Eominion Forest Servich 



53 



are distributed to settlers free of cost, 

 and seedlings of coniferous species are fur- 

 nished at the cost of growing them in the 

 nurseries. This work, inaugurated about 

 a dozen vears ago, has met with great 

 success from the start. The purpose held 

 in vieV was the furnishing of a supply of 

 fuel, fence posts, etc., to the settlers, the 

 protection from storms of their dwellings 

 and the beautification of the general land- 

 scape. The best index of the success of 



MR. JOHN R. BOOTH. 



On Saturday, April 5, Mr. John R. 

 Booth, of Ottawa, celebrated his 

 eighty -sixth birthday, in good health 

 and in active control of his great 

 lumber, paper and other interests. 

 Mr. Booth was one of the charter 

 members of the Canadian Forestry 

 A.ssociation, and was for some years 

 a director, which office is now filled 

 by his son, Mr. C. Jackson Booth. 

 At the 1906 Convention in Ottawa, 

 ]Mr. Booth put at the disposal of the 

 committee of arrangements a special 

 train which took the delegates out 

 over the- Canada Atlantic Railway 

 (Mr. Booth's line) to see the opera- 

 tions on one of his limits in the Mad- 

 awaska district. Mr. Booth has al- 

 ways been a strong supporter of 

 forest conservation. 



this work is the appreciation shown by 

 the people receiving the benefit from it. 

 This has expressed itself in a continually 

 growing demand for the nursery stock. 

 The extent of this demand led the depart- 

 ment last year to decide on the establish- 

 ment of a nursery at Saskatoon to supple- 

 ment that now established at Indian Head. 

 The work of putting the nursery under 

 way is being undertaken this year. 



Statistics and Laboratory. 



In connection with the head office at 

 Ottawa, various lines of work are being 

 undertaken and developed, with the idea 

 of bringing the general problem of forestry 

 before the public and of increasing the 

 knowledge of those directly using forest 

 products in regard to the material they 

 are handling. 



A technical forester will from now on 

 devote his whole time to the gathering and 

 preparing for publication of the existing 

 knowledge in regard to the forest resources 

 of the country. This information will also 

 be made available for use in the public 

 lectures given at frequent intervals by offi- 

 cers of the department. The information 

 used in the past as a basis for these lec- 

 tures has, to too great an extent, been 

 based on the experience and data of other 

 countries. It is intended in future to use 

 to a much larger extent the knowledge 

 acquired in this country itself. 



For the benefit of the industries using 

 wood in various forms, statistics of the 

 quantity and value of the wood so used are 

 compiled annually. The most detailed 

 work in this connection is in regard to the 

 use of wood in its highest manufactured 

 form by factories of various sorts. This 

 work is being undertaken by Provinces. 

 A report will shortly be published, giving 

 the data gathered in Ontario in 1912, and 

 a report with regard to the Maritime Pro- 

 vinces is in an advanced state of prepara- 

 tion. The Province of Quebec will next 

 receive attention, and later the western 

 Provinces. 



A most important development of this 

 work has been the establishment, through 

 the co-operation of McGill University, of 

 a wood-products laboratory. In this labor- 

 atory there will be investigated the 

 strength and other properties of the vari- 

 ous woods of industrial importance. One 

 of the large problems that will engage its 

 early attention will be the methods of man- 

 ufacturing wood-pulp for paper and the 

 suitability of various species of wood for 

 Huch manufacture. 



Another department recently inaugurat- 

 ed is the making of studies and the giv- 

 ing of assistance in relation to the manage- 

 ment of privately owned woodlands, espe- 

 cially the smaller areas in settled districts. 

 The Forestry Branch is continually in re- 

 ceipt of requests from the owners of such 



