296 The Farm Woodlot 



colonists practically the serfs of the original grantees, 

 which condition was terminated only in 1854 by the home 

 government freeing the colonists through the indemni- 

 fication of the noblemen. The land then passed to the 

 colonists. The English continued the practice of granting 

 land to soldiers, to individuals and to the Church. An 

 order to reserve every seventh section for the support 

 of the Protestant Church was largely responsible for the 

 Papinean rebellion in 1837. The lands withdrawn for 

 the purpose were later sold and the proceeds turned over 

 to the cities for educational purposes. Other large tracts, 

 either through grant or sale, have passed into private 

 hands, and numberless small tracts have been turned over 

 to the settlers in the same way. Fifty million acres were 

 granted to the railroads as an aid to their construction. 



Thus in one way or another the larger part of the land 

 in the eastern provinces passed out of the control of the 

 government. These conditions are, however, reversed 

 in the western provinces, and in the Dominion as a whole 

 the larger part of the forest lands still belong to the 

 crown, some eight million acres. Of this enormous area 

 about sixty per cent contains scrubby timber fit only for 

 local use. 



In 1826 the government adopted the policy of allowing 

 any one who would pay a fixed stumpage fee to cut timber 

 from the crown land. A surveyor-general of woods and 

 forests was appointed to collect the revenues. This was 

 the first attempt on the part of the state to secure any 

 revenues from its forests. This plan was defeated because 

 the lumbermen found it cheaper to buy the land on con- 

 tract, cut the timber and forfeit the land together with 



