118 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1919 



DOES THE WEST NEED FORESTS? 



Destructive Policy on Timber Berths Can Easily 

 Corrected by Dominon Government. 



There has been generally in the public mind 

 in Canada an impression that forestry included 

 mainly or almost entirely protection of the 

 forests from (ire and the planting of trees. But 

 this is no more the case than to say that farming 

 is protection of the crop from fire and the seed- 

 ing of the farm. Farming involves a careful 

 consideration of the area the farmer has avail- 

 ablefor his farming operations, the quality of 

 the soil, the climatic, moisture and other con- 

 ditions, facilities for reaching markets, rotation 

 of crops and many other things too numerous 

 to mention. The protection of the crop from 

 fire and the seeding of the ground are two essen- 

 tialpoints in farming, but no person who knows 

 anything about farming would attempt to reduce 

 it to such simple elements. The time when the 

 scientific farmer was the laughing stock of his 

 neighbors has long gone by, and every farmer 

 who makes a success of the business now recog- 

 nizes that farming is a science and the returns 

 are the result of thoroughly acquired knowledge 

 apphed to a variety of conditions and operations. 



What is Meant by Forestry? 



That forestry is a science, that its operations 

 are complicated, that they are based on accurate 

 knowledge of the conditions of growth of a for- 

 est, its relation to the climatic, soil and moisture 

 conditions, the interrelations of the various 

 species of trees and a thousand other things that 

 are not considered in ordinary lumbering opera- 

 tions is a well-estabHshed fact in European forest 

 administration, and the public fully second all 

 the efforts of the forest services to improve the 

 condition and productiveness of the forests. The 

 success of forestry in Europe is largely due to the 

 general and intelHgent support of public opinion, 

 and until pubHc opinion in Canada has reached 

 a similar condition the development of forestry 

 proper can never be put on a thorough, first class 



basis. J 



In every country in Europe the value and pro- 

 duction of the forests have been increased by in- 

 tensive management, the greatest progress being 

 made in Germany, where the average yield of 

 wood per acre was raised from 20 cubic feet in 

 1830, to 65 cubic feet in 1904. During the 

 same'period of time it trebled the production of 



saw timber got from the average cut, which 

 means that the timber lands of Germany are 

 three times better in quality on account of the 

 forestry methods fallowed. 



Results in Switzerland. 



In Switzerland also the development in forest 

 management has been marked. A good ex- 

 ample among the Swiss forests is found in the 

 Commune of Couvet, canton of Neuchatel, where 

 the forests have for 30 years been in charge of 

 a trained forester. From 1883 to 1913 the an- 

 nual cut increased from 3 to 9 cubic meters per 

 hectare; that is, it trebled. And this result 

 was obtained without any decrease in the stand- 

 ing timber which in fact slightly increased during 

 this period. Moreover, the proportion of large 

 timber — the most valuable — which in 1883 was 

 only 18 per cent is now 30 per cent, and the 

 proportion of large timber cut annually has in- 

 creased from 56 per cent to 69 per cent. 



If the policy is adopted that was followed for 

 some time in German forest administration, par- 

 ticularly in some districts, of allowing a planted 

 forest to grow to maturity and then making a 

 clean cut of everything, providing for re-estab- 

 lishment of the forest by replanting the area 

 with young stock grown in a forest nursery, the 

 process is comparatively simple, but foresters 

 generally and even German foresters have been 

 looking around for a more general adoption of 

 less artificial methods. 



The Method of France. 



The forest service of France is as good an 

 example as any of a service which has consist- 

 ently tried to favor natural methods. The for- 

 ests of France, once established, are generally 

 reproduced by natural methods. This involves 

 further considerations in timber operations than 

 how much can be obtained from the forest. It 

 involves a knowledge of the year and time of the 

 seed crop, the carrying out of operations so as 

 to get the forest floor in best condition for the 

 reception and germination of the seed, the pro- 

 vision of shelter for young plants easily subject 

 to frost damage, the thinning of the stand to 

 assist clear and upright growth and prevent 

 crowding, and many other considerations affect- 

 ing tht growth of the forest. 



