EDITORIAL 



459 



tural tract where he could not be suc- 

 cessful." These land examinations are 

 entirely in the hands of the agents of 

 the Forestry Branch. 



In the midst of this reorganization 

 the service has found time to send out 

 reconnaissance crews covering 12,308,- 

 000 acres in 1913, over little known 

 watersheds. The enormous and unde- 

 veloped state of the timber resources 

 of the province is shown by the fact 

 that only 11 million acres of timber 

 limits have been taken up, out of 245 

 million acres of land. The average 

 area patrolled by a forest guard is 

 943,396 acres, while a ranger district 

 averages 4,545,454 acres and in all 

 cases exceeds one million acres, or an 

 area as large as the average national 

 forest in the United States. Since the 



government owns practically all the 

 land and non-agricultural timber-bear- 

 ing lands cannot be alienated without 

 examination, it has been considered 

 unnecessary at present to attempt to 

 define and set aside forest reserves as 

 has been done in the eastern provinces. 

 It would appear from this showing 

 that MacMillan's high ideals in public 

 service, abundant energy, and gift for 

 organization have fovnid a field large 

 enough to satisfy his highest ambitions, 

 and it may not be long before the more 

 eastern provinces, where progress has 

 been held in check by the iron grip of 

 custom, and of politics, may have to 

 look to British Columbia as a model 

 for their own guidance in securing 

 graft-free and progressive forest ad- 

 ministration. 



THE Post Office Department has 

 just repeated, in the current 

 postal guide supplement, the 

 instructions through which 

 rural carriers are to report forest 

 fires to the proper authorities during 

 the coming season. These instructions 

 were issued in May, 1912, and during 

 the past two years the cooperation ha^ 

 resulted in the detection and suppres- 

 sion of many fires. 



State and federal forest officers will 

 make a special effort this year to get 

 even more value out of the service than 

 has been obtained heretofore. The 

 usual procedure has been for the State 

 fire wardens or federal forest officers to 

 send to the postmasters lists of local 

 wardens and |)atrolmcn, with their ad- 

 dresses and telephone numljers. These 

 lists are given to the carriers with in- 



structions to report forest fires to men 

 whose names appear thereon, or to other 

 responsible persons. This year a spe- 

 cial effort will be made to follow up 

 the sending out of the lists by having 

 the patrolmen and wardens meet the 

 carriers personally and to take the 

 initiative in arranging such meetings, 

 and also to map out a plan of action to 

 be followed. 



Cooperation between the rural car- 

 riers and the federal forest officers will 

 be eft'ective in the twenty States in 

 which national forests exist and with 

 State forest officers in the twenty States 

 which have established their own fire 

 protective systems. It is expected that 

 fire services of the carriers will be par- 

 ticularly valuable in helping to protect 

 the new national forest areas in the 

 southern Appalachians. 



