130 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, 1913, 



articles were published. It is, perhaps, 

 not too much to say that through the 

 publicity secured by and through the 

 convention the people of the Central 

 West have begun to be aroused to the 

 fact th^t the forests of the prairie 

 provinces are of great importance to 



every person in the community. 



) 



The aspect of the importance of west- 

 ern forests to the western community 

 was brought out . in the address- 

 es of His Honor the Lieut. Governor 

 and the other speakers at the open- 

 ing session; while the importance to 

 the individual was brought home by 

 the address among others of the Pre- 

 sident and the papers of the Mr. R. 

 H. Campbell, and Mr. W. T. Cox. 

 The title of Mr. Campbell's paper 

 'Manitoba: a Forest Province,' was 

 one which at once arrested attention. . 

 The exhibit of native woods of Man! 

 toba had apprised people of the fact 

 that timber trees do grow in Mani- 

 toba, and Mr. Campbell's paper sup- 

 plied the information as to districts, 

 species and quantities. Mr. Cox 

 boldly challenged old figures and stat- 

 ed that the rate of growth was more 

 rapid than formerly estimated. 



The President pointed out as a 

 most encouraging sign that, whereas 

 some years ago the railways had look- 

 ed askance at the work of the Associa- 

 tion, views had so changed that men 

 like Sir William Wh'yte, Mr. George 

 Bury and Mr. J. S. Dennis attended, 

 took part in the meetings and told 

 what the railways were doing in for- 

 est protection. 



The success of tree-planting on the 

 prairies was a most encouraging fea- 

 ture. Nearly twenty-five million trees 

 have been planted by prairie farmers. 

 This number of trees would not, it is 

 true, make much of a showing in the 

 forests of the timber provinces but on 

 the prairie these trees mean added 

 comfort and happiness. At present 



they add chiefly to the content, rather 

 than to the extent of prairie life. 

 This makes for permanence of occu- 

 pation and of aim, a thing mucH 

 needed on the prairies. In the future 

 it doubtless will mean a very consid- 

 erable addition to the local supply 

 of fuel, fencing and building mater- 

 ial. Only a beginning has yet been 

 made and tree planting is bound to 

 go on at a greatly accelerated pace. 



Fire protection continues to be the 

 burden of most of the addresses at 

 conventions. This is both satisfac- 

 tory and unsatisfactory. It is satis- 

 factory to know that so many people 

 are thinking about this subject and 

 that in some cases new methods are 

 being experimented with, but it is un- 

 satisfactory in that we are always 

 talking about it and making such slow 

 progress. 



It was in this connection that the 

 address of Mr. Vere C. Brown was 

 applicable. He virtually held that the 

 Association had reached that danger- 

 ous time of which the Scriptures give 

 warning when all men speak well of 

 us. He pointed out that at conven- 

 tion after convention there was un- 

 animous agreement that such and 

 such things were necessary; the pub- 

 lic and the press have concurred in 

 this, and yet nothing was done. 



These conventions in the aggregate 

 cost a lot of time and money. Their 

 object is to arouse the public mind 

 in order to get something done. Not 

 a little has been done in the past but 

 the time seems to have arrived for a 

 review of methods in order that re- 

 sults accomplished shall be more near- 

 ly commensurate witli the effort put 

 forth. This is the steadying result of 

 the convention and it is to the solu- 

 tion of this problem that all officers 

 and members of tlie Canadian Fores- 

 try Association should devote them- 

 selves during the coming winter. 



