L THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Feet board measure. 



1870 2,951,134,352 



1880 ' 6,174,605,544 



1890 5,529,993,716 



1900 4,131,702,968 



1910 5,696,537,260 



These figures have been compiled for me from the census returns 

 by Mr. Leavitt, the Chief Forester of the Commission of Conservation. 

 They comprise the output of square, waney and flat timber, logs for 

 lumber and pulp wood. Such products as cord-wood and fence posts 

 are not included owing to the fact that the statistics for these must 

 necessarily be very largely conjectural, and also owing to the fact that 

 for purposes of comparison their inclusion would be unsatisfactory in 

 so much as no figures whatsoever are given for such products prior to 

 the census of 1890. 



Notwithstanding this continuous drain upon our forests and the 

 tremendous losses which they have sustained by fire, the general 

 opinion of the people of Canada, an opinion to which from time to 

 time expression is given in the utterances of our public men, is that 

 the great northern forests of Canada are so extensive that they are 

 practically exhaustless and will afford an abundant supply of timber 

 for all future time, a supply which will not only meet our own needs, 

 but will be amply sufficient to make good the increasing demand 

 of the United States, due to the disappearance of its own forests, and 

 also afford a surplus for export to Great Britain, South America, the 

 West Indies and other countries as at the present time. 



A closer examination of the facts of the case obtained by investi- 

 gations carried on during recent years, however, reveals a number of 

 interesting and very important results. The accompanying map, 

 based upon one prepared in 1906 by James White, then Dominion 

 Geographer, shows the nature and extent of the forests of Canada. 



It is only in these portions of the Dominion which are shown to 

 be covered by the "Southern Forest," the "Northern Forest, densely 

 wooded," and in British Columbia that there are forests yielding 

 merchantable products. Furthermore, it must be noted that the 

 "Northern Forest" is composed chiefly of trees of less value than the 

 "Southern Forest," which has up to the present time been the chief 

 source of the timber supplies of eastern Canada. 



A careful study of the question by the official forester of the 

 Dominion shows that so far from being exhaustless the reserves of 

 merchantable soft timber in the forests of Canada are only between 

 \ and ^ of that remaining in the forests of the United States. Of 



