-
ward past the Great Lakes. The work of the early settlers
was a continual struggle against this forest. The cultiva-
‘tion of the land was slow and difficult because the trees
had first to be cleared away. Communication between the
scattered settlements was hindered because the way was
often blocked by fallen trunks.

Two generations spent their lives in toil before the
eastern provinces of Canada were reclaimed. The struggle
was so severe and long that it left an indelible impress on
the people. Much of the sturdy independence of Canadians
is the result. Men who had contended single-handed
against all the forces of nature did not submit lightly to
restrictions of any kind, much less to oppression. The free
and vigorous life of the forest found expression in political
and religious freedom.

The economic life of the people was also affected. Where
each family was forced:to rely almost entirely upon the
efforts of its own members for food, clothing and shelter,
there must be saving. It was not merely a virtue but a

~

6 Forests and Trees

necessity, where waste meant starvation. Industry, re-
sourcefulness and thrift were necessary in this struggle for
existence, and we are once more learning that these primitive

Courtesy Forestry Branch, Interior Dept.
Fic. 1. — Jack Pine Forest, in Peace River District.

virtues make for permanence in a nation. We are be-
ginning to realize the value of the moral inheritance handed
down to us by those hardy pioneers.

In the intellectual life the influence of the forest was
also evident. Its magnitude and mystery stimulated the
imagination. The hardships it imposed made education
hard to get and highly prized. Out of these conditions
arose a set of men seldom equalled for vigor of mind and
firmness of will; clergymen and lawyers who kept frontier
conditions from meaning lawlessness and irreligion, and
statesmen who-welded a few scattered settlements into the

The Forest and Life 7

foundation of a great nation. If we feel at times that they
were wasteful of the gifts of nature, let us remember the
conditions-under which they lived; that their continuous
struggle against the forest made it seem to them a natural
enemy.

lf we are to have a different sentiment, we must create
it in the children. The attitude of the rising generation
toward the forest is not one of antagonism but of indiffer-
ence. They have not had to fight it and so do not regard
it as an enemy; not knowing its value they do not see in
it a friend. The responsibility rests on the schools to
develop in the young a proper appreciation of our forest
heritage.

CHAPTER II
THE VALUE OF FORESTS

“When I go to the woods, it is like going among old and treas-
ured friends, and with riper acquaintance the trees come to take on,
curiously, a kind of personality, so that I am much fonder of some
trees than of others, and instinctively seek out the companionship of
certain trees in certain moods, as ore will his friends.”

— Davin GRAYSON.

WHEN considering the value of the forest to man, one
naturally thinks first of those things about him which are
made of wood. This does not mean that we fail to recognize
that our wooded tracts have other values, but simply that
these are the things we are apt to think of first. We know
that our houses, our furniture, our machinery, our vehicles,
and many other things are at least partly wooden. In a
more or less hazy way we admit that to have a supply of
wood we must have forests. Most people stop thinking
there. They have nothing with which to think. The mind
which is the organ of thought may not fail them, but
knowledge, which furnishes the material for thought, is
lacking. Anyway, why should we worry? Have not the
politician and the immigration agent assured us time and
again that our forest resources are inexhaustible? There
is clearly, if this be true, little need to inquire exactly the
value of what the forest furnishes us, so long as we are sure
its products will always be forthcoming.

Of late we have not felt so secure. A general rise of

8

The Value of Forests 9

prices has an unpleasant suggestion of failing supply.
Rumors of exhausted timber limits and the sight of miles
on miles of treeless waste where once were magnificent
forests have tended to lessen our sense of security, and

Gaurlasy Rovdatry Byawck, YleHtor Deve.
T'ic. 2. — Douglas Fir Timbers for Use in Toronto, Ont., Harbor
Construction.
many are now wondering whether we have not over-
estimated our supply of timber, ard whether or not' we are
taking proper care of what remains.

To reckon the value of anything, we may estimate either
the service it renders or its price in money. The former is
not an easy thing to do, as we have no common standard
of service. Without attempting to be exact, let us try
to feel the measure of satisfaction we get from things made
of wood. Let us imagine, if we can, what our condition
would be if suddenly all wood ceased to exist; if all wood
and things made from wood, without the agency of fire or
decay, should suddenly vanish. On this continent a very

10 Forests and Trees

large proportion of our buildings would disappear; many
of those that did not would be shapeless masses of ruins; —
while those that still remained standing would lack all
inside furnishings. Not only would our dwellings and
places of business be either gone or made useless, but also
the furniture they contained. Much of our machinery
and most of our vehicles would be in the same condition.
All manufacture would be stopped for lack of buildings or
material; the railways would be shifting lines of steel,
and most of the cars but grinning skeletons. The picture
might be enlarged by the addition of endless details, which
would show all production and communication stopped,
and the race face to face with hardships that cannot be
imagined. In fact we should be threatened with death,
before arrangements could be made which would enable
us to live without wood. Even if such arrangements could |
be made and man continued to exist, many of our accumu-
lated treasures of art and literature would have disappeared
with the books and paper made from pulpwood cut in our
northern forests.

To some, this will appear a fanciful way of computing
value. Facts without figures do not appeal to everyone.
The following extract from the report of the Director of
Forestry for 1913 furnishes some convincing figures as to
the amount of timber; the area referred to is in the vicinity
of Lesser Slave Lake.

“The area examined was some 7330 square miles, and a
large proportion of this is rough, broken land at a con-
siderable elevation, forming the watershed between the

The Value of Forests II

Athabaska and Peace River valleys. South of the Atha-
_ baska River and west of the McLeod River the land is
generally low-lying and of good quality, and again to the
north around Grouard, Sturgeon Lake, and Grande Prairie ;
but between these two tracts intrudes the area of elevated,
broken, and poor land described.

‘A résum* of the area examined is as follows:

So. Mrtes| M Fr. B.M. | Corps
Mature spruce and pine . . . 364 2,839,460
Mature poplar... 1362 17,336,000

Young forest (up to 100 ‘Years
old) of spruce and pine with
poplar and birch intermingled 1500 2,672,680 2,675,600

. Forest of pole size, 35 to 75 years

Ouic".. .> ; : | 2060
Young Yeprodhiction; spruce,
pine, poplar, birch . .-. . | 1408
Brilé, lately burned . .. . 740
Deere es sek ee 4. | F4BA 5,512,140 | 20,011,600

“The timber on this tract is lodgepole pine, spruce,

balsam fir, tamarack, poplar, and white birch. There are
_ very few areas of mature timber, owing to recurrent fires.
Probably eleven per cent of the area has been burned over
in the last twenty years. As a rough estimate, Mr. Doucet
has calculated that the area examined carries 20,009,600
cords of poplar and birch, of which seventeen millions are
poplar. The mature spruce and pine timber covers an
area of approximately 364 square miles, with a production
estimated at 2,839,460,000 feet, board measure. A young
forest of spruce and pine well on to maturity covers an
area of 1500 square miles, and has a-stand of 2,672,680,000

12 Forests and Trees

feet, board measure, of these species, with some 2,675,000
cords of poplar and birch intermingled. A still younger
forest of spruce, pine, poplar, and birch covers an area
of 2060 square miles. This younger forest, if properly
protected from fire, will mean an immense source of wealth.”

If we were to multiply the quantity of timber on the area
surveyed by the number of times the whole forest area is
greater than that, we might get some conception of our
forest wealth. Even then it would not take into account
the fact that the area surveyed is a rather poor forest, that
a large part of it is covered by young trees that have not,
reached marketable size, and that they are not the kinds
producing the most valuable timber. In British Columbia
there are forests producing many times as much timber to
the square mile and the timber of a more valuable kind.

An estimate of the total value of the different classes of
forest products is given below. The figures are rounded to
hundreds of thousands and form as reliable a summary
as possible with the data available.

Lumber, lath, and shingles . . . . . $84,000,000
FROWOOO. 30 <> 5. GEE a ee 50,000,000
Pulpwood 12,000,000
Posts and rails 10,000,000
Cross-ties . ca att 8,000,000
Square timber exported . 1,900,000
Cooperage 1,7 00,000
Logs exported 1,100,000
Poles : 1,200,000
Tanning material 1,000,000
Round mining timber . 600,000
Miscellaneous exports . 300,000
Miscellaneous products 10,500,000

Total .

$17 2,300,000

The Value of Forests 13

The following diagrams taken from the reports of the
Forestry Branch are interesting.

LUMBER PRODUCTION BY SPECIES 1915

MILLLONS OF BOARD FEET
Q B50 S90 450 1900 1250 1500

SPRUCE
WHITE PINE
DOUGLAS FIR
HEMLOCK
BALSAM FIR
RED PINE
BIRCH
CEDAR
MAPLE
TAMARACK
YELLOW PINE
JACK PINE
BASSWOOD
ELM

ASH
POPLAR
BEECH

OAK

trae

Fic. 3.

These diagrams refer only to sawn timber, leaving out
of consideration timber used for fuel, pulpwood, poles or
for other purposes. The fact that the output is on the
decrease indicates that the supply is failing.

“Canada cut in 1915 a total of 3,842,676,000 feet, board

14 Forests and Trees

measure, of lumber valued at $61,919,806. The production
decreased 2.6 per cent from that of 1914 and 12.4 per cent
from that of 1912, the year for which the greatest cut was

LUMBER PRODUCTION 1915

MILLIONS OF BOARD FEET

°

e50 soo 7s° 19000 1250 «500

TOTAL, All PROVINCES
3843 Millions
QUEBEC
ONTARIO
BRITISH COLUMBI
NEW BRUNSWICK
NOVA SCOTIA
SASKATCHEWAN
MANITOBA
ALBERTA
PRINCE EDWARD 1S

RONI«

Fic. 4.

reported.. The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba,
Alberta, and British Columbia show a decrease in cut in
I9g15 as compared with 1914. British Columbia had the
greatest falling off (28.5 per cent from that of 1914),
New Brunswick shows the remarkable increase of 52.7
per cent over the cut of last year.” This was probably
due to an increased demand for timber on account of the
World War.

Ss oe

:

The Value of Forests — 15

While it is no doubt true that the supply of material is
the most apparent good we get from the forest, it is like-
wise true that there are certain other values which are also
very important. One of these, which very frequently es-
capes our notice, is the effect which it has on preserving
and equalizing the moisture. Our rivers take their rise
in hilly or marshy regions, generally where the snowfall
is somewhat heavy. If this snow melts rapidly in the
spring, before the frost is out of the ground, the streams
become flooded, sometimes to the point of doing damage ;
and the water supply caused by the melting snow which
should, if properly conserved, help to supply moisture
during the summer, very quickly runs off. If, however,
the region surrounding the sources of the streams is well
wooded, the case will be different. Very often the snow-
fall will prevent the ground from being frozen to any great
depth. In the spring this snow remains longer than it

would without the protection of the trees. While it is

slowly melting, the ground beneath it thaws and the water
gradually soaks into the soil. Only the surplus, after the
ground has been thoroughly saturated, is drained off in the
spring freshet. This water, supplied by ‘the melting snow,
raises the general water level in the ground over the whole
district and gradually seeps out during the summer in
springs, making the supply in wells and streams more uni-
form during the season. The level of the water in the soil
being raised, it is easier for moisture to reach the roots
of the plants from beneath.

Observations in Europe have shown that, of the rain

16 Forests and Trees

which falls on a forest, 103 per cent evaporates, 20 per cent
is stopped by the foliage of the trees, 25 per cent is ab-
sorbed by the layer of decayed leaves forming the forest
floor, and 44 per cent soaks into the soil. Of the rain
falling on the open ground, 683 per cent evaporates and
31% per cent is absorbed by the soil. The effect on the
whole country of this preservation of water is greater than
people imagine, and it can be estimated only by consider-
ing the results in places where the forest has been cleared
away from the sources of the streams. In the eastern
provinces there were many rivers that supplied water to
run mills and factories through the whole summer. These
rivers, too, were not subject to floods in the spring. As
the forests surrounding their sources were gradually cleared
away, two results were soon apparent. The rivers became
flood streams in the spring freshets, even flooding towns
on their banks and carrying away bridges and buildings.
Then, too, the water began to fail in the summer, and
factories, which had formerly been run by water power,
now have to depend on steam through a good part of the
year. This effect has been visible wherever a river basin
has been largely cleared.

The late Mr. Cecil B. Smith, C. E., formerly chairman of
the Timiskaming Railway Commission, says that many
rivers in southwestern Ontario, including the Thames,
Grand, Credit and Humber, all at one time possessed
valuable water powers, but that when their basins were
cleared of forests these water powers were all ruined.

Mr. W. H. Brethwait, C. E., says that the minimum flow

The Value of Forests 17

of the Grand River decreased 40 per cent during the five
years from 1890 to 1895, and that this decrease was due
to the clearing of the land about its sources.

Mr. C. H. Keefer, C. E., says the spring floods of the
Ottawa River reach the city of Ottawa two weeks earlier
than formerly, owing to the clearing of the drainage basin.

In the western provinces the effect has not yet been ap-
parent, because some of them are largely prairie and in
other places the timber has not been entirely removed.
The Assiniboine River rises in the wooded districts of the
Duck and Riding Mountains, and the depletion of timber »
in these regions has had a marked effect on both flood con-
ditions in the spring and the flow of water during the
summer. The Saskatchewan has its source in streams
rising along the east side of the Rocky Mountains. If
this region became treeless so that the snow on the eastern
slope of the mountains and their foothills melted suddenly
and rushed into these rivers, the effect in floods might be
disastrous. The more steady flow in rivers during the
summer, when the water is retained in the wooded slopes
of the mountains, helps to keep the water level in the soil
nearer the surface all summer, and the effect of this on
growing crops would be hard to estimate. In the mountain
regions the danger from the too great denuding of the slopes
would be quite as apparent, although there is not the same
likelihood of its being done.

Still another value which comes from the forest is the
protection which it affords against storms in summer and
cold winds in winter. This is particularly true of the

18 Forests and Trees

prairie region where protection is so necessary, and where
it can be obtained only by the growth of artificial planta-
tions. It has been shown by actual measurement on the
Experimental Farm at Indian Head, that a row of trees
will protect a standing crop against the most violent storm
for a distance of fifty feet per foot in height of the trees.
That would mean that a growth of trees fifty feet high
would afford protection for 2500 feet, or approximately
half a ‘mile. Thus a row of trees of that height would to
a greater or less extent protect a quarter section of land.
When the damage done by violent wind storms has been
more accurately measured and estimated, the value which
we might secure from forest protection will be the better
understood and appreciated. The need of protection for
buildings in the winter is very obvious and the value of trees
for that purpose need not here be dwelt upon.

The effect of forests upon climate is somewhat doubtful.
There is no doubt a relation- between the amount of rain-
fall and the nature and extent of forests, but it is not al-
ways clear which is cause and which is effect. It seems
reasonable to suppose that while the rainfall may have
originally helped to cause the forest, the forest may, by
helping to condense the moisture of the atmosphere, in-
crease the rainfall.

The protection of game, while a less important item, is
still of considerable value, both economic and scientific.
The bison of the plain has disappeared, as has almost every
other large animal that lives in the open. The moose, elk
and caribou, protected by the forests, still remain. '

se ‘ i linet lt Ole oy a ie A aelt & eee ae -

a=

= ~t.” or bY

The Value of Fo-ests 19

Closely related to this is the protection of bird life. The
value of birds as a factor in the control of insects is difficult
to estimate and is often overlooked, while the more subtle
service they render by their cheerfulness and their music

_ can never be measured by human standards. Yet without

the woods we have few birds. The birds and the woods
have lived together, and if either is destroyed they may
vanish together.

There is a very direct relation between the timber supply
of a country and the life of the people. Perhaps no one
factor contributes more to the higher standard of living
in North America compared with Europe than the plentiful

supply of wood. Plenty of wood means cheap building

material. The cheap wooden building is only temporary,
and, as the condition of man improves, it is removed
to make place for a better and more permanent one. Thus

_the log shanty of the pioneer gave place to the frame house

of the prosperous settler. This in turn is being replaced
by the modern, sanitary and convenient home of brick

and concrete. The knowledge, experience and resources

of three centuries were available before houses were built
which could not be readily changed. This prevented poor
living conditions being made permanent in brick and stone,
and change from being, if not impossible, at least very
difficult. Change in the character of buildings marks the
difference between a growing and a settled society. If it
is true that in a society where conditions are stationary,
the type of buildings remains unchanged, there is also truth
in the opposite statement, that if the buildings are of a

20 Forests and Trees

character that cannot be easily improved, this reacts on
all living conditions and tends to make them permanent.

There is a value in trees and forests that can never be
measured in terms of money, moisture, or protection from
winds, — that subtle beauty which marks a varied land-
scape that clings to the home nestling among trees. This
is the beauty and the charm which binds people to the soil,
and the lack of which sends many young people to seek
more congenial surroundings. Let us not underestimate
the value of the forest in making any region beautiful, for
this value is none the less real because it is spiritual rather
than material.

CHAPTER III

FOREST DEVASTATION

* Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.”
— EPISTLE OF JAMES.

Let us understand clearly at the outset just what is
meant by devastation of the forest. There is a sort of
weak sentimentalism which laments the destruction of
any tree, no matter how well matured or what the purpose
to which the timber is applied. This foolish feeling is not
what the real forester is trying to develop, nor is it that
which will gain the respect of the general public. There is
too frequently, however, a purely wanton destruction for
purposes in themselves not worthy, a using of partly grown
trees, which if left would be much more useful at another
time; or more often a careless or thoughtless destruction
for no purpose whatever, a sheer waste of timber. This
useless destruction of forests is what we mean by devasta-
tion.

No person need regret the felling of a full-grown tree, when
the timber is properly used. A tree, like any other plant,
grows, matures and declines. Some mature in a few
_ years and some take centuries, but once they mature they
should be used or they will decay. In the same way we need
not deplore the clearing away of forests, if the land is to be

21

22 Forests and Trees

used for other purposes and is suitable for those purposes.
Good farm land is not producing at its best when left in
forest. The best thing to do with it is to remove the forests
and devote it to a more fruitful purpose. Of course the
timber should not be wasted, if waste can be avoided. In
the early settlement of Canada it was impossible to clear
the land and not waste the timber. There was so much
forest, that no market could be found except a very limited
one near the sea coast. The destruction of magnificent
forests for the purpose of securing land could not then be
avoided and need not now be deplored.

There is a present danger, however, which comes as a
result of the early struggle with the woods. The removal
of the trees to make room for field crops was such a serious
matter that a tree came to be looked upon as the natural
enemy of man. Trees were so plentiful that their presence
was taken for granted and their value simply overlooked.
Clearing was so slow and laborious that for a time it was
the chief work of the settler, and any means he could em-—
ploy he thought lawful. There is no doubt that an almost
total disregard of the value of the forest and a tendency
to destroy it or permit its destruction are legacies which
the present generation has received from pioneer days.

Our inexhaustible forest resources once formed a favorite
subject with speakers and writers, who thought more of a
high-sounding phrase than of truth. We now face the
facts and realize that our forests are not only not inex-
haustible, but are within a measurable distance of being
exhausted, and that if the rate of devastation should con-

Forest Devastation 23

tinue to be as rapid as it has been, serious lack of most
useful material will result.

One of the most universal, if not the most destructive
forms of forest devastation is the clearing of land which is
not suitable for anything but the growing of trees. Canada
has vast areas which can never be good farm lands. In
many places these have been opened to settlement, and the
settlers, after taking a crop or two and thus exhausting
the fertility laid up by nature within a few inches of the
surface, have found crop growing unprofitable or impossible.
The abandoned farms of the New England States, and of
some parts of the eastern provinces of Canada, have passed
through this history. The western provinces have not
suffered so much, but even on the prairies we sometimes
see stretches of drifting sand being plowed up, which will
not only prove unprofitable but will also be a menace to
the surrounding districts.

Besides whole areas unsuitable for cultivation, almost
every farm has some land that would be ‘of most good
left in forest. River valleys, hillsides and rough, rocky
or wet places are often not only useless but unsightly,
or sources from which the well-cultivated land gets
a perpetual supply of weeds. These places should either
be left wooded or else planted with trees, so that they could
protect the better parts from wind, form a permanent
source of timber for fuel or other purposes, and at the same
time beautify the surroundings. Every farmer, by plant-
ing these waste places, will do his part in restoring the
balance between cultivated land and forest,

24 Forests and Trees

Wasteful methods of cutting timber often serve to de-
stroy the remaining trees. When wood was very plentiful
and correspondingly cheap, it was hardly possible to re-
quire lumbermen to pile and burn all the refuse. Even
trimming off all branches so that they would fall on tke
ground, thus hastening their decay and lessening the
chances of fire, was considered too expensive. It is time
now so to regulate the quantity of timber cut that a suf-
ficient price will be paid for it to make proper methods of
cutting possible.

Destructive methods of clearing, careless selection of
land to be cleared and wasteful methods of cutting, all
belonged to the time when our timber was thought to be
inexhaustible, and any means was permissible. which could
make open spaces in the apparently endless woods. The
means most often used, and which proved effective beyond
the wish of the most destructive mind, was fire. The
harm done to the forest by all other means combined is as
nothing in comparison. In fact, it is only by invoking the
aid of fire that man can overcome the forest. Its natural
growth would more than replace all he could use or destroy,
did not fire and disease follow in his wake.

Few things may be more commonplace. or more seieable
than a forest fire. In any wooded .district, where land
is being cleared for cropping and the setting of fires is not
regulated by law, small fires may be seen around the edge
of almost every clearing. These have been set to clear
off brush piles and other refuse, and have been allowed to
escape to the neighboring woods. Often the settler is

Forest Devastation 25

anxious to have the adjacent woccs burned to assist in
clearing the next year. These small fires usually do no
more harm than to kill a number of trees and leave a danger-
ous slash about the clearing. They generally die out of
their own accord and are seldom spectacular. Some
smouldering logs, a little flame here and there creeping along
the dead leaves, or the occasional blaze when a pile of dead
brush or a clump of balsam trees is reached; that is all.
If it shows a tendency to spread too much, especially if it
threatens to burn fences, the farmer resorts to a little fire
fighting. The leaves are scraped away in a track across
its front; all rotten logs that could carry the fire across
this cleared strip are dug out and the brush is piled back.
Sometimes a little water is carried to extinguish smoulder-
ing logs, or the spreading ground blaze has to be beaten
out with brush or old sacks soaked in water. The whole
process is uninspiring, seldom exciting and always dirty.
A shower comes and fires are forgotten. The very fre-
quency of these small, and usually considered harmless,
fires tends to make the settlers careless. It is doubtful,
however, if the total harm done by them is not more ‘than
that done by the large ones which are often tragic. Cer-
tainly without the small fires there would be no large ones.

Sometimes there is a summer when the shower does not
come. Day after day the sun shines hotter and the earth
becomes drier. Every bit of brush is dry and snaps under
foot; every rotten log is but a heap of tinder; in the pine
woods, where the sun reaches the ground, the needles are
parched and give way under the foot like dry sand. The

26 Forests and Trees

very moss, instead of forming a soft cushion, becomes a
dry prickly crust, which grinds audibly to powder under
foot. The small harmless fires show a perverse tendency
to run. The settler often has to leave his work to fight a
running ground fire, or sometimes go to the assistance
of a neighbor. The air becomes blue and hazy; the sun
sets as.a dull yellow ball through the haze, and the smell
of burning wood pervades everything. The time is now
ripe for a big fice, and with dry weather it will come. No
one knows just what or whose fire “‘got away.”’ The small
fires join forces, the wind rises and suddenly the settlers
are aware that the whole forest is ablaze. The smoke
often obscures the sun and turns day into a thick twilight.
If the settlement is in the pine woods there is almost
no limit to the harm that may follow. Instead of running
along the ground the fire now becomes a ‘‘crown fire.” It
travels from tree to tree, and burning branches are carrie 1
by the wind across any narrow openings in its track.
Usually it does not travel rapidly, but it is irresistible in
its onward sweep. No gentle means of fire fighting will
now stop it. It goes until it burns itself out, that is, it
dies down for lack of suitable fuel.

What adds strength to the fury of these fires is the brush
left by the lumberman. A single cutting does not remove.
a large percentage of the trees, but it leaves brush enough
to carry the fire. The first burning kills a great many of
the remaining trees, which in time fall down, dry out and
form ideal conditions for the next. This second fire kills
practically all the remaining trees, and after a third there

Forest Devastation 247

is little left of the original forest. It is then ready to be
resown by birch and poplar, and the slow process of forest
formation begins afresh.

The one thing that will stop a big fire in a dry summer
is green hardwood. The broad-leaved trees form a much
denser shade and the ground does not become so dry. The
leaves themselves are not resinous and do not readily
burn while green, and the undergrowth does not allow the
breeze to blow as freely as in the more open “‘pinery.”’
Fire’ will run in the hardwood in early spring before the
leaves are out on the trees, but is easily stopped and usually
does little harm. .
~ Some of the historic fires of this continent may be men-
tioned to show the damage which may be done, but it is
well to remember that so far as destruction of property goes
the small fires have done many times as much harm.

The worst fire in the history of the continent was
what is known as the Peshtigo fire, around Green Bay,
Wisconsin. It destroyed more than $3,000,000 worth of
property, left more than 2000 families homeless and cost
some 1500 human lives. This fire occurred in October,
1871, the same month and year as the great Chicago fire.

The next greatest fire, so far as loss of life is concerned,
but not for property loss, was the Hinckley fire in 1894.
This was in Minnesota, southwest of Duluth. Some
418 persons lost their lives, 233 of them belonging to the
village of Hinckley.

In 1881, the great Michigan fires about Saginaw, in
Huron and Sanilac counties, swept about 1800 square

28 Forests and Trees

miles clear of trees, crops, buildings, bridges and fences.
The property loss, not counting the timber and injury to
the soil, was more than $2,000,000. One hundred and
thirty-eight persons perished.

The Porcupine fire in northern Ontario in r911 cost 84
lives and property loss which has not been estimated, while

Courtesy Forestry Branch, Interior Dept.
Fic. 5. — Burned-over Tract in Mountainous Territory, British Columbia.

the ‘‘clay belt”’ fire in 1916 caused the loss of probably not
less than 250 lives and the destruction of several million
dollars’ worth of property, and the Minnesota fire of 1918
caused an immense destruction of property, while the loss
of life has been estimated at between five hundred and one
thousand.

Great as these losses have been in both life and property,
nothing has ever happened in bush fires that is not capable
of being repeated in the spruce woods of northern Manitoba,

Forest Devastation 29

Saskatchewan and Alberta, or the fir forests of British
Columbia. There are no hardwood stretches in these
places to check a fire, and a repetition of the same careless-
ness will produce the same results.

To show how small is the destructive work of man com-
pared with that of fire, we quote the following from a
bulletin issued by the Director of Forestry.

“According to the Dominion Census of 1tg01 there were
98,804 square miles of occupied land in Canada at that date.
This has been since increased to approximately 110,000 square
miles. Of this total, 18,000 square miles is located in the prairie,
thus leaving 92,000 square miles of land within the forested
area, which have been cleared for settlement. Although
25,000 square miles of this is reported as still wooded, in order
to be conservative we shall not consider it as an addition to the
forested area.

“The total area cut over by lumbermen in the past, outside
of the area cleared for settlement, can only be approximated.
If it is granted that the lumbermen have cut over 100,000
square miles of land, exclusive of lands occupied for agriculture
or settlement, it would mean a total cut in the past 300 years
of 192,000,000,000 board feet, at the low yield of 3000 board
feet per acre. This, in addition to the large quantity which
has been cut from the 92,000 square miles of cleared farming
lands, is certainly as much lumber as has been produced in
Canada. Therefore, it may be assumed that lumbermen in
Canada have not actually cut more than 100,000 square miles
of green timber, if indeed they have cut as much, when allow-
ance is made for the area covered by fires which have caused
their operations to be scattered.

“The original timbered area, omitting semi-treeless land,
Was approximately 1,900,000 square miles. Of this we have

30 Forests and Trees

shown 98,000 square miles to have been cleared for settlement
and 100,000 square miles to have been cut,over by lumbermen,
leaving a timbered area yet untouched of 1,702,000 square miles.
Assuming the average of 3000 square feet per acre there should
yet remain 3279 billion board feet of timber in Canada at a very
conservative estimate. On the contrary the highest estimate
which has been made, that given by the Chairman of the Con-
servation Commission, the Henorable Clifford Sifton, places
the amount cf saw-timber and pulpwocd in Canada at 494,600
million feet and 1100 millicn ccrds respectively.”

By converting the pulpwood -into board feet, allowing
500 feet board measure for each cord, “‘it is found that there
are standing in Canada only 1094 billion feet of lumber,
including the very low grades. The difference between this
and the quantity which should yet remain is 2185 billion
feet.”’ This quantity has been destroyed by forest fires.

“Tt is a quantity so large as to be bcycnd ccmprehensicn ;
it is 437 times as much as is yearly cut in Canada; it is 49 times
as much as the ccmbined yearly cut cf the North American
Continent, north of Mexico. It means that for every foot cf
timber that has ever been cut in Canada by lumbermen, at least.
seven feet have been destroyed by fre. If the stumpage value
is placed at the low sum of fifty cents per thousand feet (the
smallest royalty collected by any Canadian Government), the
loss to the public treasury has been $1,042,500,000. ‘The actual
money loss to the country has been many times greater, as
several dollars are expended in Icggin g, man Cachan and ship-
ping every thousand feet of lumber.” :

The figures given refer to the whole of Canada, and it
might be reasonably expected that its application would be
mostly to the older provinces. ‘To those who have crossed

31

Forest Devastation

*ySa10 J VQOVUPI & Ul ‘vaIYW pouing 10 ‘9;nIg —°9 ‘OL,
‘sdaq so1sauy ‘youvag Kaysasoyg Ksajanoy

32 Forests and Trees

through the stretches of burned pine forests in all four of
the mainland provinces east of Manitoba, it would seem
that surely here were barren hills and blackened stumps
enough to account for any array of figures, no matter how
stupendous. The western provinces, however, have had
their share of fires. Hear what the explorers say:

“Ninety per cent of the Riding Mountain forest reserve
(total area 982,400 acres) has been burned over.” J. R. Dick-
son, 1908.

“The northern face of the Duck Mountains has formerly
supported much excellent forest, but most of this area has now
been burned over and is being overgrown with poplar.” J. B.
Tyrrell, Geological Survey, 1887.

“Seventy-five per cent of the Beaver Hills forest reserve,
and recommended inclusion (total area 108 square miles) has
been burned over.”

“Forest fires have repeatedly overrun the Prince Albert
forest reserve, and recommended addition, of 214 square miles.”

“In the Crowsnest Valley, Alberta, out of a total of 212
square miles originally timbered, 179 square miles or 84 per cent
have been burned over.”

_ “The resources of the eastern slope of the Rockies as repre-
sented by timber have been reduced 75 per cent by forest fires.”
H. R. Macmillan, Forestry Branch Report, 1908.

