108 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July, 1913 



were too young and too tender to en- 

 dure the hard conditions in which 

 they were placed. Also, Mr. Piche, 

 the Chief Forester, thinks that enough 

 care was not taken by some of the 

 planters, who exposed to the air the 

 fine rootlets which should have been 

 kept under good cover or in a bucket 

 of water. 



Last year a total area of twenty- 

 one acres was planted. This year 

 with twelve students working at the 

 rate of about eight to ten thousand 

 seedlings a day twenty-five to thirty 

 acres were planted. Mr. Laliberte, 

 under whom the work was done, esti- 

 mates that the cost was approximate- 

 ly $15 per acre, but as this was in- 

 curred in a short time and the over- 

 head expenses were great, it is far in 

 excess of what can be ordinarly ac- 

 complished. The cost, if the planting 

 were undertaken on a large scale, 

 should be only about five or six dol- 

 lars an acre. It is well within the 

 range of possibility that a large sand 

 area of some thirty-six square miles 

 near the present plantation may be 

 planted up in the course of the next 

 few years by the Government. It is 

 a distinct menace to the surrounding 

 countrj^, and the experiments already 

 carried out, including those of farm- 

 ers between the bad lands and the 

 town of Lachute, show that it is quite 

 possible to prevent altogether the 

 drifting of the, sand. 



The Quebec Government is anxious 

 to carry on this work for many rea- 

 sons, chief of which, in addition to 

 that of subduing the drifts, is that it 

 provides an object lesson and a con- 

 siderable amount of encouragement 

 to farmers who plant up their own, 

 lands. In the Government nursery at 

 Berthier, Que., there are millions of 

 seedlings available for such enter- 

 prises, and Chief Forester Piche is 

 anxious to place them in good hands. 

 At the present time the arrangement 

 between the farmers and the Govern- 

 ment is that the Government buys the 

 land at $1 an acre, plants it with 

 trees and undertake to return it to 



the owner if he cares to buy at the 

 end of eight or ten years for the cost 

 of production. In no case is the pur- 

 chase price in this second instance to 

 be over $10 per acre. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNI- 

 FORM LOG RULE. 



Your Committee on Uniform Log- 

 rule begs leave to report as follows: 



All members of the Committee are 

 agreed that a uniform unit rule of 

 measurement of logs is desirable for 

 the whole Dominion, but the practica- 

 bility of the introduction of such uni- 

 form measure at the present time is 

 considered dou])tful, or at least beset 

 with difficulties. 



The first difficulty in introducing 

 a uniform log-rule lies in the fact 

 that, unlike lumber, logs have a local 

 market, and the market adjusts itself 

 to the peculiarities of the log-rule in 

 use in the locality without very ser- 

 ious detriment to all parties concern- 

 ed, as long as the price is made in pro- 

 portion to the greater or less liberality 

 of the log-rule; there is, therefore, 

 a natural tendency of conservatism 

 to keep up the usage. 



A second reason rendering uniform- 

 ity difficult to attain is the fact that 

 each province has adopted a rule and 

 its licenses are based on it, hence the 

 same conservatism animates the gov- 

 ernments, although there is no doubt 

 that, for instance, Ontario loses, wher- 

 ever small logs form an essential part 

 of the cut, by the adoption of a log- 

 rule which is illiberal to the seller of 

 small logs, and Quebec, having a few 

 years ago changed its usage, gains by 

 a rule based upon better practice. 



There are now at least five different 

 log-rules in practice, which vary by 

 from 10 to 50 per cent, and more in 

 giving contents of logs, according to 

 the assortment of the latter. It can 

 therefore happen that a lumberman, 

 logging in Quebec, Ontario and New 

 Brunswick at the same time, pays for 

 the same sized log, say a twelve inch 

 log twelve feet long, if the stumpage 

 dues were $2^ ten, twelve or fifteen 



