952 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON 



PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



On January 29, 30 and 31 were held in 

 Montreal the most interesting and best 

 attended Forestry, Lumbering and Pulp and 

 Paper meetings ever held in Canada and it 

 is doubtful if any such get-together meet- 

 ings of foresters and lumber and paper men 

 were ever held before on this continent. 

 The papers and discussion were all of a 

 most practical nature and showed a strong 

 spirit and desire for co-operation. 



The meeting of the Canadian Forestry 

 Association showed that body to be in a 

 most flourishing condition, with nearly one 

 thousand new members and a record of 

 much useful work for the past year. Ad- 

 dresses were made by Major Barrington 

 Moore, of the United States Forest Service 

 on the work of the American Forestry 

 Units in France and by F. J. Campbell, 

 President of the Canadian Pulp and Paper 

 Association, and W. Gerrard Power, Presi- 

 dent of the Canadian Lumbermen's Asso- 

 ciation. The only new officers elected were 

 Clyde Leavitt, Forester of the Commission 

 of Conservation, as Vice-President, and 

 P. B. Wilson, of the Spanish River Pulp 

 and Paper Company, as a Director. 



The attendance at the meeting of the 

 Canadian Society of Forest Engineers was 

 the largest since the founding of the So- 

 ciety. The guests were, Major Barrington 

 Moore, F. J. Campbell, Prof. Macarthy, 

 of Syracuse University ; W. G. Howard, 

 New York Commission of Conservation ; 

 H. R. Bristol, Forester of the Delaware & 

 Hudson Railroad ; D. A. Crocker and Mr. 

 Shepard, of the Lincoln Paper Company, 

 and Lieut. H. M. Kinghorn. After the 

 dinner most of the evening was taken up 

 with a discussion of the necessity for for- 

 estry research work in the woods, follow- 

 ing a most excellent paper on the subject 

 by Dr. C. D. Howe, of the University of 

 Toronto, and a most interesting discussion 

 on forestry education and training. Dr. 

 Howe pointed out very forcibly the lack 

 of accurate knowledge of silvicultural and 

 ecological and biological conditions in the 

 woods and urged that more intensive work 

 along these lines be conducted by studies 

 on the ground and the establishment of 

 sample plots where continuous studies could 

 be made. 



The Forestry Conference, under the joint 

 auspices of the Quebec Forest Protective 

 Association and the Woodlands Section of 

 the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, 

 was opened by the Hon. Minister of Lands 

 and Forests of Quebec, Jules Allard, who 

 said that his Government was anxious to 

 do all in its power to forward the proper 



protection and utilization of the forests and 

 their proper conservation, Brig-General 

 J. B. White, D. S. O., who has been in 

 command of the Forestry Corps in France, 

 gave a very interesting talk on his work 

 and on forestry conditions in France and 

 said most forcefully that Canada must be- 

 gin planting operations at once and advo- 

 cated the use of returned soldiers for this 

 work. Prof. J. M. Swaine, of the Domin- 

 ion Bureau of Entomology, read an inter- 

 esting paper on insect damage to the for- 

 ests. Prof. Swain has spent several years 

 in field work in the forests from the At- 

 lantic to the Pacific and has done much 

 work of a practical nature. His work 

 shows that now the danger to the forests 

 from insects is greater than that from fire 

 and advocates more careful protective 

 measures, chief of which is the burning of 

 logging debris. He said that the balsam fir 

 was so infested with fungous disease at 

 present and so liable to attacks from borers 

 that it was probably only a question of time 

 before this species would be practically 

 wiped out in Eastern Canada. Mr. Clyde 

 Leavitt read a paper on burning logging 

 debris from the standpoint of fire protec- 

 tion and logging and there were some very 

 interesting discussions in which many prac- 

 tical woods operators took part. A com- 

 mittee of heads of Woodlands Depart- 

 ments was appointed to go thoroughly into 

 the matter and to make actual experiments 

 in burning logging debris under actual op- 

 erating conditions and to report on the 

 cost and feasibility. Dr. Fiske, of the Life 

 Extension Institute of New York, read a 

 paper on Health in Relation to Business. 

 Lieut. Lewis gave a most interesting talk 

 on the interpretation of airial photographs, 

 illustrated by actual photos taken at the 

 front. He showed the wonderful possi- 

 bilities of such photography for making 

 timber reconnaissances, mapping unex- 

 plored and difficult country and following 

 the process of logging operations. There 

 is no doubt but that in a short time the 

 airplane will be widely used for these and 

 other purposes. The committees on hard- 

 wood utilization and improvement of log- 

 ging conditions reported and the reports 

 brought out most interesting and practical 

 discussion. The latter committee was con- 

 tinued with instructions to go into the 

 woods and report on as many actual logging 

 operations as possible. Demonstrations of 

 caterpillar tractors and a new, horse-drawn, 

 motor-operated rotary snow-plow were 

 given. 

 The papers and discussion at the meet- 



ings and the discussion carried on inform- 

 ally by the men present seemed to bring 

 out the following conclusions. That the 

 present great need is for some protection 

 against insects and fungi in the forests. 

 That logging methods will have to be im- 

 proved in order to cut down their cost and 

 to leave the forests in better condition for 

 a second crop. That the present method 

 of cutting to a diameter limit is bad for 

 the forest. That some means must be 

 found to utilize the hardwood from mixed 

 hardwood-softwood forests and that plant- 

 ing on a large scale must begin at once. 



The meetings of the Technical Section of 

 the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association 

 and its general meeting were very inter- 

 esting and largely attended and the latter 

 brought out also the need for forest plant- 

 ing and the recommendation to employ re- 

 turned soldiers in such work. 



The Minister of Lands and Forests of 

 Quebec has offered to contribute to the ex- 

 pense of a sea-plane patrol of timber limits 

 to try out this method and see practically 

 how it will work for fire-protection and for 

 making maps. He has also asked the Quebec 

 Limit Holder's Association to send a dele- 

 gation to see him to discuss a law to be 

 introduced at the 1920 session of the legis- 

 lature to encourage forest planting. Such 

 a law has been drawn up by a committee 

 of the Association and was submitted to the 

 Minister on the twelfth of February. 



Mr. Piche, Chief Forester of Quebec, 

 has written that he met Mr. Ridsdale, 

 Executive Secretary of the American For- 

 estry Association, in France and that they 

 are both working to help reforestation in 

 that country. He also says that everyone 

 in Paris is talking English and that the 

 "poilus" are making English "communiques" 

 to their English and American comrades-in- 

 arms. 



H. M. MacMillan, who has been assist- 

 ant to Major Austin Taylor, in the splen- 

 did work of the Imperial Munitions Board 

 in getting out airplane spruce in British 

 Columbia, will soon finish with that work. 

 MacMillan's record as Chief Forester of 

 British Columbia, as Canadian Trade Com- 

 missioner to the Far East and in the Spruce 

 Production Division has been one of which 

 he may well be very proud. 



R. D. Craig, another forester, also did 

 good work in charge of the Spruce In- 

 spection. 



The Riordon Pulp and Paper Company 

 have agreed to continue their contribution 

 to the co-operative investigative work being 

 carried out by the Commission of Conser- 

 vation under the direction of Dr. Howe. 



The St. Maurice Paper Company of Three 

 Rivers, Quebec, have commenced mapping 

 and estimating their timberlands. The work 

 is being carried out by Mr. Galarneau, chief 

 forester, assisted by Messrs. Nix and Terry. 



