Where the Forestry Convention will he Held — The Winnipeg Industrial Bireau. 



Should New Bruns\A/ick Forests Be Thinned, 



John D. Howe, St. John, N.B. 



In a paper read before the New Bruns- 

 wick Natural History Society, Mr. John 

 D. Howe, of St. John, N.B., who has for 

 many years taken an active interest in 

 forestry, urged the making of an experi- 

 ment in 'thinning' to promote growth in 

 the 'thicket' spruce forests of that Pro- 

 vince. 



Mr. Howe recalled in opening a discus- 

 sion at the first meeting of the Canadian 

 Forestry Association in 1900, between Sir 

 Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, Dr. Robert Bell, 

 Dr. Wm. Saunders, Hon. W. D. Perley, Mr. 

 Wm. Little and Sir William Hingston. Sir 

 Henri Joly and Sir Wm. Hingston contend- 

 ed that the estimates placed on the growth 

 of spruce were too high, the former say- 

 ing that in his experience he had not 

 found a more favorable average than one 

 inch in diameter in five or six years. It 

 was also pointed out that while old field 

 spruce grew rapidly they branched out 



from the bottom and were therefore large- 

 ly useless as timber trees. Mr. Little 

 l)ointed out that it was the rate of growth 

 of the whole forest, not of a single tree 

 growing in a garden that was important, 

 and Sir Wm. Hingston said that even in 

 the same acre of forest some trees would 

 grow as much in three years as others in 

 twelve years. 



Mr. Howe said he had measured large 

 quantities of spruce, and though people 

 argued that the growth, owing to greater 

 humidity, was greater in New Brunswick 

 than in Quebec, he had not found the aver- 

 ago greater than Sir Henri Joly had stated. 



This examination disclosed that trees 

 grow, not regularly, but fitfully. Some 

 trees would grow rapidly for twenty years 

 and then scarcely make any progress for 

 another twenty years, and then suddenly 

 break into vigorous growth again, putting 

 on as much wood in two years as they 



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