“Fires have passed extensively over the country between
Quesnel and Blackwater, destroying the scrub pine and Douglas
fir. Itis evident that the destruction of the forest has led to the
desiccation of the soil.”” G. M. Dawson, Geological Survey, —
1876-1877.

The list might be extended indefinitely, each item
referring to a definite place, large in itself but small

Forest Devastation 33

compared with the whole timbered region of the four
provinces. ‘

In 1909, the forest rangers over the whole region from
Lake Winnipeg to the Athabaska River, the eastern slope
of the Rocky Mountains and the railway belt in British
Columbia, were asked to ascertain and report the percentage
of each district which had been burned over within forty
years. Replies were received from sixty-nine rangers
whose ranges lie mostly beyond the limits of railways and
settlements. The following results, with comments, are
taken from the report :

“Area reportedon. . . . . . « . 203,300 square miles
‘Area of merchantable timber . . . . 34,484 square miles
Area burned over within 40 years . . . 54,700 square miles

“The whole territory of 203,300 square miles bears abundant
evidence of having been originally heavily forested, excepting
for the small proportion occupied by muskegs, lakes, and water-
ways. But within the past one hundred years, fires have
wrought such havoc that now only about 17 per cent or 34,484
square miles are reported to be covered with the original stand
of merchantable timber.”’

Such examples as to the prevalence and injury of fires
might be multiplied many times. One stops, not for lack
of evidence, but from the feeling that a case has been es-
tablished; that to go further would be to dwell needlessly
upon what is quite clear. .

Fires do not come as a judgment from heaven. They are
the result of the carelessness of man, and the causes need
to be known if the results are to be prevented. Every fire

34 Forests and Trees

‘has usually two causes, one immediate, the other more
remote. If a great amount of inflammable material be
left where fire can reach it, the whole blame for the resulting
disaster does not rest on the person who applied the nec-
essary spark, whether thoughtlessly or with design. A
sun-parched pine forest often burns, but usually the fire
has gathered force in the brush left from previous cuttings.
Lumbermen seldom start fires directly, but, by leaving the
brush of the winter’s cutting on the ground, they have pro-
vided the material for almost all of the great fires and many
of the lesser ones. Until means have been found to secure
the proper piling and burning of the brush left when timber
is cut, there can be no adequate protection of the standing
trees. The securing of this must be the first step in ey
system of forest protection.

Of all the direct causes of fire the most common is the
burning brush pile in the new clearing. This gets out of
control, reaches the slash left by the lumbermen, and only
the amount and condition of the available material sets
the limit on the conflagration that may follow. One fire
provides fuel for the next, and the chain of destruction is
only complete when the whole forest is consumed.

Railways have also been accountable for many fires.
The first danger arises from those set to clear the right of
way when the roads are being built. This danger is the
same as, and may be considered a part of, the general menace
of fires set for clearing land. It passes when the road is
completed, but the likelihood of fire from sparks from the
locomotive is fairly constant.

Forest Devastation 35

If the regulation for the control of fire in the clearing of
the right of way by the Transcontinental Railway Com-
mission were generally enforced, the danger would be re-
duced toa minimum. ‘The regulation is as follows:

“The whole, or as much of the right of way as the engineer
may direct, shall be entirely cleared of all trees, logs, brush,
and other perishable matter, all of which shall be burnt or other-
wise disposed cf as the engineer may direct, unless specially re-
served to be made into timber, ties, or cordwood. Unless
directed in writing by the engineer, trees and brush must nct
be thrown on adjacent lands, but must be disposed of on the
right of way. Trees unavoidably falling outside the right cf
‘way must be cut up, removed to the right of way and disposed
of.”

The enforcement of such a regulation is difficult and re-
quires special patrol officers, but on the Grand Trunk
Pacific, through Dominion lands west of Edmonton, it was
enforced, and there were not forty acres burned outside
the right of way.

The danger from sparks from the locomotive is also being
met by regulations covering the construction of the engines.
This is not easy, as mechanical difficulties are in the way,
but these are being overcome. All engines are required
to be equipped with spark arresters, and the regulations
of the Dominion Railway Commission require that the
locomotive shall be inspected once a month by an official

_ of the company. The Commission also employs a force of
inspectors for this purpose, but not enough to make in-
~ spection prompt and adequate. Authority has also been

36 Forests and Trees

given to some of the permanent forest rangers to inspect
the engines. All this, however, while it lessens the danger,
has not entirely removed it.

As a further provision, the Railway Act of the Dominion ~

contains the following clause :

“The company shall at all times maintain and keep its right
of way free from dead or dry grass, weeds, and other unnecessary
combustible matter.”

The railway company is also made liable for damages aris-
ing from fires caused by its engines by the following clause :

“Whenever damage is caused to crops, lands, fences, planta- ~

tions, or buildings and their contents by a fire started by a rail-
way locomotive, the company making use of such locomotive,
whether guilty of negligence or not, shall be liable for such
damage and may be sued for the recovery of the amount of
such damage in any court cf competent jurisdiction ; provided
that if it be shown that the company has used modern and
efficient appliances and has not otherwise been guilty of any
negligence the total amount of compensation recoverable in
respect of any one or more claims for damage from a fire or fires
started by the same locomotive and upon the same occasion
shall not exceed five thousand dollars.”

The unguarded camp fire is another peril, but men who — |

live in the woods are usually careful. They know the dan-
gers and how to avoid them. It is the novice who leaves
his camp in the morning with the fire smouldering and returns
to find his belongings in ashes and the hillside in flames.
Lightning may cause a forest fire but seldom does. A
thunder storm is usually accompanied by a drenching
rain which lessens the danger. I have seen many forest

4

Forest Devastation EY

fires, but only once saw a tree shattered by lightning and
left smouldering after the storm had passed. It is more
than likely that many of the fires attributed to lightning
were really caused by other means. The fact that fires
follow in the wake of man is sufficient indication that he is
the cause, they the result.

Spontaneous combustion is not impossible, but is so
rare that it need not be seriously regarded as the cause of
many fires.

The following report of the Dominion Forestry Branch
shows the origin of fires reported during 1916:

“The number of fires reported in detail during the year was
: 145 5, of which 1112 were small fires, and 343 large fires, cover-
ing over ten acreseach. The total area burned over was go5,828
acres and the quantity of timber destroyed 223,908,000 feet,
board measure, and of smaller-sized trees 2,415,921 cords.
These totals do not include fires along the Hudson Bay Rail-
way line or fires in the most northern parts cf Manitoba, Sas-
katchewan, and Alberta in regard to which detailed reports
were not received.”

The causes of fires were as follows:

NuMBER OF Fincs | PERCENTAGE
“Railways. . . ae age 123 | 8.46
Saw-mills and logging me 34 | 73
Brush burning (other than by
settlers) =... . 10 0.68
Se ey aan 246 16.90
Campers and Peajellers a ae AIO 28.18
0 14 97
a ee 60 4.13
Ramerealises. . 2... .l; 30 2.07
Unknown causes ..... 528 36.28”

38 Torests and Trees

The noteworthy feature of this report is that more fires
were caused by campers and travellers than by settlers.
An explanation of this is, no doubt, found in the fact that
in the area on which reports were received, regulations
covering the setting of fires are enforced, thus: reducing
the number caused by settlers. It must also be remembered
that in this region the number of camper$ is very large.

The following is a summary of the laws respecting fire
in the four western provinces.

IMPORTANT POINTS IN THE ForEsST LAws

The Canadian Criminal Code provides that any person who
wilfully sets fire to timber or timberland is guilty of an indictable
offence and liable to fourteen years imprisonment; and any
person who wilfully attempts to set fire to timber or timberland
is liable to imprisonment for seven years. ;

The Criminal Code also provides that any one who care-
lessly or in violation of a municipal or provincial law sets fire
to timber or timberland is guilty of an indictable offence and is
liable to two years imprisonment.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAWS OF MANITOBA

The Fires Prevention Act, Chapter 35, 1917

2. (c) ‘Wooded District’? in this Act means and includes the
following described territory, all lands lying east of the west boundary
of range 9, east of the principal meridian, lands lying east of Lake
Winnipeg, and north of the south boundary of township 16, lands
between Lake Winnipeg and Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis
and north of the south boundary of township 25, lands west of Lake
Winnipegosis and east of the Prince Albert line of the Canadian
Northern Railway and north of the south boundary of township 32,
and all lands to the north of the districts indicated, except the Rue
Municipalities of Swan River and Minitonas.

Forest Devastation 39

3. If found necessary the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council may,
by proclamation, declare any part of the Province to be a “wooded
district”’ within the meaning of this Act.

7. Any person who shall kindle and leave a fire burning, without
taking effectual means to prevent its spreading in or on any woods,
prairies, meadows, marshes or other open grounds, not his own
property, or who, intentionally or by gross carelessness, permits any
such fire to pass from his own land to the injury of the property of
any other person, shall, on conviction therefor, be fined in a sum
not exceeding $100, nor less than $20, and, in default of payment
thereof, shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months.
gg.’ (Synopsis). Any person shall be permitted to start a fire for
cooking, warmth or other industrial purpose, but before doing so
shall select a spot where there is the least amount of combustible
material and the least danger of the fire spreading, and shall clear
the ground of brushwood, leaves, and other inflammable matter for a
radius of ten feet from the fire. He shall also exercise every pre-
caution to prevent the fire spreading and shall carefully extinguish
it before leaving the place.

10. (Synopsis). In any wooded district any person who, by him-
self or his agent, shall (a) after cutting down trees on any road allow-
ance or railway or telegraph line, or on any other lands, set fire to the
same, or (b) gather trees into log heaps and set fire thereto, or (c) set
fire to trees lying on the ground, or (d) for any purpose whatever set
fire to any standing trees, brush, meadow or hay on other land under
such conditions as shall render it dangerous or probable that the fire
will spread and cause destruction of timber or property, shall on
conviction of any of the foregoing offences be fined in a sum not
exceeding $200 nor less than $20 for each offence, and in default
of payment shall be committed to jail for a term not exceeding twelve
months. Ps

11. No person shall from the first day of April to the fifteenth
day of November in any year light a fire in any wooded district
for any purpose whatsoever, excepting by this Act otherwise provided,
unless and until permission in writing shall have first been given
by the nearest fire guardian, or fire guardian specially appointed
by the Minister for carrying out the provisions of this section, under
and subject to the penalty set forth in the last preceding section.
A permit may be refused if the season is specially dangerous or if the
conditions are such that in the opinion of the fire guardian or forest or
fire ranger there is danger of the fire spreading beyond control, or if
the conditions which the fire guardian or forest or fire ranger considers
necessary to prevent fire spreading have not been complied with.

13. Any person who throws away or drops any burning match,
ashes of a pipe, lighted cigar or cigarette, or any other burning sub-

40 Forests and Trees

stance, or who discharges any firearms, shall completely extinguish,
before leaving the spot, the fire of such match, ashes of a pipe, cigar,
cigarette, wadding of the firearm or other burning substance. -

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAWS OF SASKATCHEWAN
The Prairie and Forest Fires Act, Chapter 21, 1917

3. Any person who directly or indirectly, personally or through
a servant, employee or agent :

(a) kindles a fire and lets it run at large in any woods, or, on
prairie, meadow, marsh or other open ground not his own property ; or

(6) kindles and leaves a fire burning, without taking effectual
means to prevent its spreading in any woods, or on prairie, meadow,
marsh or other open ground not his own property; or

(c) intentionally or by carelessness permits fire to pass from his
own land to the injury of the property of another person; shall be
guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to the penalties
mentioned in section 34 of this Act.

4. (Synopsis). Any person may kindle a fire in a wood or prairie
or other open ground for cooking, warmth, branding or other indus-
trial purpose on condition that he shall select a place where there is
the smallest quantity of combustible material or the least likelihood
of the fire spreading, and that he shall before lighting the fire clear
the ground of brushwood, leaves and other inflammable matter for a
radius of ten feet from the fire. He shall also exercise every pre-
caution to prevent the fire spreading and shall before leaving the
place carefully extinguish it.

7. Any person who, by himself, his servants or agents or anyone
acting by or under his authority, in the process of opening up a road
allowance, private road or frail, obtaining fuel, clearing the right of
way for a railway, telephone or telegraph line or route, or clearing
land for any purpose whatever, cuts any timber bush or brush, shall
cause the fallen timber, timber slashings and refuse to be collected
into piles suitable for burning on such right of way, road allowance,
private road, trail or clearing, and shall burn the same at the time
of cutting, provided that :

(a) the circumstances and surrounding conditions are such that
there will be no probable danger from spread of the fire; or

(b) a sufficient number of men are present to prevent it from
spreading; otherwise such fallen timber, timber slashings and refuse
_ shall be burned between the fifteenth day of November following the
date of cutting and the first day of April then next ensuing.

8. Any person who, by himself, his servants or agents or any one
acting by or under his authority, sets fire to timber standing in the

Forest Devastation AI

soil, or to fallen timber, timber slashings or refuse in such manner
and under such circumstances and conditions as render it dangerous
or probable that the fire will spread and cause the destruction of
wood, timber or property not his own, shall be guilty of an offence
and liable upon summary conviction to a penalty of not less than $50
nor more than $200, and in default of payment thereof to imprison-
ment for any term not exceeding twelve months.

g. No person shall, without the written permission of a fire guar-
‘dian, set fire to or burn any trees, brush or shrubs while standing in
the soil, or any fallen timber, timber slashings, wood, branches, brush-
wood, plants, black loam or light soil, between the first day of April
and the fifteenth day of November next ensuing, within :

(a) any area north of township 50, excepting township 51 in ranges
16 to 28 inclusive, and townships 52 and 53 in ranges 20 to 28 in-
clusive, all west of the 3d meridian; or

(6) the wooded area comprised of township 46 in ranges 7 to 9
inclusive, townships 47 and 48 in ranges 7 to 11 inclusive, and town-
ships 49 and 50 in ranges 7 to 13 inclusive, all west of the 3d meridian ;
or

(c) six miles of any Dominion Forest Reserve.

(3) Such permission may be refused if the season is specially
dangerous, if the conditions are such that in the opinion of the
fire guardian there is danger of the fire spreading, or if the conditions
the fire guardian considers necessary to prevent fire spreading have
not been complied with.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAWS OF ALBERTA

Section 2. Any person who shall either directly or indirectly,
personally or through any servant, employee, or agent —

(a) Kindle a fire and let it run at large on any land not his own
property ;

(6) Permit any fire to pass from his own land; or

(c) Allow any fire under his charge, custody or control, or under
the charge, custody or control of any servant, employee or agent to
run at large shall be guilty of an offence and shall on summary con-
viction thereof be liable to a penalty of not less than $25 and not
more than $200, and in addition to such penalty shall be liable to civil
action for damages at the suit of any person whose property has been
injured or destroyed by any such fire.

(2, in part). If a fire shall be caused by the escape of sparks or
any other matter from any engine or other thing it shall be deemed
to have been kindled by the person in charge or who should be in
charge of such engine or other thing.

42 Forests and Trees

Section 3. Any person who kindles or is a party to kindling a fire
in the open air for camping or branding purposes, and who leaves.
the same without having extinguished it, shall be guilty of an offence
liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding

100.

Section 4. No person shall directly or indirectly, personally or by
any servant, agent or employee, kindle on any land a fire for the
purpose of guarding property, burning stubble or brush or clearing
land unless the land on which the fire is started is at the time it is
started completely surrounded by a fireguard not less than twenty feet
in width consisting of land covered with snow or water or so worn,
graded, ploughed, burned over or covered with water as to be free
of inflammable matter and any person kindling a fire for such purpose
shall during the whole period of its continuance cause it to be guarded
by three adult persons provided with proper appliances for extinguish-
ing prairie fire.

(2) Any person contravening this section shall be guilty of an
offence and be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not
exceeding $100.

Section 6. Nothing herein contained shall prevent any person
from kindling fire before the 7th day of May in any year for the pur-
pose of clearing any area of land not exceeding three hundred and
twenty acres, if such land is completely surrounded by a fireguard not
less than ten feet in width, consisting of land covered with snow or
water or being so worn, graded, ploughed, burned over or covered with
water as to be free from inflammable matter.

(2) Any person so kindling a fire shall cause it to be guarded during
the whole period of its continuance by three adult persons provided
with proper appliances for extinguishing prairie fire and should such
fire be left without being so guarded or be allowed to escape, such
persons shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary
conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding $100.

Section 7. Nothing in this Act contained shall prevent the over-
seer (or councillor) of any local improvement district from kindling a
fire for the purpose of making a fireguard, but the area which it is
proposed to burn must be completely inclosed by a fireguard at least
ten feet in width, such as is described in Section 6 hereof, and such fire
so kindled must during the whole period of its burning be guarded
by such number of men provided with proper appliances for extin-
guishing prairie fire, not being less than four men, as will be reasonably
sufficient to control such fire, and if the precautions hereby required
are not taken, or if such fire should escape and run at large such
overseer (or councillor) shall be deemed guilty of an offence and
. liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding

100.

Forest Devastation 43

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAWS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Chapter 17, part XI, 1912, as amended 1917

106. The period from the first day of May to the fifteenth day of
September in each year shall be known as the close season in respect
to the setting of fire; but when circumstances of unusual danger
render it necessary in the public interest, the Lieutenant Governor in
Council may, by Proclamation, extend the said season.

107. During the close season it shall be unlawful for any person

to set out, or cause to be set out, started, or kindled, any fire in or near
any forests or woodlands except for the purpose of clearing land,
cooking, obtaining necessary warmth, or for some necessary industrial
purpose permitted by the Minister, and unless the obligations and
precautions imposed in the following sections shall be observed.
. 108. During the close season no person, firm, or corporation shall
set out, or cause to be set out, fires in or near slashings or forest debris,
standing or fallen timber, or bush land for the purpose of burning
slashings, brush, grass, or other inflammable material, or for any
industrial purpose, without first obtaining a permit therefor: Pro-
vided that no person shall be convicted who shall have set in good faith
and with reasonable care a back-fire for the purpose of stopping the
progress of a fire then actually burning.

111. During the close season every person who throws or drops
any burning match, ashes of a pipe, lighted cigarette or cigar, or
any other burning substance, or who uses any explosive in any forest
or brush land, or at a distance of less than half a mile therefrom, shall
completely extinguish the fire of such match, ashes of a pipe, or
other burning substance before leaving the spot, and any fire thereby
caused.

120. During the close season a watchman shall be maintained at
the point where any stationary or portable engine is located in or near
any forest or woodland for at least two hours following any time when
said engine shall have ceased operation, to prevent the escape of fire
therefrom. -

121. (1) During the close season in each year it shall be unlawful
for any person or corporation —

(a) To use or operate any locomotive, logging-engine, portable
engine, traction-engine, or stationary engine using fuel other than
oil within a quarter of a mile of any forest slashings or bush land which
is not provided with a practical and efficient device for arresting
sparks, together with an adequate device for preventing the escape of
fire or live coals from all ash-pans and fire-boxes, and which does not
comply in every respect with any regulations for the time being made
and in force under and by virtue of the provisions of this Act :

44 Forests and Trees

(b) To operate any river steamboat using fuel other than oil on
any of the rivers or lakes within the Province of British Columbia
which is not provided with a safe and suitable device for the arrest of
sparks from the smoke-stack thereof, complying in all respects with
any regulations for the time being made and in force under and by
virtue of the provisions of this Act.

(2) It shall be the duty of every person or corporation operating
any engine referred to in this section to provide equipment in the
way of tools, hose, and other fire-fighting appliances in accordance
with any regulations for the time being made and in force under and
by virtue of the provisions of this Act.

124. (3) Every person, persons, or corporation clearing right of
way for any road, trail, telephone, telegraph, power, or pipe line,
tote-road, ditch, or flume shall pile and burn on such right of way all
refuse timber, slashings, choppings, and brush cut thereon as rapidly
as the clearing or cutting progresses and the weather conditions
permit, or at such other times as the Provincial Forest Board may
direct, and during the close season shall obtain, before burning said
material, a permit from said Board. Any person neglecting or refusing
to perform and fulfil any duty imposed upon him by or pursuant to the
provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.

It follows then, that fire is the greatest enemy of the
forest. Prevent the leaving of large quantities of in-
flammable material on the ground and the careless setting
of fires, and the greatest possible step has been taken in
the preservation of our forests, whether for their use or for
their beauty. Regulations and laws are good in their
place, but to make them highly effective there must be a
strong body of public opinion behind them. When the
public come to regard careless setting of fires in the same
light as any other misdemeanor, the number will be much
lessened. To create this public opinion it is necessary to
reach the children. Here is where the teacher has an
opportunity and the opportunity brings its responsibility.
The schools should undertake to build up a healthy public
opinion respecting forest fires.

CHAPTER IV

FOREST DEVASTATION (Continued)

““ There is a serene and settled majesty in woodland scenery that
enters into the soul, and delights and elevates it, and fills it with
noble inclinations.” — WASHINGTON IRVING.

NEXT to fire the greatest enemy of the forest is the in-
sect. If other forces did not intervene, insects would soon
multiply to such an extent that every green leaf would
disappear. In the constant struggle which goes on in both
the animal and vegetable life around us, these forces so
interact that any harmful increase of numbers of injurious
insects is checked by natural means. Storms destroy
and birds devour them. In northern climates winter re-
adjusts things, and a fresh start is made the following
spring, but the greatest regulating factors in their control
are food supply and disease. If the food supply is con-
sumed or destroyed, the increase must cease, while each
species has its insect or fungus parasite, which preys upon
it and lessens its numbers.

Man often unwittingly disturbs this play of natural
forces. Sometimes, by his efforts, a certain food material
is very much increased, and the insects which live upon
that food increase accordingly until they become a pest,
finally destroying their own food plant and often swarming
to other plants where commonly they did not feed. Some-
times, in his wandering, man introduces an insect to a new

45

46 Forests and Trees

locality, leaving its natural enemies behind. Freed from
the control of these, it multiplies enormously and does
great harm. ‘Thus insect pests like fires follow in the
wake of man, and if he cannot by intelligence re-establish
the balance where it has been disturbed, then a general
and perhaps disastrous readjustment will have to take
place. Whole forests may be destroyed before the food
of a particular insect is sufficiently reduced to check its
increase, or the growing of a valuable food crop may have
to be abandoned. :

Some very notable examples of destruction of forest
trees by insects have occurred in Canada in recent years.
The one which has become best known is the destruction
of the tamaracks in Ontario and Quebec by the larch
sawfly. This insect, in the larva form, eats the leaves off
the eastern larch or tamarack, and repeated defoliation
soon kills the trees. As this tree usually occurs in swamps,
where it constitutes a very large percentage of the growth,
the opportunity for the increase of the pest was particularly
good. Nature had planted forests of a single species and
the inevitable result happened. The destruction, which
began several years ago, is almost complete in the two
large central provinces, and the pest~has followed the
tamarack westward into Manitoba. Not only this fine tree,
but also the two kindred species of larch in British Columbia
are threatened with destruction. Yet this same insect
has existed in Europe for some centuries and has not de-
stroyed the larch. Serious outbreaks occur in places at
times, but these are checked by natural control before —

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Forest Devastation

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48 Forests and Trees

the damage is very great. This is a case where man has
introduced a destructive insect into new surroundings
without also introducing its enemies. The larch sawfly
was brought from Europe —no one knows how — and
found here, in the swamps of almost pure tamarack, an
ideal place for increase of numbers. Having no natural
enemies to hold it in check, there was no limit to its in-
crease so long as the food supply lasted. Dr. C. Gordon
Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist, in speaking on this point
says: ‘The enormous havoc wrought by this insect was
apparently due to the fact that there existed no natural
means powerful enough to control it before it had destroyed
its food plant.” This was because the insect was in new
surroundings. Where it had lived for a long period, it
must have been controlled, or it would have brought about
its own destruction by consumption of its own food. Man
must re-establish the natural check, or the tamaracks of
the continent are doomed.

Another example of devastation on a large scale is found
in the injury done by bark beetles in the conifer forests of
British Columbia. The yellow pine of the southern in-
terior of the province is particularly liable to attack and
has suffered most, but the white pines and Sitka spruce
are also affected. There are several species of these beetles,
each working in its own way and attacking a particular
kind of tree, or in some cases a single species attacking
several kinds. The life histories, as well as the injuries
caused by them, are so similar in all cases that no dis-
tinction need be made here.

Forest Devastation 49

These insects are small, nearly cylindrical, hard-shelled
beetles from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in length,
and of varying colors, from light brown to almost
black. They enter the bark of the tree in pairs, each pair
boring a tunnel upward through the inner bark or slightly
grooving the wood. Some of the dust caused by the boring
falls out of the openings and forms a ready means of de-
tecting the presence of the insects. The eggs are laid in
these tunnels and in a short time hatch into small white
grubs, each with a strong pair of jaws. These larve then
bore winding channels along the surface of the wood, each
one finally hollowing out a chamber in which it passes into
the pupa stage. From this stage it emerges a full-grown
beetle, bores a passage to the surface, and escapes to select
a mate and begin the process on another tree. The winter
is passed in any of the three stages, and the work of de-
struction is going on fairly constantly all summer, but
» more particularly in July, August and September.

The injury is done by the network of tunnels killing the
inner bark of the tree. This inner bark contains the ducts
through which food material passes downward from the
leaves to all other parts of the tree. The insect tunnels
cut these, preventing the passage of the food supply and
thus killing the tree. A bad attack has about the same
effect as girdling, and will kill it in a single season.

These beetles are not new insects introduced from an-
other country. They are native wherever forests of conifers
are found. Under ordinary conditions, however, they
prefer the bark of dead or dying timber, and, as the supply

50 Forests and Trees

of that is limited in any natural forest, they are not plentiful
enough to be a serious pest. Only occasionally do they
attack living trees. Lumbermen and others, in cutting
timber and leaving the refuse on the ground, have provided
breeding places in unusual quantities. This has caused
the insects to increase to such an extent that they have
swarmed out of the dead bark and attacked living trees
in very large numbers. Some idea of the numbers of the
insects and the seriousness of the recent attack may be
gathered from the fact that the entomologist who in-
vestigated conditions in one locality reported that ‘from
1500 to 2000 pairs of beetles were cutting tunnels and de-
positing eggs in the lower fifty feet of many of the infested
trunks examined.” ;

‘The destruction so far has not been on a scale sufficient
to affect any large percentage of the immense forests of
British Columbia, but every infected tree or group of trees
forms a centre from which the surrounding timber becomes *
subject to attack. Trees in the vicinity of towns or where
lumbering has been done are in special danger.

Other insects in myriads are constantly attacking forest
trees. The green aphis has been a serious pest on the Mani-
toba maples in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, caused no
doubt by an abnormal increase in the number of trees since
the region has been settled. A natural check will no doubt
prevent wholesale destruction, but much damage has been
done in places. A small yellowish beetle, the western
willow-leaf beetle, has done considerable harm some seasons
to the willows and poplars in the prairie provinces, and

Forest Devastation 51

cankerworms have been a rather serious pest here and
there, particularly on the Manitoba maples. Numerous
gall-producing insects and leaf-curlers are also at work, but
usually the harm done is quite local and often confined to a
single tree or group of trees. These are the natural enemies
of the trees and under natural conditions are held in check.
The injury done is seldom widespread and affects trees
in streets, parks and gardens rather than those of the
forest. Local outbreaks can generally be controlled by
the mechanical means suggested in another chapter.
Fungous diseases differ only in detail from insect attacks.
They are the attacks of one living organism upon another.
Any plant with green leaves is able to take food material
out of the air, and this, along with what it gets from the
soil, suffices for its support and growth. A plant which
has ‘no green coloring matter in it cannot do this. It must
get its food ready made, and thus is compelled either to

_ live on the decaying bodies of dead plants or animals, or

‘

else attack and live upon a growing plant. One of these
plants which lacks the green coloring matter is called a
fungus, and when it lives on another living plant it is a
parasite. The effect of the parasite upon the growing
host plant, if injurious, is spoken of as a disease, and trees
are subject to the attack of these fungous diseases.

“©The fungus produces a threadlike body called a mycelium
which ‘enters the host and grows through it, forming a
dense network. The food which should nourish the host
is absorbed by the parasite. When this food begins to fail,
either through the advance of the season or the death of

52 Forests and Trees

the host, the fungus sends out certain bodies to the surface
which produce large numbers of spores, and from these
spores new plants may grow. These fruiting bodies take
various forms, but the shelf fungus so often seen project-
ing from a dead or dying tree is one of the most common.

All the poplars are subject to fungous diseases, the aspen
particularly so. It is quite common to find the aspens
dying along the route of an old fire where there is a large
quantity of decaying timber, or-in groves which have been
cleared of undergrowth and are used for park purposes.
Examination will show that these trees have fallen victims
to some fungus.

The most dangerous disease of this kind which has to be
dealt with at the present time, 1919, is a form of rust, which
is attacking the white pine of eastern Canada and the eastern
States. The rusts are fungi which live on two hosts, pro-
ducing different spores on each host, the spores varying
greatly in appearance. The name rust comes from the
fact that in certain plants the spores of one kind are red
or yellow and discolor the hands or clothing much as iron
rust would. The rust of wheat is, perhaps, the best known
example of this. The disease which is attacking the pines
is known as the white pine blister rust, and its alternate
host is the black currant or any member of the genus ries,
which include both currants and gooseberries. The spores —
which are formed on the currant grow in the young tissue
of the pine and destroy the leaves, in the end killing the
tree. It is particularly injurious to young trees.

This disease has practically destroyed all the white pines

Forest Devastation 53

of Europe and has now obtained a foothold in the eastern
States. From there it has invaded Canada and has been
detected in the Niagara peninsula and in Quebec. As the
white pine is one of the most valuable timber trees of the
eastern part of the continent, its threatened destruction
is a serious matter.

CHAPTER V
FOREST PRESERVATION (ORGANIZATION)

ForEST preservation does not, of necessity, mean the
continuation of all the forest at present standing, or of any
particular part of it. It means the preservation of a suf-
ficient amount to maintain a proper balance between
wooded and cultivated areas and thus ensure a supply of
forest products, conserve the water in the basins of the
streams, protect wild animal life, break the sweep of the
wind and beautify the landscape. Usually there is suf-
ficient land unfit for cultivation to support all the forest
necessary. Streams generally rise in rough hilly regions,
and their basins contain considerable land unfit to till.
This broken country is the natural haunt of wild animals,
and its irregularity gives that break to the sky line which
makes for beauty of landscape. Let the land be wooded
which would otherwise be waste, and the forests properly
preserved, and the cultivated parts will not only be more
productive but also more pleasant places in which to live.

