New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-10
THE FORESTS OF ACAnIE-

FOREST LEE 5 IN AcAD6E GAmFnEaL HaEDE
the New World" svo ID. Appleton & Co.
The forests of Acadie resemble, in their genera
features, the forests of the most northern of the
United States, particularly those of Name. There
are differences between them of course as there ar
between woods of the same species in our forests
but they such would be detected by naturalist
rather than the ordinary observer however skillfu
in woOd-craft. One of the first things that strikes
us upon entering the Acadian forests is the frequency
Of cOpses of young trees, dense in their growth
that few ever assert themselves as forest trees
Further in, we perceive taller and straighter
growth. among which are several species
that in more civilized districts are merely
ornamental shrubs. The foliage predominates
from the tree top, the stems throwing out
from the base upward a profusion of spikes and
dried branches This is especially the with the
spruces. Where the situation is unhealthy, as in
cold swamps, the widest confusion prevails; trees
lean and ereak against each other all angles aud
TO stride over their dead branches is labor Dire"
they are so inextTicably woven together The hem
locks bury their dead in long hlocks of moss beau
tilted by the evergreen tresses Of the creeping par
tridge-beTy. In Spring the eye is greeted with
wood viOets and multitudes of little blossoms !;
while tiny NAPLES birch seedlings start no from
PROSTATE trunks OF crannies of rock bowlders The
fern tribe abound as, in the swaps the cinnamon
fern; and, along the forest brook which it almost
conceals, the royal fern; the rocks are topped with
polypOdium, and the delicate fronds of the oafern
hang from their sides.
Foremost among the trees Of Acadie is the white
pine, which, stunted along the coast where its
branches feather nearly to the ground here ascends
as a straight tower considerably over one hundred
feet Found half a century ago, the margin Of all
the large lakes and streams the lumberman's ak and
A. L I. IN 4 / IL
it back into the remote soudes of the forest Next
to the pine in its proportions is the hemOck or the
hemlock spruce, which, mixing with evergreens in
all situations, affects moist messy slopes in the
neighborhOOd of lakes Growing to the hight
OF eighty feet, Its deeply-grained columRar trunk
throws OH Its first branches some fifty feet
above the ground, the light feathery foliage
chnging around the summit in dense masses
through which protrude the bare twisted lin bs with
which the column terminates abruptly AS among
the pines, there is absence of undergrowtb among
the hemlocks. The bark is largely used for fual in
the woods; it burns readily and long. and SO fond
the old Indians Of sitting round an eted Milo
of 1t in their wgwams that bears in their language
the sOubriquet of the old Grannie"
The black spruce, one of the most conspiouops
trees in the forests of Acadie is found under almost
all circumstances. II appears in mixed woods bean.
tiful and tall, its branches dropping In graceful
curves from the apex toward the ground which thew
sweep to distance Of twenty or thirty feet from the
STEM while its summit terminates in dense arrovv
head OF sprays crowded with heavy masses of cones
In some localities it is almost the only growth cover
ing large tracts Of country the trees standing close
with straight, clean STEMS aud with little foliage
except at the summit In the swamps it is distorted
to uglipess' Its stems and limbs being shaggy with
usnea Occasionally IL grows in the open bog. but
scarcely higher than cabbage sprout its light green
foliage living only On the summit, ITS gray dead