368 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Canadian Department 



By E1.LWOOD Wilson, 

 Secretary, Canadian Society of Forest Engineers 



The Riordan Paper Company of Mont- 

 real have decided to commence planting 

 operations on their limits, and their for- 

 ester, Mr. Volkmar, has been investigating 

 the plantations and nursery methods of 

 the Laurentide Company of Grand' Mere. 

 It is interesting to note how the progress- 

 ive paper companies are taking up the 

 planting idea and there is no question but 

 that such a policy will prove highly pro- 

 ductive in the long run. 



The Canada Paper Company, Ltd., of 

 Windsor Mills, Quebec, intends to cut fire 

 lines and clean up the debris on their hold- 

 ings this spring. This company is espe- 

 cially fortunate in having freehold lands 

 within easy reach of their mills and they 

 are in a position to get the greatest possi- 

 ble value out of forestry methods. It is 

 the intention of this company also to plant 

 up their waste lands and lands not fully 

 stocked. 



Mr, Piche, Chief Forester of Quebec, re- 

 cently made a visit to Grand' Mere, and 

 while there mentioned the fact that settlers 

 in the Abbitibi region were having difficulty 

 in selling their pulp wood. Mr. Piche 

 recently purchased eighteen Jensen tree 

 planters for use in the government plant- 

 ing operations. 



Mr. P. Z. Caverhill. Forester for the 

 Province of New Brunswick, recently made 

 a visit to Grand' Mere to discuss methods 

 and costs of forestry surveys with Mr. 

 Wilson. Mr. Caverhill has already begun 

 his survey and inventory of the Provincial 

 Crown lands. 



The Dominion government has decided 

 to exclude all foreign lumber in connec- 

 tion with the public work carried on by it. 

 At the present time the Parliament build- 

 ings at Ottawa are being rebuilt, but only 

 Canadian lumber will go into the new 

 structure. A short time ago the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway issued a similar order. 

 Both movements have been made for the 

 purpose of encouraging the industry in 

 the Dominion. Last year, although the 

 country was at war, Canada imported 95,- 

 000,000 feet of southern pine, valued at 

 over three million dollars. These figures 

 were much below the previous year, hut 

 show something of the heavy importations 

 of pine from the United States. Practically 

 all our hardwood has been imported from 



south of the forty-nimth parallel, but ac- 

 cording to the new arrangement, only 

 Canadian hardwoods will be utilized in the 

 public works of the Dominion. At the 

 present time a number of important works 

 are going on in addition to the rebuilding 

 of ithe Parliament buildings, harbor im- 

 provements are being made at Montreal, 

 Quebec, Toronto, and in connection with 

 the Hudson Bay terminals. In these works 

 Douglas fir will take the place of Southern 

 pine, formerly used. For the interior deco- 

 ration of cars and the wood used in their 

 manufacture, Canadian woods will here- 

 after be used. It is said that the movement 

 will spread and that big implement manu- 

 facturers will take it up. 



Mr. J. R. Booth, the veteran lumberman 

 of Ottawa and Hull, has just celebrated his 

 ninetieth birthday. Despite the fact that 

 he is now twenty years past the three 

 score years and ten allotted by the Psalm- 

 ist, Mr. Booth continues to take a very 

 active interest in all his companies' activ- 

 ities, even to helping around the mills. 



Messrs. J. O. Mason and J. H, Cunnin.g- 

 ham, superintendent of manufacturing and 

 statistician of the Laurentide Company, 

 have gone to Kalamazoo to attend the 

 meetings of the Taylor Society and the 

 Technical Section of the American Pulp 

 and Paper Association. 



The report of the British Columbia For- 

 est Branch for 1915 is just out and is a 

 very interesting pamphlet. The reports of 

 its activities in trying to increase the timber 

 trade of the Province are good reading 

 and the successes of both its foreign and 

 domestic trade commissioners have been 

 marked. The bulletins issued advertising 

 its woods and showing the best ways to 

 utilize them are well gotten up and thor- 

 oughly practical and the illustrations add 

 much to their value. 



Mr. .Austin F. Hawes. State Forester of 

 Vermont, was on a visit to Montreal re- 

 cently. 



The Laurentide Company, Ltd., of Grand" 

 Mere, Quebec, has a large tract of land, 

 at present about twelve hundred acres, de- 

 voted to planting and experimental cut- 

 ting operations. Different systems of cut- 

 ting are being tried out and experiments 



in natural regeneration also. In all these 

 thinnings or cuttings the slash is piled and 

 burnt. Plats have also been marked oflE 

 and all the trees numbered and a band 

 painted about them at breast height, and 

 each year the diameter growth is measured. 

 Plantations have been made not only in 

 the open but under different kinds of stands 

 and on different soils. Experiments in 

 draining swamps are also to be undertaken 

 and a system of good dirt roads and fire 

 lines is also kept up. 



The Canadian Forestry Association is 

 enlisting the help of the boards of trade 

 of the different Ontario towns and cities 

 in its fight for better fire protection and 

 administration of the forest lands of that 

 province. The association has gained one 

 hundred and forty new members since Feb- 

 ruary and is in better condition than ever. 



The Hon. Jules Allard, Minister of 

 Lands and Forests in Quebec, has been 

 made a member of the Legislative Council 

 of the Province. 



Mr. EUwood Wilson recently made a 

 trip to an aeroplane factory to examine 

 aeroplanes and see if they would be prac- 

 tical for forest fire ranging work. There 

 is no doubt that for finding fires they are 

 entirely practical, but they are so difficult to 

 launch and to land with alt present that they 

 are hardly practical as yet. A suggestion 

 made by someone that clearings of seven 

 or eight acres in extent be made at con- 

 venient places in the forest for landing 

 and starting is out of the question, as such 

 clearings would be too expensive to make 

 and keep clear, and the great value of the 

 aeroplane would be its ability to travel 

 fast, see over a large area at once, and to 

 alight near a fire and extinguish it. This 

 latter is the most important and the most 

 difficult thing for an aeroplane to do. Of 

 course, a flying machine travels so fast 

 that a fire could be reported without delay, 

 but by the time a crew was organized and 

 transported some fifty or one hundred 

 miles the fire would have gained a big 

 start. It is certain, however, that these 

 disadvantages will soon be overcome and 

 the necessity for lookout towers and slow- 

 moving rangers will be done away with. 



Messrs. D. A. Macdonald and C. H. 

 Morse, of the Dominion Forest Service, 

 have been elected associate members of the 

 Canadian Society of Forest Engineers. 



Mr. E. H. Roberts, acting district in- 

 spector for Saskat;chewan, of the Dominion 

 Forest Service, reports that the fire season 

 is beginning later than last year and the 

 outlook is more favorable due to consider- 

 able rain and snow flurries every few days. 



