plank may be wanted. Staves for casks of all sorts are made to great advantage from the Canada oak.

Of the various kinds of wood fit for the purposes of the cabinet-maker and carpenter, with which the forests of Canada abound, I may mention maple, elm, ash, birch, hiccory, cherry-tree, and red cedar: of some of these there are different species. The curled maple and bird's-eye maple make beautiful furniture. The cherry-tree also is highly esteemed; the others are very useful for domestic purposes, and making implements of husbandry, &c.

No part of the Canada lumber is likely to become of more value than Staves, and the quantity might be increased to almost any extent, were the population of Canada more considerable. Staves, even at present, form a leading article of exportation. They are becoming daily better known, and better liked in Britain, as well as in the wine countries, particularly in Portugal and Madeira.

Staves are sold at so much per long thousand of 1200 standard staves. The standard stave is 5 feet long, and 11⁄2 inch

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thick, and about 5 inches broad. The price increases one-fifth for every half inch increase in the thickness. Staves one inch thick are charged two-thirds of the price of standard. Staves 4+ feet long, are reckoned three for two standard. 34 and 2 feet long, are reckoned two for one. The 2+ are reckoned the same as 3+, because they are generally broader, being for heading.

The Canada staves are generally shipped in the rough. They are split, not sawed; and of course, are what is called feathered, that is, thicker at one side than at the other; but they are always measured at the thinnest side.

A full, well-built vessel ought to take 1200 staves for every ten tons register. And it is generally found that 1200 standard staves, when carefully and closely packed, take about 15 tons measurement. Freight is generally from 45l. to 471. per

1200.

Staves of any dimensions may be got by giving previous notice. Contracts may be entered into with those who prepare them, and who will cut them to any given

size. Some have lately been shipped, 5

inches thick; and it is probable that staves of that thickness will answer extremely well wherever labour is cheaper than in Canada, or where ingenuity or machinery can abridge the labour of splitting or sawing. The average price on board has been considered about 331. per 1200 standard.

An act of the provincial parliament has lately been passed for the proper regulation of the lumber trade of Canada. Much be

nefit is expected to arise from this law, as none but proper merchantable wood will be allowed to be exported as merchantable, and it will have an appropriate mark to distinguish it from what is not merchantable.

All the timber shipped at Quebec is floated down the river in what is termed rafts: a raft is the general name; but they vary greatly in their construction, according to the kind of wood of which they are composed. The large masts are laid close to each other, and have pieces of oak fastened to them, in order to keep them together, which is not an easy matter in some of the rapids.

The rafts of oak timber and staves are

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of a different form. A great number of large pieces of pine are strongly fastened together with wooden pins, making a kind of frame in the form of a gridiron. To this frame the pieces of oak are fastened, and thereby buoyed up; for they are so heavy, they would not float of themselves. These floats or rafts are so well put together, that they resist the strong concussions in coming down the rapids; and it is remarkable there is not a piece of iron about them: their only fastenings are wooden pins, and the twigs and young shoots of trees, of a tough and pliable nature. The cables even, which they use as a fastening to prevent their being carried up the river by the flowing tide, are nothing but young shoots of trees (chiefly hiccory, I believe), fastened and twisted together. By these floats not only the oak, both squared and in plank, is brought down, but also staves: and they are of vast dimensions. They are managed and directed by the force of large oars or sweeps, from 30 to 40 feet long, having their fulcrum near the edge of the raft. The rowers are stationed at the proper distance to give effect to their exertions on the lever; and, it must beallowed, a great power is wanted to give a direction to such an unwieldy mass. Fifteen to twenty people are employed on some of them: a house is erected on them, in which the people sleep and eat; for they have cooking utensils, a fire-place, and beds,--such as they are. After the wood is sold, the float and house are also disposed of; and, like the scow, generally for very little money.

Some very handsome ships are annually built at Quebec and Montreal: they are contracted for by the carpenters at about 101. currency per ton, exclusive of sails and rigging, which are imported from Britain, as well as every article of copper that may be necessary. Most of the iron work may be found of Canada manufacture. This business is of immense advantage to Quebec and Montreal, as it gives employment, summer and winter, to a great many carpenters, and other tradesmen and labourers. There is not a less sum than 20,0001. annually circulated in Quebec and Montreal in the business of ship-building; and as it is a winter as well as a summer em