CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Forest Conditions of Nova Scotia. By B. E. Fernow, assisted 

 by C. D. Howe and J. H. White, Commission of Conservation. 

 Ottawa. 1912. Pp. 93. Maps. 



Nova Scotia is the only province of Canada which can, so far, 

 boast of a forest survey. Such a survey, or forest reconnaissance, 

 was made under the direction of Dr. B. E. Fernow, of the Faculty 

 of Forestry, of the University of Toronto during the summers of 

 1910 and 191 1 and has been recently published by the Commission 

 of Conservation. He had the assistance on the survey of ^Ir. J. 

 H. White and Dr. C. D. Howe, also of the Forestry School 

 faculty, the latter very ably handling the relation of forest types 

 to physiography and soils as given in the latter part of the report. 



The object of the reconnaissance was to furnish reliable data 

 as to the value of the forest resources of the province, so that with 

 this as a working basis the Government might formulate a pro- 

 gressive policy for the handling of Crown and private timber 

 lands. Its need is best shown by the statement that a resource 

 representing a potential capital of at least $300,000,000 is rapidly 

 deteriorating by injudicious use and that restorative measures 

 should be undertaken at once by all who have the continued pros- 

 perity of the province at heart. About 21,000 square miles was 

 covered by the survey and while its accuracy cannot exceed that 

 of the maps upon which it was plotted, it is safe to say that these 

 Crown Land sheets contain the most detailed information in 

 regard to forest lands upon this continent. 



The report begins with a discussion of the physiographic fea- 

 tures of the province and assigns the whole province, ecologically, 

 to the Appalachian or Acadian forest type, namely a maple-birch- 

 beech formation, with coniferous admixture. An assignment of 

 different types of forest to the underlying rock formations is 

 made in an interesting and comprehensive manner but cannot be 

 entered upon here. 



The main species making up the forest are enumerated and 

 briefly discussed. Red spruce is given as forming the bulk of 

 the coniferous timber, while balsam fir is numerically the most 



