THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTUEI8T. 



147 



years ; and that of Minnesota about 

 eleven years ; and that at the rates of 

 present consumption in th© North-west, 

 the whole supply of the timber of the 

 United States would last about seven- 

 teen years. Hence he concludes that 

 it is the duty of Government to inquire 

 how far it can withdraw remaining tim- 

 ber lands from market and place them 

 under regulations that shall secure the 

 greatest present benefit from the use of 

 timber now fully mature, having regard 

 to the requirements of the future, and 

 to ascertain how to impress upon private 

 owners the importance of planting, and 

 how far and in what manner it may 

 encourage this object. To this end he 

 advises the establishment of experi- 

 mental stations for the careful study of 

 the requirements and capabilities of 

 soils, and of the several kinds of trees, 

 and publish the results in a form par- 

 ticularly calculated to impress their 

 importance, and to teach the simplest 

 rules for securing success. He con- 

 cludes his very interesting and instruc- 

 tive speech by saying : 



" We are using up the capital which 

 nature had for centuries been providing 

 for us in the growth of forests, and we 

 are doing nothing to restore them. 

 Under skillful management the supply 

 might be so arranged that in twenty- 

 five or thirty years for some kinds, and 

 in fifty or sixty years for others, a new 

 crop would be furnished by growth ; 

 and if only a twenty-fifth or thirtieth 

 part of the former, or a fiftieth or six- 

 tieth part of the latter, were taken 

 yearly, the supply would be perpetual. 

 But, instead of this, we are taking a 

 tenth or a twentieth part every year, 

 while the growth from our neglect is 

 not a fourth part of what it should be 

 where any growth is allowed. 



" We shall only too soon be reminded 

 of the consequences of this improvidence 

 in the growing pricea of lumber, which 



in some kinds have already doubled' 

 within a very few yeare, and which are 

 advancing every day. These advances 

 may be ascribed by some to speculation, 

 and doubtless to some extent they are, 

 for the speculator never loses a chance 

 to turn a penny in his own favor, it 

 matters not who suffers; but when 

 these advances are steadily going oni 

 from month to month, and year to year, . 

 at an accelerating rate, it means that 

 the intrinsic value of the commodity 

 they represent is becoming greater 

 under the combined effects of diminish- 

 ing supply and increasing demand. It 

 will inevitably lead to the realizing 

 conviction that there is profit in grow- 

 ing timber, and the sooner this is under- 

 stood and acted upon the better will it 

 be for the country and for the future." 



The large gathering of influential and 

 representative men which recently took 

 place in Cincinnati, embracing not only 

 scientists, whose special studies have 

 led them to understand the importance 

 of this subject, but also members of 

 state and national legislatures, leading 

 agricultuiists, and the chief of the 

 National Agricultural Bureau, this 

 gathering is a cheering evidence that 

 our neighbors across the border are 

 becoming aroused to the importance of 

 this subject, and that steps will be 

 taken to prevent the needless destruc- 

 tion of their forests, and to secure the 

 planting of woodlands as a branch of 

 economic industry. 



It is also very gratifying to us as 

 Canadians to know that the Honorable 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture for 

 Ontario is fully alive to the great im- 

 portance of this matter to us, and that 

 he is using every means at his command 

 to procure and diffuse information on 

 this subject, and to encourage the plant- 

 ing of forest trees for timber, shelter 

 and fuel, wherever it can be done with 

 advantage. 



