Notes on European Forestry. 



11 



well as in developing a plan for recupera- 

 tive measures in the Trent Watershed. 



(9) That representations be made to the 

 Dominion Government, urging that favour- 

 able action be taken with regard to the 

 proposed additions to the Forest Reserves 

 recommended by the Forestry Branch. 



(10) That the proposed establishment of 

 a game preserve in the southern portion 

 of the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve, 

 and in southeastern British Columbia ad- 

 joining the Glacier National Park, be en- 

 dorsed; and that favourable action be urged 

 upon the Dominion Government and upon 

 the Government of British Columbia. 



(11) That, whereas, the Provinces of 

 British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have 

 seen the value of organizing a Provincial 

 Forest Service, representations be made to 

 the Governments of Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick, looking toward the establish- 



ment of technically educated Provincial 

 Foresters; this action to be taken not only 

 for the purpose of securing a conservative 

 use of the remaining forest resources, but 

 also of stimulating and educating forest 

 owners and woo^lot owners in efforts at re- 

 forestation. 



(12) The Commission desires to place on 

 record its opinion that it is important that 

 all appointments in the forest services of 

 the Dominion and Provincial Governments 

 should be based on capability and exper- 

 ience, such as may be secured through civil 

 service examination. 



(13) That the Government of Ontario be 

 urged to undertake a systematic classifica- 

 tion of land in the Clay Belt, in advance 

 of settlement, to the end that settlement 

 may be properly directed, and that non- 

 agricultural lands may be reserved from set- 

 tlement and entry. 



Notes on European Forestry, 



In an article contributed recently to the 

 American Lumberman on a visit to some 

 European forests, in France, Switzerland, 

 and (Jermany, Dr. Filibert Roth, head 

 of the Department of Forestry at the 

 University of Michigan, gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting and chatty notes re- 

 garding forests and forestry practice in the 

 countries mentioned: — 



'Recently I have visited Grenoble and the 

 beautiful forests of the French Jura, es- 

 pecially about the Grand Chartreuse, that 

 famous cloister of old. The forests here are 

 largely private property, a sort of cared-for 

 wildwoods, with fine growth of fir (balsam) 

 and beech, also other trees. Plenty of them 

 are over thirty inches in diameter and over 

 120 feet in height. The exploitation is 

 primitive. A load of logs, full-sized stems, 

 is not loaded one by one, but is lifted bodily 

 into a two-wheeled cart and then drawn by 

 five horses hitched tandem. 



'In Switzerland I saw numerous forests, 

 large and small, primarily private and vil- 

 lage forests of spruce planted in the regular 

 way. These woods are immensely productive 

 and one sees new plantations everywhere, 

 showing a tendency to increase the forest 

 areas at the expense of the agricultural 

 lands. My visit to the famous Sihlwald, the 

 most ancient of well established forest pro- 

 perties in the world, was made doubly in- 

 teresting, as I had a chance to spend the 

 Fourth of July in a tour of inspection of 

 this property with Mr. Meister, forester of 

 the city of Zurich, and the society of fores- 

 ters of Alsace-Lorraine, the latter having 



come over sixty strong, from the valley of 

 the Rhine and the Vosges mountains to see 

 this great forest. The city of Zurich sent 

 a special delegate, provided teams and re- 

 freshments and in every way showed its ap- 

 preciation of this visit of foresters. It is 

 a treat to see this beautiful old forest, which 

 has supplied Zurich for fully 1,000 years 

 with much-needed fuel and timber, and 

 which to-day is one of the best producing 

 forests of Europe. 



'This forest occupies large mountain 

 slopes entirely unfit for plow land; it is 

 mainly beech and spruce, with the latter as 

 the favored species. It is managed on a 

 rotation of about 110 years, that is, the trees 

 are left to this age before being harvested, 

 and there is today an almost ideal condition 

 with trees of all ages, so that the harvest 

 comes like clockwork every year in amount 

 and size of timber. Rainfall and snowfall 

 are heavy and the heavy snows sometimes 

 crush stands of timber when in the "pole" 

 stage. 



'Before leaving Switzerland I visited the 

 upper Rhine, where the floods lately have 

 done great damage. The forests in that sec- 

 tion unquestionably have reduced this dam- 

 age and prevented wholesale calamity. 



'Coming into southern Germany I visited 

 the royal forests in Baden, which yield fine 

 incomes. They are largely spruce, planted 

 or roprofluced naturally, and produce a net 

 revonjie of over $10 an acre every year. 

 Similar conditions exist in the neighboring 

 forests of the royal family of the King of 

 Wurtemberg. Here the forest is for the 