This might involve the clearing of some land now in
forest and the re-foresting of a good deal now lying waste,
as well as the proper protection of much forest now stand-
ing. The process is slow. A forest is planted for coming
generations, but what does it matter? It is only the’ ex-

54

Forest Preservation 55

ploiter who grasps all for himself, or longs to see every-
thing used during his own lifetime. The true forester
works for posterity. At best we cannot hand on the
magnificent forests we received from nature, but let us

_- bequeath something more than denuded hills and blackened

trunks. |

The proportion of the area of any country which could
be profitably left in forest is worthy of careful consideration.
It is evident that there is a limit somewhere, although it
is not possible to state it in exact terms, for it is always a
relative matter. Land which is valuable for cultivation
need not be devoted to forests, but we must be careful rot
to devote to other purposes land which should properly
be forest. A good forest is much more valuable than poor
farms. A knowledge of the area devoted to the growth
of trees in European countries where conditions have
reached a somewhat permanent basis will help us here.

Belgium is perhaps the best European example of manu-
facturing industry combined with intensive cultivation
of the soil. Before the war its population was more than
650 to the square mile. The artisans working in the cities
lived long distances out in the suburbs, going to and from
their homes by a system of radial railways. Every foot
was carefully cultivated and yet 18 per cent of its area
was devoted to permanent forests. France was about
20 per cent, Sweden about 66 per cent, Germany about
25 per cent, and Austria about 30 per cent forest. These
figures, of course, all apply to conditions before the war.
They show that for a country to be able to support per-

56 Forests and Trees

manently a dense population a large proportion of its area
must be in forest. |

What is true of Europe is true also of Asia. India ~
owes its comparative freedom from famine in recent years
to the re-clothing of much of the land with trees, and 66.7
per cent of the area of Japan is forest.

When the area of forest in any of the Canadian prairie
provinces is compared with what has been found necessary
in these very old countries the contrast is almost startling.
Manitoba has 1.6 per cent, Saskatchewan 3.8 per cent, and
Alberta 10.3 per cent of its area in forest. In these prov-
inces at least we have a long way to go before reaching a
condition that may be regarded as satisfactory and per-
manent.

Canada is a comparatively new and a very large country.
Its natural forests were so extensive that they were for
long enough considered practically inexhaustible. No
one thought it necessary to know just what extent and what
kind of forest we had, since all were assured we had and
would always continue to have plenty. It is only within
recent years that the idea has gradually been driven home
to the people, that our forests are being rapidly destroyed,
and that some method of protection is necessary if suffer-
ing is to be avoided.

It soon became evident that for effective protection
there must be strong central control. Fortunately this
was still possible, for although large areas of land had been
disposed of either by homestead, purchase or grants to
railways, there still remained sufficient public lands to

Forest Preservation 57

supply great national forests. Practically all the lands
unfit for agriculture are still in the possession of the various
governments. In the four older provinces and in British
Columbia these crown lands are owned and controlled by
the provincial governments. In Britis: Columbia, how-

Fic. 8. — A Fire Ranger’s Lodge. Lake Nipigon.

¢ ver, a strip about 20 miles on each side of the main line
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, kpown as the “Railway
Belt,” and the ‘‘ Peace River Block” in the northeast
corner of the province, are under Dominion control.

In the three prairie provinces the crown lands are still
ow-ed by the Dominion and managed by the Department
of the Interior. In’ Manitoba the swamp lands were handed
over to the province in 1885, but those which remained un-
sold were given back to the Dominion in 1912, when the
boundaries were extended to Hudson’s Bay. This pos-
session of the forest areas by the various governments

58 _ Forests and Trees

assures central control. All the provinces that control
their own crown lands now have departments for their
administration, while the Forestry Branch of the Depart-
ment of the Interior has been formed to protect the forests
of the prairie provinces. The Dominion Forestry Branch
is a branch of the Department of the Interior with head
office at Ottawa, and supervises the complete work in the
western provinces through the Director of Forestry. It
has supervision only of the areas set apart for Dominion
forests in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
Alberta, the ‘“‘ Railway Belt” in British Columbia, the Peace
River Block in northeastern British Columbia and the
Northwest Territories. It also supervises the protection of
forested areas of Dominion lands in these provinces which
are organized into what are called fire-ranging districts.

The forest reserves and fire-ranging districts are organized
according to provinces, each supervised by a district in-
spector of forest reserves. There are four of these in-
spectors, with offices in Winnipeg, Prince Albert, Calgary
and Kamloops respectively. The district inspector has
complete supervision, subject to the head office at Ottawa,
of the forestry organizations in his province. His work
is divided into three main parts, administration of the
area permanently set aside as Dominion forests, super-
vision of the forest protection organized in connection with
each fire-ranging district, and oversight of the fire pro-
tection organized along the railway rights-of-way, along
with the chief forester of the Board of Railway Com-
missioners. :

Forest Preservation 59

The very size of Canada and the lack of knowledge of the
territory covered by her widely scattered forest regions
make it necessary, in the first place, to secure accurate
knowledge of the conditions. A survey of the territory

—

Courtesy Forestry Branch, Interior Dept.

Fic: 9. — Railway Fire Patrolman Traversing His Beat on a “Speeder.”
to be covered is the first necessity after the formation of an
organization for forest control. This is being done as
rapidly as the great extent of the work and the available
staff will permit. At least, lack of survey is not holding

"back other work which it is possible to do at present.
. While organization and a knowledge of the territory
are both necessary, they alone would not produce results.
There must be a very definite plan of management. A
study of the practice in those parts of the world where

60 Forests and Trees

forestry has been followed as a progressive science will
help here. _The preservation of the European forests and
the development and continuance of forests in India are
the world’s best examples of scientific forestry. The plan
followed consists in having certain suitable territories set
aside as national forest reserves. The details of admin-
istration of the reserves vary greatly with varying: con-
ditions, but the principle of national forests reserved for
that purpose obtains wherever forest preservation has been
seriously attempted. This, too, is the plan that is being ©
followed in Canada. Most of the provinces that control
their timber lands have made a start in this direction, and
the Dominion has set apart reserves in the prairie provinces
and in the railway belt of British Columbia. The Dominion
forest reserves at present either completely or incompletely

organized are as follows.

MANITOBA

Porcupire Forest Reserve No. 1
Turtle Mountain Forest Reserve
Spruce Woods Forest Reserve

Riding Mountain Forest Reserve
Duck Mountain Forest Reserve No. 1
South Manitoba Fire Ranging District
North Manitoba Fire Ranging District
The Pas Fire Ranging District .

SASKATCHEWAN
Cypress Hills Forest Reserve No. 2
Moose Mountain Forest Reserve
Beaver Hills Forest Reserve .
Porcupine Forest Reserve No. 2
Pasquia Forest Reserve :
Fort a la Corne Forest Reserve .

AREA

7772 square miles
109 square .miles
224 square miles

1,499 square miles

1,462 square miles

26,900 square miles
27,000 square miles
6,500 square miles

AREA

972 square miles
156 square miles
99 square miles
3,247 square miles
2,615 square miles
513 square miles

Forest Preservation

SASKATCHEWAN

Steep Creek Forest Reserve .

Pines Forest Reserve

Nisbet Forest Reserve .

Sturgeon Forest Reserve

Big River Forest Reserve .

Seward Forést Reserve

Elbow Forest Reserve .

Dundurn Forest Reserve .

Keppel Forest Reserve .

Manito Forest Reserve :
Duck Mountain Forest Reserve No. 2
Battleford Fire Ranging District
Prince Albert Fire Ranging District

ALBERTA

Cypress Hills Forest Reserve No. 1
Cooking Lake Forest Reserve
Crowsnest Forests

Bow River Forests

Clearwater Forests

Brazeau Forests

Athabaska Forests as
Lesser Slave Forest Reserve .

' Edmonton Fire Ranging District
McMurray Fire Ranging District .
Mackenzie Fire Ranging District

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Yoho Forest Reserve

Glacier Forest Reserve . ;
Larch Hills and Mount Ida .

Fly Hills . .

Monte Hills and Martin Mountain:
Niskonlith .

Long Lake .

Tranquille .

Nicola

Arrowstone

61

AREA

7 square miles
166 square miles
149 square miles
729 square miles

1,342 square miles
31 square miles
11g square miles
63 square miles
86 square miles
180 square miles
81 square miles
9,595 square miles

29,376 square miles

AREA

81 square miles

95 square miles
1,309 square miles
2,705 square miles
4,718 square miles
2,244 square miles
3,260 square miles
5,023 square miles

77,220 square miles
20,000 square miles

3,250 square miles

AREA

164 square miles
106 square miles

68 square miles
224 square miles
217 square miles
317 square miles
263 square miles
291 square miles
506 square miles
255 square miles

62 -Forests and Trees

BRITISH COLUMBIA AREA
Mak Crock... sco s&s EP 340 square miles
Coast Fire Ranging District. . . . . . . 3,200square miles
Revelstoke Ranging District. . . . . . . 2,520 square miles
Salmon Arm Ranging District . . . . . . 3,970 square miles

These reserves have been selected with the greatest care.
They include not only those regions more suitable for
growing timber than for any other purpose, but also they
usually protect the sources of streams or include stretches
of sand which, if ploughed, would endanger adjoining
farms. The drifting sand will travel with the prevailing
wind and literally bury farms. This menace is a very
real one in many places on the shores of the sea or the
Great Lakes.

Shifting sand dunes are a terror to the owners of adjoin-
ing property and are very difficult to control. The sand
hills found in different parts of the prairie region are but
the dunes of an ancient shore. The retirement of the water
has enabled them to become clothed with grass, trees or
bushes, and they are, therefore, safe. If this cover is
thoughtlessly or ignorantly destroyed by trying to bring
these stretches under cultivation, the sand will be released,
to be blown ahead of the wind and become an annoyance.
if not a positive source of danger. In spite of the value
of these reserves and the care that has been bestowed upon
their selection and administration, the charge is sometimes
made that settlers intentionally set out fires where they
will burn over portions of the reserve, in order to increase
the probability of the land being opened for homesteads.

Forest Preservation 63

Any one who would be guilty of this is unfit for citizenship
in a free country.

Each reserve is under the charge of a supervisor. He
does the business connected with its administration and
lays out the work to be done.

Under him, on the larger reserves

at least, is a forest assistant who
is the technical adviser to the
supervisor. He is a trained for-
ester, a graduate of some school
of forestry, and looks after all
work which requires that special
training. The reserve is divided

peg NN She

‘ ; we
A eens 5 TT

RY heal

into a number of districts, each
under a permanent forest ranger.
This official is required to live in
his district, in a house provided
for him, and to patrol it regularly
to protect it from fire or trespass,

as well as to do much necessary
work. So far as actually doing Courtesy Forestry Branch,
: r Interior Dept.
things is concerned, the forest fig 19—A Lookout
ranger is the most important Tower on a Dominion Forest

Reserve.
official on the reserve. He must
be able to manage a canoe in the water or carry it across
a portage. He also cuts roads, builds telephone lines,
cabins and lookout stations, fights fire, estimates stand-
ing timber and measures it when cut. In short, he is a

man of all work, and should be strong, experienced, skil-

64 Forests and Trees

ful and resourceful. To secure such men is not easy.
Only the forest can produce them, and it cannot give
the literary and mechanical training necessary. Other
countries have found it advisable to establish schools for
forest rangers, and Canada will no doubt have to do.

Fic. 11.— Fire Rangers’ Notice on the Kemogami River, 125 Miles
North of Jack Fish, Ont.

likewise. A small beginning has already been made in
this line of work by the institution of a course suitable for
forest rangers.in connection with the vocational work of
the Military Hospitals Commission at Vancouver, B.C.
These should only add to, not replace, training which the
forest gives. The forest ranger must continue to be the
natural son of the forest, not the artificial product of a
school. The Director of Foresty gives the qualifications
of a forest ranger as follows :

1. Physical fitness, to be attested by medical certificate.

Forest Preservation 65.

2. Age, which on appointment should be between 21
and 45.

3. Experience in bush work, including scaling and
cruising of timber.

4. The running of a line by compass and determining
distance by pacing.

5. The packing of horses ingsome districts.

6. Reading, writing and arithmetic sufficient to read
instructions, write replies to letters and calculate the dues
on any of the ordinary permits issued on forest reserves.

The Canadian forest has always produced good men
and will continue to supply the material for the best of
rangers, if efficiency is made the basis of appointment and
ability is rewarded by promotion.

Provision is made for the inspection of reserves by com-
bining them into four inspectoral districts with an in-
spector for each. The inspector, in consultation with the
officials of his district, makes an estimate of the kind and
amount of work necessary and the amount of money
needed, and submits this to the Director of Forestry. He
also inspects the books and records, and in a general way
supervises the organization of the work of the reserve.

CHAPTER VI

FOREST PRESERVATION (ADMINISTRATION)

“For many a century oe fed them and dressed them every

day, — working like a man, a loving, devoted, painstaking gardener.”
—Joun Mor.

THE administration of forest reserves includes a number
of separate features, the first of which is protection. This
means not only protection from the forest’s greatest
enemy, fire, but also from its lesser enemies, such as in-
sects, disease and the destructive axe of the trespasser.
The forest should be not only protected but used. A
rational forest is first of all for use, and when timber is
matured, it should be cut and removed for the service of
man. The regulation of this cutting and the proper
disposal of refuse form an important part of the forester’s
work. Provision must also be made for new trees to take
the place of those cut away. . It may, and often does, go
further, and includes the reclothing of open stretches with
a growth of trees. All of these things must be attended
to, and they all mean work, which is always exacting and
often dangerous. Such work must be done thoroughly and
honestly, and no one need regard any of the positions in
connection with a forest reserve as a sinecure. Each office,
however, gives opportunity for necessary and valuable
public service.

66

Forest Preservation 67

The “protection of the reserve from fire is the most
difficult work of the forest ranger. Fireguards are made
through or around the reserve, where they will stop or
prevent fires. Trails are cut through the forest to make
travel from one part to another less difficult, and lookout
stations are built in convenient places. These stations
are connected by telephone with the headquarters of the
reserve. The ranger must patrol his district regularly,
spending the nights in cabins built for the purpose, usually
by his own hands. Each cabin contains, besides the
necessary camp equipment, tools for fighting fire. The
ranger patrols on foot, by canoe or on a railway motor
cycle, just as circumstances permit. If, from a lookout
station, he sees smoke in any part of the reserve, he can
summon help by telephone, and in that way reach and
extinguish the fire before it has done much harm. Small
gasoline engines with considerable length of hose, that
may be carried from place to place, are being added to the
fire-fighting equipment and add greatly to its usefulness.

Not an unimportant part of the ranger’s work in pre-
vention-of fires is educational. The greater number of
fires are caused by the carelessness of settlers or travellers.
This is due more to ignorance of the harm that may follow
and the means of preventing it, than to intention. By
the posting of bulletins and other means, people are in-
structed what measures to take to prevent fires and warned
of the punishment for negligence.

All land under Dominion control and not included in the
forest reserves is divided into fire-ranging districts. Most

68 Forests and Trees”

of these districts are directly supervised by permanently
appointed chief fire rangers. The activity in connection ~
with the fire-ranging districts begins about the middle of
March or later and closes in October or November, accord-
ing to the season. In these districts are temporarily
appointed each year fire rangers and assistant fire rangers,
who are placed in charge of certain areas of patrol, and their
duty during the danger season is to cover the area com-
pletely, for the purpose of detecting and preventing the
spread of any fire which may occur. They are assisted in
the better organized districts by lookout towers and tele-
phone lines, which make it possible to detect fires at a
‘distance and to collect a gang of men at short notice as
soon as a fire is discovered.

Fire-ranging on the railways is under the supervision of —
a permanently appointed divisional fire inspector who
organizes the railway fire-ranging in the provinces of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Railway fire
guardians are placed along the rights of way during the
danger season and are provided with either hand, pedal
or power speeders on which they travel up and down
the line on patrol beats assigned them. In this way we
have the co-operation of the railways, and, as a result, the
fire menace from them is being greatly reduced.

The protection of forests from insects and disease is not
an easy matter. It is not possible by mechanical means,
such as spraying, either to prevent the coming of the pest
or to destroy it once it has come.

The only practical way of controlling those insect pests

Forest Preservation 69

which occur over a wide area is by biological rather than
mechanical methods. ‘The control of the gipsy and brown-
tail moths in the eastern States, by importing their insect
enemies, affords the best known illustration of this method.

Another good example of this is seen in the treatment of
the larch sawfly. One of the chief means by which this
is controlled is by the attack of insect parasites. The
sawfly did not seem to have any deadly parasite among
natural Canadian insects and thus was able to run its course
unchecked. A study of conditions in England by Dr.
Hewitt revealed the insect which prevented the sawfly
becoming a serious pest there. This insect enemy was
_ introduced into Canada and distributed, not only in
Ontario and Quebec, but also in several places in Manitoba.
This parasite has now become well established through
the whole range of the sawfly, and the destruction of the
larch is decreasing. Several othér parasites which prey
upon the sawfly have been introduced and are bringing
it under control. Some good is also being done by some
native species, and we may look for a re-establishment
of the balance that has been disturbed.

In British Columbia bark-beetles have done great harm.
These multiply very rapidly in fallen timber and from
there are likely to attack the green trees, especially the
weaker ones. But nature as a rule does not have great
quantities of fallen timber in one place, and under natural
conditions these insects only occasionally did much damage
to standing trees. With the advent of the lumbermen this
was changed. Large quantities of refuse were left on the

70 Forests and Trees

ground after the cutting. This was the natural breeding
place of many bark-boring and wood-boring insects, which . -
have increased so rapidly that they have now attacked the
green timber. This danger threatens the white pine,
__ yellow pine and spruce forests of the province, but it can be
controlled. These beeties prefer the bark of dying trees for
breeding places, and it is only when their numbers are so
increased that there is not a sufficient quantity of this
dying bark that they attack the green timber. If their
numbers are decreased so that the usual amount of dead
or dying timber will satisfy them, they will do no harm.
Their numbers, however, were greatly multiplied by enor-
mously increasing the dead timber by the refuse from the
cuttings. When the increase of the cutting could no longer
keep pace with the increase of the insects, they attacked
the green trees. Their number must again be decreased,
and no opportunity again allowed them for such rapid in-
crease. This can be done by cutting all infected trees,
destroying the rubbish, and keeping the forest clear of
slash in the future.

The beetles pass the winter in the bark of trees attacked
the previous season. These ‘‘yellow-tops”’ can easily be
recognized by their dying foliage. The needles have not
all fallen off, but have turned yellow. If these trees, or a
very large percentage of them, are cut and handled in such
a way as to destroy the wintering insects, a great step will
have been taken toward checking the outbreak. The ways
suggested for handling the timber are either floating it in
water, cutting in winter and burning the refuse, or peeling

Forest Preservation 71

the logs and burning the bark. By thus reducing the
numbers of the insects and preventing the balance being
again disturbed, the valuable pine and spruce forests of tle
province may be protected, but neglect will probably mean
disaster. ;

The protection of trees from fungous diseases usually
applies more to orchards, parks and city streets than to
the forest. In them curative methods are resorted to, as
the preservation of the individual tree is the aim, but in the
forest the single tree is not considered if it threatens the
whole. Fungous growths are always present, but if dis-
eased trees are removed or burned and the quantity of
decaying wood kept down to the natural amount, the health
of the forest as a whole will seldom suffer.

With disease as with insects, however, there is always
the danger of introducing something new, and this has
been done in America in the case of the white pine blister
rust. This disease came from Europe, and, if not checked,
will destroy the white pine forests of America. The best
way to fight it is to destroy its alternate hosts, the currants
and gooseberries. This is a difficult and expensive under-
taking and may mean loss to fruit growers, but the danger
is great. The fight is confined to the eastern provinces
and the eastern United States, but as the white pine forests
of British Columbia are threatened, the western provinces
are deeply concerned.

The combined appropriations of the federal and state
governments in the United States for the purpose of fight-.
ing this disease amount to more than a half million

72 Forests and Trees

dollars, and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, with
the co-operation of the Dominion government, are assist-
ing. Every effort is being made to locate any outbreaks
and prevent its spread. Forty inspectors are searching
for it in the Canadian provinces, and a strip of territory
one mile wide along the Ontario side of the Niagara River
has been entirely cleared of currants and gooseberries,
while a similar strip is likely to be cleared on the American
side. |

A suggestive feature of this campaign is the employment
of school children to locate the disease on the currants
and gooseberries. It can be easily detected at that stage,
and the children make good scouts. There are many
problems of real life which could in this way be brought
into the schools, making the school work more real and its
relation to life of the people closer. The problem of arous-
ing public interest in forest preservation is worthy of the
attention of teachers.

This is not a place for a treatise on plant diseases or
insect pests. A few have been mentioned to show the
nature of the problems with which the forester has to deal.
It is not to be expected that every forest ranger, or even
every trained forester, is sufficiently familiar with these
matters to deal with them single-handed. They must
often call specialists to. their aid. The entomologist, the
botanist and the plant pathologist must be consulted.
But the forest ranger should know healthy from diseased
trees and report any signs of injury from causes unknown _
to him. He should keep the forest free from those con- —

Forest Preservation 73

ditions which attract disease. All refuse, from whatever
source, should be burned and the surroundings kept favor-
able to healthy growth. In short, the forest ranger should
be the sanitary inspector of the forest, but at times it may
be necessary that he call in the physician.

The proper use of the reserve is no less the forester’s
work than its protection. Every possible means should be
provided whereby most use will be made of the timber. It
should also yield a revenue, but money raised from the
forest, should be spent on it. The forest, like the land, is
the gift of nature and should be used and handed on un-
impaired either as to its present production or its possi-
bilities. The policy of using the timber resources as the
mineral resources are used cannot be defended.

In order to secure control of the cutting on reserves no
timber is allowed to be cut except on permit. The permit
provides that only mature trees, or those which for some
special reason should be removed, shall be taken. The
forester in charge marks the trees and inspects the work
to insure that the regulations are adhered to. Not all the
mature trees are allowed to be cut, as care must be taken
to leave some to supply seed for starting new growths.
Different species begin the production of seeds at different
ages, and care must be taken that some trees old enough
to bear seed are left. It is also necessary to provide that
these are in such positions that they will not be blown down.
- If forest trees are left exposed to the full force of the wind,
they will soon fall. If all but a few of the large trees are
removed, leaving them distinctly higher than the sur-

74 Forests and Trees

rounding growth, they will also suffer by windfall. To
prevent this they are either left in blocks sufficiently large
to protect themselves, or in places where they are naturally
protected by other means.

It is also a part of careful cutting of timber to have all
trees cut by the saw and the stumps left low. No stump
should be more than eighteen inches high. . Then too, the
least possible injury should be done to the young growth,
and all the timber cut should, as far as possible, be used.
What will not furnish saw timber should be taken away for
fuel, and all brush and other refuse should be piled and
burned at a time when the fire cannot spread.

In European countries these regulations are easily en- —
forced. The forests are so close to centres of population
that every part of the tree can be profitably disposed of,
and even the smallest branches will be taken away. In
Canada, owing to the greater amount of forest and the
more scattered population, the disposal of waste will be
less economic. Much timber, which could be used if there
were people to use it, will of necessity have to be burned.
The practice of just trimming the trees, so that all the
branches fall on the ground, is no longer regarded as a
satisfactory disposal of brush. Decay in the Canadian_
woods is not rapid enough for this to be a sufficient safe-
guard against fire.

If a forest is to furnish a continual supply of timber,
care must be taken to keep a constant supply of young
growing trees. A well-stocked forest properly managed
will usually seed itself. The open spaces left by removal

Forest Preservation ris

will admit the light required to stimulate the growth of
young trees, and the crowns of the growing timber will
furnish the shade needed for the germination of seed and
to prevent grass getting possession. All trees do not stand
shade equally well, and if the growth of light-loving trees
is to be encouraged, some thinning may be necessary. The
species which are more “tolerant” of shade often gain in
the struggle against those which require more light. In
preserving the proper balance of species the help of the
forester may be needed, as pure stands of a single species
make conditions favorable to any disease or pest to which
that species is subject. At times planting may be neces-
sary, even here, but the forest itself will usually furnish the
young trees.

In Canada, however, owing to repeated fires, large tracts
have been practically stripped of trees which must be re-
placed. If the burning has been severe, the layer of mould
on the surface may be burned away, leaving a poor seed-bed ;
or if grass gets possession of the ground before trees get a
start, it makes the re-foresting by nature very unlikely.
The dry grass is likely to be burned off every few years, and
any seedlings will be killed. If, however, grass does not
take possession, the ground will likely be occupied by
poplar and birch. These trees, by reason of their rapid
growth, the spreading of their seed by the wind and re-
production from the root, will soon cover the ground to
the exclusion of all others. The aspen will spread even in
ground occupied by grass, and on the prairies there are
many groves now containing trees large enough for fence

76 Forests and Trees

posts and fuel, which have grown up since the surrounding
land has been cultivated. The cultivation has protected
them from fire, and the natural vitality of the trees has
overcome the grass. - But these are not the most valuable
species, and nature is slow in replacing them by others.
If the seed of conifers is available, their seedlings, pro-
tected by the shade of the poplars, will gradually grow up
and in time overtop the poplars. This stage of the re-
establishing of a forest is well illustrated along the main
line of the Canadian Pacific Railway north of the Great
Lakes. There may be seen quite a vigorous growth of
pine and spruce emerging from what a few years ago was
a complete cover of poplars and.birch. In time other
species will establish themselves, and, under favorable
conditions of climate and soil, the hardwoods will replace
the conifers. While this is perhaps the only way in which
large areas can be re-clothed, it is very slow. There are
times and places where conditions are such that seeds of
the desirable species are not available, or a quicker method |
is desired, and then artificial planting must be done. Just
as the custodian of a forest must know when to cut as well
as how to tend his trees, so he must know how to plant.
The output must be continuous, and growth must balance
with consumption.

The supervisor of a forest reserve must understand all
these processes thoroughly. On him devolves the duty
of laying out the work and its general supervision, and this
requires both knowledge and judgment. Still the direct
oversight of much of the work falls to the lot of the forest

eae ee ~~

Forest Preservation 18 |

ranger. He must cut the trails, fight the fires, estimate
timber and supervise its cutting. His duties require a
rare combination of shrewdness, skill, endurance and
honesty; and his services, even when rightly performed,
are seldom fully appreciated.

CHAPTER VII
TREE GROWING

“There is something nobly simple and pure in a taste for the
cultivation of forest trees. It argues, I think, a sweet and generous
nature to have this strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and
this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest.”

— WASHINGTON IRVING.

For tree growing the first requisite is well-prepared soil.
This is so essential that it is mentioned first and perhaps
will also be mentioned last-in the chapter, so that its im-
portance may not be underestimated. It is not absolutely

necessary to have any particular kind of soil, but it must .

be well prepared. There are trees for sand and trees for
clay; trees for wet places and trees for dry; trees that
endure shade and trees that require light; but all alike
do best on well-prepared soil. The preparation required

is that which would be made to furnish a seed-bed for any :

field or garden crop. A good summer fallow, or land on
which roots have been raised the previous year, or well-
tilled garden soil are the most suitable. In districts where
the rainfall is light, as is the case throughout the greater

part of the prairie region, summer fallow is preferable, as

part of the rainfall of two seasons is stored in the ground.
In fact the superiority of the summer fallow over land
prepared in any other way is so great that for several
78
/

Tree Growing | 79

years the Forestry Branch has insisted that the land be
prepared that way before material to plant it will be sup-
plied. It is claimed that trees set on garden land or back-
setting have not given the best results. Soil should be
not only well prepared, but also, for most trees, it should
be reasonably deep and well drained. There may be
rocks, provided they contain crevices through which water
can drain away and the roots pass, and the soil condition
still be good. An unbroken bed of rock, or the general
water level too near the surface, will usually injure the
growth. Good drainage prevents not only the presence
- of surplus water, but also the collection of soluble mineral
salts. Strongly alkaline or strongly acid soil is not suitable.

In deciding what trees to grow, there are two points
which need consideration before all others; they must be
adapted to the climate and to the soil. Length of life, rate
of growth and many other things are important, but need
be considered only after adaptation to soil and climate is
assured. It does not matter how slowly or how rapidly
a tree grows nor how long it lives, if it will not stand our
climate or soil. To some extent soil and climate interact
on each other. For instance, if a tree has suffered for lack
of suitable soil, the climate may either tend to make up for
this unfavorable condition, or it may complete the work of
destruction which the soil has begun. A congenial climate
may make up for poor soil, or rich well-drained soil may
offset a severe climate.

Sometimes the purely local conditions will decide the
effect of climate on a tree. A sheltered glen may support

at ss he

80 Forests and Trees

a vigorous growth which would not stand the exposure of
the hilltop. A northern slope, because it retains the snow ~__
longer in the spring and is therefore more moist, is fre-
quently well wooded, while the southern exposure is parched

and naked.

When it has been decided that certain trees are adapted to
the soil and climate, modified as these may be by local con-
ditions of drainage or exposure, then other characteristics
may be considered. The persistence or length of life of a
species and its rate of growth should be taken into account. -
Trees which grow rapidly will give results sooner than those \
of slower growth, but cannot be depended upon to last |
as long. In establishing a forest the rapid growers, like
the poplars and birches, often take possession of the ground
and form a cover which protects the slower types until
they get a start. These in turn take possession and form
a more permanent growth. For ornamental planting the
same result can be secured by mixing the poplars and willows 4
with conifers and hardwoods. The one type gives quick
results and the other insures permanency.

The liability of a species to insect attacks or fungous é
diseases also affects its value, either as a shade or a forest
tree. In considering this, however, it is well to remember |
that a pure stand of any species is likely to promote the |
increase of any pest or disease to which it is at all subject.
In Manitoba, of recent years, the Manitoba maple hasbeen
much injured by repeated attacks of the green aphis. This
is no doubt partly due to the fact that this tree is subject
to that pest, but it is also due to the trees being so plentiful

Tree Growing 81

and in most cases growing unmixed with other kinds.
For a long time this was almost the only tree planted.
It lines the streets of every town and is largely used
for shelter belts on the farms. The result which always
follows the unusual increase of a single species has done so
in this case. Its enemy has increased in proportion and
has done great harm. Professor Fernow, in pointing out
this result of growing a single species, says: ‘‘a city of elms,
for example, is naturally apt to become a city of elm-
beetles, the elm otherwise being no more subject to insect
pests than many other species which are supposed to be
immune, because the opportunity for extraordinary multi-
plication of its enemies has not been given.”

Cleanliness of habit, vitality, light and moisture require-
ments, shape of crown, amount of shade or value of the
wood for fuel, lumber or other purposes, are all things to
be considered, and trees should be chosen according to
their value for the purpose for which they are grown.
Mention of the particular nature of each species in these
and other respects will be made when treating them sep-
arately, but it must be considered that all trees of the
same species are not exactly alike. Great variation among
the individuals will be found.

