98 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July, 1913. 



A feature of the convention which it is 

 expected will be warmly appreciated by 

 the delegates is the exhibit of specimens 

 of the woods of Manitoba and of the in- 

 sects which are parasitic upon them. Mr. 

 F. K. Herchmer, of the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch will have charge of the former, 

 and Mr. J. M. Swaine, of the Dominion 

 Experimental Farms, of the latter. 



A special effort is being made to issue 

 the full report of the Proceedings within 



a couple of weeks after the convention. 

 This report will contain the discussion as 

 well as the papers, and will give to those 

 who will be unable to attend the meeting 

 the very best alternative possible. In so 

 far as the edition will permit, copies of the 

 report will be sent to all who apply, after 

 the members of the Association and those 

 attended the convention have been sup- 

 pUed. 



Qucbec^s Planting Operations* 



Waste Lands Near Lachute Being Reforested. 



About forty years ago near La- 

 chute, Que., there were fields devoted 

 to the growing of barley which was 

 transported to Montreal to be used in 

 the breweries there. Prices were good 

 and the farmers raised the same crop 

 for approximately fifteen years in 

 succession. Then a plague of grass- 

 hoppers removed a large part of the 

 virile green growth, with the result 

 that the soil, relieved of the great part 

 of its humus and other binding ele- 

 ments, began to drift in a south-east- 

 erly direction under the impelling 

 force of the prevailing wind. At the 

 present time these fields resemble a 

 rolling sea. The sand has been hol- 

 lowed out in the places in which there 

 are no trees or grasses and piled up 

 long distances away to a height of 

 from 10 to 25 feet. 



A description of this locality was 

 given in the May issue of The For- 

 estry Journal of last year, and an 

 account given of the work of reclaim- 

 ing this land undertaken by the 

 Quebec Government under Mr. G. C. 

 Piche, M.P., Director of the Forestry 

 School and Chief Forestry Engineer 

 of the Quebec Department of Lands 

 and Forests. The results of that 

 work to date and the new operations 

 which were undertaken this year were 

 seen by representatives of The Jornal 

 again last month. 



Of the 17,000 two-year-old white 

 pine which were planted a year ago 



13,000 are at present living, and of 

 the 18,000 two-year-old white spruce 

 5,000 have come through the year suc- 

 cessfully. The experimental planta- 

 tion of 3,000 white ash and 800 elms 

 was a little more successful, as these, 

 although slightly frozen, have come 

 through the winter practically with- 

 out loss. 



This year the company of foresters 

 who are working on the sand waste 

 have replaced 4,000 pine and 5,000 

 spruce which had failed with new 

 seedlings of Scotch pine (Pinus syl- 

 vestris). It has been found that it 

 is practically useless to plant little 

 trees alone on the hills, as the sand 

 blows over them and erodes around 

 them to such an extent that they can- 

 not live. The remedy for this is to 

 plant beach grass, which affords ef- 

 ficient shelter to the young trees to 

 allow their first year's growth after 

 plantation to go ahead without set- 

 back. 



Frost injured the pines to a cer- 

 tain extent, but the greatest damage 

 came through the severe drought 

 which prevailed during the first half 

 of May. At that time the plants had 

 part of their rootlets enclosed in a 

 frozen soil. The plants were trans- 

 piring very much whilst the roots 

 could not supply enough moisture to 

 counterbalance the drying action. 



Continued on page 107. 



