124 



Canadian Forestry Journal, August, 19 IS. 



wood may account for the 11.9 per cent, 

 decrease in the amount of spruce lumber cut 

 in 1912. 



Coniferous Avoods made up 92.9 per cent, 

 of the lumber sawn in Canada in 1912, the 

 hardwoods forming 7.1 per cent, of the cut, 

 a somewhat greater percentage of the total 

 than the amount cut in 1911. While it is 

 true that the supplies of more valuable 

 hardwoods of southern Ontario and Quebec 

 are nearing exhaustion, yet the increase in 

 cut of the more widely-spread birch, beech, 

 maple and basswood should be noted because 

 these species are common to the farmer's 

 woodlot. Birch is Canada's most important 

 hardwood. 



The average mill prices of lumber in Can- 

 ada in 1913 rose 41 cts. above that of the 

 previous year, becoming $15.83 per M. ft. 

 B.M. The local variations in these prices 

 show in some cases a much greater increase 

 as in Ontario where there was an average 

 increase of $1.52 over the price of 1911 

 directly due to the decrease of 19.3 per cent, 

 in the production of lumber for 1912. 



In the prairie provinces the greatest ex- 

 tremes of increased and decreased produc- » 

 tion are to be observed. Saskatchewan was 

 the only province in Canada to report an 

 increase in cut, this being 16.7 per cent, 

 greater than the cut of 1911. The average 



capacity of the Saskatchewan mills is second 

 only to those of British Columbia, being 

 nearly seven million feet of lumber a year, 

 99.2 per cent, of lumber cut in these mills 

 being spruce, Manitoba showed a decrease 

 in production of 26.4 per cent., but this de- 

 cline can be only temporary, for the exhibit 

 of Manitoba woods at the recent Canadian 

 Forestry Association Convention in Winni- 

 j)eg showed great latent possibilities in this 

 province as a lumber producer. 



The production of shingles in Canada in 

 1912 was 14.1 per cent, less than that of 

 1911. Spruce, white pine, hemlock and jack 

 pine are being increasingly used for the 

 manufacture of shingles. The production 

 of lath also showed a decrease of 1.9 per 

 cent, from 1911, spruce making up over one- 

 third this product. 



One of the most remarkable facts brought 

 out by the bulletin is the extraordinary in- 

 crease of 89.9 per cent, in the production 

 of square timber in 1912 over that of 1911, 

 this being the first increase since 1877. This 

 increase was largely due to the largely in- 

 creased amounts of white pine and birch 

 exported in this form, white pine making up 

 5.3 per cent, and birch 28.5 per cent, of 

 the amount exported. 97.5 per cent, of 

 the square timber cut was exported to the 

 United Kingdom.— G.E.B. 



International Bureau of Forestry. 



Permanent Comrnission Decided Upon by the Forestry Congress 



at Paris. 



Probably the most important result of 

 the International Forestry Congress held in 

 Paris last June was the creation of an In- 

 ternational Forestry Conmiission, having for 

 its object the furthering of forestry prin- 

 ciples and the convoking, when necessary, 

 of International Fores^try. Congresses at 

 which legislative and administrative ques- 

 tions pertaining to the forest shall be 

 brought up for discussion. 



The temporary officials, consisting of a 

 President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treas- 

 urer and Executive Committee, were chosen 

 largely from the French foresters and legis- 

 lators who were present at the Convention, 

 while forty-two of the representatives of 

 foreign countries, who were present at the 

 Convention, made up the body of the Com- 

 mission. The Touring Club of France, one 

 of the most influential bodies of private 

 citizens in Europe, offers their hotel in Paris 

 as a temporary headquarters for the Com- 

 mission. 



It is likely that this Commission will take 

 over the publication of International For- 

 estry statistics now being occasionally is- 



sued in the bulletins of the International 

 Institute of Agriculture, which was estab- 

 lished at Rome in 1910. This latter insti- 

 tute, publishing monthly statistics of the 

 world 's agricultural crops, has more than 

 justified its existence, and the International 

 Forestry Commission will prove justifiable 

 for similar reasons. Moreover, it will make 

 possible the spreading and co-ordinating of 

 scientific forestry knowledge which is at 

 present largely restricted to and put to most 

 practical application in Europe. 



The Commission will also facilitate the 

 assembling of forestry congresses, interna- 

 tional in their scope, at which questions 

 of present concern to all foresters, may be 

 discussed, -such as the right of the Govern- 

 ment to expropriate misused private lands 

 when their reforesting is necessary for the 

 protection of the watersheds of navigable 

 streams. Such a congress might profitably 

 be held in Canada and would be justified by 

 the impetus they would give to forestry in 

 Canada and by the great importance of the 

 forest resources of this country. 



