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-f-ii
THE DISTRIBUTION
OP
CANADIAN FOREST TREES
IN ITS RELATION TO
CLIMATE AND OTHER CAUSES.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE,
MONTREAL, SEPT. 2ND, 1884.
BY
A. T. DRUMMOND.
A
(Reprinted from Canadian Economics).
MONTREAL :
DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
1885.
.■y?»
^ /.'
\
xr.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF CANADIAN FOREST TREES
IN ITS RELATIONS TO CLIMATE AND
OTHER CAUSES.
BY A. T. DRUMMOND.
I. The Distribution of Trees.
Excepting the great triangular i^rairie country oast of the
Rocky Mountains, lying between the United States boundary
line and a line drawn from Red River to the Upper Peace
River country, the whole of Canada up to the northern limit of
the growth of trees presents one vast forest area, except where
it has been cleared by the hand of man. Within this area there
are ninety-five species of forest trees which are, however, so dis-
tributed as to present interesting peculiarities in range. There
are sixty-five species in the Province of Ontario, of which sixty-
one are found in the districts surrounding Lake Erie. Of these
sixty-five species, fiftj'-two extend eastward to the Province of
Quebec, thirty-five are found in greater or less abundance on the
eastern and western sides of Lake Superior, while only fourteen
range westward into the prairie country at and beyond Red
River,— thus indicating at this point an almost abrupt barrier
to westward extension. Again, in British Columbia there are
thirty-five species of forest trees of which only seven, the Paper
Birch {Betula papyracea), Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera),
Aspen (Populus tremuloides), Black Spruce (Abies nigra), White
CANADIAN ECONO.AIICS.
Spruce (Abies alb<t), Biilsam Fir (Abies balsamca) and Eed Cedar
(Juniperus Virginiana) extend eastward beyond the influonco of
the Rocky Mountains, but those seven with the exception of tlio
Eod Cedar, are found somewhat generally throughout tiie whole
Dominion, and, with Larix Americana form the vast northern
forests which extend almost uninterruptedly over the whole
country from James Bay, east to the Labrador Coast and noi-tii-
wcst to Mackenzie River.
Taking a general view of the whole Dominion, four great
forest areas or zones can bo outlined and for convenience may bo
termed the zones (1) of the Douglas Fir, (2) of Poplai-s, (3) of
Red and White Pino, and (4) of Beech and Maple. Along the
shores of Lake Erie is what might almost bo regarded as a fifth
zone, circumscribed in area but having such characteristic trees
as the Buttonwood {Flatanus Occident alis), Black ^n\\\\\i (Juglnns
nigra), Sassafras (Sassafras officinale), Tulip ti-ee (Liriodendron
tulipifera), Dogwood (Cornus fiorida), and Chestnut (Castanea
vesca), — all of them outliers of the forests of the Middle and
Western States.
(1.) Douglas Fir. — The zone of the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga
Douglasii) embraces the greater portion of central and southern
British Columbia, and includes within its bounds a flora which is
distinctive of the country west of the Rocky Mountains. The
peculiar climate of the Province, so different from that of the
prairie region to the east, and the physical features of the coun-
try, both largely tend to foster a flora of a distinctive type.
The extensive coast line is indented everywhere with long and
wide deep-water inlets and the effect of the low equable temper-
ature of the sea coast is thus spread inland over a largely in-
creased area. The mountains comprising the Coast Range lie
veiy generally parallel to the inlets and thus aid in carrying far
inland the moistui'e-laden sea air, and in affording an abundant
rain-fall. For these reasons, the coast flora occupies a greater
breadth of country parallel to the coast line than it otherwise
would.
Among the most distinctive physical features of British Colum-
bia are the successive ranges of high mountains which run the
whole length of the southern half of the Pi'ovince, and combine
in most sections all the characteristics of high peaks, deep river
«w
) ll •
DRUMMOND OX CANADIAN TREES.
•^
A'alloys, and somewhat lovol plateaus, which .serve to distribute
the flora somewhat generally over these sections, — the more north-
ern plants finding their way southward on the mountain sides,
and the more southern forms ranging northward through the val-
leys. These mountain ranges occur in almost parallel groups,
and, with the principal rivers, lie in a general north-easterly and
south-westoi'l}' direction, thus i'avouring the i-ange northward into
this region of the trees and other plants of "Washington and Ore-
gon. Sjieaking generally, the interior of the Pi-ovinco in its
southern part has in some degree the characters of a plateau shut
oft' by intervening mountains from the moist winds of the coast.
