NOTES AND COMMENTS 107 



and naval stores) are being developed. Never have the woods been 

 better handled than they are now. 



"In Belgium, there are practically no forests, except the gorgeous 

 stretch near Brussels. Those in the Ardennes are 'woodlands,' or 

 in a few cases, parks. The rest is scrubby stuff, so notable in the 

 sandy plains of Flanders. All that the Germans have done is to insist 

 that the woods should not suffer from fires. There is no such thing 

 as reckless cutting by the Germans. Where the woodlands have been 

 laid low by the armies on both sides, it was done to build trenches, 

 log houses, and to gain a free sight for guns. A few fine avenues of 

 trees had to come down also ; but not 3 per cent of the avenues were 

 thus ruined. To speak of wholesale destruction of fine woodlands by 

 reckless soldiers is in the case of Belgium impossible because there 

 were none save the famous ones at Brussels which stand as beautiful 

 today as they ever did." 



In the occupied part of France, to each army corps there is said 

 to be attached a committee on economic questions. "A forest officer 

 of rank is a member of each committee; his helpers are forest rangers 

 taken from the ranks. When a battalion wants wood for building or 

 for fuel or for charcoal the ranger is sent to mark the trees to be cut. 

 The woods are suffering less from the war than the men, the animals 

 (including game), the fields, the buildings, and the human hearts." 



Before the Dominions Royal Commission, which is seeking in- 

 formation regarding the resources of the British Dominions, Mr. 

 Elwood Wilson made statements regarding the forest conditions of the 

 Province of Quebec. Of the total timbered area north of the St. 

 Lawrence River of 304,000 square miles, over 100,000 must be con- 

 sidered inaccessible and less than one-half of the total is accessible 

 at the present time, the available material on this being less than 500 

 million cords. 



The consumption has increased during the last seven years 290 per, 

 cent, but if it were to increase only at 10 per cent per annum, less 

 than 60 years would see the end of these supplies. In the St. Maurice 

 River Valley, for which exact statistics are available, the increase in 

 consumption for the last five years was at the rate of 28 per cent per 

 annum. With 10 per cent increase here the supplies would not last 

 50 years. The influence of increment is considered questionable in this 

 direction. Further interesting details of this testimony are to be found 

 in Canadian Forestry Tournal for December, 1916. 