The two methods of procuring trees are by transplanting
them from where they have been growing, or propagating
them from seed or cuttings. If they are to be transplanted,
the sources are either the natural growth of the woods or
stock from a nursery. In some respects the trees from the
woods have the advantage. Their adaptation to climate is

82 Forests and Trees

assured, and the kind of soil and location they prefer is
evident, both from the place where they grow and their
condition. Then, too, as they have grown in the shade,
they have been pruned by nature from the seedling stage
onward, and usually have clean straight trunks. Their dis-
advantage is that, having been grown from seed germi-
nated on top of the ground and always protected from the
wind, their root system is spread out widely on the surface.
The greater part of the small root fibres, which alone bear
the root hairs that absorb moisture from the soil, are at
the outer rim of the root. system and somewhat distant
from the trunk. In digging, these are cut away and the
tree thus has to produce fresh ones before it can establish
itself in its new location. This makes trees from the woods
more likely to die in transplanting, and slower to establish.
themselves than the same species grown in a nursery.
Cultivation and frequent moving keeps the root system of
trees in the nursery more compact, and thus less of it is
removed when they are transplanted. With care, however,
good results can be secured from forest trees. They should
be planted somewhat deeper than they grew naturally,
and severely pruned back so that the leaf system will not
evaporate more moisture than the root system can absorb.
This cutting back of the top also lessens their resistance -
to the wind and makes them less likely to be loosened be-
fore they become rooted. It is a wise precaution to stake
any trees in exposed positions to prevent swaying.

Nursery stock will establish itself more quickly, grow
faster for the first two years and has generally a more

Tree Growing 83

sturdy stem.” Unless it has been carefully and skilfully
raised the trunk is likely to be rough from frequent artificial
pruning.

The size of the tree and the time of year are important
factors in transplanting. Generally speaking no time is

Fic. 12. — A Corner of the Nursery at Brandon Normal School.

saved by trying to plant trees that are very large. The
young tree starts to grow more quickly, soon overtakes a
larger one planted at the same time, and often surpasses
it in a few years. Species of strong vitality, like the
willows or some of the poplars, may be moved when it
would be unsafe to move more slow-growing trees of the
same size. When making large plantations, it would be
unwise to use any other than very young trees. There are
times, however, when it is desirable for special reasons to
move a large tree, and with sufficient care any tree can be

84 Forests and Trees

transplanted, if the mechanical appliances for digging and
handling it can be supplied.

The moving of full-grown specimens is a special de-
partment of street and park work and need not concern us.
The care required is just about in proportion to the size of
the tree. ‘‘Transplanting a tree from one site to another
is a surgical operation during which the patient needs special
attention.” Particular attention is required in the digging’
As large a root system as it is possible to handle should
be left, and if the tree is large and only to be removed a
short distance, as much earth as can be kept about the
roots should be left undisturbed. Above all, the roots
must not be allowed to dry out. It is a good plan, when
special care is possible, to wrap the roots of each tree ~
with coarse canvas as it is removed from the ground. This 3
protects them from drying and prevents the earth from
falling away. If necessary, water should be added to make
. sure they are kept moist. While it is true that careful
planting is necessary, it is also true that many more trees
are killed by careless digging and neglect while out of the
ground than by poor planting. This is particularly true
of the conifers. The drying of the roots of a conifer, if
only for a moment, is fatal. The resinous juice of these
trees, if it once hardens, will prevent any further absorption
of water, and the tree cannot live. A spruce or pine will
often appear to live and even show some new growths,
when in reality it is only using food material stored up
in the stem and has not set up any connection with the soil.
Living the first summer after transplanting is not a sure

Tree Growing 85

sign that any tree is established, but less sure of conifers
than of hardwoods.

The proper time of year for planting has been discussed
as long as trees have been transplanted. In theory it
should be possible to transplant at any time of the year,
and in fact it is possible. With sufficient care a tree can be
moved when in full leaf. In practice, however, it is advis-
able to do the moving when the risk is least and when, as a
consequence, the care required is least. That makes it
very inadvisable to move a tree during the season of growth.
At any time between the cessation of the life processes in
the fall and the renewal of life in the spring, trees may be
moved with comparative safety. It is a common practice
to dig trees in the fall, bury the roots in moist ground
(heel them in) during the winter, and plant them the
following spring. Species differ in their response to dif-
ferent treatment, and any peculiarities in this respect will
be mentioned in connection with each. A very safe but
difficult way to transplant a tree is to cut it out of the ground
in the winter with a quantity of frozen earth about the roots
and set it in its new location, taking care to stake it so
that it will not loosen with the wind when the earth thaws
in the spring. A few years ago I had a number of
large Scotch pines moved in this way. The trees were
from eight to ten feet high and not a single one was lost.
Figure 13 shows one of these trees. The position of the
third whorl of branches from the top shows the height of
the tree when moved and all above that its growth since
the moving. The tree was nine feet high when moved and

86 Forests and Trees

has averaged a foot a year in growth for the three years
it has been in its present location. General practice seems
to favor the spring as the most suitable time for both
digging and planting, |
if other conditions per-

mit, but pines, unless
quite young, are not as
readily grown as most
trees.

The hole to receive

a tree should be large
enough to contain the
root system without
crowding. It should

be dug deeper than is
necessary and partly
filled in with good sur-
face soil. All injured
roots should be pruned
away and the tree set
firmly in its place. If
pe reece SE it has been taken from
Fie ce Sitar Rider egies the woods, it should be

planted deeper than it
grew naturally, but care should be taken not to bury the
roots too deeply. Air is necessary and some of the roots
should be near the surface. In light soil the planting should
be deeper than in heavy clay land. Care must be taken to
pack the earth firmly about the roots, leaving no spaces.

Tree Growing 87

If the soil is at all dry, when the hole is about half filled
with earth, a pail of water should be added and allowed to
soak away. ‘This not only wets the roots but helps to settle
the earth. The hole may then be filled, carefully packed,
- and a layer of loose soil spread on the surface. It is a good
plan frequently to loosen the surface around the newly
planted tree with a rake, as it prevents evaporation.

But it is not always possible or convenient to secure trees
for transplanting. If the purpose is to plant in large
numbers, the expense and labor is too great. In such
cases the trees may be propagated in the same way in which
nature would do it. All trees produce seed and may be
grown from seed. There are some quick-growing species,
however, which start readily from cuttings and are generally
propagated in that way. .

In selecting seed, it is well to be sure it was raised in
a climate not much less severe than the one in which
it is to be grown. Seed collected in a more southern
climate is likely to produce trees not entirely hardy when
grown farther north. About five years ago there was
sown, under my direction, a quantity of elm seed pur-
chased through a dealer. A year later another sowing
was made alongside this, the seed having been collected
locally. Two years later a third sowing of seed collected
in the province was made. ‘The seedlings of the first sowing
grow rapidly every year, but kill back to the snow every
winter. At the time of writing there are young trees
standing six feet high, more than four feet of which is last
year’s growth, and which is all dead. The seedlings from

88 Forests and Trees

the other two sowings are perfectly hardy and standing
green to the top, or an occasional one killing back a few
inches. The reason for this difference seems to be that the
seed which was purchased was imported from the south.
Removing the leaves from the young shoots early in the
fall might allow the wood to harden, but such treatment
could not be continued. The result is that the trees which
are not hardy will have to be dug out. Some trees while
perfectly hardy in a northern climate do not mature their
seeds. Seed of basswood, collected in Manitoba, has al-
ways shown a very low percentage of germination when
I have tried it. It is doubtful if the seed of either
the hackberry or the silver maple grown-in Manitoba will -
germinate, at least it would be safe to say that only an
exceedingly small percentage will do so. At the southern °
end of Lake Manitoba there is an area where the hack-:
berry grows, mixed with green ash and Manitoba maples.
The trees are all fairly mature and there are no seedlings.
Any that appear younger than the others seem to be shoots
from old roots. They produce a limited quantity of seed,
but it does not germinate, although the ash and maple seed
produce abundance of seedlings.

At Portage la Prairie, and at many other places in the
Red River Valley, the silver maple grows well. The tree
seems perféctly hardy and produces seed. I have
tried to germinate this seed and failed, and also failed
to find any growing in cultivated ground quite close to
mature trees. Seedlings of the Manitoba maple were
growing in thousands, but most careful search failed to

Tree Growing 89

reveal a single silver maple seedling, although a consider-
able quantity of seed had fallen on the plot.

It is evident, therefore, that in considering the suita-
bility of a tree to any climate, we must consider not only
the species, but where the individuals from which we
intend to propagate were grown.

Seed which matures early, like the elm, should be sown
the same year. The elm seed falls in June or early in July,
and if kept over until the following spring before it is planted
it loses greatly in germinating power. If sown at once a
much greater percentage of the seed will germinate, and
the seedlings get a fair start the same season. Any seeds
of the broad-leaved, deciduous trees may be sown either
in the fall or spring, but except in the case of those that
mature early or those with a hard shell, there seems little
in favor of fall sowing, unless it is more convenient. Seeds
of maple and ash have been found to germinate well when
sown in the spring.

Seed of all the broad-leaved trees is best sown in rows
in well-prepared soil and the seedlings left for one or two
years in the seed-bed. They should then be transplanted
in rows from one to three feet apart according to size, and
kept carefully cultivated until crowding makes it desirable
either to transplant them to a permanent location or set
them out in rows still farther apart. The best way to
plant a young seedling is to make a hole with a stick, and
after setting in the plant, fill the hole with water and press
the soil firmly about it. The seedlings should be. kept
in a pail of muddy water to prevent drying out.

go Forests and Trees

One of the chief difficulties in growing trees from seed is
the tendency to become shrubby. Being exposed to light
on all sides they branch from the ground, and the lower
branches do not die and drop off as they would do in the
woods. By having them somewhat crowded, and planting
rows of the slower growers alternately with rows of poplars
or willows, they will be shaded at the base and then grow
taller and with clearer trunks.

The seed of conifers requires a different treatment.
They are usually sown in seed-beds of well-prepared soil
surrounded by a boxlike frame about ten inches high. It
is sown broadcast over the surface and only slightly covered.
It must then be kept moist and shaded in order to germinate.
After the young plants are started, they need to be kept
partially shaded. This is done by putting a covering
made of laths nailed to the frame, the spaces between
being about equal to the width of the lath. The seedlings
may be left in the frames one or two years, according to
the amount of growth made, and then pricked out in rows
as was done with the seedlings of deciduous trees. The
conifers need very much more care than the broad-leaved
trees, and it is not advisable for anyone without some ex-
perience to undertake to grow them. Care should be taken
that land on which conifers are to be raised should not
contain alkali. While the white spruce will apparently
stand a slightly alkaline soil, a very small trace of it will
kill pines. It would not be possible to make any single
general statement as to the kind of soil trees like best.
There are trees suited to every soil condition from the

———

Tree Growing OI

driest hill-top to a peat bog. As far as one might safely
go would be to say that a rather light, well-drained soil
suits the majority.

Some trees can be more easily propagated from cuttings
than from seed. A cutting is a piece of young stem or
branch about ten inches long, and generally less than
three quarters of an inch in diameter. The wood should
be fully matured, but not more than one or two years old.
If the pieces are put into the ground and kept moist, they
will take root and send up shoots which will develop into
trees. They may be cut from the tree any time between
the fall of the leaves and their coming again. Generally,
for convenience, they are cut in the fall, tied in bundles
and buried, to be used the following spring. If they are
to be cut off trees convenient to the place of planting, they
may be cut in the spring and used immediately. Often
this gives the best results.

In theory, any plant should be capable of being propa-
gated from cuttings. The stem can give off roots, branches
or new stems and leaves, and these are the really necessary
parts of a plant. All other parts are produced from these.
In practice, only plants of strong vitality are thus propa-
gated, as they are the only ones that will grow in that way
without special care. Under a bell-jar in the laboratory,
it is possible to root cuttings from many plants that could
not be propagated in that way in the open. The only
trees in our climate that have sufficient vitality to grow
readily from cuttings are the willows and any of the poplars
except the aspen.

92 Forests and Trees

Cuttings should never be allowed to lie around and dry
out. If they are to be kept for any time they should be
buried in moist soil, and it is always advisable to soak
them well before planting. Moisture is the first essential
in getting a good percentage of cuttings to root. In plant-
ing they should not be forced into the ground, but should
either have a hole made for them or be leaned against the
side of an open trench or furrow, the soil filled in about them
and thoroughly packed. It is very essential that the soil
be packed firmly against every part of the cutting. It is
best to plant them on a slant, for then tramping the ground
above them will pack it firmly. If they are placed ver-
tically, the soil is often packed about the cutting only at
the surface, leaving cavities lower down. They should
also be planted deeply enough to secure a good moisture
supply, and only a single bud should be left above the sur-
face. An inch or an inch and a half is all that should ap-
pear. The soil should be well tilled and moist. When
cuttings are being planted in large numbers they may be
put six inches apart. When the young plants are large
enough to crowd they should then be transplanted, giving
them more room, just as would be done with seedlings.

The first essential in the care of growing trees is cultiva-
tion of the soil around them. This is much better than
frequent watering. In a climate where the rainfall is
plentiful they should require no watering, and, even in
the prairie provinces where precipitation is normally low,
they should need it only once in a while when the season
is unusually dry. When watering is necessary some soil

Tree Growing 93

should be removed about the base of the trunk, making
a basin, and a pail or more of water poured about the roots
and allowed to soak in. The surface soil should then be
replaced and raked loosely about the base as a mulch to
prevent evaporation. For newly transplanted trees, even

Fic. 14. — Trees Growing in Sod. Brandon Normal School.

in dry weather, once in two weeks should be often enough
to water. Good cultivation of the ground, however, is
necessary. Figures 14 and 15 show two rows of trees
planted the same year within two hundred and fifty feet
of each other. The rows run parallel, the slope of the
ground is the same, and the soil as nearly identical as it
would be possible to get it. They were planted and have
always been cared for by the same men. The only way
in which their treatment differed was that a lawn was made
around those in Fig. 14, while the ground about the other
row has been kept cultivated. No trees died in the row

94 Forests and Trees

where the ground was cultivated, while fully half the other
row has been replaced. The largest cottonwood in the
row in the lawn has a diameter now of about three and one-
half inches, while those in the other row will average seven
inches in diameter, measured one foot from the ground.
The elms in Fig. 15 have doubled their average diameter

Fic. 15. — Trees Growing in Cultivated Soil. Brandon Normal School.

since planting, while only one elm of the original planting
remains in the other row. The cultivation not only pre-
serves the moisture but allows air to enter the soil, and this
is very necessary for the life of trees.

After watering and cultivating, the next most important
point in the care of trees is pruning. Not only should all
shoots from about the roots and along the trunk be care-
fully pruned off, but the crown of the tree should be trimmed
to suit the location and trained to a symmetrical shape.
Care should be taken that no long weakly branches de-

Tree Growing | 95

velop, which are likely afterwards to break off, either by
weight of leaves or by the wind, and leave unsightly and
dangerous wounds. All branches should be cut off close
to the trunk with a clean cut, so that it does not split with
its weight and the split run down the trunk. To prevent
this it is a good plan to make first a cut with the saw from
the underside of the branch and a little distance from the
trunk. This should be made as deep as possible until the
_ branch binds on the saw. Then a similar‘one should be
made on the upper side, a little farther from the trunk.
By doing this any split that starts from the second cut is
arrested by the first, and a short stump of the branch is
left which may then be sawn off close to the trunk without °
danger. Whenever a large branch has been removed,
‘the wound should be coated with paint or tar to prevent
water getting into it and setting up decay.

The treatment of trees for fungous diseases of any kind
is not an easy matter. Usually it is better, in the interest
of surrounding trees, to sacrifice one that shows any tend-
ency to fungous growths than to try to cure it. If all de-
cayed parts are kept carefully pruned away and all wounds
treated with tar or paint so that wet cannot get in, fungous
growths should not give trouble. There are cases where
decay attacks a tree locally, and, if left untreated, it would
spread and destroy or disfigure it. If it is particularly
desirable to prolong the life of a tree thus attacked, it is
not difficult to remove all the decayed wood, treat the
wound with hot tar or some antiseptic which will not soak
into the green wood and injure it, and then fill the cavity

96 Forests and Trees

with a mixture of Portland cement and sand in proportion
of about one to three. This should be mixed with water

Fic. 16.— A Russian Poplar Which Has
Undergone a Surgical Operation. Bran-
don Normal School.

to make a stiff mortar,
carefully packed into the
cavity, and left smooth
on the surface but not
projecting. After the
cement has set, it is as
well to paint the outside
to prevent it from ab-
sorbing the moisture.
The new wood will form
around this and in a
short time close over it,
and the tree may live
for years. Figure 16
shows a poplar tree that
was attacked by a fungus
which had caused a de-
cayed strip about two
feet long and from one
to three inches deep. As
the tree was needed in
its location until the ad-

joining elms grew larger, it was decided. to try this “tree
surgery.”” The wound is almost covered and the life of the

tree has no doubt been prolonged.

Insect pests are so numerous and so varied that to give
many detailed directions would be beyond our present limits.

en

Tree Growing _ 97

It may not be out of place to repeat that the danger from
this source is much lessened if too many of the same species
are not planted together. For purposes of treatment, in-
sects may be divided into two groups, — those that injure
trees by eating the foliage and those that pierce the outer
skin of the leaf and suck the juices. The eating insects
include the larve of a great many moths, butterflies, flies
and beetles, but they may all be treated in the same way.
Insects are very susceptible to arsenic poisons, of which
the best known is Paris Green. Difficulty in procuring
Paris Green has made it advisable to substitute arsenate
of lead which is easily obtainable on the market now, either
in the form of a powder or as a paste.

The sucking insects include the green aphis or plant
louse, the woolly aphis and all kinds of scale insects.
These names do not apply to single species but to types,
each type including a large number of species. They must
be treated with a spray which kills by contact, and the
best, or at least cheapest, is made by forming an emulsion
of coal oil and soap. The following extract from the re-
port of Mr. J. M. Swaine of the Entomological Branch of
the Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, gives very clear
instructions for the making and use of the sprays.

“Lead Arsenate. Leaf-feeding insects of all kinds are usually
best controlled by poison sprays. Lead arsenate is one of the
best of these for use on shade-trees; its initial cost is somewhat
higher, but it adheres to the foliage longer, and does not often
burn the leaves when used at the ordinary strength. It is
usually sold in the form of a paste, and should be worked up

tet te
7

98 Forests and Trees

in a small amount of water before being diluted. For general —
spraying against leaf-feeding insects, two pounds are mixed
with 40 gallons of water; but for bad infestations of canker-
worms, especially when the caterpillars are more than one-
half grown, three or four pounds to the barrel of water should
be employed.

“Lead arsenate is also used in the form of a powder. One
pound of the powder will do the work of about two pounds of
the paste. .

“For use in small quantities:

Lead arsenate. . . . . . 1 tablespoonful
Water. 's.. er 10s,’ «abe, See

“Paris Green is used at the rate of four ounces mixed in 40
gallons of water for general spraying against leaf-feeding insects.
When a stronger mixture is required the poison may be increased ~
to five ounces in 4o gallons. There must always be added at
least as much freshly slacked lime as Paris Green to prevent
burning the foliage, and the spray mixture must be kept well
stirred while spraying is in operation.

Paris Green, - x) ivi ah «. 47 pOmaee |
Fresh lime. . . . . ..« $-¥ pound
Water |... ¢)494) .% sie

“For use in small quantities :

Paris Green . . . . . . 1 heaping teaspoonful
Mixedin water .. ... . 3 gallons
Freshly slacked lime. . . . 3 ounces

“Kerosene or Coal Oil Emulsion; a very effective spray
mixture for the control of plant lice, and other sucking insects.
It must wet the insects in order to affect them, therefore the
application should be thorough.

Tree Growing 99

“One half-pound of hard soap is shaved fine into one gallon
of hot soft water and stirred until dissolved. Two gallons of
kerosene (coal oil) are then added and
the mixture immediately churned vio-
lently until a thick, creamy emulsion
is produced. This churning is best
done with a bucket pump, putting the
nozzle back into the bucket. The stock
emulsion which is obtained when the
mixture is properly made, will keep for
months if covered from the air. For

use on plant foliage it must be diluted F!6- 17-— Force Pump for
ee Spraying Trees.
with water at the rate of one part of
the stock solution well mixed in from g to 12 parts of soft water.

“Stock emulsion :

Laundry soap. . . . . . pound
Soft water (hot) . . . . . 1 gallon
Kerosene (coal-oil) . . . . 2 gallons

“Diluted spray :

Stock solution. . . . . . 1 gallon
Water ...... . . gto 12 gallons as required

“Whale-oil or Fish-oil is used for the same purpose as kerosene
emulsion. It may be employed against plant lice at the rate of
one pound dissolved in from four to six gallons of water. Its
unpleasant odour makes this insecticide less desirable for use on
shade trees.

“Tobacco Extracts. Several valuable preparations of nico-
tine may be obtained from dealers in insecticides. | ‘‘ Nikoteen”
and ‘‘ Black Leaf 40” are among the best of these, and are very
effective in controlling plant lice. Soap should always be added
to the diluted spray at the rate of about one pound to forty
gallons,”

100 Forests and Trees

A spray pump will be necessary for their application —
and if much work has to be done, such as the spraying of
the trees on the streets of a town, then one driven by a
gasoline engine will be necessary. There is a great variety
of these pumps on the market and they may be procured
through any hardware merchant or seedsman. The
cheapest to be effective for trees is a force pump to be at-
tached to a barrel. |

CHAPTER VIII
THE TREE PLANTATION ON THE PRAIRIE FARM

A DISTINCTION must be made between growing a planta-
tion and growing trees. In tree growing the purpose is to
secure the highest development of the individual. The
trees are set out singly, or in groups or rows, but left
sufficiently far apart to prevent one from interfering with
the growth of the other. When a plantation is desired it
- is the grove as a whole that must be considered. It may.
be that certain trees will not be able to reach their best
- growth. In the interest of the whole grove and the use
to which it is put, the individual tree may be sacrificed.
If one wishes a row of fine trees, it is necessary to cultivate
the ground thoroughly until the trees are well grown. Ina
plantation, however, the purpose is to produce a ground
cover as soon as possible. This means that the ground is
so shaded that the growth of weeds stops for lack of light.
Perhaps the plantation’s worst enemy is grass, and only a
thorough ground cover will kill it or prevent its growth.
Cultivation is necessary until the cover is sufficient and
then it may cease.

Then, too, if good trees are desired it is necessary to
prune them. The trunk must be kept clear of branches,
and the crown shaped to fit its location, The plantation

IOI

102 Forests and Trees

requires no pruning. The lower branches help to cover
the ground and in that way keep it moist, so that culti-
vation ceases to be necessary. The trees should also be
close together, not more than five feet apart each way.
Crowding shades them toward the base and makes them
grow upward for light. This gives length of trunk, which is
desirable for some of the purposes for which plantations
are grown. The lower branches soon cover the ground
when the trees are close together, and these remain until
the crowns provide cover, when they die off for lack of
light. This self-pruning provides for clearing the trunks
of the lower branches and produces the long, clear, cylindri-
cal trunk so characteristic of the forest tree. In short, the
plantation is but a miniature forest grown in a convenient
place for the use of a single family.

The value to be derived from a tree plantation on a ~

prairie is easily seen. We all know how the wind
sweeps over the Canadian prairies. In winter its force
is increased by the driving snow which travels along the
surface, and, even on days of apparent calm, is constantly
filling tracks or blotting out landmarks. To check the
sweep of this wind and to afford a shelter in which the
farm buildings may be located is the first value of a planta-
tion and by no means its least. It also affords protection
for gardens or pastures which it may be desirable to shield,
and at times may protect the grain crops from summer
storms. Besides, a grove sufficient for shelter will also
furnish considerable valuable material. The natural growth
will supply fuel for the farm home, material for fence

—

The Tree Plantation on the Prairie Farm 103

posts and timber for any rough temporary work about the
farm. While it is not desirable that good farm land be
turned to forest to any considerable extent, yet to so use
enough for a wind-break would not be out of place. Asa
rule the rougher parts of the farm offer the best building
sites. Water is more easily found on a gravelly knoll
than on the unbroken level. An irregular surface affords
better drainage and generally greater natural beauty than
level land. So if the more broken parts of the farm were
chosen for building sites and clothed with good groves of
trees, it would meet all the requirements of beauty, service
and economy.

The only preparation of the ground which will be sure
to give satisfaction is summer fallow or its equivalent.
The planting being on a larger scale than when it is for
purely decorative purposes, it is not possible that the same
care can be given. It is, therefore, essential that the best
possible preparation be made. Trees do not need a soil
particularly rich in nitrogen, so that manuring the land
before planting is not essential and may be injurious. The
prairie soil is, as a rule, sufficiently rich in all the essential
elements of plant food, but every means should be taken
to increase the moisture supply. In the summer fallow
the greater part of the moisture of the previous year has
been retained and this makes the best preparation. If it
is necessary to plant on newly broken prairie it should have
been prepared the year previous by breaking and _ back-
setting, with the addition of a deep ploughing in the fall.
The object is to make as deep a bed as possible to absorb

104 Forests and Trees

and hold the moisture. Frequent cultivation the previous
summer is essential for this purpose. Stubble land is not
good for tree growing. The grain crop of the previous year
has taken out a great deal of moisture, and the ploughed-
down stubble is apt to leave cavities in the soil which
hasten its drying out the next year. Garden soil or land
on which a root crop has been raised is next best to summer
fallow.

As the number of trees required for a plantation is large,

the only material which can be used, without making both

cost and labor too great, is seedlings or cuttings. These
may be easily raised by any farmer, and a small nursery
plot for the purpose would soon furnish all that is necessary.
A few trees of willow, cottonwood, balm of Gilead or
Russian poplar would furnish abundance of cuttings.
These could be started in the nursery plot and transplanted
to the plantation after the first or second year. In the
plantation, as in all other cases, it is best not to trust all
to a single species.

In spite of the fact that a small nursery plot on the farm
would pay well both in material and satisfaction, few
farms have one. In order that at least a limited supply
may be available to any farmer who will put his land in
proper condition, a nursery has been established by the
Forestry Branch at Indian Head. Material may be se-
cured from this source, but the purpose is to develop power
on the part of the farmers to help themselves, rather than
be a constant help to them. The following extract from
one of the reports will make this position plain.

~~

* -
— |

The Tree Plantation on the Prairie Farm 105

“A limited number of trees and cuttings are sent out each
season from the Nursery Station at Indian Head, permitting on
an_average distribution of from 700 to 800 trees to each ap-
plicant, in two successive seasons, making a total of from 1400
to 1600 plants. Beyond this the farmer must rely upon his own
resources for further developing his plantation. Planting ma-
terial may now be purchased at reasonable prices from common
nurseries operating in the West, or the farmer may quite easily
grow his own stock from seed or cuttings taken from the older
belts of trees.”

In considering the plan of planting for the protection
and comfort of the farmer’s home on the prairie, two or
three things should always be kept in mind.

1. The first purpose of the planting is to furnish shelter,
and therefore the shelter belt should always be on that side
of the buildings which will protect them from the pre-
vailing winds: Those from which shelter is most needed
are from the north and west, so the tree belts should be on
the north and west sides of the building site.

2. Snow piles in very high behind any wind-break and
is likely to be a serious source of inconvenience about build-
ings. To prevent this the wind-break should be far enough
away to allow the snow drift to form between it and the
nearest building. At least one hundred feet should be
left to catch this drift and then no inconvenience of snow
about the buildings will result. Many people have been
prevented from planting about the house because of the
fear of snow piling too high.

3. Ina broad belt, which would be necessary if planting
were done for furnishing material as well as shelter, there

106 ! Forests and Trees

is danger of an immense drift forming in the middle of the
grove. The snow from the prairie will lodge there until

PLANIT}

a
ii

Courtesy Forestry Branch, Interior Dept.
Fic. 18. — Plan of Farm House and Grounds.

the weight will break down the trees. While snow in
moderate quantities is a good protection, it will do great
harm where. it piles so deep. If the young trees are not
broken down, they will be so bent that many of them will
never again assume an upright position. To prevent this
a few rows of trees should be planted about one hundred
feet outside the main grove. This will form a trap where

“es oe

The Tree Plantation on the Prairie Farm

107

the snow will pile and thus protect the trees in the grove.
It also forms a double protection to the house against

Orchard Smal fits . Roots Be.

A a ag Sage ar >

——_ Plan Be - 18 roms Tooes 44 LL ae es me
aay de

Se ie I - Be 75

FP Oe Sy one) Ss

=H fH
ey

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PLAN N?2
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s
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i
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Fic. 19.— An Alternate Plan.

drifting snow, and the space inclosed may be used for

garden or pasture.

CHAPTER IX

CANADIAN FORESTS

TuHE forests of North America are found in three main
groups: the great eastern forest, stretching from the
Atlantic westward to the Mississippi and well past the
Great Lakes; the Rocky Mountain forest, including not
only the wooded slopes and valleys of the Rocky Mountains
themselves and their foothills, but also numerous smaller
and mostly parallel ranges with their intervening valleys;
the coast forest, covering the shores of the Pacific and ex-
tending inland up the river valleys and covering the moun-
tain ranges nearest the coast. These regions are more
or less perfectly divided by treeless tracts and are some-
what sharply distinguished by the species of trees they con-
tain. The level grass plains, or prairies, separate the two
former, while a dry and more or less treeless region lies
between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast.
Farther south, this forms an arid desert, but desert con-
ditions do not extend as far north as Canada. On the
north these three wooded belts are united in an unbroken
stretch, reaching across the continent and extending north-
ward to and beyond the Arctic Circle.

The Canadian forests include the northern parts of these
three distinct and parallel wooded belts, along with the

108

4
——— as

a ne ee eel

ee

Canadian Forests 109

great northern forest which unites them all. The grass
plains extend northward into Canada, dividing the eastern
and Rocky Mountain forests as far north as the Saskatche-
wan river, but the Rocky Mountain and the Pacific coast
belts are not so completely separated. The desert of the
south does not reach Canada, but there is a “dry belt”
in southern British Columbia, lying between the Selkirks
and the Coast Range, which is in reality an extension of
the southern desert. This dry belt is not by any means
an open plain, much less a desert, but growth is less
luxuriant than it is either east or west of it, and some tracts
are almost treeless. Then, too, some of the species found
there are not found in the regions of more abundant rain-
fall. In the northern part of the province this separation
disappears, and the two belts merge into one great forest
stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the coast. This
is perhaps the greatest and most valuable block of timber
in the northern hemisphere to-day.

At the extreme northern edge of forest growth only
spruce and tamarack are to be found. An irregular line
drawn from Fort Churchill on Hudson Bay to the mouth
of the Mackenzie river, and a similar line from the east
side of the bay at the same latitude to Ungava Bay, mark
this most northern limit, and leave only a comparatively
small part of the continent west and north of Hudson Bay
which is quite treeless. Next to these hardiest species,
the tree which grows farthest north is the canoe birch,
followed closely by the poplar and the jack pine. The
forest does not become densely wooded until we reach the

110 Forests and Trees

range of the balsam fir, which is marked by a line drawn
from the southern extremity of James Bay northwesterly
to the Yukon river, where it enters Alaska, and north-
easterly so as to include almost the whole Labrador penin-
sula. .

