Agricultural and Industrial 

 Progress in Canada 



A monthly review of Agricultural and Industrial progress in Canada, 

 published by the Department of Colonization and Development of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway at Montreal, Canada, 



VOL. 4 No. 4 



MONTREAL 



April, 1922 



Forest Conservation 



WHILE there is much to be done in regard 

 to forest conservation in Canada, the 

 progress that has been made in the past 

 few years has been gratifying. There are now 

 four forest schools connected with Canadian 

 Universities, and forest experimental stations 

 have been established in different parts of 

 Canada to study the best methods of forest 

 reproduction. 



According to the Canadian Forestry Magazine, 

 last season, in addition to protecting the forests 

 by means of hundreds of patrolmen on foot, in 

 .canoes, in motor boats and on railway veloci- 

 pedes, airplanes were employed for protec- 

 tion in no less than five provinces, and in 

 addition, no less than 

 2000 miles of tele- 

 phone wires have 

 been strung. 



For the better 

 utilization of forest 

 products there have 

 also been established 

 under the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior, 

 Forest Production 

 Laboratories where 

 all problems connect- 

 ed with the manu- 

 facture of every kind of forest products are studied 

 and the result made available to the people of 

 Canada. 



A great change has also taken place in the 

 attitude of people generally towards forest pro- 

 tection, and through warning notices placed in 

 the dining-cars of railway trains, camps, on trees 

 in Dominion Parks and other public places, they 

 have been fully informed of the enormous 

 waste through forest fires and are co-operating 

 in endeavor to keep them to the utmost mini- 

 mum. 



If fires had been kept out of Canada's forests 

 for the past century, we might have cut all the 

 timber that has been cut in that time and still 

 have as much timber standing as when Con- 



federation was brought in in other words, the 

 annual growth is estimated to have been as 

 great as the annual cut; but because the annual 

 growth has not been as great as the annual cut 

 plus the fire losses, the forests have been 

 deteriorating. 



The remedy, it is clear, is to reduce forest 

 fires, and start new forests on non-agricultural 

 lands. 



Canadian forests have demonstrated wonder- 

 ful recuperative powers, and if these powers 

 were assisted by natural and artificial seeding, 

 the tide would soon be turned and the annual 

 growth increased to a point where it would 

 exceed the annual cut. 



The need for action is not because Canada 



is in the midst of a timber famine now, but be- 



cause it takes a tree 



Canada's greatest need to-day is creative and practical 

 thinking by the individual. The agricultural and indus- 

 trial world is composed of individuals. Because a num- 

 ber, not by any means a majority, think along progressive 

 lines, trade and employment are made possible. Indus- 

 trial and agricultural development depends on the increase 

 of this number cf right-thinking individuals. And this 

 because all action is resultant upon thought. 



half a century or 

 more to reach a 

 merchantable size. 



In carrying out 

 reforestation in the 

 British Isles, the 

 Forestry Commis- 

 sion is depending 

 chiefly on Canada 

 for tree seeds. The 

 collection, threshing 



and shipping of 



these seeds is done 



by the Forestry Branch of the Department of 

 the Interior. The threshing and cleaning is 

 carried out at a very efficient plant at New 

 Westminster, British Columbia. (M 



Late last year, a shipment of 3,000 pounds 

 was made, evenly divided between Douglas fir 

 and Sitka spruce seed. Recently, a second 

 shipment was sent overseas consisting of 1,800 

 pounds Douglas fir, 1,500 pounds Sitka spruce 

 and 100 pounds western hemlock seed. 



A third shipment which will go forward 

 soon as possible will complete the despatch of t 

 seed collection during the past year. 



It is reported from Great Britain that th 

 trees above mentioned grow exceptionally wel 

 in the British Isles. 



