REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 25 



held in Great Britain in the summer cf 1920. Six delegates attended from 

 Canada, Quebec's representatives being Elhvood Wilson, Chief Forester to 

 the Laurentide Company, and Mv. Bedard, Assistant Chief Forester to the 

 Quebec Government. Among other things, the Conference recommended 

 complete surveys of forest resources in the various dominions and the gathering 

 of data on the rate of growth and regeneration. It stated that such data were 

 absolutely essential to rational and economic management of the forests. 



The Imperial Forestry Conference marks another period in the history 

 of our forest treatment. The direct interest of the Empire in how we manage 

 our forests; that is a very significant thing, capable, if sustained, of far-reaching 

 consequences to the advantage of the forests and consequently to Canadian 

 industries. 



The characteristics of the present period developed gradually, however. 

 The war had an accelerating effect and linked Canada up with the Imperial 

 forestry needs. The beginnings of the present period were indicated some years 

 ago in the management of extensive forest areas in the West by the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch, in the employment of foresters by lumbermen and pulpwood 

 companies, and in the development of reforestation programs. The Province 

 of Quebec took the lead in the two latter. The first private companies to 

 emplo}' foresters are here. The first companies to begin planting operations 

 on a commercial scale are in this Province. The Provincial Forester was 

 perfecting his plans for cooperative planting on pulpwood limits before the 

 Imperial Conference took place. I am informed that certain pulpwood 

 •companies are making the necessary investigation of reproduction and rate of 

 growth preliminary' to restricting the annual cut to the amount accumulated 

 "by the annual growth. Similar studies are being made in New Brunswick. 

 Within the past few weeks, the Prime Minister of Ontario has announced his 

 adherence to a reforestation program that calls for the planting of 10,000 

 acres a year for the next sixty years. 



Now, why is it that private companies are going into the business of forest 

 planting on a large scale ? Why is it that Ontario is planning to reforest over 

 a half million acres of waste lands? Wh}^ did the British Reconstruction Com- 

 mittee say that forest conditions in Canada presented an Imperial question of 

 iirst magnitude which deserves the imms'^.iate attention of the Imperial and 

 Dominion Governments? Let us hastily examine into our forest conditions 

 to see if we can find a satisfactory answer to these questions. Before we 

 proceed, however, let me point out a mistaken conception quite generally 

 held by the pubhc. People think that, if an area is covered with a forest of 

 some kind, all is well. In our climate, they say, nature will always give us 

 trees of a sort. Let us take what nature gives and not worry about the future. 

 This assumes that all trees are so alike in their physical and mechanical prop- 

 erties that they can all be used, if necessity requires, for the same purpose. 

 Any farmer or wood-user knows this isn't so, yet I have often heard the idea 

 expressed by otherwise intelligent people who ought to know better. Quite 