On the eastern half of the continent, these species are
joined farther south by the best and most popular of all
the cone-bearing trees, the white pine. This tree, with its
intimate associates, the red or Norway pine, the hemlock,
and the white cedar, soon almost replace the others, form-
ing the immense pine woods of eastern Canada and the
northeastern States. The white pine has been ruthlessly
sacrificed to the greed and carelessness of man, until it is
doubtful if any primitive growth now remains. A great
deal of the area which it formerly occupied, however, is”
unfit for cultivation, and let us hope that man will in some
measure undo this wrong by seeing that it is properly
stocked with this king of the great pine family.

Farther south, the pines and hemlocks are gradually
replaced by the broad-leaved hardwoods — beech, maple,
basswood, elm and ash — with many other less plentiful —
species. -

West of the Great Lakes the hardwood forests are not
found. The prairie, fringed by a wide border of mixed
timber and grassland, extends northward to meet the
spruce woods — poplar, spruce and tamarack prevailing.
In places, along river bottoms or on sheltered hillsides, —
groves of green ash, bur oak, Manitoba maple and white
. elm are found, but while these growths sometimes cover

————— eS

Canadian Forests III

considerable areas and are locally important, they do not
form the type. They are confined mostly to Manitoba
and southeastern Saskatchewan, although the Manitoba
maple and the green ash extend their range well across the
prairie. Throughout the whole prairie region the tree
most frequently found is the aspen, or, as it is most com-
monly called, the ‘‘white poplar.” In fact, the names
white and black poplar have become so universally asso-
ciated with the aspen and the balsam poplar respectively,
that it seems useless to protest. These are undoubtedly
local popular names, and as such must be recognized.

Of the three prairie provinces, Manitoba has the greatest
proportion of forest. On the east side of Lake Winnipeg,
extending northward to Hudson Bay and westward from
the lower end of the lake, is the region of the spruce.

. This was formerly well wooded, but unfortunately has been

much injured by fires passing over it during dry years.
From the age of the present trees, it appears that about
eighty years ago and again about forty years ago, there
were fires which devastated vast tracts of country, while
smaller conflagrations have occurred from time to time.
Only on islands and in locations protected from fire are
specimens of the primitive growth. Here, in places, trees
of a diameter of 24 inches show the possibilities of the
region, although the general stand over areas previously
burned is still too small to be marketable. As the greater
part of this region is unfit for cultivation, it is evident that
its greatest value will be as a forest. If it can be preserved
until the trees are matured, and cutting is then done under

II2 Forests and Trees

proper regulation, it is capable of producing permanently
a large supply of valuable timber.

Other wooded regions of Manitoba, although less ex-
tensive, are not less important, and the following quota-
tions from the published report of an address by the Director
of Forestry for Canada refers briefly to some others:
“Along the valley of the Red and Assiniboine rivers was
a mixed forest of elm, ash, oak, basswood and ash-leaved
maple, where trees were found ranging to 24 inches in
diameter. Rising like isiands from the agricultural plains,
tracts like the Turtle, Riding, Duck, and Porcupine Moun-
tains bore forests of oak, ash and poplar in the Turtle
Mountains, and of spruce, jack pine, oak, elm, ash, poplar
and ash-leaved maple in the others. The character of the
virgin forest may be seen from the following extract from

a report of explorations made by Professor Hind on the

8th of November, 1858: ‘I beg to subjoin the circum-
ference, five feet from the ground, of a few trees within
fifty yards of our camp on the Riding Mountains : — Aspen,
4 ft. 6 ins., 4 ft. 6 ins., 4 ft., 5 ft.; White Spruce, 7 ft. 3 ins.,
5 ft. 6 ins., 6 ft. 6 ins., 6 ft.; Birch, 3 ft. 6 ins.; Poplar,
4 ft. 9 ins., 4 ft. 6 ins. These trees represent, as far as ob-
servation permitted, the general character of the forest
on the summit plateau of the Riding Mountains.’”’

This description would apply to the other prairie prov-
inces with but slight modifications. The river valleys are
more or less completely wooded, as are also a number of
isolated elevations such: as Moose Mountains, Cypress
Hills, Wood Mountain, Touchwood Hills and many similar

Canadian Forests ‘113

districts. Besides this, large stretches of the plain are
either completely wooded or parklike, groves and open
prairie mixed. Going north the proportion of wood in-
creases, until the whole country is covered. The prairie,
even mixed with woodland, does not extend much beyond
the north branch of the Saskatchewan, except a small area
in the valley of the Peace river. However, the species
change. The oak extends scarcely beyond the western
borders of Manitoba, while the white elm follows the river
valleys a little farther west. The green ash is found in
southern Saskatchewan and as far west as the Cypress
Hills, while the Manitoba maple ranges northward and
westward almost to Edmonton. In the northern region
the conifers prevail, spruce being the most plentiful; but
poplar, particularly the aspen, is found everywhere. Some-
times, it forms thickets of slender saplings; at other times,
forests of lofty trees fifty feet high and up to two feet in
diameter. It is the all-prevailing wood of the prairie.

In western Alberta, the forest of the foothills gradually
passes into the conifer type of the Rocky Mountains.
British Columbia is the province of conifers. The heaviest
timber is found in the coast region where the rainfall is
most plentiful, and the lightest in the somewhat dry in-
terior. The species are mostly different from those found
farther east, but the trees reach a size unknown anywhere
else in Canada. Almost solid forests of Engelmann’s
spruce are found in the valleys and on the mountain sides
of the Rockies, giving way in places to lodgepole pine or
Douglas fir. In the dry interior the yellow pine is most

II4 Forests and Trees

common, while along the coast are found the Douglas fir,
the giant cedar and the Sitka spruce, all of gigantic size.
This constitutes the most extensive and perhaps the most
valuable conifer forest in the world to-day. 3

To one who thinks of the causes of things, it is a source
of constant wonder just how and why forests came to be
distributed as they are. Many guesses have been made
in attempts to explain particular instances, but only wide
knowledge combined with good judgment will prevent
mistakes. Such knowledge has been or is being gradually
built up. The geologist, by examination of impressions
of leaves and other such remains found in the rocks, can
tell us what plants have occupied any territory in past
geological ages. The botanist can tell what the natural
conditions must have been where these plants lived, and
the explorer can make plain the present conditions. Putting
all the facts together we are led to the conclusion that
existing forest conditions depend upon three main factors:
(1) The natural conditions, including climate, soil, moisture
and elevation; (2) The order in which species of trees
spread their seed to new areas and thus get possession ;
(3) The power of species to contend with each other in the
struggle for existence.

We now know that at one time — it matters not to us-

how long ago or by what name the period is known —
great forests of trees, very similar to those which now grow
much farther south, extended north beyond where forests
of any kind are now found. We know further that these
forests died out, and the northern part of the continent

a a ee

Canadian Forests 115

became covered with an immense glacier which reached
south, in many places well beyond the international
boundary; and we also know that in time this ice dis-
appeared, and that much of the territory occupied by it
is again covered by forest. These changes did not come
suddenly. This ice field withdrew gradually, leaving a
lake along its southern border. As the ice receded still
farther, this lake filled up with ‘moss, forming peat bogs.
Gradually these became dry enough to support other plants.
First the bushes of the heath family took possession, —
Labrador tea, swamp blueberry and sheep laurel perhaps
most in evidence, with cranberries creeping in the moss.
Then came the trees. The spruces and tamarack were
first, because they grow when the ground is too wet for other
species. These were closely followed by the white birch,
aspen, balsam poplar, jackpine and balsam fir, and in that
order. Then might come the white and red pines, hemlock
and cedar. Trees follow this order partly because of the
condition of the soil, partly because of the influence of
climate, and partly because of the power they have to dis-
tribute their seeds and thus gain possession of new territory.
Where the white pine and hemlock are found, there will
be various kinds of hardwoods as well. The number of
species now rapidly increases, and the struggle of tree
against tree for light, air and moisture becomes severe.
Gradually the pines are overcome, and the forest becomes
almost exclusively hardwood, the conifers holding their
own only in certain vantage points, such as swamps, hills
or sandy plains, where conditions favor them. Thus has

116 Forests and Trees

the forest marched northward. The order and procedure
is true, not only of the eastern forest where the merging of
the conifers and hardwoods is complete, but also of the
prairie region where the hardwood belt is replaced by open
plain. It is approximately true also of the mountain
section, except that the factor of altitude operates more
strongly. Elevation produces much the same result as
higher latitude, and the conifer forest persists, relieved to
a large extent by physical conditions from the struggle
with the broad-leaved trees. And who is going to say
that the forest is not still moving northward? The barren
laiids of the north are barren, not so much because they are

so far north, as because that is a stage through which forests —

pass. These lands may yet furnish their full share of our
national wealth.

PART II

TREES

“T have just been visiting a tree I know.” — THOREAU.

THE PINE FAMILY. PINACEA:

“The dominant races come from the region of the pine.”
— JoHN BURROUGHS.

Memesers of this family may be distinguished from all other
trees by the possession of a resinous juice, needle-shaped ever-
green leaves and fruit in the form of cones. It is true one of
these features may sometimes be lacking. The leaves of the
tamarack are not evergreen, the leaves of the cedar are more
scale-like than needle-shaped, and the scales covering the seeds
of the juniper are so fleshy that the fruit is more frequently
called a berry than a cone. In spite of these exceptions, how-
ever, the statement is still true that the possession of these three
features will place a tree or shrub in this family.

The family includes not only the pines proper, but spruces,
cedars, tamaracks, hemlocks, firs and junipers, and its members
are amongst the most valuable of all timber trees.

Although some of the members of the family are low and shrub-
like, the majority are trees with large straight trunks. The
wood is strong, but usually soft and easily worked, while the
resinous juice protects it from decay. When land is being
cleared the hardwood stumps soon rot, their decayed roots
mixing with and forming part of the soil, but pine stumps must
be dug out, for the resin preserves the wood so that they rot
very slowly. Almost all the timber used for buildings, bridges,

117

118 Forests and Trees:

fence posts, telephone and telegraph poles, and railway ties is
obtained from trees belonging to the great pine family.

The juice also is valuable. It furnishes resin and turpentine _
and was formerly the source from which tar and pitch were
obtained, but these substances are now extracted from coal.

No trees have been so extensively used by the human race as
the pines and cedars, and none have been so often mentioned
in history and poetry. The cedars of Lebanon furnished the
timber used in the erection of King Solomon’s Temple, and in
constructing the ships in which the early Phoenician sailed
westward past the Pillars of Hercules; it was among the pines
on Mount Ida that CEnone mourned for Paris; Horace wrote
an ode to the pine tree in his garden, and Scott used the pine
as the crest of Clan Alpine.

I. THE PINES
Genus Pinus

The pines are all evergreen trees, although sometimes on
high mountains they are so reduced in size as to be little more
than shrubs. They have long needle-shaped leaves which
always grow from the branch in little clumps or fascicles sur-
rounded at the base by some small dry scales. These leaves
or needles are from one to eleven inches long and the number in
a fascicle varies from two to five. ,

In young trees the bark is smooth, thin, and often greenish in
color, but as the trees get older it becomes thickened and much
broken by furrows, while the outer part easily drops off in
scales. The bark of the mature tree is brown, gray or tinged
with red.

The wood in some trees is soft, white and easily worked;
while in others it is reddish, and rather hard and brittle, owing
to the large amount of resin it contains.

The cones take two or sometimes three years to mature, and

The Pine Family 119

are usually more or less curved. They consist of woody scales
closely overlapping each other, the exposed tip of each being
much thickened. Each scale, in mature cones, covers a naked
seed which is furnished with a somewhat broad wing.

The pines are widely distributed throughout the world in
the rich soil of river valleys, on sandy and barren plains and
exposed mountain slopes. As the young trees do not stand
shade well, the hardwoods almost always crowd them out of the
more favored locations, so that the pine forests of the present
are generally found in sandy or mountainous regions where
their competitors do not thrive. The more southern parts of
eastern Canada formerly supported extensive pine forests,
while the mountains of the west are still largely clothed by these
‘splendid trees.

“The tremendous unity of the pine absorbs and moulds the life
of a race. The pine shadows rest upon a nation. The northern
peoples, century after century, lived under one or other of the two
great powers of the pine and the sea, both infinite. They dwelt
amidst the forests as they wandered on the waves, and saw no end
nor any other horizon. Still the dark green trees, or the dark
green waters jagged the dawn with their fringe or their foam. And
whatever elements of imagination, or of warrior strength, or of
domestic justice were brought down by the Norwegian or the Goth
against the dissoluteness or degradation of the south of Europe were
taught them under the green roofs and wild penetralia of the pine.”

RuskIN: Modern Painters.

WHITE PINES

Trees with soft white wood and five leaves in the fascicle.

1. WuiTe Prine. Pinus Strobus. Linneus.

This is a large tree, often 250 feet high, with soft white wood,
easily worked and much sought for by the lumberman. It is
the most valuable timber tree of eastern North America and for
a long time was practically the only source of building timber,

120 Forests and Trees

The leaves are long, bluish-green, and often arranged in
tassels on new growth on the ends of the branches. The cones
are long, very slightly curved and drooping, sometimes in

clusters. They are mature in July or August of the second year,

Its range covers the whole of eastern North America as far
north as Lake Nipigon and westward to the southeastern
corner of the province of Manitoba. Ow-
ing to depletion by the lumberman and
the fires which followed in his wake, there
is very little, if any, of the original forest
left; but throughout a considerable part
of the range re-foresting by nature is going

the different provinces are now doing good
work in lessening the waste by fire, and
there is good reason to hope that at least
Fre site Pine, & limited supply of the timber furnished by
this valuable tree may be permanent.
“No other tree,” says John Burroughs, “is so widely useful
in the mechanic arts, or so beneficent in the economy of nature.”
Recently this species has been attacked by a disease which
has killed the white pines of Europe, and, if not checked, it will
destroy all the pines with five leaves to the fascicle on this
continent. The forestry departments of Ontario and Quebec,
however, with the assistance of the Forestry Branch of the
Dominion, are doing all that is possible to prevent this disease
spreading, and we hope that a tragedy in tree life may be
avoided, and that to future generations this noble tree will not
be merely a tradition or a record.

2. WESTERN WHITE PINE. Pinus monticola. Douglas.

This is the species which is known as white pine in British
Columbia and the Pacific Coast States. It so closely resembles
the eastern white pine that for a long time it was regarded as

on rapidly. The forestry departments of —

a

The Pine Family 121

simply a western variety of Pinus Strobus. Although it is now
considered to be a distinct species, the differences are not such
as would be noticed by the ordinary observer. It is, however,
a slightly smaller tree than the eastern species, but produces
very much larger cones.

The timber is soft, white, easily worked and much used
in construction. It has largely replaced the eastern white pine
for building purposes through the prairie provinces. The in-
creasing scarcity and consequent high cost of white pine lumber
of all kinds is restricting its use to spe-
cial purposes, the more plentiful red pine
and fir supplying the greater bulk of
‘construction material.

It occurs in southern British Columbia
from the western slopes of the Rocky
Mountains to the coast. It is usually
scattered through the mountain forest
of this region, and does not itself make
up large forests.

Unlike its eastern relative this tree has
been somewhat widely used for orna- Fic. 2.—Western White
mental purposes, both in eastern North Pee
America and Europe. Its growth is slow but vigorous, and it
has been found more suitable for transplanting to an eastern
soil and climate than any other western pine.

3. LIMBER PINE. Pinus flexilis. James.

This tree, although a true white pine, does not closely re-
semble either its eastern or western relative. It is a short,
often stunted tree, seldom more than sixty feet and often not
exceeding forty feet in height. The leaves are about two inches
long, stout, stiff and very dark green, growing on flexible
branches. The bark of old trees is thick, deeply furrowed and
dark brown, or sometimes nearly black. The cones are short

!

122 Forests and Trees

' and stout, growing out horizontally from the stem or only very
slightly drooping. They mature early in the fall of the second
year. ;

The wood is light and soft, but close-grained and not so easily
worked as that of the eastern white pine. It is pale yellow,
turns reddish when exposed for some time to the air, and is
not valuable as timber.

This is a Rocky Mountain species occurring on both the
eastern and western slopes from Alberta and British Columbia
southward, but its western and northern limits have not been
clearly defined, as it is somewhat confused with the next species.

4. WuitE-BARKED Prive. Pinus albicaulis. Engelmann.

In many ways this tree resembles the preceding and is hard
to distinguish from it. It is a mountain species extending up
to, and sometimes forming, the timber line on the higher moun-
tains. It is always stunted and at high altitudes may be a
prostrate shrub.

The branches are short and flexible and often grow almost
erect, giving the tree an irregular and shrubby appearance.

The leaves are dark green, about two inches long, stout, stiff,
and slightly curved, usually grouped at the ends of the branches.
The cones are about two inches long and somewhat globular,
maturing early in the fall of the second year, although they
grow very slowly during the first year. They are dark purple
in color and stand out horizontally on the branches, from which
they fall without opening. The seeds themselves are large and
sweet and are said to be used as food by the Indians.

The bark on young stems is thin and almost white. On
older trees it becomes thicker, especially at the base of the trunk,

but is seldom more than half an inch thick. The older bark is ©

finely grooved into small brown or whitish scales.

The wood is light brown in color, and while soft it is brittle

a

The Pine Family : 123

and has never been extensively used or much valued as a build-
ing material. .

The range of this species is mixed with that of the preceding.
The following extract from the report of Mr. T. W. Dwight to
the Dominion Forestry Branch indicates about all that is known
of them, as well as the confusion which exists both as to oc-
currence and identity.

“These two species of pine are found as scrubby trees on- the
poorest sites. Owing to their infrequent production of cones and the
difficulties involved in distinguishing them, the exact occurrence
of the two species was not determined. It is probable that white-
bark pine alone occurs on the higher ridges in the mountains proper
’ and that limber pine is mainly confined to the higher elevations in
the foothills. Neither species reaches merchantable size except
occasionally, nor is of great importance from the standpoint of form-
ing a soil-cover on poor sites, since they are not aggressive enough in
natural reproduction to bring about much practical benefit.”

“Limber pine, under favorable conditions, reaches a size of 18
inches in diameter and 60 feet in height, but even then is very sub-
ject to having forked tops and crooked boles. Most of the limber,
however, and all of the white-barked pine are stunted, and on exposed
sites are reduced almost to creeping shrubs. The root system is
rather shallow and the trees are subject to wind-fall, although mainly
on account of the shallow soil and exposed site which they habitually
occupy. Their capacity for resistance to climatic extremes is very
great, as they are nearly always subjected to frequent frosts and
severe storms. Their tolerance is small, probably less than that
of lodgepole pine, and this factor is to a considerable degree responsible
for their not extending their range to lower sites. The amount of
cone production is very small in this region, and is the main reason
for the small number of trees of these species. As the seeds are large.
they will germinate on a moderately thick humus as well as on mineral
soil,”

124 Forests and Trees

YELLOW PINES

Trees with hard resinous wood and leaves in fascicles of two or
three.

5. Butt PINE oR WESTERN YELLOW PINE. Pinus ponderosa.
Lawson,

The yellow pines closely resemble the red pines in their
hard resinous wood. They are sometimes classed with the
latter, the whole group being called pitch pines. In Canada they
are represented by this single species.

It is a large tree, often more than two hundred feet high,
with short stout branches, much forked and sometimes drooping.
The young growth is strongly aromatic.

are from three to eleven inches long and
tufted on the ends of the branches. They
fall about the end of the third year. The
bark is thick and deeply furrowed. On the
older trunks the scales are large and red-
dish-brown, but on young trees they are
smaller and almost black. The cones are
nearly four inches long, and sessile, grow-
ing horizontally from the stem in clusters
of three to five. They mature about the
middle of the second summer and fall early, usually leaving
some of the scales attached to the stem: The wood is light
- red, hard and resinous, but brittle. It is durable when not in
contact with the soil or exposed to moisture, and is extensively
used for various kinds of construction purposes.

This is a tree of the drier region of southern and central
British Columbia, extending northward on the plateaus between
the mountain chains to the south end of the Upper Arrow Lake
on the east side of the Selkirk Mountains, and for some miles
north of Ashcroft to the west of that range.

Fic. 3.— Yellow Pine.

The leaves, in fascicles of two or three, 3

The Pine Family 125

RED PINES

Trees with hard resinous wood and leaves in groups of two to the
fascicle.

6. RED oR Norway PIne. Pinus resinosa. Solander.

The red pine is a tall, graceful tree, often rising to a height
of one hundred and fifty feet, with a straight, somewhat
slender trunk and pale reddish bark. The leaves are from three
to six inches long, dark green, slender and flexible. On the
older branches they are grouped in grace-
ful tassels at the ends of the somewhat
drooping stems.

The cones are about two inches long,
horizontal, not at all or very slightly
curved, and shiny brown at maturity.
They open and shed their seeds early in
the fall of the second year, but the old
cones usually stay on the branch another
season. The wood is reddish, hard,
strong and resinous, arranged in very
conspicuous rings. It is not as easily worked as that of the
white pine, but on account of its great strength, straightness and
freedom from knots, is very valuable as building material.

The range of this tree in Canada is identical with that of
the eastern white pine, although it does not extend so far south.
Its western limit is the southeastern part of Manitoba.
Throughout this range it grows along with the white pine, the
two often standing in mixed growths. It is easily distinguished
from the latter by its more slender graceful trunk and reddish
bark.

Fic. 4. — Red Pine.

7. Jack Prine. Pinus Banksiana. Lambert.

This is a, small tree, seldom rising above eighty feet and
usually much less, being reduced almost to a shrub at its northern

126 Forests and Trees

limits. Its trunk is often short and stunted, but in thick groves
may be straight and slender, and free from branches for about
one-third of its length. The branches are long, and may either
form a rather acute angle with the stem, or be given off at right
angles.

The leaves are dark green, about one and a half inches long,
stout, rigid and more or less curved. They are arranged
somewhat loosely along the stem. The bark is thin, brown or
reddish and thickly covered with irregular scales. The cones
are sessile, not more than two inches long, and
strongly curved toward the stem, owing to the
greater development of the scales on the outer
side. This unequal growth of the scales com-
posing the cone makes it very oblique at the
base, so much so that at times the stem ap-
pears to come out of the cone at the side.
The wood is pale brown or yellowish-white,
close-grained but light and weak.

The jack pine is a tree of the north. It
seems to seek neither moisture nor uniformity
of temperature, but reaches its best develop-
ment on dry sandy plains exposed to scorch-
ing heat in summer and severe frosts in winter. Its range

Fic. 5. — Jack
Pine.

extends across northern Canada to Lake Winnipeg, and thence, —

northward and westward to the Rocky Mountains and Great
Bear Lake.

As a timber tree it is valuable locally for fuel, posts and
building logs. It is not sawn into lumber to any very great
extent. It grows quickly and is easily propagated from seed,
but the cones open only after being subjected to heat. Its
rapid growth and rather shrubby form make it a tree which
has good possibilities if used for ornamental purposes.

The Pine Family 127

8. LopGEPOLE Prine. Pinus Murrayana. Balfour.

The lodgepole pine is a distinctly western species and usually
a tree of the mountains. It is small, slender and graceful;
seldom much more than two feet in diameter and rising at times
to-a he’ght of one hundred and fifty feet. It has the habit cf
growing in dense groves unmixed with any other species. As
many of these groves are made up of young trees, the trunks
are tall and slender, more resembling the tamarack than other
pines. These clean trunks, being of uniform size and very
straight, formed the chief source from which the Indians of the
‘west obtained poles for building their
lodges, and hence the name.

The leaves are yellowish-green, about
two inches long, and are distributed along
the younger stems. The bark is very
thin, gray or brown in color, and covered
by small, thin scales. The cones are
about two inches long, usually in pairs,
near the ends of the branches. They “a
mature in the fall of the second year, but ‘Fic. 6. — Lodgepole
frequently remain on the stem another Pee;
year, and while they sometimes shed their seed at once, they
not infrequently remain closed and the seed has been known to
retain vitality for twenty years.

This is generally a tree of the mountains and their foothills.
It covers large areas of mountain slopes from western Alberta
almost to the Pacific coast. It also covers a small area in the
Cypress Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan.

In fact it was from this tree that the Cypress Hills derived
their name. The French-Canadian voyageurs used the name
cyprés for the jack pine of the east (pinus Banksiana). As
there is a strong resemblance between the two trees, the lodge-
pole pine is also often called jack pine and hence cyprés or cy-

128 Forests and Trees

press. It was then very natural that the only hills in the whole |
prairie region on which the tree grows should be called Cypress ©

Hills.

As a timber tree the lodgepole pine has considerable value,
more owing to its clean straight trunk than to the quality of
the wood. It is easily reproduced from seed, transplants well

and grows rapidly. Some seedlings about a foot high were -

planted in the Normal School grounds in Brandon four years ago
and some of them are now seven feet high and producing cones,
early cone production being characteristic of the species. The
habit of growing tall and slender may make this species of
doubtful value for ornamental purposes, but it undoubtedly has

qualities that commend it for reforestation of burned over

areas. Its value is well indicated in the following quotation
from the report of Mr. T. W. Dwight on the Rocky Mountains
Forest Reserve.

“Locally this is commonly called jack pine, but the true jack
pine (Pinus Banksiana) does not enter the region under considera-
tion. Lodgepole pine is the most abundant tree of the region. In
mature stands, it divides the area with spruce and other species
but in the widespread second-growth stands it vastly predominates
and so holds a very important place in relation to the future. It
also has the distinction of producing the clearest and highest grade
of lumber, although it is small in size. This is due to the form of the
tree which has a long cylindrical bole, well cleaned of branches, and

a small short crown induced by the intolerance of the species and its.

habit of growing in dense, uniform, even-aged stands. The bark is
very thin, .2to.4 in., comparatively smooth, with small scales or
shallow ridges, and grayish in color.

“The manner of seed production is one of the most important
of the individual characteristics of lodgepole pine. It is distinct,
not only from the other genera but also from other species of pine
except jack pine. The main points of interest are: first, the early
age at which seed production begins; second, the quantity and com-
parative regularity of production; third, the persistence of the cones

a

The Pine Family 129

on the trees; fourth, the slow release of seeds from the cones, re-
sulting in an almost permanent locking up of a considerable propor-
tion of the seed; and finally, the long retention of germinative
capacity by the seed.”

9. SCRUB Pine. Pinus contorta. Loudon.

This is a low tree somewhat stunted and often irregularly
shaped or apparently twisted.

It resembles the preceding species in many ways, particularly
in the size, shape and location of its cones, its production of
seed when very small — sometimes only a few inches high —
and the long vitality of the seed itself.

It differs in having a much thicker bark, especially near the
base of the trunk, and strong, hard, coarse-grained and resinous
wood, as well as in its stunted growth. The resemblance,
however, is sufficiently strong to induce some authors to con-
sider them as merely different varieties of the same species.

Its range is along the Pacific coast extending inland to the
western slopes of the Coast Range. Growing as it does where
some of the largest and most valuable timber trees of the con-
tinent are very abundant, this tree cannot
be said to have any economic value.

to. ScotcH PINE. Pinus silvestris. Linnzus.

This is the common European pine trans-
planted to this continent. It closely
resembles our red pine, except that the
leaves are shorter and more rigid and the
branches have little or no tendency to
droop.

It is widely grown for ornamental. pur-
poses in the eastern part of the conti-
nent, and also grows well on the prairie. It stands heat,
cold and drought without apparent injury, can be reproduced

Fic. 7.— Scotch Pine.

130 - Forests and Trees

readily from seed, grows rapidly when young and transplants
well for a pine. Although not particularly graceful when grown
by itself, it can be used to advantage when grouped with other
trees, particularly to form a sky-line.

II. THe SprRucES
Genus Picea

The spruces are evergreen trees found in the cooler parts of
the Northern hemisphere. They have tall, straight, gradually
tapering trunks and small horizontal branches regularly ar-
ranged in whorls, sometimes drooping. When young and un-
crowded they are conical in form, but when older or crowded
have straight naked trunks and cone-shaped tops. The leaves
are short, rigid, sometimes sharp-pointed, and pretty evenly
distributed over the branches from which they stand out al-
most at right angles. The cones are rather small with two
seeds at the base of each scale. They mature and shed their
seeds in one year but the old cones often cling to the stems soe
several seasons.

They are among the most valuable timber trees of northern
latitudes and are much used for ornamental purposes. Their
symmetrical conical form, dark green or bluish-green foliage
and rapid growth make them particularly desirable. They can

be easily reproduced from. seed, and with proper care can be’

transplanted easily.

1. WHITE Spruce. Picea canadensis. (Miller) B.S. P.

The best known, most widely distributed and most highly
prized member of this genus is the white spruce. It is a lofty
tree, reaching at times a height of one hundred feet, with a

base diameter of three feet. The trunk is clean, straight and —

gradually tapering, almost mastlike in size and proportions.
The bark is brownish-gray, about half an inch thick, and much

a

The Pine Family 131

broken into irregular scales, but not deeply furrowed. The
branches are stout and stiff, with a slight curve upward, and the
branchlets, though not flexible, are often drooping. In young
trees, grown in the open where the light can reach them from
all sides, these branches may extend in regular whorls from
quite close to the ground, forming an almost perfect cone.

The leaves are about three quarters of an inch long, stiff,
rather sharp-pointed, and, except when crowded or where the
light is not good, are pretty evenly distrib-
uted around the stem. In young shoots
they are light bluish-green, the new growth
thus forming a pleasing contrast with the
more sombre foliage of previous years. At
times these leaves have a very distinctly
skunk-like odor, which has given rise to the
local name of skunk spruce in some places.

The cones are sessile or nearly so, from
two to three inches long, tapering grace-
fully to both ends. When young they are
pale green or reddish but become shiny
brown when mature. They shed their
seeds early in the fall and usually drop off during the winter.

The wood is soft, white and easily worked, but not very strong
or durable when exposed to the weather. It is extensively used
as lumber and pulpwood, which a this spruce one of our
most valuable forest trees.

This is the evergreen of the prairie, where it seems to prefer
dry, sandy soil, although it also grows in moist places. It is
widely distributed all across Canada and is extensively culti-
vated for ornamental purposes.

Fic. 8. — White
Spruce.

ALBERTA SprucE. Picea albertiana. (S. Brown).

The western white spruce of Alberta and British Columbia
has always been regarded as simply a western form of the or-

ce Ea Forests and Trees

dinary white spruce. Recently it has been described as a
distinct species under the name Picea albertiana, and is said
to have shorter and more globular cones than the eastern tree.
Whether or not it will continue to be regarded as a separate
species is still doubtful.

It is recognized by Rydberg in his ‘‘Flora of the Rocky
Mountains and Adjacent Plains.”