This has resulted in a drier climate and in the occurrence of a
representation of the plants of Nevada and Utah.
The Coniferie (or Pine Family) include nineteen out of the thir-
ty-five British Columbia forest trees, and in the vast mass of in-
dividuals of the species as compared with other trees, form one
of the characteristic features of various jiarts of the Province. In
the near future, with the opening up of the country b}' railways
and with the increased utilization of the navigable rivers, the
lumber industries of British Columbia will rise to immense im-
portance. Such timber as that obtained fi'om the Douglas Fir
{Pseudotmga Douglasii), Yellow Pine (^Pimis ponderosd) and
White Pine (P/nws monticola) are already more or less known to
commerce, but there are other coniferous trees, such as the Eed
Cedar (Thuja gigantea), Engelmann's Spruce (Picea Engelmanni),
Menzies Spruce (Picea Menziesu), Western Hemlock (Tsuga Mer-
tensiana), and Yellow Cj-press {Chamwcyparis Nutkaensis), whose
qualities are not so well known, but which may yet take an im-
portant place in the lumber trade of the country. Some of these
trees, as the Douglas Fir, occur in great abundance, but often in
localities which will be practically inaccessible to the lumberman,
until cheap railways ai'e constructed to the rivers or seaboard,
and the waterways are improved or utilized. Everyone, how-
ever, who has the best interests of the country at heart, must
hope that the government of Bi-itish Columbia will profit b}' the
results of the unwise policy of the Eastern Provinces of the Do-
minion, and will carefull}- conserv. . forests so as to make them
a continued source of revenue, instead of allowing fires and the
lumberman's axe to have unrestrained sway among them. In
6
CANADIAN ECONOMICS.
Ontario and Quebec it is almost too late to gi-applo otrectnally
with a clian<;-e of system in the loasinii" of timlier lauds, but British
Cohiinbia has the opportunity l»et'ore it.
(2.) Poplars. — The zone of the Poplars (Fopulus treniuloides
and Pojnilus balsa mi f era) may be said to include the Avhole
country east of tjie RocJcy Mountains from southei-n Bi-itish
Columbia to the mouth of Iveil Eiver, Lake Nipigon and Anti-
costi in the Gulf of St. Ijawrencc, and thonco northward to
the limit of the growth of trees. The Poplai's are found soutli
of these limits, but not in that abundance which makes them
hero the chai'acteristic species. The southern limits include
a ver}^ considerable tract of prairie country, but oven there, in
the river valleys and among the scattered timber bluffs, the
Poplar is often almost the only tree. South of the Assiniboino
and Qu'Appelle Eivers, Cottonwood (Populus Monilifcra), Gi-eon
Ash {Fraxinus viridis), VAm (Ubnus Americana), Mi\\AG {Negundo
aceroides), Ouks and other trees begin to appear more frequently,
but the country is almost entirely prairie, and these trees are
not in such numbers as to give any character to the vegetation.
In tho zone of Pojjlars, the number of species of forest trees is
almost limited to the Aspen (Pojndus tremuloides), Balsam Poplar
(Populus bahamifera), Paper Birch (Betula inipyracea), Banksian
Pine (PinusBanksiana), White Spruce (Abies alba), Black Spruce
(Abies nigra), Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea), and Tamarac (Larix
Americana). These few species are, however, in such numbers
individually as to constitute vast forests as far northward as tho
extrerae limit of the growth of trees. From recent explorations
we now know something of the range of these species in what
has hitherto been an unknown land — the country surrounding
the west coasts of Hudson Bay. The projected opening up of
railwa}^ communication between Dakota, Minnesota and the
Canadian ]^orthwest on the one hand, and Churchill Harbour
on Hudson Bay, on the other, has awakened an interest in tho
resources of this part of the country. At the outlet of Lalce
Winnipeg into Nelson River, the White Spruce has still some-
times a diameter of three feet, and even in tho lower reaches of
Nelson Eiver is large enough for building purposes. Tho
Balsam Fir does not here extend northward much beyond Lake
Winnipeg and Oxford House on Hayes Eiver. Tho Paper
DRU^IMOND ON CANADIAN TREES.
