18 Forestry Quarterly 



crop. This statement has special reference to the White spruce, 

 which on the deep soils which it occupies grows for a long time on 

 the average at a rate of 5 to 6 years to the inch, making a 15-inch 

 tree, 80 feet in height, in 80 years. 



In order then, to inaugurate a systematic management of any 

 property, the character and condition of the property needs to be 

 known in detail; next, its administrative, its economic, and its 

 technical problems must be recognized and solved. 



These requirements in a forest property involve first of all a 

 detailed forest survey, including a close stocktaking, and mapping; 

 next, a suitable subdivision into smaller units or compartments 

 for convenient handling; a study of the materials that can be 

 marketed, and a study not only, but a stimulation of the market 

 for the minor materials; next a study of growth conditions and 

 their effect and results in regard to regeneration and in regard to 

 increment. Based on this information, an admissible felling 

 budget may then be calculated and the felling areas may be suit- 

 ably located; finally, study and experiment is necessary to learn 

 how the local silvicultural difficulties may be overcome. 



These are the data which must be ascertained in order to formu- 

 late a working plan and to inaugurate a technical management. 

 There is no need here, I hope, to insist on the necessity of employ- 

 ing men with professional training to collect these data and to 

 apply them ; no need to insist that permanency of tenure of office 

 and continuity of organization are essential to successful execution 

 of the plans. 



I propose now to point out a few illustrations of the kind of 

 silvicultural problems that must eventually be solved by experi- 

 mentation, those that arise in attempts to secure a new crop of 

 desirable character. 



Each Reserve has its special problems, according to its charac- 

 ter and composition. 



The Aspen Problem 



In the Riding and Duck Mountains, we find conditions and 

 problems very much alike. The most valuable species here at 

 present is the White spruce, hence it is this species for which the 

 management would have to be devised, especially as at least 60 

 per cent of the soil is adapted to this species. 



Unfortunately, numerically, another species, the aspen, is most 