2. Brack Spruce. Picea mariana. (Miller) B.S. P.

This is a companion of the white spruce both in appearance
and distribution, the two being frequently confused. It is
somewhat smaller than the preceding, with
rather shorter leaves. The branches are
short and drooping, with often a slight up-
ward curve at the tips. The lower branches
die more readily than in the white spruce
and often fall off on one side or in patches
along the trunk, leaving only a compara-
tively short, perfect cone at the top. To the
person well acquainted with these two trees
their general appearance will enable the two
species to be distinguished even at a dis-
tance. For those who require a more minute
point of difference the cones furnish the most distinctive feature.
In the black spruce these are less than an inch long and become
almost globular when the scales open to discharge the seed.
Unlike the white spruce, the seed is shed slowly and the cones
remain on the stems for years, the older near the base of the
stems and the newer towards the apex. The cones of different
ages sometimes form dense masses on the upper branches and
make an unmistakable point of identification.

Fic. 9. — Black
Spruce.

This tree is distributed all across Canada and extends far’

northward. In the more southern part of its range it grows
only in cold sphagnum bogs, but in more northern regions is

———

The Pine Family 133

also found on the rocky and moss-covered hillsides, where it
joins with the white birch, aspen and balsam poplar to’form the
greater part of the forest.

The wood is soft, weak and yellowish-white in color, and is
‘not valuable as a timber. It is extensively used as pulpwood
and in some places is sawn into lumber, while in the northern
forest it is a valuable source of fuel.

The broken and irregular appearance of this tree makes it
unsuitable for ornamental purposes.

3. ENGELMANN Spruce. Picea Engelmannii, (Parry) Engelmann.

Engelmann’s spruce is a tree of the mountains, where it forms
dense forests. It is a lofty tree, often one hundred and fifty
feet high, with a diameter of three feet or more at the base.
The general average, however, is much smaller.

The branches are slender and spread in whorls from the base,
but the lower soon die off, leaving a compact cone at the top, with
only straggling drooping branches down the trunk. The bark
is about half an inch thick, deeply broken into brown or reddish
scales. The leaves are about an inch long, soft and flexible
except at the tips, and are distributed evenly over the stem.

__ Those on the fertile branches are often shorter and stouter.
When bruised they have the disagreeable skunklike odor of
those of the white spruce.

The cones are about two inches long'and are produced in
great numbers on the upper branches. They are green, with a
tinge of red when young, but become brown when old. They
drop off in the winter after having shed their seeds.

The wood is light and soft, yellowish-white, with sometimes a
tinge of red. It is extensively used as lumber.

This species belongs to the mountainous regions of British
Columbia and Alberta, reaching its greatest development in
the Rocky Mountains. It forms the bulk of the spruce forest
at Banff.

134 Forests and Trees

4. SITKA Spruce. Picea sitchensis. (Bongard) Carriére,

This is the largest of all our spruces, growing to a height
of one hundred feet, with a diameter of three or four feet,
but occasionally reaching a much greater size. The leaves are
about an inch long and stand out almost at right angles to the

stem. The bark is about half an inch thick,

_ brown or reddish in color, and: broken on the
surface into large loose scales. The cones
are from two to four inches long, green and
often tinged with yellowish-red when young.
They fall off during the first winter. The
wood is light brown or reddish, soft and
straight-grained, and is a most valuable
lumber. During the war it has been largely
used in the construction of aeroplanes, its
strength and lightness making it particu-
larly suitable for that purpose.

This tree is found in moist, sandy or swampy soil along the
whole coast line of British Columbia. As its range does not
extend far inland it is sometimes called tide-water spruce.
It has been transplanted with some success to Europe and
eastern North America.

Fic. 10. — Sitka
Spruce.

5. CoLorapO BLUE Spruce. Picea pungens. Engelmann.

This is a beautiful and very variable tree, introduced from
the mountains of the southwestern States. It grows rapidly
and is easily recognized by the bluish-green color of the leaves
during their first year. It seems fairly hardy through the
prairie region and is likely to be a valuable addition to the ever-
greens available for ornamental planting. _

—_— le lr

The Pine Family 135

Ill. Tue Firs
Genus Abies

“T remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high:
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now ’tis little joy
To know I’m farther off from heaven
Than when I was a boy.” — Tuomas Hoop.

The word “ fir” has been used with various meanings. It was
originally the name applied by the Scandinavians to the Scotch
pine, pimus silvestris. The term afterwards began to be used
in a wider sense by the early herbalists until it was applied to
all the true conifers. This led to confusion, and explanatory
words had to be used to indicate particular types, and we hear
of the pine firs, spruce firs and hemlock firs. In Europe the
word is still used to apply, not only to the firs proper, but to
the spruces as well. In America, however, it is seldom used
except when applied to the genus aves or silver firs, so called
on account of the color of the leaves on the under side. The
one notable exception to this is the Douglas fir of the Rocky -
Mountains and the Pacific slope, which belongs to an entirely
different genus.

The true firs, or silver firs as they are called in Europe, are
tall, graceful trees, much resembling the spruces in general ap-
pearance. The branches are given off in uniform whorls, pro-
ducing the most perfectly cone-shaped trees found in our forests,
when they grow where the light can reach them from all sides.
It is easy to distinguish the firs from the spruces by the
leaves and bark. The leaves are longer and more flattened,
especially on the older branches, dark green or bluish-green
above and silvery-white beneath, with a twist at the base which

136 Forests and Trees

arranges them in two rows on the opposite sides of the stem,
exposing the upper surface to the light. The bark is thin,
smooth and sometimes whitish, and contains numerous blisters
which, when ruptured, exude a sticky resinous liquid, which
may often be found where it has hardened in streaks as it ran
down the trunk. The presence of these blisters in the bark
is a ready means of distinguishing the firs from any other of
our cone-bearing trees.

1. BatsAM Frr oR BatsAm. Abies balsamea. (Linnzus) Miller.

The balsam fir is one of our most graceful trees, its rich dark
green foliage and conical shape making it a rare combination of
beauty in both form and color.

The leaves are dark green above
and silvery-white beneath, not more
than half an inch long on the upper
cone-bearing branches but some-
times more than an inch long on the
older sterile boughs. The cones are
from two to four inches long, stand-—
ing erect on the stem. They are a rich purple and very resin-
ous, the juice often exuding as viscid drops on the young cones
or remaining in dry hard masses on the old ones. The bark is
densely covered with blisters and varies from thin, smooth,
greenish or whitish in the young trees, to about half an inch ~
thick and a rich brown on the older trunks.

This tree grows on light, well-drained soil, wherever conifer
forests are found across Canada to Alberta. It is replaced |
in the mountains by other species. It grows rapidly and has |
been extensively used for ornamental.planting, but is now being
largely replaced for that purpose by more vigorous and longer-
lived species from western America and from Asia.

The resinous juice collected from the blisters on the bark is
sold under the name of Canada balsam, and used in microscopic

Fic. 11.— Balsam Fir.

The Pine Family £37

work for making permanent mounts, and in surgery for ap-
plication to wounds.

The wood is light and soft, pale brown or white, and is fre-
quently sawn into lumber and used in making packing boxes.

2. ALPINE Fir. Abies lasiocarpa. (Hooker) Nuttall.

This is a mountain species, closely resembling the balsam
except inform. The leaves are light bluish-green, short, densely
crowded and often standing almost erect, owing to the twist
at the base. The branches are short, the lower with a tendency
to droop. The whorls of branches
are close together, owing to the slow
growth of the tree, the whole tree
thus presenting a very narrow and
compact cone instead of the open
broad-based cone of its eastern rel-
ative. The bark on young stems
is smooth, thin and nearly white but becomes thicker on older
trunks and broken into irregular reddish-brown scales. In
color, size and form the cones closely resemble those of the
balsam, and the wood is similar and little used for commercial
purposes.

The Alpine fir is distributed on the slopes of all the moun-
tains of British Columbia and Alberta. At high altitudes
it is reduced to a mere shrub, but at lower levels is a graceful
and rather lofty tree. It has been little used in cultivation
owing, no doubt, to its slow growth, but its compact, narrow,
conical form makes it present a pleasing variation when mixed
with other conifers.

The juice of this fir is also a source of Canada balsam.

Fic. 12.—Alpine Fir.

3. AMABILIS Fir. Abies amabilis. (Loudon) Forbes.

The name of this fir means Jovely, and if a tree can be called
lovely, it is well deserved, History does not record the fact,

138 Forests and Trees

but it must have been named by a woman. It is a lofty tree,
with a straight trunk sometimes more than two hundred feet
high, with a diameter of almost five feet
at the base. The bark is gray or brown,
thin and smooth on the younger trees and
covered with large blisters, but on the
largest and oldest trunks it is rough and
as much as two inches thick. The leaves
are flat and shining, dark green above but
white beneath. On the older branches
they are often an inch and a half long.
4 The cones are large, as much as six inches
4 long, dark purple and often indented at
. Fic. 13. — Amabalis Fir. the point. .

This magnificent tree is found in British
Columbia on the western slopes of the mountains facing the Pa-
cific Ocean, but it reaches its best development in the Olympic
Mountains in the State of Washington where it forms dense for-
ests. It is used for lumber, its wood being light brown, hard and
strong. The lumbermen frequently but
wrongly call it larch.

¢

ares
e%
f

4. LOwLaAnD Fir. Abies grandis. Lindley.

‘

This, too, is a large tree, even larger
than the preceding. It grows to a height
of almost three hundred feet, with a diam-
eter of from four to five feet. It may be
readily distinguished from the amabilis fir
by its longer and softer leaves, the color
of its cones and the character of the soil pyg +4 —Towland Fir.
where it grows.

Its leaves are about two and a half inches long on the older
branches, green above and white beneath, and stand out almost
/ at right angles to the stem in two distinct rows on opposite

ae

The Pine Family 139

sides. The cones are green and about four inches long. The
bark varies from gray to brown, and from thin and smooth to
thick and rough.

This is a tree of the lowlands. It is found in the moist flats
and river valleys of Vancouver Island and southern British
Columbia, where it grows to be a lofty tree with long, slender,
drooping branches.

The wood is soft and light and but sparingly used for build-
ing and other purposes.

This is the most rapid grower of all the firs, but it requires
a rich soil and moist climate with an altitude not much above
sea level to attain its best development. It has been trans-
planted for ornamental purposes in Europe but is not much
used in America.

IV. Tue Fatse HEMLocks
Genus Pseudotsuga

This genus contains but three known species, one a native of
Japan and the others of the western coast of North America.
The word “pseudotsuga”’ is a combination of the Greek word
meaning false with the Japanese name for the hemlocks. Surely
here is the place where the East meets the West.

They are large conical trees in many ways resembling the
firs. The bark, however, is thick and deeply grooved, and
bears no blisters as in the firs. The cones are drooping on dis-
tinct stalks, each scale being in the axil of a bract longer than
the scale. These bracts are two-lobed, forming a sort of fringe
around the cone.

The false hemlocks may easily be distinguished from the firs
by their bark and cones.

140 Forests and Trees

1. Douctias Fir. Pseudotsuga mucronata. (Torrey) Mayr.

“‘A big tree is nature’s masterpiece. It has a strange air of other
days about it, a thoroughbred look inherited from the long ago.”
— Joun Morr.

No minute description is necessary to describe this, the
giant of the Rocky Mountain forests. It is the largest and
most abundant tree in a region where trees are plentiful and big
trees are the rule. With a height of three hundred feet, it some-
times has a diameter of twe!ve or fourteen feet at the base, the
bark being at times fully a foot thick. If
growing in the open it may be clothed
with branches to the base, forming a
somewhat loose cone, the lower branches
drooping. When crowded, however, the
trunks are naked for fully two thirds of
their length, standing like immense col-
umns supporting the green roof of the
forest. é

The Douglas fir can be described only
in superlatives. It is not only the largest
and most abundant, but the most valuable timber tree of
western America. The wood is hard, strong and resinous, vary-
ing from light yellow to reddish, and may be either coarse or
fine-grained. It splits easily and is rather hard to work, but
where size, strength and endurance are required is without a
rival. It is extensively used in all kinds of construction and
also for floors and interior finishing.

This tree is distributed all over the mountain regions. of
British Columbia and Alberta south of latitude 51°, except
in a narrow strip along the western coast of Vancouver Island
and the coast of the mainland north of the Island. Along the
Gulf of Georgia it grows right to the water’s edge, both on the
mainland and on Vancouver Island, but it does not seem able

Fic. 15. — Douglas Fir.

The Pine Family T41

to stand the winds from the Pacific. Over this region it fre-
quently forms large tracts of dense forests, but reaches its fullest
development in the states of Washington and Oregon.

As an ornamental tree it has been used with success in Europe,
but not to any great extent in America outside of its natural
range. It has recently been found that seeds ripened in the
interior and at fairly high altitudes produce trees which are
hardy in other parts of North America, and its wider use in
parks and gardens may be looked for.

V. THe Hemtiocks
Genus Tsuga

The very word “hemlock” has an evil sound. One is un-
pleasantly reminded of the death of Socrates. The poisonous
plant, from which the ancients obtained the historic “cup of
hemlock,” was in reality a kind of wild parsnip, and had nothing
in common with the hemlock tree. The word hemlock is of
old English origin and no similar word exists in any other
language. How the same name came to be given to a poisonous
herb of the parsnip family and a genus of large coniferous trees
is one of the many unexplained and unexplainable things found
in the distribution of names. .

But even the hemlock tree has no good reputation. The
eastern hemlock had an unpleasant habit of growing every-
where. It was omnipresent. No hardwood was so dense but
some hemlocks could find a place; and no pine grove so pure
that the hemlock dare not intrude. The wood would neither
burn nor rot, and the knots were so hard they broke the wood-
man’s axe. Even if by much chinking, and not a little swear-
ing, a logheap of hemlock was persuaded to burn, it left the
knots. These were too wet to burn and too resinous to rot;
all that could be done was to dig a hole and bury them.

142 Forests and Trees

When the scarcity of pine made it necessary for the lumber-
man to resort to hemlock its evil reputation increased. The
wood was so near the weight of water that it would scarcely
float. If the rivermam stepped on a hemlock log it promptly
sank under him; and after a drive had been safely run down
to the mill, the hemlock logs would all go to the bottom. The
river-driver called them slugs.

No doubt much of the bad reputation of the hemlock was
due to being always associated with the white pine. It suf-
fered in the comparisons which were always being made. This
is well illustrated in a woodman’s story of their origin. It
was said that when the beneficent Providence wished to bestow

a blessing on man he made the white pine. His Satanic Majesty, —

however, would not be outdone. He too would show his power,
and perchance increase his popularity, by making a pine tree.
But when it was made it turned out to be a hemlock, and so
shaky that he had to pin it together with knots.

This tree of evil repute does not extend west of Lake Superior,
and the two species found in British Columbia have not had
to bear comparisons with the eastern white pine, or the oaks,
maples, hickories and walnuts of the eastern hardwoods. We
need not be surprised, therefore, if the western trees bear a
better reputation.

The genus has only eight members, four in America and four
in Asia. There are no European hemlocks. The name “tsuga”
is the Japanese name for two of their best timber trees, The
genus is easily distinguished by the rough, reddish-brown bark,
leaves usually arranged in rows on opposite sides of the stem, and
small drooping cones made up of very thin scales loosely over-
lapping. The cones mature in one year but shed their seeds
gradually, and the old cones fall off during the second summer.

The wood is extensively used as lumber, but is suitable only
for rough work. It is hard to work and warps badly when
exposed to the weather.

—_—— os '. a

The Pine Family 143

1. WESTERN Hemiock. Tsuga heterophylla. (Rafinesque) Sargent.

The largest and best of the hemlocks, this tree grows to a
height of two hundred feet, with a diameter of six or eight feet
and bark an inch and a half
thick. The branches are short
and drooping; the leaves are
two-ranked, about three quar-
ters of an inch long, with very
small teeth at the point; the
cones are never more than an ail
inch long, reddish-brown and Fic. 16.— Western Hemlock.
drooping. The tree is easy to distinguish, as its short droop-
ing branches give it the form of a very narrow cone.

This is a valuable timber tree. Its wood is durable and free
from knots. It is sawn into lumber of all kinds and ranks in
value along with the spruces, pines and firs for rougher uses.

It grows in rich moist soil in river valleys and on mountain
slopes, and is distributed down the coast region of British
Columbia, also in suitable locations across the southern part
of the province to the western slope of the Rocky Mountains.

2. Brack Hemiock. Tsuga Mertensiana. (Bongard) Carriére.

This is a smaller tree than the preceding, seldom reaching a
: height cf more than one hun-
dred feet. It can be easily
distinguished from its larger
relative by the leaves, which,
instead of being in two rows,
are given off in all directions
and are often much scattered
on the main branches. The
cones, too, are larger, sometimes three inches long, and erect
until about half grown, but usually droop'ng when mature.

Fic. 17. — Black Hemlock.

144 Forests and Trees

The wood is light and weak and not valuable as timber, al-
though occasionally sawn into lumber.

The tree is distributed through the mountains of British
Columbia, particularly the south-central part, and ascends to
an altitude of ten thousand feet on some of the mountains.

VI. Tue LarcHEs
Genus Larix

The larches are tall trees, with weak, scattered, often droop-
ing branches, which are roughened by short, scaly, rather
budlike branchlets. The leaves are light green, flexible, tri-
angular or four-sided and arranged in crowded bunches or fas-
cicles, borne on the short lateral branchlets. Unlike the leaves
of all other conifers except the bald cypress they are deciduous,
turning yellow in the fall before dropping. The cones are small
and erect, and fall at the end of the first year.

The larches, with their straight trunks and soft light green
foliage, have never attracted the attention they deserve. Not
being evergreen they are not conspicuous in the winter, while
in summer they are overlooked or confused with the pines and
spruces. .

These are trees of the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere,
three species being American and the remaining four or five
either European or Asiatic. The name “larix” given to the
genus is the ancient classical name given to the European larch.

1. TAMARACK. Larix laricina. (Du Roi) Koch.

This is the eastern representative of the larches in America.
It is a slender tree with a straight, gradually tapering trunk,
seldom more than eighteen inches in diameter and covered with
rough, scaly, reddish bark.

The wood is light brown, heavy, hard and strong, but not

The Pine Family 145

easily worked. It is used largely for poles, railway ties and
fuel, and but sparingly for other purposes.

It is distributed across Canada from Labrador to the Rocky
Mountains and north to the mouth of the Mackenzie river.
In the southern part of its range it is only found in cold swamps,
but in the north it is found on higher ground. Usually it forms
extensive forest tracts almost unmixed with other species.
There .are few sights of the northern forests more worthy of
notice than a tamarack swamp in the fall after the leaves have
turned yellow. Seen from a hilltop it spreads out like a lake
of gold, and is. only surpassed for beauty and mass of color by
the gorgeous red and gold of the maples. Of late years, an
insect, the larch saw-fly, has been introduced from Europe,
which has defoliated almost all the full-grown trees throughout
the greater part of its range. This insect is now being brought
under control by the introduction of its natural enemies, but
not before it has destroyed immense tracts of forest, and threat-
ened the destruction of all the larch trees on the continent.

2. WESTERN LARcH. Larix occidentalis. Nuttall.

This western species is the largest and most valuable of all
the larches. It is a large tree, sometimes two hundred and
fifty feet high and six or eight feet in
diameter. Usually, however, it is much
smaller, particularly on high mountain
slopes. Its leaves are pale green, slender,
about one and a half inches long, and
triangular. The bark is reddish, rough
and scaly, and on old trees becomes very
thick, sometimes near the base reaching
a thickness of five or six inches. The
trunk is tall, straight and naked for the
greater part of its length, while at the

Fic. 18.— Western
top the branches are slender and scat- Larch.

146 Forests and Trees

tered, and the leaves remarkably few for the size of the tree.
The cones are about one and a half inches long, with thin stiff
scales. The wood is dark orange, hard, durable and very
heavy. It is largely used for railway ties, and to some extent
in the manufacture of furniture.

This magnificent tree is found only in the valley of the
Columbia River in British Columbia and southward. It occurs
scattered through the mixed forest of this region, both on moist
bottom lands and up the mountain slopes to an elevation of
zoo2 feet, but reaches its greatest development in northern
Montana and Idaho. Any attempts to cultivate this tree have
so far been attended with little success.

3. AvprIneE Larcu. Larix Lyallii. Parlatore,

This tree, sometimes known as Lyall’s larch, is a mountain
species and much smaller than the preceding. While it some-
times grows to a considerable size, the
high altitude at. which it is generally
found makes it more commonly a small
tree or shrub.

The leaves are very pale green, about
an inch long and four-sided, while the
cones are sometimes as much as two
inches long.

Its range is confined to the Rocky
Mountains of Alberta and southern
British Columbia, and its habits are
excellently stated in the following ex-
tract from a report of Mr. T. W. Dwight.

Fic. 19. — Alpine Larch.

“This species is confined very closely to the area next to the timber
line, although sporadic individuals may be found in mixed stands
lower down. ‘The largest tree observed was 17 inches in diameter

by 90 feet in height. Usually it is of stunted growth, reaching a -

diameter of 7 to 8 inches and a height of 40 feet. The presence even

The Pine Family 147

of a single tree is made conspicuous by its light-colored foliage. It

‘never forms stands of any large extent and is worthy of only casual
interest. The bark is very thick, approaching, in this respect,
Douglas fir. On a 17-inch tree it was 13 inches thick. When it
develops to timber size it has a long, clear bole and short crown. It
is rather deeply rooted. It is the most intolerant of the conifers, which
makes reproduction of the scattered individuals in dense, mixed
stands difficult. Reproduction of the trees near timber-line is also
poor on account of the severity of the climate and the raw humus
covering the soil, which is unfavorable to the germination of the
small larch seeds.” -

Its wood has never become of commercial value.

VII. THe Arsor-Vitzs
Genus Thuja

These are the trees, or at least some of the trees, which are
commonly known as cedars. The true cedars, however, are
an old-world genus. Their Latin name, cedrus, was first
applied to the cedars of Lebanon. The origin of the word is
unknown but some have associated it with the name of the
brook Kedron near Jerusalem. No trees have been so often
mentioned in history, poetry or prophecy as the cedars of
Lebanon, and the name “‘cedar”’ spread to many kindred types,
among them the arbor-vite.

The name ‘‘arbor-vitz” or tree of life was first used by Charles
de l’Ecluse, better known by his Latin name Carolus Clusius,
an herbalist of the sixteenth century. About the middle of
the eighteenth century the great Linnzus reduced the naming
of plants to a system and gave to a very large number the
names which they now bear. He gave to this genus the name
“thuya”’ also spelled “thuja,” which he adopted from Tourne-
fort, a writer of the preceding century. The word “thuja” is
supposed to be derived from a Greek word signifying sacrifice,

148 Forests and Trees

and may have been given from the habit cf using the aromatic
gum of these trees as incense in sacrifice to the gods.

Both the cedars and the arbor-vites were highly esteemed
by the ancients, partly, perhaps, on account of their aromatic
odor, but certainly because of the great durability of their
wood. Pliny said that the wood of the cedar was everlasting
and thought the gods were made of it.

The arbor-vites are evergreens, easily recognized by their
yellowish-green foliage. The leaves are scalelike rather than
needle-shaped, arranged in two rows on opposite sides of the
flat branchlets, and overlapping in such a way that leaves and
twigs seem fused. The cones are small, with loosely over-
lapping scales, and the wood is light, strong, free-splitting,
strongly aromatic and very durable. The bark is thin and peels
off easily in long fibrous shreds, varying from yellowish to brown
in color.

1. WHITE CEDAR. Thuja occidentalis. Linnzus.

The American arbor-vitz or white cedar is the only represent-
ative of this genus in Canada east of the Great Plains. It is
a tree of the wet places, being usually
found in swamps or along streams where
it frequently crowds out almost all other
species. Its characteristic yellowish-green
foliage and thin bark, often hanging from
the trunk in shreds, make it easy to recog-
nize. It ranges all across Quebec and On-
tario to the southeastern part of Manitoba,
and is found in a small detached area about
» Cedar Lake, near the mcuth of the Sas-

Fic. 20.— White —_ katchewan river.

eee As a source cf timber this tree has a
special value. Its light strong wocd resists decay to a remarka-
ble degree. During pioneer days it was the favorite rail timber,

The Pine Family 149

and is now used for fence posts, telegraph and telephone poles
and, to some extent, for railway ties. The supply, however,
limits its use. It is particularly suitable for boat-building and
is largely used in the manufacture of canoes and light boats.
The sapwood easily splits into thin pliable strips, out of which
the Indians of the northern forests make the broad ribs for
their birch-bark canoes. Boxes made of this wood are said to
keep away moths. It is extensively used in ornamental plant-
ing, particularly for hedges.

2. WESTERN CEDAR. Thuja plicata. Don.

This is the big cedar of the western coast. It is one of the
big trees of the continent and rivals the Douglas fir in British
Columbia forests. Reaching a height of
more than two hundred feet, itis sometimes ~
as much as fifteen feet in diameter at the
base. It does not carry this thickness up-
ward for any great distance, however, much
of its base diameter being made up of im-
mense buttresses running up from the roots.
Above this rapidly diminishing base it fre-
quently has a diameter of five feet and
tapers gradually to a lofty height, though
sometimes it divides into. several trunks.
The branches are weak and small for the |.

: Fic. 21. — Western
size of the tree, with a tendency to droop, Ca
forming a rather compact cone.

The foliage is the characteristic yellowish-green and the
~ leaves scalelike, closely resembling its eastern relative in that
respect. The bark is about half an inch thick, reddish-brown
in color and broken on the surface into broad ridges.

As a timber tree the western cedar is equalled only by the
Douglas fir. The wood is light and soft, but rather brittle and
splits easily. It is dark reddish-brown, sometimes with pur-

150 Forests and Trees

plish streaks, and varied by the yellowish-white sapwood,
It works easily and takes a good finish, its own rich color making
a dye unnecessary. It is largely used for furniture, boxes and
Interior finishing for houses. The great width of the boards
makes it very popular for panelling, but being soft it is easily
injured. Large quantities of lumber from this tree are also
used for general building purposes, while it rivals the cedar of
the east in furnishing posts and poles.

This noble tree reaches its best development in moist bottom

lands, but is found on mountain slopes at altitudes up to six
thousand feet. At the higher levels it is much reduced
in size, at times being only a shrub. It occurs in suitable
locations throughout the whole coast region of British Colum-
bia and eastward in river valleys and on mountain slopes to the
western side of the Rocky Mountains.

“On the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway it first appears as
a shrub on the mountains about Kicking Horse Lake, at an altitude
of 6000 feet. Going westward down the valley of the Kicking Horse
it soon becomes a small tree, but in the Columbia valley is rather
scarce until about ten miles below Donald, where it forms large
groves, and in the valleys of Beaver Creek and the Illecillewaet in
the Selkirk Mountains it reaches a height of over 150 feet, with a
diameter of frequently over ten feet.” MAcoun.

“In British Columbia this trée abounds along the coast and lower
parts of the rivers of the Coast Range, northward to Alaska, but is
unknown in the dry central plateau, yet it appears abundantly on
the slopes of the Selkirk and Gold Ranges.’’ Dawson.

This tree is cultivated in Europe, and. dwarf varieties of it
have also been produced and used for ornamental purposes.

VIII. THe Grounp CyprRESsSsES

Genus Chamecyparis

The name “cypress,” like cedar, savors of the Old World. Al-

though the true cypresses are of another genus, the resemblance

The Pine Family 151

is strong. In fact, the cedars, arbor-vites, cypresses and
ground cypresses form a distinct group among evergreen trees,
resembling each other to such an extent that the names in
popular usage have become hopelessly confused. The ancients
_ regarded the cypress as an emblem of woe. The Greeks and
Romans placed its branches on the funeral pyres of their de-
parted friends, and the Turks still plant it in their cemeteries.

The ground cypresses compose a small genus confined to the
coast regions of America and Asia. They are tall, graceful
trees, closely resembling the arbor-vites, and are generally
known as some kind of cedar. In Canada there is only a single
representative of these trees, and that confined to a small
area of the western coast.

1. YELLOW CEDAR. Chamecyparis nootkatensis. (Lambert)
Spach.

This tree so closely resembles the other cedars that it is
best distinguished by its general appearance. Owing to its
limited range it could only be confused with the big western
cedar, from which it may be readily dis-
tinguished by its size and the nature of
its wood.

It is a tall, slender tree, sometimes
reaching one hundred feet in height, with
a trunk diameter of more than five feet,
but usually it is much smaller. The
leaves are a dull bluish-green, and dry up
when about two years old, the dead leaves,
generally remaining on the branches for Hie. ay Loarene edu
another year.

The wood is yellow, very close-grained, hard and brittle,
with a satin lustre and a very strong aroma. It is durable and
easy to work, and is extremely popular for interior finishing of
houses and boat building.

a

152 Forests and Trees

This tree is much cultivated and is sold under a number of
horticultural names.

Its distribution is confined to the coast region of British
Columbia and the islands along the coast. In the northern
part of its range it does not grow much above sea level, but
farther south is found at higher altitudes.

IX. THe JuNIPERS
Genus Juniperus

The junipers are shrubs or small trees with either scalelike
or awl-shaped leaves and strongly aromatic wood.
They may be easily distinguished from all other conifers by

their fruit. This fruit is a cone in which the scales, instead of
being woody or leathery, are soft and fleshy. This turns the
cone into a globular fleshy fruit which is popularly known as
a berry. This berrylike cone is not only the best distinguish- —
ing mark of the junipers, but gives them their greatest economic
value. Several drugs used in medicine are distilled from the
juniper berries, and the flavor of gin is due to the spirits being
distilled along with them.

The wood is close-grained, firm, but easily worked and
strongly aromatic. Under the name of red cedar the wood
of some of the junipers is valuable commercially. It is used
for making boxes, in cabinet work and largely in the manu-
facture of lead pencils. Until lately it was practically the
only wood used for the latter purpose.

1. Rocky Mountain Rep CEDAR. Juniperus scopulorum.
Sargent.

This is a short, but somewhat stout tree of the moun-

tains of British Columbia. It seldom grows more than thirty
feet high, but at times has a diameter of two or three feet.

The Pine Family 153

Often the trunk divides into two or three, all rising parallel
from the same base.

The leaves are small, opposite and scalelike, lying close
to the branchlet. They are dark green or pale, and covered
with a bloom. The fruit is bright blue,
covered with a bloom, and matures at
the end of the second season. Its flesh
is sweet but resinous.

The wood of the Rocky Mountain red
cedar is not as valuable as that of the
red cedar of the east. It is red, close-
’ grained and easily worked, and may be
used for furniture or pencil-making.

The tree occurs scattered over dry ce
mountain ridges in the southern interior aut Pete Poithees
of British Columbia. It grows singly or
in small groups, and usually at considerable elevation. It has
never been grown in cultivation to any great extent, but the
success with which the northern red cedar, juniperus vir-
giniana, has been grown would indicate that this, too, might
be valuable for ornamental purposes.

THE YEW FAMILY. TAXACE:

Tus is a small family of evergreen trees or shrubs mostly
found in southern latitudes, although their remains, found
embedded in the rocks of Greenland, show that at one time
they ranged far north. A few well-known trees grow in tem-
perate regions, and have been so closely connected with the
pursuits and habitations of man, that the name is a familar
one in literature.