^
'«
Birch ranges as far as the country lying between the Ilayes and
Nelson Rivers. The Tamarac, in company with the Poplai-s,
nearly reaches the entrance of Churchill Rivoi', whilst the
Black Spruce is found as fur beyond this on Hudson 33ay as
Seal Eiver. The northern boundai-y of the forests of the Dominion
may, in fact, bo detined by an irregular line commencing on the
Atlantic Coast, at the Strait of Eelleisle, in latitude 52°, and
crossing Hudson Bay on the oast side at latitude 5G°, and on the
west at latitude 59^, and stretching thence by way of Mackenzie
River, about latitude 61^, to the Alaska boundary. Beyond this
line the vegetation consists of scrub and arctic ])lants. The gen-
eral north-western direction of tho iri'cgular line is very marked.
(3.) White and Red Pine. — It is less difficult to indicate the
northern limits of the zone of tho White Pine (Pinvs strobus) and
Rod Pine (Pinus resinosa) than to say where its southern bounds
should be placed. Those tAvo trees do not extend westward in
Canada beyond tho neighbourhood of the Lake of the Woods
and tho upper stretches of Winnipeg River in longitude 95°.
From this general westei-n boundary, tho northern limits follow
the height of land between the Great Lakes and James Bay east-
ward to Anticosti and Newfoundland. The southern limits, of
the zone may, in a general way, be said to stretch in Canada
from the southern shores of the Georgian Bay across to tho
boundary line of New Hampshire, and further to include within
them New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. With the oxcej)tion of
the Banksian Pine and the Cottonwood (Pojmliis moniUfera), all
the trees in the zone of the Poplars are more or less associated
Avith the White and Red Pine within these I ountlaries.
On the other hand, very many trees which obtain in Canatla
their maximum development in eastern, central and southern
Ontario also extend to a greater or less extent into the zone
of the Pines, but do not appear anywhere in sufficient numbers
and size to form characteristic trees. Both the White and Red
Pine themselves range southward throughout Ontario and along
the mountainous districts of Vermont, New Hami^shiro, Ncav
York and Pennsylvania, biit their best development and greatest
numbers in Canada are found in the zone whose limits have been
indicated. Athough the ai*ea of this zone is extensive and the
distribution of the Pines throughout it somewhat general, the
8
CANADIAN ECONOMICS.
districts in which those trees attained their largest size and
greatest numbers have already been well cut over; and lumbor-
mon now derive their supplies chielly from around the Georgian
Bay, at the head-waters of Ottawa River and its tributaries,
and at the sources of the St. Maurice and other rivers flowing
from the nortli into the St. Lawrence. The timber obtained is
also on the average fully one-third less in size than it was liftoon
to twenty years ago. The area hold still in the hands of the
Government and available as Pino lands, is apparently extensive,
but only apparently so, — the limits of tiie greatest development of
these trees having been already passed, for : the northern boun-
daries of growth are approached, not only u the trees fewer in
number but they are gradually smaller in size. Besitles, im-
mense tracts of those Government lauds in northern Ontario
and northern Quebec have already boon completely denuded of
their timber by forest fires.
In the same zone, the White Spruce (Abies alba) and Black
Spruce {Abies nigra) also find their best development, although
they range much farthei* northward and north-westward.
(4.) Maple and Beech. — This zone covers the country lying
between Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron to the southern shores
■of the Georgian Bay, and from this point eastward between
•Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence to the boundaries of !N'e\7
Hampshire. Within this limited area are found sixty-two out
of the sixtj^-five species of forest trees occurring in Canada east
of Manitoba. And so generally distributed throughout the limits
indicated are nearly all those species that, especially in south-
western Ontario, the greater part of them may be frequently
seen on a single farm.
The section of country boi"dering on Lake Erie lies in the lat-
itude of western New York and southern Michigan, and is semi-
insular in character. It is remarkable as including a vegetation
much moi'e southern in typo than any other part of Canada. Cer-
tain forest trees of southern and western range, but peculiar in
Canada to this section, have already been referred to, A large
number of shrubs and herbaceous plants, more familiar in Ohio,
Indiana and the Western States, have also found their way north-
ward into the Lake Erie district. The tree in this section of
most economic importance, apart fi'om the Pines and the Spruces,
DRUMMOND ON CANADIAN TREES.
9
^1
is tho Blaclc Walnut (Jwjlans nigra). At ono time it was somo-
what common and of <^ootl dimensions, but, durini; lato years, a
trunk of merchantable size has become somewhat, rare. Fifty
years ago it was not unusual to find, around London, White Pines
varying from 13 ft. to 18 ft. in circumference, and averaging IfiO
ft. in height, and Oaks of 10 ft. to 15 ft. girth and with 45 ft. to
50 ft. of straight clear stems. This, however, is a thing of the
past. Throughout the whole district lying between Niagara
Eivor and Lake St. Claire, there is little timber left of size sutfi-
ciont to attract a lumberman.
