1917-18 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 



157 



that quarantine legislation combined with intelligent inspection can be made 

 effective against the intrusion of foreign diseases. But many problems remain 

 unsolved, notably those of the forest with its multiplicity of unstudied diseases 

 and difficulty controlled situations; and it is just here that destruction — perhaps 

 greater than in the case of fire — goes on unceasingly, especially in over-mature 

 stands, or improperly harvested limits, taking a toll of millions every year. 



Considerable advance in this direction has been made in Europe with its 

 regulated forests and long-trained experts, but in America where conditions are 

 very different forest pathologists have only in recent years undertaken investiga- 

 tions on the diseases of our vast virgin forests. Naturally such investigations 

 constitute a sine quu non first step towards the solution of our own 'peculiar 

 problems, for we must become acquainted with the diseases of our forests, their 



7 — Fifty-acre block of Scotch Pine planted in 1911 at Provincial Forest Station. 

 Trees now six to eight feet high. 



nature, distribution, and relative importance before any important contribution 

 can be made to that essential body of information on which Government and 

 lumbermen base progressive action with reference to conservation or control of 

 the forest. 



Work of 1918. 



The work of the past summer (1918) was centred mainly on a malady of the 

 white pine known as " needle blight," but in addition two cases of pulp blackening 

 were examined and its cause and prevention indicated, two cases of alleged injury 

 to white pine and other species from fumes were reviewed, and a general survey 

 of the timber diseases of the Timagami Forest Reserve (including an extensive 

 collection) was undertaken. 



In response to many complaints from Northern Ontario that the white pine 

 was suffering from a yellowing of the foliage I was directed by the Forestry 