They are small trees or shrubs with stiff linear leaves, really
arranged spirally on the stem, but so spread out as to make
them appear to be in two rows. The wood is hard, durable
and slightly resinous. The family closely resembles the coni-

fers, from which it is most easily distinguished by the fruit. —

This is a horny nutlet, partly surrounded by a fleshy, sometimes
jellylike mass, the whole enclosed at the base by several rows
of overlapping scales. This fleshy fruit has the reputation of

being deadly poison, but the belief seems to lack any founda-

tion in fact. é
The yews were formerly considered as belonging to the

conifers, and are still sometimes so regarded in England. The —

latest edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica describes the
European yew as ‘“‘a tree which belongs to a genus of Conif-
er, in which the ordinarily woody cone is represented by a
single seed surrounded by a fleshy cup.’ In other countries,
however, these trees are now regarded as distinct from the
family pinacee.

154

—;

The Yew Family 155

I. THe YEws
Genus Taxus

This is the genus which has been taken as the type of the
family and has all the characteristics mentioned as belonging
to it. The seed is nutlike, and is not attached to the red,
fleshy, cup-shaped disk in which it is embedded.

The yew trees of literature and history belong to this genus.
Their dark evergreen foliage, small size, and length of life have
mdde them at all times favorites for ornamental planting. The
slowness of their growth makes them keep their shape when
trimmed and adds to their value as ornamental trees or shrubs.
The wood is strong, hard and very elastic, which made it very
valuable in early times for bows. The famous long bow of the
English archers was made from the wood of the European species,
taxus baccata. The wood is also highly esteemed for making
furniture and ornamental objects.

1. WESTERN YEW. Taxus brevifolia. Nuttall.

This is a small but beautiful evergreen tree found growing
singly or in small clumps through the conifer forests of the coast
region of British Columbia. Its trunk
is straight but often marked by irregular:
ridges, and covered by thin, dark, red-
dish-purple bark, which is usually much
brighter in color beneath the surface.
The branches are long, slender and often
drooping. The fleshy cup surrounding
the seed is brownish-red and almost
globular.

The wood is light red, hard and brittle,
but very elastic. Itis very durable, takes
a good polish and is used for making
fancy articles and paddles. When plentiful it is used even for

Fic. 24.— Western Yew.

+e or pee es Vy im * “
a a = ae) "
156 Forests and Trees |

fence posts. The Indians formerly used it for —

and spear handles. as
Like all yews this is a good tree for ornamental pl

It is used to some extent for this _purpose = the F

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‘THE WILLOW FAMILY. SALICACE/:

WHILE these are usually spoken of as the willow family, they
include both the willows and poplars. They comprise not
only trees but many of our commonest shrubs, and are present
almost everywhere. All members of this family have soft
wood, grow very quickly, and lose their leaves every fall. The
flowers are in clusters called catkins, which in many ways
resemble the cones of the pines and spruces.

The catkin consists of a short piece of stem covered with
small overlapping scales. In the axil of each scale is either a
clump of stamens or a small two-celled ovary raised on a very
short stalk. Those catkins which have stamens have no ovaries,
so they can produce no seed and are called sterile. The cat-
kins having ovaries are called fertile because they do produce
seed. When the small seed pod ripens it splits open and dis-
charges a large number of seeds, each provided witha tuft
of silky hairs on which it is carried off by the wind.

There are few trees more used by man than these. They
are easily propagated by cuttings and grow rapidly, making
them particularly valuable in securing quick results in park or
garden planting. Where other trees are plentiful and grow
easily the value of the poplars and willows is often overlooked,
but on the prairie they are invaluable. They grow readily
where tree growing is difficult, and wind-breaks or ornamental
clumps may be provided on the open prairie in a surprisingly
short time, owing to their rapid growth. They form the
greater part of the natural groves and forests across the prairies,
and without them the so-called treeless plains would be treeless
indeed.

157

158 Forests and Trees

The wood is soft and not valuable for commercial purposes,
The absence of other timber, however, has made these trees
very valuable locally throughout the prairie region, both for
fuel and building material.

I. THe WILLows
Genus Salix

Willows are either trees or shrubs and mostly of northern
regions. They are readily distinguished by their narrow,
almost sessile leaves and slender.supple branches. The sterile
and fertile catkins grow on different trees and may occur either
before or along with the leaves. Usually the catkin begins to
grow very early in the spring and bursts through its covering
long before any other sign of growth is visible. As the scales
covering the catkins are often covered on the outside with a
white down, the growth has the appearance of being covered
with fur. This is the well-known “pussy willow” so universally
gathered by children in the early spring. These pussies are
the first sign of spring dnd no doubt their popularity is due to
that fact. The pussy willow, however, is not the willow in
full bloom. It is only the enlarging bud, and it may be some
time before the woolly scales covering the catkins open and
allow the stamens or ovaries to come out.

The willows are proverbially fond of wet places and are found
bordering all streams and ponds throughout the northern hemi-

sphere. A few species prefer dry places and almost all will ~

grow on well-drained soil, but the borders of streams and ditches
seem to be their natural choice. If plenty of moisture is present
they will grow on pure sand, but they by no means refuse to
grow on rich soil as well. In fact where the water is, there they
will grow, almost regardless of the kind of soil.

With us the willows are mostly shrubs, though a few grow
to be large trees. Their wood is light, tough and durable, but

a. > See

The Willow Family — 159

is only of local value for fuel or posts. In older countries the
long supple branches are largely used in basketry, but that
has never become an industry with us.

They are very frequently planted, but less for ornamental
purposes than for wind-breaks on the prairie. Their strong
vitality and rapid growth make them very valuable for that
purpose. They may also be used to prevent the washing away
of the banks of streams.

PEACH-LEAVED WILLow. Salix amygdaloides. Andersson.

This is a large rough-barked tree, reaching at times a height
of sixty feet, with a diameter of two feet or even more. The
bark is brown or gray, thick and irregu-
larly furrowed by deep grooves. The
twigs are slender and tough, the young
being orange to brown in color and with
a decided tendency to droop. The leaves
are bright green and finely toothed.

This tree occurs along river banks and
shores of lakes in Manitoba and west-
ward across the prairies. The wood is
of little economic value, being light and
rather weak, but for ornamental plant-
ing the tree has some good features. It Re pee eed
grows quickly, has a fairly thick foliage, Willow.
is long-lived and not much subject to
insect pests. The small branches, however, die quickly and fall
off, and it is difficult to get the trunk to grow perfectly erect.
The constant dropping of dead branches and the often leaning
trunk are regarded by many as objectionable features. This
tree is sometimes confused with the black willow, S. nigra, which
is an eastern species and not found west of Lake Huron,

160 Forests and Trees

WESTERN WILLOW. Salix Scouleriana. Barrett.

Scouler’s willow is a tree of the western mountains. It
grows to a height of sixty feet and a diameter of two feet under
favorable conditions, but at high altitudes may be reduced to
a shrub. It is a rather stout tree with
thin, rough, dark brown bark and leaves
much broader and shorter than those of
the preceding species, the broad part
being toward the point of the leaf.

This tree is found in moist places
throughout the mountain regions of
British Columbia. While preferring the
moist valleys, where it reaches its best
development, it is also found on elevated
mountain slopes, where it is usually only
a shrub.

The wood is reddish-brown, soft and
light, but strong and durable, and is sometimes used for handles.
The tree is of considerable value for ornamental planting on
the Pacific Coast.

Fic. 26. — Western
Willow.

WESTERN BLAck WIttow. Salix lasiandra. Bentham.

This willow resembles the preceding, varying in size from a
tree sixty feet high to a shrub. It differs from the western
willow in having thicker bark and narrower leaves. It is a
more southern tree, growing along streams through the coast
and mountain States, but may be looked for in the valleys of
southern British Columbia. Its use is similar to that of the
preceding, with which its identity is confused.

THE POPLARS
Genus Populus

Tue poplars are easily distinguished from the willows. In
fact, the two genera are so different in appearance, that few
people think of them as being closely related. While the willows
are very often shrubs, the poplars are always trees. Under some
conditions the trees may be small but they show no inclination
to become shrubby. The leaves, too, are broad and supported
on long slender petioles, and the branches are rather short and
brittle.

The locality in which the poplars flourish is not always the
border of a stream but is often a well-drained upland. They
are trees of the waste places. Whenever, by fire or otherwise,
land becomes denuded of its natural covering, the poplars
are the first to take possession. They can be kept out only
by grass, and the white birch and bird cherry are their only
rivals for first possession.

While common all across Canada, the poplars are of special
interest and value on the prairie. There a tree means a poplar
and a bluff a grove of poplars.

The wood is light and not very durable, and has little com-
mercial value except locally for fuel and rough lumber, and to
a limited extent for paper pulp. The lack of other timber,
however, has made it very valuable on the prairie. The fuel
and building material of the pioneer over the greater part of
the Canadian plains were furnished by the poplar woods.

AMERICAN ASPEN. Populus tremuloides. Michaux,

This is the most widely distributed and best known of all
the poplars. It is a slender tree with short, weak, irregularly

161

162 Forests and Trees

spaced branches, and thin, smooth, yellowish-green or whitish

bark, the outer surface of which rubs off as a white dust. At —

the base of old trees the bark may be-
come thick, rough and almost black.
The leaves are orbicular, finely toothed,
a light green when young, but becoming

slender and flattened, so that the leaf
trembles very easily in the slightest
breeze. This is why it has a reputa-
tion for having leaves that are never
at rest. The trembling leaf of the aspen
has been mentioned frequently in poetry,
and given rise to many myths and super-
stitions. Scott refers to it when describing the march of the
Earl of Marr’s army just before the battle at the mouth of the
Trossachs.

Fic. 27. — Aspen.

“There breathed no wind their crests to shake,
Nor wave their flags abroad ;
Scarce the frail aspen seem’d to quake,
That shadow’d o’er their road.”

The French Canadian lumbermen have a superstition that
poplar was the wood out of which the cross was made upon
which Christ was crucified. For that reason the tree was
condemned never to be at rest and the leaves could always be
seen to tremble. The wood was regarded as bringing bad luck,
and many men would refuse to trust their lives to a crib if any

poplar had been used in its construction. The poplar of this _

superstition was, of course, the aspen.

Of the different races of trees which succeed each other in
the changing life of a forest, the aspen is among the first. Owing
to its method of. spreading seeds and its rapid growth, it gets
possession of all waste places before any other tree. It forms

darker with age. The petioles are long, |

The Poplars 163

the ground cover under which the conifers are able to develop,
until they crowd out the quick-growing and short-lived poplars,
— the conifers themselves to be replaced in time by the more
enduring hardwoods.

The aspen is the ‘white poplar” of the prairie. Its clean
slender trunks furnished the pioneer with logs for his. building,
posts for his barbed wire fences and fuel through the long
winter. It is the only tree that seems to have vitality enough
to successfully compete with grass for the possession of the soil.
An aspen grove will spread outward over the open prairie if
protected from fire. In fact, the prairie fire was apparently
the only factor which prevented this persevering tree from
getting full possession of the prairie, and if man had not ap-
peared upon the scene, it might yet have covered these great
plains with its graceful silvery stems and tender foliage.

This tree prefers light dry soil, and will not stand cultivation
well. It is very susceptible to fungous diseases and seldom
escapes for long, if the grove in which it lives has been cleared
out for park or pasture. Unlike the other poplars, it is prop-
agated almost entirely by seed. It seldom sends up shoots
from the roots, and I have never been able to grow it
from cuttings. It grows very readily, however, from seed,
and while young grows so rapidly that it can compete success-
fully with any other form of vegetation. It does not transplant
~ well, is little used as an ornamental tree and its wood is of purely
local value.

‘It is distributed all across Canada and northward as far
as timber grows. In some places it forms dense forests, in
others scattered groves, but. more generally is found in mixed
forests or in pure stands on lands which have been burned over.

BALSAM PopLarR. Populus balsamifera. Linnzus.

This is the tree called “black poplar” by the pioneer on the
prairie. It is also known as Balm of Gilead, although, properly

164 Forests and Trees

speaking, that term belongs to a more eastern species. The
balsam poplar is easily distinguished from the aspen by its
large, resinous and strong-smelling buds, and its more pointed
leaves, which vary from a bright shiny
green when young to a rusty green when
mature. The bark is smooth and greenish
on young trees, but becomes thick, rough
and gray as the tree gets older. The tree,
too, is larger than the aspen and grows
along streams and in moist places.

The balsam poplar is a very quick-
growing tree; it transplants easily-and is
readily grown from cuttings. Where quick
results are required it is valuable for
planting, but it sends up a great many
shoots from the roots. This makes it
undesirable, especially beside grass plots. The wood is dark
_and of little value even for fuel.

Fic. 28. — Balsam
Poplar.

Biack Cotronwoop. Populus trichocarpa. Torrey and Gray..

This is the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast representative
of the preceding species. It closely resembles
the balsam poplar of the prairies but is a
larger tree; in fact, it is the tallest of all
the poplars, sometimes reaching a height of
about two hundred feet.

The bark is thick, gray and very rough on
old trunks, and the buds are large, resinous,
bright brown and often slightly curved. The
leaves are broad at the base, narrowing to
a sharp point, bright green, smooth and
shining above, and whitish beneath. Fg

The wood is brown in color, light and 29, —Black
weak, but is often used for bowls and such —_ Cottonwood.

;

The Poplars _ 165

things, where a soft wood that is not liable to split or sliver is
desired.

It occurs in the valleys and on the lower slopes of the moun-
tains of southern and central British Columbia and northward
along the Pacific Coast to Alaska. On the eastern side of its
range it becomes fused with the preceding and the two following
species.

Narrow-LeaveD Corronwoop. Populus angustifolia. James.

The narrow-leaved poplar closely resembles the balsam poplar,
but is distinguished by its long narrow leaves and almost up-
right branches. Its range does not seem well defined, as it is
not sharply distinguished from the balsam poplar in the north.
By some it is regarded as merely a variety of the balsam
poplar, while others assert that it hybridizes freely with it.

It is found quite distinct and easily distinguishable from the
other in the southwestern part of the prairie region, but its
identity becomes fused with that of other species to the north
and east. It has been mentioned by some writers as occurring
as far east as southern Manitoba and the Red River valley,
but I have never seen it there.

Cotronwoop. Populus deltoides. Marshall.

This is the necklace poplar of the Eastern States, and al-
though not the tallest, is one of the stoutest of them all. The
trunk often has a diameter of more than six feet, while it seldom
reaches one hundred feet in height. The bark on old trunks
is very thick and rough, but on young trees is smooth. The
buds are not so large as those of the balsam poplar and are only
slightly resinous. The tree is easily distinguished by its very
large leaves, often more than four inches across. ‘These are
somewhat triangular in shape, the base of many of them being
almost a straight line. The petioles are long, flat and red
when young. The fertile catkins when ripe have the appearance

166 Forests and Trees

of a necklace, and falling to the ground about the tree, are very
noticeable.

The cottonwood is found in moist sandy locations along lake
shores and the banks of streams across the prairie, fusing in the
western part of its range with the next
species, which differs from it so slightly
that it is often regarded as merely a
variety. These two species were for-
merly included in one under the name
populus monilifera, Aiton.

The wood has not proved valuable as
a timber, although used locally for fuel
and building logs. It has been freely
used for planting and is very satisfac-
tory, except that it is more liable to in-
sect pests than any other poplar. When
the native tree is planted the leaves
turn yellow and fall early, but the eastern form, which is often
sold under the name Carolina poplar, retains its leaves until
the frost comes. The latter, however, is
not altogether hardy on the prairie, as the
new growth usually kills back.

It grows readily from cuttings, and its
rapid growth makes it a desirable tree with
which to secure quick results either fcr
street or park planting. It is too large
for planting in small grounds.

Fic. 30.— Cottonwood.

WESTERN CoTTtonwoop. Populus Sargentii.
Dode.
The distinction between this and the last F16. 31.—Long-leaved
MES ee : Cottonwood.
species is not very marked. It is the
western cottonwood and formerly was not regarded as distinct
from the preceding. On the whole it is taller and has a greater

The Poplars 167

spread of branches. This may be the tree referred to by
Macoun under the name of populus monilifera when he says:
“At Big Stick Lake, north of the Cypress Hills, there was a
grove of these trees of a very large size in existence in 1880.
These had escaped the annual prairie fires, being surrounded
and partly covered up by sand, and stood as a proof of the
existence of forests in the past, where now there is not even a
bush. The trees were over pes feet high, and some of them
at least two feet in diameter.”

Britton gives its range from Saskatchewan and Alberta to
South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.

This is the cottonwood of the Western States, and it has been
largely used there for planting. The ranges of this and the
preceding species seem to meet in Alberta and Saskatchewan,
and their identity is not clear where they mingle. Usually
the term “cottonwood,” without any qualifying word, means
either of these two trees.

SiILVER-LEAVED PopLaR. Populus alba. Linnezus.

The white poplar of Europe has been sparingly introduced
and is quite hardy throughout our range. It is easily recog-
nized by its slightly three or five-lobed leaves, which are rather
sinuately toothed and dark shining green above. The young
stems, the petioles and the under sides of the leaves are all
densely white-woolly.

It grows rapidly, produces a good foliage and is easily prop-
agated from cuttings, but has the disadvantage of sending up
. numerous shoots from the roots.

RUSSIAN POPLAR

Under this name a number of Asiatic species have been intro-
duced for ornamental planting. There are at least three species,
populus petrovski, populus certinensis and populus wobstiriga,

168 Forests and Trees

and their identity is confused. The trees differ in

growth, as well as in the shape of the leaves and the}

of the buds.
These Russian saplats have pete exceedingly v

very rapidly, keep their leaves until the frost comes
are perfectly aes They are not wae to insect

except the amnens of tes up noone shoots
roots. . ,

THE BIRCH FAMILY. BETULACE

Tuis family includes, not only the birches, bu: the alders and
hazelnuts. Many of its members are shrubs, but others are
large, usually very graceful trees.

The leaves are simple, alternate and variously toothed, but
seldom lobed. The flowers are small, arranged in dense cat-
kins, the sterile and fertile both growing on the same tree.
The sterile catkins are usually slender and drooping, the fertile
erect and somewhat rigid, often remaining on the tree long
after the seed has been discharged.

I. Tue BrrcHEs
Genus Betula

This is the type of the family and has all the family character-
istics plainly marked. Its members are mostly but not always
trees. Several northern species are shrubs. The trees are
tall and graceful with slender branches, the branchlets often
drooping. .

The bark, while thick and rough on the old trunks of some
species, is usually comparatively thin, the outer part being made
up of paperlike layers.

The wood is close-grained, hard and splits freely. Owing to
the resemblance in the grain it is often used as a substitute for
mahogany in furniture making. Both bark and wood con-
tain an oil which makes them burn readily.

169

170 Forests and Trees

1. Wuitre Brrcn. Betula alba, Linneus, var. papyrifera.

This is the canoe or paper birch of the northern woods and is
the most widely spread of all in its range.

It is a graceful tree, sometimes of considerable size, and easily
distinguished by the bark. This is usually smooth, and on
young stems is reddish-brown, but as the stem gets older it
becomes a bright white on the outside, remaining yellow or
orange beneath the surface. The outer bark peels off in thin
layers, making the birch bark which is put to such a variety of
uses. The Indian’s birch-bark canoe is known to the world,
but it has many other uses not so well
known.

The wood is hard and strong and is
much used for spools, handles of tools
and furniture. It is also highly valued
as fuel, the oil which it contains making
it burn freely even when green.

The canoe birch is found across
Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific and northward to the mouth of
the Mackenzie river. It shares with the
poplar and bird cherry the distinction
of being the first tree to take possession
of land over which fire has recently run, and only the black and
white spruce and tamarack grow as far north. It varies greatly
in different parts of its wide range, the various forms being
frequently known by distinct names, for example: “The British
Columbia form has much shorter and thicker leaves and a very
different bark, so that it may be a distinct variety, and in that
case should appear under Lyall’s name.” Macoun.

As a cultivated tree it is graceful, and is sometimes spoken
of as the most ladylike of all our trees. It prefers light soil
and grows rapidly at first, but does not seem to live long.

Fic. 32.— White Birch.

The Birch Family ie

We often see the shining white stems of young birches in parks
and gardens, but no one sees or hears of a gnarled old birch.
The beeches, the elms and the oaks grow
old in cultivation, but the birches, like the
good, die young.

2. MOUNTAIN BrircH. Betula fontinalis.
Sargent.

This is either a shrub or a small tree,
seldom more than thirty feet high. The
bark of the stem is thin, a dark bronze in
color, smooth and shining, while the twigs
are grayish and rough. ‘The leaves are

. ‘1G. 33. — Mountai
almost orbicular and supported on short = sae re ae

petioles.

This small birch is found in the Rocky Mountains and spreads
eastward in the river valleys. It is much confused with the
next species in the mountain district.

3. WESTERN Brrcu. Betula occidentalis. Hooker.

The western birch is a large tree, often more than one hundred
feet high and three feet in diameter. It reaches its best develop-
ment in the State of Washington, varying from a medium-sized
tree to a shrub in British Columbia.

Its outer bark is yellowish or brown, smooth and shining, and
easily peels off. The inner bark is much lighter in color. The
leaves are broad at the base, tapering to a rather sharp point,
coarsely and sharply toothed, and frequently doubly toothed.

It occurs throughout British Columbia and eastward, where
it mixes and becomes confused with the preceding species.
- Macoun is evidently mixing the two species when he gives its
range as “Rather common in British Columbia, extending
eastward to the Saskatchewan plains.”

172 Forests and Trees

II. Tue ALpERS

The alders resemble the birches sufficiently to have been
formerly included in the same genus. The bark does not peel
off in layers like that of most of the birches, and the oil in the
bark and wood is absent in the alders. The fruiting catkins
are almost globular and remain on the stem sometimes for a
year after the seed has been discharged. The wood is very soft
and weak, the juice watery and the bark astringent.

1. Rep Atper. Alnus oregona. Nuttall.

This is a tall tree with a weak, often leaning trunk, but fre-
quently of considerable size. It reaches a height of about
seventy-five feet and a diameter of two

feet.

The bark is almost smooth and light
gray or whitish in places. The leaves are
large, often six inches or more in length,
rather sharp-pointed, coarsely toothed and
very prominently veined.

The wood is light reddish-brown .and
takes a very good polish, but is soft and
weak. It is used, however, for furniture
and even for canoes by the Indians. The
ease with which it can be worked causes it
to be used for many purposes where a
stronger and more durable wood might be thought preferable.

Fic. 34.—Red Alder.

It occurs along the Pacific coast throughout the whole length —

of British Columbia, often forming the first fringe at the water’s
edge.

~

THE BEECH FAMILY. FAGACE/:

Tuts family includes the oaks, beeches and chestnuts, which
are among the best known and most useful hardwood trees.
They are widely distributed, being found all over the earth, and
rank next to the pines in economic value.

The members of this family have simple, deciduous, pin-
nately veined leaves, sometimes variously lobed; but their
most distinctive feature is the fruit. It consists of a nut with
a tough or hard shell surrounded by, or embedded in, a fleshy
spiny outer covering. This outer coat is made up of the
thickened bracts of an involucre which surrounds the fertile
flower. The acorns, beech-nuts and chestnuts are so well
known, that they need only to be mentioned to bring up as-
sociations with the noble group of trees which bear them.

Like most hardwood trees, the oaks, beeches and chestnuts
thrive best in a moist and temperate climate. One species of
oak is the only member which has proved itself able to stand
the drought and cold of the prairies. There seems little reason
to doubt that, given time, these trees would have reached the
coast region of British Columbia. That province is still in the
conifer stage of its forest development. The march of the
hardwood forest has not reached it, and now that man has
interfered, it never will reach it in the natural way. A te
species of oak is found on Vancouver Island

I. Tue Oaks
Genus Quercus

“The Monarch oak, the patriarch of trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees:
. Three centuries he grows, and three he stays
Supreme in state; and in three more decays.””’ DRYDEN.
173

174 : Forests and Trees

The oaks are the most celebrated and valuable of a well-
known and important family. They are trees of the northern »
hemisphere, and with a few exceptions are confined to North
America.

While America may have the greater number of species, still
the tree which made the oaks famous belongs to Europe. This is
the celebrated British oak (Q. robur). It is the oak of history,
poetry and myth. It constituted a considerable part of the
original forest, not only of Great Britain, but of all Europe
south of the Baltic Sea. For ages it has been regarded as the ~
type of rugged endurance, and thus a type of things British.
It was of it Ruskin was thinking when he wrote:

“The ideal of the mountain oak may be anything, twisting and
leaning, and shattered, and rock-encumbered, so only that, amidst
all its misfortunes, it maintain the dignity of oak; and indeed, I
look upon this kind of tree as more ideal than the other, in so far as,
by its efforts and struggles, more of its nature, enduring power,
patience in waiting for and ingenuity in obtaining what it wants, is
brought out, and so more of the essence of oak exhibited than under
more fortunate conditions.”

“There is in trees no perfect form which can be fixed upon or
reasoned out as ideal; but that is always an ideal oak which, however
poverty-stricken, or hunger-pinched, or tempest-tortured, is yet
seen to have done, under its appointed circumstances, all that could
be expected of oak.”

The wood of the oak has always been used wherever hard-
ness and endurance were desirable, but the diminishing supply
is now restricting it largely to inside finishing and furniture.
No wood resists water so well, and, when kept dry, it is practi-
cally indestructible. The bark is a valuable source of tannin,
and cork is the outer bark of a species of oak.

They are essentially trees of the northern hemisphere, and
although Europe and northern Africa have furnished the earliest
and most widely known species, by far the greater number

The Beech Family 17s

belong to America. They reach their best development in
the southern part of North America, ranging south along the
plateau to about the equator-or a little south of it. Only two
species are found in the four western provinces of Canada.

“He who plants an oak, looks forward to future ages, and plants
for posterity.” WASHINGTON IRVING.

1. Bur OAK. Quercus macrocarpa. Michaux.

In the more southern and eastern part of its range the bur
oak grows to be one of the largest of oak trees. It sometimes
reaches a height of more than one hundred
and fifty feet, with a diameter of six or seven
feet. It is found in thickets or open groves
throughout Manitoba as far north as the
Riding Mountains, and extends west for a
short distance into Saskatchewan, especially
along the valley of the Qu’Appelle. This,
however, is the extreme northern and west-
ern limit of its range and
it is much reduced in
size, being a small, rather
stunted tree, seldom
reaching a diameter of
more than twelve inches.

It is easily distinguished by its character-
istic sinuately lobed leaves and its acorn with
a very deep cup.

Its use is entirely local, mostly for fuel or
fence posts. Its growth is very slow and,
c»sequently, it has not yet found favor as
a cultivated tree; but it can be transplanted
when young by taking reasonable care, and its long life may
yet make it more used for decorative purposes.

Fic. 35.— Bur Oak.

Fic. 36.—Garry Oak.

176" >" Forests and Trees |

-

2. GARRY Oak. Quercus Garryana. — Douglas.

This is the principal oak tree of the Pacific slope. It som
times reaches a height of more than one hundred feet, but its”
best develcpment is south of the Canadian boundary. =

The leaves are large, thick and leathery, deep green — es

rather irregularly lobed, the terminal often three-lobed.

the surface into low ridges. The fruit is an acorn with a vy
shallow cup. 3
The wood of this oak is valuable for sour house fini

required. |
Its only cccurrence in Chnadas is in the southern Pot of Vv
couver Island, and the islands of the Gulf of Georgia. .

THE NETTLE FAMILY. URTICACEZ

Ir is a long call from the stinging nettle to the elm tree,
and yet on account of resemblances which are not apparent to
every one, they belong to the same family and it is the nettle,
not the elm, that gives the name. It is a large family of mostly
tropical plants, and a detailed account of their characteristics
is not necessary that we may appreciate the beauties of the elm
tree.

I. THe Ems

These are all trees with simple alternate leaves, always prom-
inently pinnately veined and usually oblique at the base.
The fruit is a flat nutlet, winged all around, and falls early in
the season. The genus contains a small number of trees, all
highly valued for their beauty of form and the strength of their
wood.

1. THe Wuite Exim. Ulmus americana. Linnezus.

The white or American elm is one of the biggest, most widely
distributed and best-known trees on the continent. It grows
at times to a height of more than one hundred feet, with massive
trunk and branches. Strong buttresses often run up the trunk
from the large roots.

The tree is easily distinguished by its rough, gray bark, long,
supple, and sometimes drooping branches, and simple, pinnately
veined leaves arranged in two ranks. The leaves are coarsely
toothed or double-toothed and quite oblique at the base. The
fruit, a nutlet surrounded by a wing, ripens and falls in June.

No tree in America has been more popular for street and park
planting. Its large size, graceful spreading top and long life

177

178 Forests and Trees

combine to make it an ideal tree for parks and streets. Within
its range in Manitoba it is rapidly becoming the most commonly
planted tree, particularly in the southeastern part of the prov-
ince. It would be little less than a tragedy if the popularity
of this noble tree should bring about its destruction. The
exclusive planting of a single species tends to so increase the
food supply of its enemies that they increase at an even greater
rate. This will only be checked by the destruction of the food,
which means the destruction of the tree so largely planted.
There is a danger of this fate overtak-
ing the white elm. The elm beetle has
so increased in some places in the East-
ern States that the elms seem doomed.

The elms of Manitoba have not suf-
fered seriously from insect pests thus far,
but what has happened in other places
. will happen in the prairie province, if
too exclusive planting of a single spe-
cies is followed.

The rich moist land of the river bot-
tom is the favorite place of the elm.
Still it will grow well on higher and
well-drained land, but lack of moisture must be balanced by
greater richness of soil.

The wood of the elm is very largely used for cheap grades cf
furniture and for barrels, but is not considered desirable for
high-grade articles.

It is found in low land throughout Manitoba as far north as
the mouth of the Saskatchewan river and westward into the
province cf Saskatchewan.

It can be grown readily from seed, but the seeds should be
gathered in the summer and sown at once. If kept over, they
lose their vitality very quickly. It is not advisable to attempt
to grow trees in the northern part of the range from seed col-

Fic. 37. — White Elm.

The Nettle Family 179

lected much farther south. Often they are not hardy and this

_. is particularly the case with the white elm.

II. THe HACKBERRIES
Genus Celtis

The hackberries may be distinguished from the elms by having
larger, rather hairy leaves, and fruit in the form of a drupe,
sometimes edible. The bark, on old trees, becomes much
thickened in warts or ridges which are very conspicuous and
form a distinguishing mark.

THe HACKBERRY. Celtis occidentalis. Linnzus.

This is a rather small tree in our climate and is very local
in its distribution. It has large, light green, thin leaves, with
a somewhat woolly appearance. The
drupes occur singly in the axils of the
leaves and vary in color from red to black.
The trunk has often a stunted appearance
and is strongly marked by thickened corky
ridges of bark.

“Without exception this tree has the most
remarkable distribution of any in the Domin-
ion. A few grown trees here and there are all
that are usually found in the same locality.”

