1903-4. | THE FLUCTUATIONS OF LAKE ONTARIO, 1 
acres, set apart in 1893, timber under license not included, there have 
been 80,000 acres set apart as an Eastern reserve, the Sibley reserve of 
45,000 acres, and the Temagami reserve of 1,408,000 acres. In 1898 
the Ontario Legislature adopted the “ Forests Reserves Act,” empower- 
ing the Lieut.-Governor-in-Council to set apart tracts of such lands as 
forest reserves as from time to time may be deemed advisable. The 
passing of the above Acts, also by the appointment of a Commission in 
1897, and setting apart forest reserves, indicate the care of the Ontario 
Government to rectify as far as possible the effects of deforestation. 
The assessment returns of the forestry report contain valuable statistics 
as to the total acreage and woodland of the Ontario townships, and the 
Director of Forestry remarks at page 45 of the report : “ On the basis of 
these returns, as well as from other sources of information, it is evident 
that in much of the older settled portion of the province, the proper 
‘proportion of wooded to cleared land no longer exists, and evidence is 
not wanting that we have begun seriously to feel the effects of over- 
clearance. Farmers are now noting the disadvantage of having no 
forests to stop the sweep of the winds, owing to which the snow is 
blown off the fields in winter, and the moisture quickly evaporated in 
the summer, while the melted snow and rain at all seasons runs rapidly 
off the surface instead of being gradually absorbed into the soil. While 
many of the farmers already realize the damage to agriculture caused 
by over-clearance, few have made any attempt to improve the condition 
of affairs by replanting or by adequately preserving their existing wood 
lots. That something should be done to correct the process of forest 
removal in Southern Ontario is obvious, and just what steps to pursue 
to accomplish this end is not so apparent.” The recent sale of timber 
limits in New Ontario on December gth last, shows that the evil effects 
of deforestation will be continued without any reservation as to the 
smaller growth of timber, and the Bureau of Forestry will have to devise 
means for rectifying the omission by replanting. The chief points of 
the sale of timber limits in the districts of Algoma and Rainy River were 
as follows :— 
Total amount, $3,677,337.50, for 8264 square miles, an average price 
of $4,450 per square mile. If a small percentage of this large amount 
was set apart for reforestation, it would assist to mitigate the evil effects 
of the wholesale destruction of the forests. The disposal of the pulp 
wood limits is also a cause of deforestation, particularly as the smaller 
timber is used for pulp wood, and, consequently, there would be no res- 
ervation. In connection with this subject I cannot avoid quoting some 
extracts from a work on practical forestry, by John Gifford, 1902, as- 
