NOTES AND COMMENTS 813 



Mr. Wilson also distributes the area to the various forest types as 

 differentiated by Fernow (see Forestry Quarterly, Vol. VI, page 341, 

 and Proceedings Society of American Foresters, Vol. VII, page 133), 

 giving area, the percentage of timbered area, available and not avail- 

 able, and cords per acre, maximum and probable. 



It appears that of the 147,247 square miles of available mileage only 

 69,118, or 48 per cent, are really timbered. 



The better class. Middle St. Lawrence type, being represented by 

 42,780 square miles, or nearly two-thirds, its large cordage of possible 

 10 and probable 8 cords per acre brings the average to 8.2 to 6.2, 

 although in the other types the product runs mostly only between 5 and 

 3 cords. If we divide the total available acreage of country, 147,247 

 square miles, into the stated cordage of 363,603,200 cords, maximum 

 or 288 million probable, we find that 3 to 4 cords per acre is an average 

 figure which we can use for large territories of the type of Quebec. 



In the St. Maurice Valley, of which the author has more intimate 

 knowledge, the average on timbered area is stated as 6.75 cords, the 

 best 8.6 cords, and the average over all 3.3 cords, with a percentage of 

 balsam which runs from 48 to 78 per cent in different localities. 



The valley of the St. Maurice River contains about 12,329 square 

 miles and has all of the timber types of the province except the "North- 

 ern Subarctic." The area may be divided as follows : 



Square miles 



Water 758 



Merchantable timber 5,091 



Lumbered 1,603 



Swamp, not timbered 52 



Burnt, reproducing spruce and balsam 2,873 



Burnt, reproducing jack pine 656 



Burnt, not reproducing 652 



Settled 644 



12,329 

 Practically all of the timber is accessible, but there are some areas 



which cannot be lumbered profitably at present. 



He estimates the total stand of timber at ten cords per acre over the 



"merchantable" area, giving 32,582,400 cords, and on the cut-over 



areas, at five cords per acre, 5,129,600 cords, or a total of 37,712,000 



cords. This is made up as follows : 



Cords 



Balsam 24,21 1,040 



Black spruce 7,617,824 



White spruce 5,883,072 



The spruce timber is generally sound, but we must deduct about 10 

 per cent for rotten balsam, which would reduce the cordage to 35,290,- 

 832 cords. 