MAaAcown.

True to its reputation for peculiar dis-
tribution, the hackberry is found mixed
with ash and maple on the sand bars near Delta at the south
end of Lake Manitoba. There are no really young specimens,
but it seems to send up shoots quite readily from the roots.
The trees are quite hardy, as they stand exposed to the north
_ wind off the lake, and although somewhat stunted, are healthy.

Fic. 38. — Hackberry.

180 Forests and Trees

They suffer more from breaking by snow and barking by rabbits _

than from wind or frost. As far as is known this seems to be
the only occurrence in any of the four western provinces.
There is no reason why this should not be a valuable tree
for ornamental purposes. It is quite hardy, long-lived, pos-
sesses good foliage and does not seem subject to insect pests.
Reproduction would have to be from the root, as the seeds do
not germinate, and this would prevent raising any larger num-

ber of the trees. It may be that the reason no seedlings are —

found is that the seeds are eaten by birds as soon as they ripen.

THE ROSE FAMILY. ROSACEA

Tus is one of the largest and best known of all the plant
families. It includes many of our flowers and fruits, but in
our climate produces no really large trees. A large number
of small trees and shrubs belong to it, and at least some of
these should be mentioned.

Plants of this family are easily distinguished by their alter-
nate, often compound and always stipulate leaves and showy
flowers. The sepals and petals are mostly in whorls of five;
the stamens are numerous and inserted on a fleshy ring on
the calyx at the base of the petals.

The rose, the best known of all flowers, has given the name
to this family and that alone would make it famous; but it
is not less famous for its fruits. The apple, cherry, plum,
peach and pear are but types of fruit-bearing trees, while the
strawberry, though humble in habit, has added to the reputation
of this family by its distinctive flavor.

I. THe CHERRIES

Genus Prunus

Trees of this genus produce what are known as the stone
fruits. The fruits are drupes, — hard-shelled nuts or stones
enclosed in fleshy coverings. The cherries, plums and peaches
belong here, and the prunes have shared their name with the
genus.

1. Brrp or Prin Cuerry. Prunus pennsylvariica. Linnzus fils.

Among the best known and most widely distributed of our
trees is the common red cherry. It is small with smooth,
181

182 Forests and Trees

reddish-brown bark which easily peels off in layers and long, —
graceful, often drooping branches. When young the twigs -

are bright red. The fruit is red, pleas-
antly acid and of some local value.
This tree is found all across Canada
from the Atlantic to the Rocky Moun-
tains. It grows scattered through the
open woods where it attracts little atten-
tion, but when any land has been newly
* burned it joins with the poplars and
birches in taking first possession. It is
particularly well suited as a re-foresting
agent, as its shortness of life prevents it
being a serious competitor with more
permanent species. This, perhaps, is its chief use, but its light
green foliage, graceful drooping branches, snow-white flowers

Fic. 39. — Bird Cherry.

and cheering fruit would be missed by all who take pleasure i in

things out of doors. The birds, too, would
miss it, and we would miss the birds.
Altogether this little tree has not estab-
lished a reputation for high economic
value, yet it has won a place in our lives
and interest that we would not like to
see vacant.

For ornamental purposes it has never
received the consideration it deserves, al-
though its value is more as a shrub than a
tree. For covering waste places or thick-

ening shrubberies it has much to recom- F649. — Western
Bird Cherry.

mend it, not the least of which is the

profusion of beautiful white blossoms which appear along with
the leaves in the spring. It transplants easily, although, as
in most members of this family, the rootlets readily drop away
when the plant is disturbed, making the root look very naked.

The Rose Family 183

In spite of this, however, if given any reasonable care, the cherry
will soon establish itself in a new location. Its chief fault is
that it sends up numerous shoots from the roots, especially if
‘the ground about it is kept cultivated; but sometimes this is
more a yirtue than a vice.

2. WESTERN Birp CHERRY. Prunus emarginata. Walpers.

This is the western form of the preceding and is not always
separated from it. It is found in the coast region of southern
British Columbia, and has broader leaves and more upright
branches than the common bird cherry. The flowers are
greenish-white, arranged in a short raceme-like cluster.

II. THE Apples
Genus Pyrus

_ This division of this large family includes those having a ~
fruit known as a pome, which is generally a large fleshy fruit of
rather firm texture, with the seeds at the centre, enclosed in a
number of distinct cells. The apple and
pear are the well-known types, and the
genus takes its name from the Latin word
for pear. Sometimes, however, these
fruits are small and may easily be con-
fused with berries or drupes. The
structure of the fruit is the same, the
difference being mostly in size.

1. OrEGON Cras. Pyrus diversifolia.
Bongard.

This is the only apple tree that is a pyc, gr. — Oregon Grab.
native of Canada, and it is found only
along the coast region of British Columbia. It neasiee its

184 lorests and Trees

greatest size in Oregon, where it may be more than thirty feet
high. Usually it is not more than a shrub in Canada.

The fruit is a little apple, about half an inch or less in diameter,
but differs from most apples by not being depressed at the
base. It is red or yellow, sour to the taste and edible, although
the fleshy part is small compared with the size of the seeds.

« The wood is firm and hard and is sometimes used for mallets
or handles.

2. MountAIN AsH. Pyrus americana. (Marshall) De Candolle.

If any tree has ever masqueraded under a false name, surely
it is the mountain ash. To begin with it is scarcely ever a tree,
being usually a shrub not more than
twenty feet high, yet it is always called a
tree. It is not an ash and it does not live
on the mountains. On the contrary, it
belongs with the pears and apples to the
rose family, and it grows in wet places.
The Scotchman or Irishman thinks he
settles the matter when he calls it the
‘rowan tree,” but the botanist assures us
that this name belongs entirely to a Eu-
ropean species, and so our tree is left
_ without any name to which it really has a
sig ett right. Even when it is put where it be-

: longs, among the apples and pears, it looks
out of place, for it has no outward resemblance to these. Yet
it is one of our oldest and most esteemed friends, and we would
not accuse it of deception.

This small tree or shrub is found growing in moist places or
cool rocky woods across Canada, from the Atlantic Ocean to the
eastern shore and islands of Lake Winnipeg. Its most dis-
tinctive features are its smooth, or but slightly roughened, thin,
grayish bark, which when scraped off or bruised gives off a .

The Rose Family 185

pleasant, rather aromatic odor; its large, rather drooping com-
pound leaves with from eleven to seventeen leaflets; and its
broad flat clusters of greenish-white flowers, followed by equally
broad and very showy clusters of bright red fruit. Each fruit
is in reality a small, slightly pear-shaped pome, about a quarter
of an inch in diameter, but the cluster resembles a bunch of
berries and the fruit is generally spoken of as “mountain ash
berries.”” It remains on the tree the greater part of the winter
and is a favorite food for birds, particularly for grosbeaks and
other winter birds. of the northern woods.

The graceful appearance of this little tree, as well as the beauty
of its foliage and fruit, has made it a favorite for ornamental
planting throughout its range. No other tree or shrub of its
size has been so ‘generally removed from its woodland haunts
to grace the door-yard of the pioneer; and its popularity has
survived the pioneer days, the bronze-green leaves and scarlet
fruit being now familiar objects on city lawns. Its wood has
no economic value, but as long as beauty of form and color
are prized by man, this tree will find favor because of the touch
of refinement it adds to a woodland scene otherwise somewhat
severe.

THE MAPLE FAMILY. ACERACE/:

THE maple family is not large, but many of its members are

distinguished. They are almost all trees, with a watery juice

rich in sugar, and broad, simple, palmately lobed leaves. There
are some exceptions to this rule, as a few are shrubs and one
division of the family has compound leaves. The family
comprises but a single genus, the well-known maples.

I. THe Maptes
Genus Acer

* All hail to the broad-leaved maple
In her fair and changeful dress,
A type of our youthful country
In its pride and loveliness.
Whether in spring or summer,
Or in the dreary fall,
’Mid nature’s forest children,
She’s fairest of them all.”’

No trees are so closely connected with Canadian traditions
and history as the maples. If we can be said: to have a'na-
‘tional tree, it is the maple, and the maple leaf has come to be
considered the emblem of Canada. There are a number of
maples, all noble trees with broad, palmately lobed leaves, and
just which one should be considered as furnishing the maple
leaf of Canada is a matter of some confusion. There seems
little doubt, however, that the tree which so impressed the

early settlers that it became closely asscciated with the growing
186

The Maple Family 187

colony, was the hard or sugar maple. It was the most prev-
alent on the eastern side of the continent, where it formed ex-
tensive forests. Its wood soon became regarded as the most
valuable fuel, and from its sap was made the maple sugar of
the pioneer days. In the fall its leaves became brilliant crim-
son or gold, giving color on a scale never furnished by any other
tree. No tree touched the lives of the people at so many
points, or was so likely to be regarded by the immigrant as
standing for the land cf his adoption.

The leaf of the silver maple is more deeply lobed, and altc-
gether more beautiful in outline than that of the sugar maple,
and very cften the leaf used as the Canadian emblem resembles
it more nearly than any other. This, however, does not make
the silver maple the Canadian national tree.

The range of the maples is confined almost entirely to the
eastern forest region of the continent, a few species only rang-
ing farther west.

The trees which have been the chief source of maple sugar
are the sugar maple, acer saccharum, and the black maple,
acer nigrum. ‘These are closely related and occur mixed over
the same range. They are also the hard maples, the wood
being hard and durable and much used for flooring, furniture,
decorative work and tool handles. Trees with a peculiarly
twisted grain furnish the highly prized “bird’s-eye maple.”’

The term “soft maple” is variously used to designate the
wood of several other members of the family but is most fre-
quently applied to the red maple, acer rubrum, and the silver
maple, acer saccharinum.

1. MANITOBA Maple. Acer Negundo. Linnzus.

This belongs to the group known as the ash-leaved maples,
and is often called box elder. It is a rather small tree, al-
though it sometimes reaches a height of sixty feet and a di-
ameter of about three feet.

188 Forests and Trees

The bark on old trees is grayish-brown, thick, rough and
scaly. On young trees it is light gray, thin and smooth. The
leaves are pinnately ccmpound of three or five leaflets, the end
leaflet_ on a long petiole and the lateral ones short-stalked.
The leaflets may be either entire, cr mere or less three-lobed.

The staminate and pistillate flowers are on different trees
aad open before the leaves. The staminate flowers are on long,
drooping, hairy pedicels, while the pistillate ones are in racemes
which lengthen as the fruit matures. The
fruit is a double samara.

The wood is light, soft and of little
value except locally as fuel. The tree
has been much used throughout the
prairie for planting, for which it is in
some ways well suited. It grows rapidly
and its leaves come early, so that it fur-
nishes green foliage earlier than any other
native tree in its range. . It is short-lived,
much given to forking, splits easily at the
forks, and is very liable to be attacked

Fic. 43. — Manitoba
Maple.

When a bad attack of aphis occurs, a
sticky secretion from the insect, known as “honey dew,”
smears the leaves and runs down the trunk or falls in drops to
the ground. This often causes a fungous growth on the bark,
making it black and unsightly. The leaves fall early, espe-
cially if infested with aphis, and thus what it gains in foliage
in the spring it loses in the fall.

In spite of its defects, there is no reason why this’ should

not continue to be valuable for street or park planting, if mixed

with other species. Exclusive planting of this species, however,
tends to breed its enemies and should be avoided.

The Manitoba maple occurs native along the valleys of
streams across the prairie past the western boundary of Saskatch-

by insects, particularly the green aphis. -

a a

The Maple Family 189

ewan, and as far north as the Saskatchewan river; but it
has been successfully grown still farther west. It is easily
grown from seed, and its sap may be used for making sugar.

2. MOUNTAIN MAPLE. Acer spicatum. Lamarck.

This is usually a shrub, but may sometimes grow to the size
of a small tree. The bark is thin and brownish, the young
twigs being red in winter. The leaves are thin, slightly three-
lobed, and reddish when young. The
fruit is a double samara arranged in
drooping racemes. This tree cccurs in
low places along the eastern side of
Manitoba, and westward across the
-province at about the latitude cf the
larger lakes, and extends fcr some dis-
tance into Saskatchewan. It generally
grows as a shrub or a clump of small
trunks from a commen roct. It is too
small to be of any economic value, as the :
wood is light and soft, but it is some- a ks
times planted asa shrub. When this is
done it should not be in an exposed position, as it will not stand
a scorching sun.

3. SILVER Mapte. Acer saccharinum. Linneus.

This beautiful tree has been successfully introduced into
Manitoba and thrives well on the rich soil of the Red River
valley, where its growth is very rapid. Some fine specimens,
almost two feet in diameter, may be seen in the city of Portage
la Prairie, and equally good success has attended its cultiva-
_ tion farther south. At Brandon, where the altitude is higher,
its growth is much slower, and its final success is still a matter
of doubt.

190 Forests and Trees

It is a graceful tree with long branches and beautifully
lobed leaves, bright green above and silver-white beneath.
The bark is thick and rough on the old trees, but on young stems
is thin, smooth and a beautiful silvery-gray.

It is a tree well worth cultivating where its growth is as-
sured, but it does not seem to mature its seeds in Manitoba.
I have tried in vain to germinate them, and have never been
able to find any young trees growing where the seed falls.

Fic. 45.— Silver Maple. Fic. 46. — Broad-leaved Maple.

4. BroAD-LEAVED Mapte. Acer macrophyllum. Pursh.

The broad-leaved maple is so called on account of the size
of its leaves, which are six or eight inches across when full
grown. The leaves are deeply three or five-lobed, on long
petioles, and heart-shaped at the base. They are dark green,
shiny above and lighter beneath, and coarsely toothed or wavy
on the margin. When young they are densely hairy, but almost
naked when mature.

The bark is grayish-brown, rather thick and scaly on old
trunks, but thin and smooth on the branches. The twigs are
red in winter but afterwards turn gray.

The Maple Family IQ!

This is a forest tree of the Pacific coast. It grows at most
to a height of about ninety feet, with a diameter of about three
feet, and the branches are long and sometimes drooping at
the ends. It is found along the Pacific
coast as far north as Alaska and extends
inland in the valleys at the southern part
of the province, but reaches its greatest
size farther south.

5. VINE MAPLE. Acer circinatum. Pursh.

This is a trailing or somewhat climbing
tree which grows along streams in the
southern part of British Columbia near
the coast. Sometimes it forms dense
thickets. It has smooth, reddish-brown
bark and almost orbicular, five or seven-lobed leaves on short
petioles. The sterile and fertile flowers grow together in droop-
ing clusters at the ends of the branches, and open almost with
the leaves.

The wood is light brown, hard and durable, and is used to a
small extent for making tools and other small articles. It
has been used considerably in cultivation and may be trained
to be very ornamental.

Fic. 47.— Vine Maple.

THE BASSWOOD FAMILY. TILIACEA 4

Tue basswoods or lindens are a large family but are not
represented on the western side of North America. A single
species reaches the interior of the continent and is found in
southeastern Manitoba.

On this continent members of this family are always trees ;

they have large, simple, alternate leaves and regular perfect —

flowers, mostly in sets of five parts The fruit in our species
resembles a nut, but in reality is a drupe in which the outer
covering is not fleshy.

The family is noted for possessing tough fibrous bark. Jute
fibre is made from one of its members.

I. THe Basswoops
Genus Tilia

The basswoods are all trees and usually large. They have
large, simple, alternate leaves with stipules which fall away

very early. The flower consists of five petals, five sepals and ~

numerous stamens, all inserted on the receptacle. The petals
have a petal-like scale at the base of each and the stamens are
collected in groups, one at the base of each scale.

The bark is rough, thick and corky on the outside, but tough

a ee, ae —_

-
so)

>.

and fibrous within. This fibrous bark has been used for many

purposes both in the older countries and among the pe
of America.
This genus is confined entirely to the temperate parts of
America, and mostly to the eastern part.
192

The Basswood Family 193

1. Basswoop. ‘Tilia-americana. Linneus.

The basswood is usually a lofty tree of large size, but does
not reach its best development west of the Great Lakes. In
Manitoba it often grows in clumps, several small trunks from
the same root.

The bark is gray, about half an inch thick on old trees, and
much roughened on the outside. As in all other members of
the family the inner bark is tough and
fibrous. The leaves are from four to six
inches long, orbicular, sharply toothed and
tapering to a sharp point. The flowers
are large, yellowish-white and arranged
in drooping racemes. The peduncle of
each raceme springs from the base of a
long bract which runs along it for some
distance. The fruit is a nutlike drupe.

The wood is light, soft and easily
worked, but not durable if exposed to
moisture. It is very popular for making
shelves and backs for furniture, table tops,
carriage boxes, canoes, and indeed for any purpose where light,
easily worked wood can be used. Wooden utensils and paper
pulp are also made from the basswood.

Besides being a popular timber tree, it is one of the best
native trees for ornamental purposes. Its large, fragrant
flowers, and dense foliage not liable to insect attacks, make it
a beautiful lawn or street tree.

It grows along the river bottoms in southeastern Manitoba,
and is confined almost entirely to the Red River valley. It is
not native at Brandon, but when planted does fairly well.

Fic. 48.— Basswood.

THE DOGWOOD FAMILY. CORNACE

Tuis is a small family, mostly shrubs or trees, and represented
with us by a very few species of a single genus.

I. THe DoGwoops
Genus Cornus

The dogwoods are flowering trees or shrubs, varying in size
from a small tree to the dwarf bunch-berry, which is not more
than six inches high. They have opposite or whorled leaves,
and flowers in dense flat clusters. The fertile flowers are small

and greenish-white, but the cluster is surrounded by large, |

‘white or pink, petal-like bracts. This makes the flower cluster

showy and is the most striking feature of the genus. The fruit

is a drupe with a flat stone.

The wood is hard and used for making small articles and the
bitter, astringent bark is used in medicine. Most of the members
of the genus make ornamental trees or shrubs.

1. WESTERN DoGwoop. Cornus Nuttallii. Audubon,

The dogwoods are all beautiful and this tree of the Pacific
coast region is one of the handsomest of the group. It grows
sometimes ninety feet high and two feet in diameter. The
bark is about a quarter of an inch thick, reddish-brown, slightly
roughened and scaly. The twigs are green and hairy when
young and red-brown or purple when mature. The flowers
are in dense heads surrounded by from four to six showy white or
pink bracts, each about two inches long and an inch or more

194 he.

The Dogwood Family 195

wide. The whole cluster resembles a huge flower and is gener-
ally so called. This bloom, which usually appears in the spring,
gives the tree a beauty all its own. It is still more striking,
however, when these blossom-like clusters appear in the fall,
as they sometimes do, mingling with the scarlet fruit of the
spring bloom. It is a trick that many of
the dogwoods have, this production of fall
bloom. This passes unnoticed by most
people in an obscure shrub like the red osier
dogwood of the prairie, but excites com-
ment when done by its showy relative of the
western coast.

The fruit is a red or orange, rather flat
drupe with the persistent calyx teeth adher-
ing to it. These are crowded in heads of
- about thirty or forty together.

The wood is hard, takes a good finish, and
is used in light furniture. It need hardly be
said that this beautiful tree is popular for .
ornamental planting within its range, but unfortunately it does
not transplant well to other climates. It is found in the
southern part of the coast region of British Columbia and
southward, and reaches its best development in the northern
part of its range.

Dogwood.

THE OLIVE FAMILY. OLEACE

Tuis is a very large family, all its members being trees or
shrubs, and many of them tropical. It-has no native Canadian
members except the ashes, but the lilacs, introduced from Europe
or Asia, also belong here.

I. Tur ASHES
Genus Fraxinus

The ashes are graceful forest trees with straight trunks, —
rather thin, rough, scaly, gray bark and opposite compound
leaves with from three to eleven leaflets. The flowers are
small, inconspicuous, mostly with no petals and appear with
or before the leaves. The fruit is a single samara, the wing
at least partly surrounding the seed.

The wood is light, straight-grained and splits easily. In
some species it is strong and much valued for handles of forks
and other similar tools.

1. Brack Asx. Fraxinus nigra. Marshall.

The black ash is a tree of the swamps or low places. It
often grows eighty feet high, with a stout straight trunk,
covered with thin, gray, scaly bark, not broken into distinct
ridges. The leaflets number from seven to eleven, and all
except the terminal one are sessile. The wing of the samara
runs entirely around the seed.

The wood is tough but weak, and splits very freely along the
grain. It was formerly the timber most used by the cooper, —

196

The Olive Family 197

Barrels, tubs and particularly barrel hoops were made from it.
The depletion of the supply, however, has left very little timber
sufficiently clear for this purpose. It is also used for furniture
and interior finishing of houses.

The black ash is mostly an eastern tree, but extends into
Manitoba in the wooded regions and along the river valleys across
the province, particularly about the latitude of the larger lakes.

As an ornamental tree it has never been much tried. A few
planted in the Normal School grounds in Brandon four years
ago are living but growing very slowly. .

Fic. 50. — Black Ash. Fic. 51.— Green Ash.

2. GREEN AsH. Fraxinus pennsylvanica. var. lanceolata (Bork-
hausen). Sargent.

This isa small tree with rather thick, rough, gray bark and
smooth twigs. The leaves have from five to nine leaflets,
ovate or lanceolate in shape, and sessile or almost so. The wing

of the samara runs about halfway down the seed.
_ This tree grows in the valleys of the Red, Assiniboine, Qu’Ap-
pelle and Souris rivers, as well as in the Pembina and Moose
Mountains and the eastern part of the Dirt Hills. It prefers
good ground and moist locations, and under favorable condi-

198 Forests and Trees

tions reaches a diameter of eighteen inches to two feet. It
does not cast a good shade, so that if planted alone grass is
likely to grow beneath the trees. This makes it advisable al-
ways to mix green ash with other trees to get a good cover for
the ground.

The wood is used locally but mostly for fuel, and it has
proved a satisfactory tree for street or lawn planting. It can
be grown easily from seed and when young grows rapidly. It
is very late in getting its leaves in the spring and loses them
early in the fall. This is, perhaps, its worst feature as an orna-
mental tree.

The Red Ash (F. pennsylvanica), the type of the species of '
which the green ash is a variety, has been reported as growing
along the Red river and westward, but the only specimen I have
seen was sent to me by Dr. Buller, Professor of Botany in
Manitoba University. It was collected by him at Victoria
Beach on Lake Winnipeg. It differs from the variety in having
velvety petioles and twigs, and broader leaflets on distinct —
petioles.

3. OrEGON AsH. Fraxinus oregona. Nuttall.

This tree may be looked for in southern British Columbia,
as its range includes the whole of the states to the south. It is
a fairly large tree, with rough gray or brown bark and leaves of
five to nine, mostly seven, leaflets. The leaflets are sessile,
ovate and blunt-pointed. The wing of the samara runs down
along the seed to the middle or farther.

The wood of this tree is valuable, being used much as black
ash is used in the eastern part of the continent. It is also .
largely used for street planting.

THE HEATH FAMILY., ERICACEA

Tue heaths are a family of shrubs. Scattered all over the
- northern hemisphere, they are widely spread and numerous,
but never herbs, and only in a few cases reaching the size of
even a small tree. ;

They have simple, alternate, leathery and often evergreen
leaves. The flowers are clustered in a variety of ways, the
stamens always equal to or twice the number of the petals,
the carpels united to form a compound ovary with a single
style. The fruit may be a berry, a drupe or a hard woody
capsule, —

The heaths produce many plants of value in medicine and
other ways. The wintergreen flavoring, now prepared from the
cherry birch, was originally the product of the aromatic winter-
green, a small heath seldom more than six inches high. It
is to this family, too, that we owe the fruit of the cranberries
and blueberries, and the flowers of the sheep laurels, azaleas
and rhododendrons.

I. THE MADRONAS
Genus Arbutus

So far as North America is concerned no arbutus occurs
native on the eastern side of the continent. It is a small genus"
of ornamental trees or shrubs, mostly confined to the warm or
warm temperate parts of the earth.

Its members have simple, alternate, entire, evergreen leaves,
and flowers in raceme-like clusters at the ends of the branches.
The calyx is five-parted and persistent, the corolla five-toothed

199

200 Forests and Trees

and urn-shaped, and the fruit a sort of drupe in which the flesh
is dry and powdery, They are useful only for decorative pur-
poses.

1. MApRONA. Arbutus Menziesii. Pursh.

This is said to be the largest and most beautiful member of
the heath family. It is an evergreen tree sometimes nearly one
hundred feet high, but usually smaller and
rather slender.

It has a straight clean trunk, rather stout,
often ascending branches, red bark and
twigs. The outer bark often breaks away
and peels off in patches. The leaves are
rather thick and leathery, shining green
above but paler beneath, and the margins
turned in toward the under side. The
flowers are white and the fruit bright
orange.

The wood and bark of this tree have had
a limited use in the arts and in medicine,
but its chief value continues to be in its beauty.

In Canada it is found on Vancouver Island and the coast of
the mainland immediately facing on the Gulf of Georgia, as
well as on the islands of the gulf. In no case is it found far
from the coast,

Fic. 52. — Madrofa.

THE BUCKTHORN FAMILY. RHAMNACEZ:

Tuts is a large family comprising many shrubs and vines
and a few rather small trees. Many of its members are orna-
mental and others yield valuable drugs, but they produce no
timber.

Shrubs or trees of this family are most easily recognized by
their alternate simple leaves which are very prominently and
characteristically veined, their, bitter astringent bark and
small, regular, sometimes imperfect flowers followed by dry
drupelike fruit.

I. Tue BucKTHORNS
Genus Rhamnus

The buckthorns are the type plants of the family. They are
almost all shrubs but a few are small trees. They have simple
alternate leaves and small greenish flowers
clustered in the axils. A peculiarity of
the flower is that each petal is wrapped ,
about a stamen. The bark is bitter, and
some species furnish extracts of medicinal
value.

1. BUCKTHORN. Rhamnus Purshiana.
De Candolle.

This is very often a shrub but at times
grows to asmalltree. It has thin, brown,
scaly bark and reddish-brown branches.
When young the twigs are green and
covered with fine hairs. The leaves are oblong, often blunt-
pointed and finely toothed. They are dark green above, usu-

201

<p
Fic. 53. — Buckthorn.

202 F Forests and Trees

but sometimes continue to appear until almost the 3
season. The fruit is round, black and ec
three nutlets. re

bark is prepared the cascara of commerce. ” This 3
tree one of the important drug-producing plants of th

It occurs along streams and on wooded mountain
the coast region of southern British Columbia. —

INDEX TO LATIN AND POPULAR NAMES

Abies, 1
amabilis, 137
balsamea, 136
grandis, 138
Jasiocarpa, 137
Acer, 186
circinatum, 191
macrophyllum, 190
Negundo, 187
saccharinum, 189
spicatum, 189
Aceracez, 186
Alder, 172
Red, 172
Alnus, 172
oregona, 172
Apple, 183
Oregon Crab, 183
Arbor-vite, 147
Arbutus, 199
Menziesii, 200
Ash, 196
Black, 196
Green, 197
Mountain, 184
Oregon, 198
Red, 198
‘Aspen, 161

Balsam, 136

Basswood, 193

Basswood Family, 192

Beech Family, 173

Betula, 169
alba. var. papyrifera, 170
fontinalis, 171
occidentalis, 171
Betulacee, 169-

PART i

Birch, 169
Mountain, 171
Western, 171
White, 170
Birch Family, 169
Buckthorn, 201 ;
Buckthorn Family, 201

Cedar, 148
Rocky Mountain Red, 152
Western, 149
White, 148
Yellow, 151
Celtis, 179
occidentalis, 179
Chamecyparis, 150
nootkatensis, 151
Cherry, 181
Bird, 181
Pin, 181
Western Bird, 183
Cornacee, 194
Cornus, 194
Nuttallii, 194
Cottonwood, 165
Black, 164
Narrow-leaved, 165
Western, 166
Cypress, Ground, 157 -

Dogwood, 1094
Western, 194 -
Dogwood Family, 194

Elm, 177

| White, 177
Ericacez, 199

203

204

Fagacee, 173

Fir, 135
Alpine, 137
Amabilis, 137
Balsam, 136
Douglas, 140
Lowland, 138

Fraxinus, 196
nigra, 196
oregona, 198
Pennsylvanica, 198
var. lanceolata, 197

Ground Cypress, 150

Hackberry, 179

Heath Family, 199

Hemlock, 141
Black, 143
False, 139
Western, 143

Juniper, 152
Juniperus, 152
scopulorum, 152 .

Larch, 144
Alpine, 146
Lyall’s, 146
Western, 145

Larix, 144
laricina, 144
Lyallii, 146
occidentalis, 145

Madrofia, 200

Maple, 186
Broad-leaved, 190
Manitoba, 187
Mountain, 189
Silver, 189
Vine, 191

Maple Family, 186

Nettle Family, 177

Oak, 173
Bur, 175
Garry, 176
Oleacez, 196
Olive Family, 196

Index

Picea, 130
albertiana, 131
canadensis, 13¢
Engelmanii, 1332
mariana, 132
pungens, 134
sitchensis, 134

Pine, 118
Bull, 124
Jack, 125
Limber, 121
Lodgepole, 127
Norway, 125
Red, 125
Scotch, 129
Scrub, 129
Western White, 120
White, 119
White-barked, 122
Yellow, 124

Pine Family, 117

Pinacee, 117

Pinus, 118
albicaulis, 122
Banksiana, 125
contorta, 129
flexilis, 121
monticola, 120
Murrayana, 127
ponderosa, 124
resinosa, 125
silvestris, 129
Strobus, 119

Poplar, 161
Balsam, 163
Russian, 167
Silver-leaved, 167

Populus, 161
alba, 167
angustifolia, 165
balsamifera, 163
certinensis, 167
deltoides, 165
petrovski, 167
Sargentii, 166
tremuloides, 161
trichocarpa, 164
wobstiriga, 167

Prunus, 181
pennsylvanica, 1%-
emarginata, 182

Pseudotsuga, 139
mucronata, 140

Pyrus, 183
americana, 184
diversifolia, 183

Quercus, 173
Garryana, 176
macrocarpa, 175

Rhamnus, 201
Purshiana, 201

Rosacez, 181

Rose Family, 181

Salicaceze, 157

Salix, 158
amygdaloides, 159
lasiandra, 160
Scouleriana, 160

Spruce, 130
Alberta, 131
Black, 132
Colorado Blue, 134
Engelmann, 133
Sitka, 134
white, 130

Index

Tamarack, 144
Taxacez, 154
Taxus, 155
brevifolia, 155
Thuja, 147
occidentalis, 148
plicata, 149
Tilia, 192
americana, 193
Tiliacee, 192
Tsuga, 141
heterophylla, 143
Mertensiana, 143

Ulmus, 177
americana, 177
Urticacee, 177

Willow, 158
Peach-leaved, 159
Western, 160
Western Black, 160

Willow Family, 157

Yew, 155
Western, 155
Yew Family, 154

T. H. BEST PRINTING CO. LIMITED, TORONTO

205

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