28 PROTECTION OF PLAXTS, 1917-18 



This information is needed so that we may have data at the end of next 

 season to outline a definite poHcy. This question is now in the hands of the 

 Federal authorities. 



The Economic Importance of the Disease. 



From what we have seen, it is evident that we are not yet in a position to 

 foretell with exactitude what will be the damage to our forests of white pine. 

 Until a few years ago, we thought the rust absent from our province, expecting it 

 would never reach us, but the inspection of last year has proved the contrary, 

 and it may happen that next season's work will compel us to lose our last hopes. 



We must consider now the problems of growing white pine on our nurseries; 

 that is to say, should it be our policy, until evidence to the contrary is brought forth, 

 to believe that it is impossible to stop the progress of the disease, and, with this in 

 view, to find out by successive and repeated experiments to what extent our white 

 pine seedlings, etc., are liable to be endangered by it. The only way to get re- 

 liable data regarding the immunity of white pine in relation to the age, size, 

 mixture in stands, nearness of Ribes will be by sample plots of diversified condi- 

 tions of climatic and other ecological factors. This would require a long time for 

 adequate solution, and we must keep in mind that in sylviculture the conclusions 

 from experiments are obtained far more slowly than in agriculture, for similar 

 diseases affecting young or smooth tender bark studies pursued about ten years 

 will give satisfactory data to frame our reforestation policy. 



It would be very regrettable if we were to discontinue definitely the growing 

 of this species in our. nurseries, without having previously established by strong 

 arguments the necessity for such a step. The reforestation idea is just getting a 

 start here; the lumber supply is becoming scarcer in many localities, and the re- 

 forestation of infertile lands, of barren tracts denuded by lumbering or fires is 

 already an enterprise, which, especially in densely populated districts, commends 

 itself from the financial point of view. One of the essential conditions for its suc- 

 cess, however, is that the invested capital be justified by the future yield of the 

 species used, and, up to the present, the white pine seems to be the one which 

 yields the best expectations on account of the rapidity of its growth as well as 

 by the value of its lumber. We must add that the white pine is a species well 

 fitted for planting most of the waste lands of the Laurentians and Alleghany 

 mountains, as also for the St. Lawrence plain. 



We cannot advantageously substitute either the Red Pine, whose lumber has 

 a lower value, or any of our other indigenous conifers on account of their slower 

 growth. The exotic species, amongst which there are a few which seem to thrive 

 well under our climate, are still at the test period, and we cannot rely upon them. 



