DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1948 63 



DIMSION OF REFORESTATION 



Distribution of Trees 



The year under re\'ie\v was similar to the previous six \ears in that tree 

 production was still relati\ely low as a result of curtailment of nurser\- work 

 during the war. Total distribution of trees was 12,269,533, of which approxi- 

 mately 7,000,000 were distributed to pri\-ate landowners, 3,150,000 trees were 

 planted on municipal and authority- forests, 250,000 on roadside planting, about 

 20,000 on school demonstration plots, and just under 1,275,000 on various 

 classes of Crown land. The remaining 400,000 were classed as semi-public 

 and extraneous. A cross-section study of private plantations indicates the need 

 for more intensive work on the choice of species to plant, and the methods of 

 planting on heav>- and wet lands. Studies along these lines are being carried out. 



Mil 11 icipa I Reforestd tion 



A start has been made during the past two years to make thinnings in 

 municipal plantations. Man\- of these are now approaching twenty-h\'e \ears 

 of age and require thinning out in order to achieve a better development of the 

 stand. Several hundred cords of pit-props have been removed and sold to the 

 British Government. Some pulpwood has been sold from these plantations 

 and it is expected that the thinnings for this market will increase rapidly. 



Studies are being conducted into the methods of thinning plantations to 

 achieve the best jjossible economy-, and at the same time allo\\' for the best 

 development of the stand. 



This \ear saw the continued development of mechanical tree i:)lanters, 

 which are overcoming the shortage of seasonal laboiu- normalK' used for this 

 purpose. These machines have proved of considerable value in the i)lanting of 

 large open fields, where they can put in an axerage of approximateK' 10,000 trees 

 per da>'. The\- are also effccti\e in reducing the (-ost of i)lanting \-cry con- 

 siderably. 



Several counties made land purchases, increasing the area of land under 

 the Municipal Reforestation .\ct. The increases were roughly as follows: 

 Prescottand Russell Counties ajiproximateh- 1,000 acres; Durham and Northum- 

 berland Counties, 282 acres; \'ictoria County, 701 acres; ^'ork County, 354 acres; 

 Simcoe Count\-, 696 acres; Grey Count>-, 750 acres; Bruce Count \, 2,469 acres. 



The Ganaraska Authoritx acquired a further 1,328 acres, increasing the 

 size of Ganaraska I'orest to 1,968 acres. 



