Mercier. — Effect of Forest Protection 99 



in hunting phraseology in England to any low growth of 

 cover for game. The Conqueror punished with death the 

 killing of a deer, a wild boar, or even a hare. The con- 

 quered English were hanged for the murder of a plover, 

 death was inflicted on those who spread nets for pigeons, 

 and those who had drawn a bow upon a stag were to be 

 tied to the animal alive. In France up to the time of 

 the Revolution the slightest trespasses on the forest do- 

 main were severely punished, and game animals were held 

 strictly sacred, even when they ravaged the fields of the 

 peasantry. 



Many of the most valuable forests of both England 

 and France, which proved so extremely important for the 

 supply of timber during the late war, owe their preser- 

 vation to their employment as hunting preserves. The 

 enormous value of our forests today to many of our lead- 

 ing industries, and especially, as we all know, to that of 

 pulp and paper, largely overshadows their importance 

 from the fish and game point of view, and as protectors 

 of these last mentioned we may rejoice that this is so, and 

 that there are so many other weighty reasons for the 

 preservation of the woods that are so essential to our fish 

 and game life. 



When last I addressed an association of those inter- 

 ested in fish and game protection in New York — I believe 

 it was the American Game Protective and Propagation 

 Society — I was at the head of the Department of Coloniza- 

 tion, Mines and Fisheries of the Province of Quebec, and 

 spoke upon the fish and game resources of the Province. 

 It so happens that now, when I have had the honor of 

 saying a few words upon the importance of forest pro- 

 tection to fish and game, I happen to be Minister of Lands 

 and Forests of the same Province, and you may perhaps 

 like to know what we are doing in my department for the 

 protection of the natural nursery of fish and game. 



