27 G JOURNAL OF FORKSTRY 



general prevalence of diameter-limit restrictions in the regulations gov- 

 erning operations on government-owned lands There is, however, a 

 strong tendency for the administration of the timber business to be 

 placed in the hands of technical forest organizations and the outlook 

 for the future is distinctly encouraging. At the same time there is a 

 great lack of sufficient data on which to base improved cutting regula- 

 tions, and this inevitably makes for slow progress toward more intelli- 

 gent methods of cutting. 



Recognizing these facts, the Commission of Conservation of Canada 

 has during several seasons conducted silvical investigations, under the 

 immediate supervision of Dr. C. D. Howe, of the Faculty of Forestry 

 at Toronto University. Studies of natural regeneration, with special 

 reference to the effects of repeated fires, have been carried on in On- 

 tario and British Columbia. During the past two years broader inves- 

 tigations have been conducted in the pulp wood forests of Quebec, in 

 co-operation with the Laurentide and Riordon companies, which have 

 shared the expense of this work. We have collaborated also with the 

 provincial forest services of both Quebec and New Brunswick, which 

 have conducted investigations of their own on a smaller scale. The 

 Dominion Forestry Branch has also during the past two years con- 

 ducted forest investigative work on the Petawawa Military Reserva- 

 tion, Ontario. These activities show that the Dominion and provincial 

 governments of Canada regard silvical investigation as sufificiently im- 

 portant to justify at least some attention during time of war, when a 

 very high percentage of the forestry profession are on military duty 

 overseas. It is to be anticipated that all these activities will be ma- 

 terially increased with the conclusion of hostilities. 



The forest investigative work of the Commission of Conservation 

 includes regeneration studies by strip surveys, the establishment of per- 

 manent sample plots, and studies of volume and growth. The general 

 object is to determine just what is taking place, and why-, on the cut- 

 over pulpwood lands of eastern Canada, and what it is necessary and 

 at the same time feasible to do to improve the conditions. Our investi- 

 gations thus far appear to show that the effect of present methods of 

 cutting is to deteriorate the quality of the mixed forests, eliminating 

 first the white and red pine, next the spruce, and more recently the 

 balsam, converting the stand more and more into a hardwood forest, 

 which is relatively valueless, due primarily to difficulties of transporta- 

 tion. Some of the points to be considered in our studies are as follows : 



(i) The amount of natural regeneration of the valuable coniferous 

 species. 



