Commission of Conservation. 



9 



mental purposes. The varieties sent 

 out were Manitoba maple, elm, Cot- 

 tonwood, green ash, willows, and 

 some conifers as tamarack, white 

 spruce, jack pine and Scotch pine. 



Trent VAiiLEY Watershed. 



Dr. Fernow, Dean of the Faculty 

 of Forestry, University of Toronto, 

 said that in what had been termed 

 the forest townships which compris- 

 ed nine tenths of the 1,800 square 

 miles in the district examined, the 

 amount of land cleared was about 

 nine per cent. Of this 8.4 per cent, 

 was pasture and only 1.6 per cent, 

 cultivated land. The general con- 

 clusion was that this area should 

 have been protected and left to 

 grow up again as a pinery. So un- 

 suited was the district for farming 

 that since the lumberman had left 

 the families on the land were eking 

 out a poor existence and should be 

 given a chance to remove to better 

 locations. It was estimated that 

 after the fires had destroyed many 

 millions' worth of property there 

 was still left white pine young 

 growth which mature would be 



worth $3,500,000, and pulpwood of 

 potential value of $4,500,000. Ac- 

 tion looking toward the protection 

 of this was urged. It was noted that 

 Hastings County had acquired 2,200 

 acres of this area under tax sales 

 for an average of seventeen cents per 

 acre and was holding it for refores- 

 tation. 



Regarding the northern clay belt 

 of Ontario Dr. Fernow held that 

 about fifty per cent, of the timber 

 would be valuable for lumber or 

 pulpwood, and he urged a classifica- 

 tion of lands before allowing settle- 

 ment to come in. 



Fur Farms and Animal Sanc- 

 tuaries. 



Mr. M. J. Patton, the Assistant 

 Secretary of the Commission in one 

 part of his report dealt with the 

 need for a system of national game 

 refuges to preserve the beaver. This 

 animal disappeared in Europe in the 

 sixteenth century and would disap- 

 pear in America in the twentieth un- 

 less national provision was made 

 for its protection. 



Very interesting was the report of 



Camp in the Timbered Country between the Pas and Split Lake, Manitoba. 



