86 



Canadian Forestry Journal. 



financial success of some magnitude. 



Let us see, then, what is the situ- 

 ation in Simcoe County. There is a 

 total area of over 60.000 acres of 

 waste lands in this county capable 

 of reclamation. Fifty-five thousand 

 acres of it is situated in the town- 

 ships of Tossorontio, Essa and Sun- 

 nidale, the rest lying north of Craig- 

 hurst and divided between Flos and 

 Medonte townships, and there are 

 the Midhurst Plains in Vespra some 

 five miles from Barrie. All these 

 sandy wastes are incapable of profit- 

 table agriculture, though they once 

 supported magnificent pine forests. 

 These waste lands in Simcoe are 

 different from those of Norfolk and 

 other counties in Ontario, in that 

 there is no 'blow-sand' in the Sim- 

 coe lands. The surface is to some 

 extent covered with old scrubby 

 seed trees of red and white pine, 

 which experts say would soon give 

 a splendid reproduction of the orig- 

 inal forest if it were not for the 

 ever-recurring ground fires, which 

 periodically sweep over these lands, 

 killing the young trees ,and also im- 

 poverishing the soil by burning up 

 the small amount of leaf litter and 

 other materials which should go to 

 enrich the soil. To the ravages of 

 the fires is added also the industry 

 of the wood thieves which is unre- 

 mitting. 



The problem, therefore, in the re- 

 clamation of these waste lands is far 

 simpler than in most places in On- 

 tario where there are waste areas. 

 It is held by the Government for- 

 estry experts that the replanting of 

 young trees, which is necessary in 

 Norfolk and elsewhere, is almost 

 wholly unnecessary here. The only 

 attention necessary to reclaim these 

 Simcoe lands would be the preven- 

 tion of fires, the cleaning up of the 

 land, and the locking up of the wood 

 thieves Then, as to the cost of up- 

 keep of the necessary attention and 

 superintendence, we have it on the 

 authority of Dr. B. E. Fernow. Dean 

 of the Faculty of Forestry, Toronto 

 University, that five thousand acres 



of naturally grown young timber, 

 such as we have in this county, 

 could be guarded by two men em- 

 ployed all the year round for $1,000 

 a year, or a cost with interest of 

 $112,797 for fifty years. Add to this 

 the original cost per acre with ac- 

 crued interest for the same term of 

 years, and the total will be the net 

 cost of the 5,000 acres. Then let the 

 County Council Committee estimate 

 the value of the timber crop at the 

 end of fifty years, and they will be 

 able to judge of the wisdom of this 

 reclamation of waste land as an in- 

 vestment. 



In our article of three weeks ago 

 we cited the estimate of the profit 

 at the end of 60 years in the Nor- 

 folk County plan of reforestation as 

 given by Prof. Zavitz, who is in 

 charge of the work, at $639.66 per 

 acre. The amount of standing tim- 

 ber on one acre at the end of 60 

 years being estimated at 80,000 feet 

 B M., valued at $10 per thousand, 

 making a gross value of $800. The 

 cost of the single acre allowing for 

 everything, compound interest at .S^A 

 ))er cr^nt. during the 60 years, and 

 deducting the original purchase 

 money, would be $160.34. leaving the 

 net profit for the acre at $639.66. 



This estimate shows a most pro- 

 fitable undertaking in the interest 

 of the province, and considering the 

 main object to be conservation of 

 public benefits in the way of cli- 

 matic conditions, rainfall and aug- 

 mentation of economic water power 

 in the streams, it is fully justified in 

 its Norfolk County undertaking. 

 But how very much better still is 

 the prospect for the province in tak- 

 ing hold of the work in this county 

 where it is not a matter of refor- 

 estation at all as in Norfolk, but 

 merely reclamation by efficient guar- 

 dianship of the natural forest growth 

 which now exists. 



Prof. Fernow 's estimate of the 

 cost of such reclamation as given 

 above is the true basis of computa- 

 tion for the work in Simcoe county 

 and not that in Norfolk, 



