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nut. His experience had taught him that it required deep rich soil. If any of his audi- 

 ence had farms on which there was damp soil, they could grow such trees as the Tamarac, 

 if they had light sandy soil, they could grow Pine, Spruce, etc. ; but if they had good, 

 rich, deep soil, they would waste neither their time nor their land in cultivating Black 

 Walnut. He was authorized by a statement of Prof. Hough, Chief of Forestry at Wash- 

 ington, to say that in fifty years one superficial acre would support 680 trees under the 

 most favourable circumstances. He would, however, only take 400 Black Walnut trees 

 to the acre. Now the average growth of Black Walnut in Canada, according to his own 

 experience, was half an inch a year, although on the shore of Lake Simcoe, where the soil 

 was exceedingly rich, they increased nearly an inch in size per year. But suppose their 

 average increase was half an inch, consequently in forty years, twenty -inch trees would 

 be secured. Black Walnut at present was worth $1 per cubic foot, so that calculating 

 each tree at twenty -five cubic feet they would have $10,000 as the result of forty years 

 growth upon one acre of land. According to Prof. Macoun's report, our Western Prairies 

 were once covered with a thick growth of timber ; why should not these prairies be 

 covered again, at least partially with forests ? Some people were of the opinion that our 

 governments should take hold of this matter, as men's lives were too short, but he could 

 assure them that if men's lives were short, government's lives were still shorter. But a 

 man should do his duty, and not be calling upon the Government to do his work. In 

 some of tlie States very liberal premiums were given to encovirage the planting of trees, 

 and he thought the Government of Quebec might well take similar action. At the last 

 Session of the Legislature he introduced a measure looking to the establishment of an 

 " Arbor t)ay," like that existing in the United States. In this respect we might well 

 follow the example of our practical neighbours. Even in the State of Michigan the Gov- 

 ernor issued a proclamation establishing an " Arbor Day," although that State produced 

 more lumber than the whole Dominion. The subject of forestry was a hobby with him 

 (Mr. Joly), and he could assure his audience that it was one which no one could take up 

 without becoming enthusiastic over it. If it was an evidence of faith in Divine Providence 

 for the farmer to sow his seed in the spring time, in the confidence of reaping the harvest 

 in the course of a few months, how much greater evidence of faith was it to plant young 

 trees for which half a century or a century were required to bring them to maturity 1 



Prof. F. B. Hough, chief of the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, then delivered an address. He said : — 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



In considering this subject of Forestry from various points of view, we find it a very 

 complex one, involving many principles in science, and coming directly home to matters 

 of practical business and the afiairs of daily life. It is therefore a subject that should 

 receive attention both from the man of science and the man of business, the one to study 

 the principles of knowledge that are involved, and the other to apply them to use. 



When we eonsider that our native supplies of timber were largely beyond our wants, 

 and that a part must be removed before agriculture could be introduced, it is not, per- 

 haps, surprising that the habit of destruction should have continued beyond the limit 

 where it should cease. It has become apparent to thoughtful men that this point has 

 been reached and passed and that unless measures are seasonably adopted for the main- 

 tenance and renewal of our forest products we must, in the near future, feel the great 

 inconvenience that will result from their want. 



It was for the dii-ect purpose of awakening a public interest in this question and for 

 devising the means whereby these dangei's may be averted that the American Forestry 

 Congress has been organized, and in pursuance of this intention I invite your thoughts 

 to some points that will, I trust, be deemed worthy of notice, as tending to secure this 

 object. 



In the case of forest products, their weight and bulk at first limited their transport- 

 ation to the floating upon streams, and the extent of demand and the price were 

 measured by the distance they were to be carried to the place where they were to be used. 