II. Causes Determining the Eange of Trees.
The causes to which we must ascribe the frequent peculiarities
in range of forest trees and other plants in Canada are very
varied, but consist chiefly of physical conditions, and changes
in climate resulting from these conditions.
The eastern portion of the northern half of the American con-
tinent has in its midst immense areas of water, and has widely
and deeply indented shores, — Labrador and tho great section of
country lying between Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes being
virtually one vast jDoninsula. The double etfect of a northern lati-
tude and of the presence of these great bodies of water is veiy
marked in the lower general temperature and in the shorter
pummers and more severe winters. The result of these condi-
tions is to give a much milder climate and a much higher range
of trees on the western side of the continent than on the east.
Thus Anticosti, whoso flora indicates a sub-arctic climate and
whose coasts are only used for fishing and lighthouse stations, is
in the same latitude as Winnipeg and Vancouver Island, and lies
even south of most of the best agricultural land in ^Manitoba and
the Northwest. Again, semi-arctic plants are found on the pro-
jecting headlands of Lake Superior, and the combined eftects of
the broad deej) waters of tho St. Lawrence estuary and of the cold
Labrador current, which sends a branch up this river, are seen
in semi-arctic plants even beyond the Saguenay. There is no
question that the lower resulting temperature and the short sum-
mers have their influence in checking the northern range of
many forest trees beyond tho outlet of Lake Superior and pre-
10
CANxlDIAN ECONOMICS.
venting similarly their extension down the St. Lawrence below
Quebec.
In the United States and Canada tlic raountaiu ranges are some-
what continuous, and have a general northern and southern trend,
and this aftbrds an opportunity to the northern trees to extend
southward on the mountain thinks, and to the southern trees to
range northward in the valleys. The existence of these moun-
tain ranges has in this way given rise to a more extended distri-
bution than could otherwise occur. Thtis the White Pine (Pinus
strohus), Eed Pino (Pinus I'eshiosa), Tamarac {Larlx Americana)^
Hemlock {Abies Canadensis), Paper Birch {Betula iiapyracea), and
Aspen (Pojmlus grandidentata), among others, extend along the
Green Mountains, Adirondacks and Alleghanies as far south as
Virginia, and one or two range furthoi'. Allusion has already
been made to similar features in J3ritish Columbia.
An imjoortant ek'ment in the distribution of forest trees, more
particularly in the Ontario peninsula, is tlie chain of great lakes
which f )rms a barrier to the free northward extension into Canada
of southern forms common in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and
western Xew York, and which should otherwise be ex])ected in
the counties of Ontario bordering on Lake Erie. Here we should
rind such trees as the Cucumber Tree {Magnolia acuminata), Red-
bud (Cercis Canadensis), Coffee Tree (Gynmocladus Canadensis),
Honey Locust (Gleditschia triacanthos), Chestnut Oak {Quercus
Prinus), Black Oak (Quercus nigra), and others whose occurrence
at present is doubtful. Whilst, however, the Great Lakes form in
this way a barrier, the currents of the lakes have been the means
of distributing seeds on the jutting headlands of the northern
coasts, and though these headlands have not yet been explored
with any special care, not a few southern forms have been
observed. At the same time, the effect of such large and deep
bodies of water, as the Great Lakes, is to lower the general tem-
perature of the immediately sun-ounding country, and on the one
hand to prevent the range to their shores of numerous plants
reqtiiring a higher temperature, on the other to afford a climate
suitable for more northern species. Thus, as already mentioned,
around the coasts of Lake Superior the flora includes some semi-
arctic plants, though inland these all disappear and the vegeta-
tion is more of a northern temperate type.
1
DEUMMOJsD ON CANADIAN TREES.
11
Most trees huve some area of country where the climatic and
other conilitions arc most favorable to their doveiopmont, and
whei-e the ii'rcatcsi; masses of the individuals of their species are
found and their greatest size is attained. As these conditions
become less favorable, each tree shows less development. There
are thus trees which show a greater growth in the noi-thern pai't
of their range and others which have the revei-sc. Arbutus
Menziesii is a ti-ee in British Columbia and a shrub in California.
