Current Literature. 8i 



this 92,000 square miles of cultivated land and 100,000 square 

 miles of cut-over lands and there remain 1,700,000 square miles of 

 forest, which at an estimate of 3,000 feet per acre would mean 

 over 3,000 billion feet. But the most optimistic guess yet given 

 for Canada's present timber supply is the equivalent of 1,000 

 billion feet. Thus the conclusion is reached that two-thirds of 

 the original forest has been burned — the equivalent of a solid 

 forest twice the size of Ontario and Quebec combined; or, to 

 express it otherwise, for every foot of lumber that has been pro- 

 duced in Canada's lifetime seven feet have been burned. 



Still further to accentuate the destruction that has gone on, 

 quotations are given from the reports of exploration and survey 

 parties. These cover every province and show how widespread 

 has been the damage. 



The effects of fires on soil, future growth and waterflow, besides 

 the timber destroyed, are discussed in detail. 



As regards the causes O'f forest fires, there is universal agree- 

 ment among the provinces that, in order of their importance they 

 are (i) railway engines ; (2) settlers clearing land; (3) campers 

 and travellers. Patrol is the best means of preventing fires from 

 railway construction. Legislation requiring the companies to 

 pay half the expense of such patrol exists only with reference to 

 federal lands. In Ontario, however, the Transcontinental Rail- 

 way Commission have agreed to pay one-third. Patrol along lines 

 operating through timbered land is also in existence in the case of 

 a few railways. In Ontario these bear all the expense so 

 incurred by the government. The system should be extended 

 throughout Canada. Power to examine engines should be given 

 to ofiicials of the fire service, as the law regarding spark arrest- 

 ers and proper ash pans remains a dead letter. (We understand 

 this power has lately been given to federal forest fire officials.) As 

 regards the setting out of fires by settlers, there is legislation in 

 the majority of the provinces requiring the procuring of a per- 

 mit. Only in Nova Scotia and British Columbia is this rigidly 

 enforced. 



The causes of fires can be guarded against only by an increase 

 of efficiency and extension of the patrol system covering the trav- 

 eled routes into timberland. A substitution of oil for wood in the 

 logging engines used in British Columbia would reduce the fires 

 there. The disposal of slash is undoubtedly the greatest prob- 