The Banksian Pine (Pinus Banhsianci) has been found near
James Bay of sulttcient size to be merchantable, while in the
Ottawa valley it is a shrub. Taxus brevifolia attains in Oregon
to a height of from tifly to sixty feet, and yet in Califoi-nia it rarely
exceeds from twenty to thirty feet. On the other hand, there is
of course a general tendency in all trees which extend far north
to become stunted as the}' approach their extreme northern limits
of growth.
Unlike the herbaceous plants, there are very few trees which
can be regarded as rovers — trees suiting themselves readily and
naturally to almost every condition, and thus having a wide
range. Among those which might be classed as, more or less,
rovers are the Aspen {Populus tremuloides), Balsam Poplar
(Populus balsctmifera), Pnper Birch (Betula papyracea), Balsam
Fir (Abies balsamea) and Black Spruce (Abies w'gra). They are
found from Bi'itish Columbia to Labi'ador, and fr(mi almost the
Arctic Circle to the Southei-n United States ; among the Rocky
Mountains, the Laurentian Hills and the Alleghanies, and near
the moist coast lines of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, as well
as in, or in the neighbourhood of, the drier climate of the western
prairies. Again, in America we have many herbacejus plants
which are not only widely distributed there, but arc common to
Europe. There are, however, only three trees having this feature
— the Chestnut (Castanea vesca), White Birch {Betula alba), and
the Yew (Taxus baccata), and even these appear to be varieties
of the European forms. One reason for this diffei-ence between
herbaceous plants and trees clearly is that the seeds of trees, on
account of their greater size and weight, are less readily distri-
buted. Even those trees, like the Poplars, Birches, Ash, Elms
and Maples, whose seeds are of smaller size and have natural
attachments to aid in their dissemination, have, for that reason
12
CANADIAN ECONOMICS.
alone, a wider distribution and are more common everywhere
than the Oaks, Walnuts, Butternuts and Hickories, with large
heavy nuts whose weight naturally carries them, when ripe,
directly under their ])arent tree.
As already referred to, a remarkable break in the westward ex-
tension of quite a number of our Canadian forest trees occurs
beyond Lake Superior. The White Pino (Pinus strobus), Eed Pine
(Pinus resinosa), Eed Oak (Quercus rubra), Ironwood (Ostrya Vir-
ginica), Sugar Maple {Acer sacharrinum), Eed Maple, (Acer
rubrum), Beech (Fagus ferruginea), Yellow Birch (Betula lutea),
White Ash (Fraxinus Americana), and others range beyond the
lake, some of them as far as Lake of the Woods, but, between
these two points, lines drawn to represent the extreme limits
of distribution of these trees in that section of countiy would
bend southward through Minnesota. The causes which have
given rise to this abrupt break may be traced largely to climatic
influences. It is just probable that at one time the prairies were
covered everywhere, more or less, with forests, and that fires have
been gradually widening the area which is now exclusively
prairie. The removal of the trees over such a vast >pace has had
its effect in creating a very dry climate, in making it colder
in winter than amidst the forest areas, and in subjecting every
part of the country to the influence of sweeping winds. These
atmospheric conditions, all of which would result from the ab-
sence of trees, are probably not favourable to the free growth of
most forest trees. Even the trees which do occur — if the cosmo-
politan poplars be excepted — prefer the immediate vicinity of the
rivers and streams as giving them the moisture unattainable
upon the prairie. The eftect of this dryness of the climate, of
the cool nights and the longer daylight during summer in the
Northwest, is seen in the higher grade of wheat produced there,
and to the same causes is no doubt to be attributed the alleged su-
pprior quality of the wood of the Aspen and Spruce there.
Too much moisture in the atmosphere has equally its results
in determining the range of ti-ees. To the frequent fogs which
spread over the coasts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and to
the moisture-laden air general there at all times, io probably to
be largely attributed the absence of the Butternut (Juglans cine-
rea). White Cedar {Thuja occidentalis), Eed Cedar (Juniperus
« II V
I
DRUMMOND ON CANADIAN TREES.
13
Virginiana), and Whito Oak (Quercus alba) in the principal por-
tions of those provinces.
The same causes, which prevent the range westward beyond
Red River of many of the eastern ti-ees, equally prevail in re-
stricting the eastward range of the British CoUimbia trees beyond
the influence of the Rocky Mountains. Allusion has already been
made to the peculiar physical features of that Province, its some-
what generally moist climate and its distinctive forest flora. The
barriers to eastward distribution are not merely the great moun-
tain ranges and the climatic ert'ects which they produce, for the
Douglas Fir {Psewhtsuya Douglasii) and the Western Scrub Pino
{Finns conforta), for instance, both cross the Rocky Mountains and
are found beyond their flanks on the eastern side. The ditterent
atmosphere met with, when the clear open prairie is reached, antl
the continued exposure there to dry sweejiing winds, form further
obstacles to the spread to these trees. It does not appear probable
that the prairie soil has much to do with the question, as, so far as
limited experiments afford any ])roof, eastern trees at least will
readily grow on oui* prairies when properly cared for and protect-
ed from fires and winds. In fact, to make Manitoba and the land
westward a successful country for the growth of many fruits,
it will only be necessary to create effective wind-breaks around
the orchards.
III. The Creation op Forests.
The comparative absence of trees upon the prairies has such
marked results in the rapidity with which the water is both evap-
orated and drained from the surface of the whole country, that
the creation and preservation of forests, at least around the som-ces
of the larger streams, has become a matter of national concern.
These forests would form reservoirs, in which the water would
become more frequently accumulated, and more gradually drawn
off by rivulets and brooks into the main stream, and thus main-
tain a more constant and uniform supply. Trees should also be
planted not only along the brooks and rivulets, but even along
the larger streams. These fringing the banks would limit evap-
oration, by protecting the streams from drying winds, as well as
by shading them in part from the sun. The soui'ces of every
"
14
CANADIAN ECONOMICS.
lui'go river should bo examined, and, if forests already exist there,
an extensive area of them should be reserved from public sale
and retained for the nation, us a source of supply for the waters of
the river; while where ibrests do not exist, as at the headwaters
of theQu'Appelle and some tributaries of that and (jther important
streams, an immediate effort should be made to create these by
encouraging the planting of trees.
As cities and towns spring up over the whole countiy, the
question of water supply increases in importance. The sites of
the future towns will naturally be on the borders of the rivers ;
but, where these rivers run dry practically during two or three
months out of the 3'ear, there never can be more than mere
hamlets on their banks. While the land in the Xorthwest is
still, in chief part, in the hands of the Crown and the Canadian
Pacific Eailway Conijiany, the policy of the Department of
the Interior and of the railway company can be so moulded
as to encourage tree-planting and forest-preservation in the
districts specially requiring it: later on, when the land passes
into the hands of settlers and speculators, and so many ditl'erent
interests have to be considered aiv' dealt with, it will be very
difficult to carry out such a policy By an amendment made this
year to the Dominion Lands Act, the Government is authorized
to reserve from sale, lease or license, sections of country at the
Bocky Mountains for such purposes as are here indicated. This,
if properly carried out on an extensive scale, is so far well, but
it is oidy covering the ground in one section of the country.
The vast prairie country lying between the Rocky Mountains
and Eed Eiver on either side of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
though possessing such rivers as the Bow, Red Deer, South Saskat-
chewan, Qu'Appelle and Assiniboine, is, for such an extensive tract,
greatly deficient in the small but permanent streams which, in
a wooded country like Ontario, are found in every township
throughout the province, and are invaluable for agricultural pur.
poses, and which go to make up the volume of water in the larger
rivers. In post-tertiary times, the Assiniboine, above Brandon,
and the Qu'Appelle, as shown by their widely separated high
banks, have been enormous rivers, varying from half a mile
to a mile in width, which have gradually cut their way through
clays to a depth of 200 to 250 feet below the present prairie level.
I»*
§^
DRUMMOND ON CANADIAN TREES. 15
Whatever were the original soui-ces from which their supply of
water was derived, and which are now cut otf, it can he readily
believed that, as the country through which the rivers and their
tributaries ran became prairie, the volume of water flowing into
the rivers would gradually lessen, and that this forms an important
reason why they are reduced to their present low level. Were
the country wooded instead of prairie, these two ri.ers would be
navigable at all times in summer throughout almost their entire
coui'se.
Reverting to tree-planting, it is proper, before closing this
paper, to mention that to make it a success, it will be neces-
sary not merely to select trees of hardy species, but to see
that the individual trees planted are from parent stock grown
in this northern climate. Young trees from, for instance, Ohio
or Illinois stock, even of species naturally of a high northern
range, will not prove as hardy and successful in every way in
Manitoba, as trees of the same s])ecies taken from stock grown
in Manitoba or in northern Ontario. Such is the graduaretiect
of climate on generations of a species grown successively in the
same place.
MONTEEAL, 1884.