120 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 19/9 



It will be seen therefore that the protection 

 of forests from fire and the planting of trees, 

 while essential parts of a forestry programme are 

 only preliminaries to the real work and are the 

 simpler and less intricate parts of the problem. 

 Faults of Present System. 



As a matter of fact, so far as Canada is con- 

 cerned, there has not yet been a thorough effort 

 made to practise real forestry. The Govern- 

 ments have been concerned chiefly with the col- 

 lection of public revenue and the prevention of 

 forest fire, and the regulations intended to en- 

 sure the perpetuation of reproduction of the 

 forest are frequently based on erroneous or in- 

 complete information and generally they are not 

 enforced or only partially so. Such regulations 

 as a rule consist in the fixing of a diameter limit 

 below which trees are not allowed to be cut. The 

 effect of such regulations, when observed, has 

 been to change white pine limits to spruce and 

 balsam fir, and it is now changing spruce and 

 balsam fire limits to limits of hardwoods and 

 faulty balsam fir. This is clearly shown by the 

 investigation made recently in the St. Maurice 

 Valley by Professor C. D. Howe, of the Forest 

 School of the University of Toronto. 



The lumbermen have ideas of their own as to 

 how cutting should be done to ensure the per- 

 petuation of the forest. These views, however, 

 are generally not the result of thorough investiga- 

 tion on the ground, but from some example 

 which may have occurred in different conditions 

 and the results of which may not be generally 

 applicable. Q^od Intentions Thwarted. 



When the Forestry Branch of the Canadian 

 Department of Interior was organized in 1899 

 the protection of forests against fire and tree 

 planting on farms on the prairies were two 

 matters that were specially emphasized, but the 

 Order in Council dated July 29, 1899, provides 

 that the duties of the Superintendent of Forestry 

 shall be: to inspect the timber reserves in Mani- 

 toba and the North-West Territories already de- 

 fined by the Department of the Interior, to visit 

 the timbered portions of Dominion lands with 

 the view of setting apart further reserves, to look 

 into the report upon the cause and effect of fires 

 and suggest the means whereby the destruction 

 of the forests may be lessened, and also any 

 other duties in connection with the timber re- 

 sources of Dominion Lands and Indian Reserves 

 he may be called upon by the Department of 

 the Interior to perform. 



It was evidently understood from the first 

 that the Forestry Branch would so direct the ad- 

 ministration of the forests of the Dominion that 



in time they would be thoroughly protected and 

 would be so administered as to reach the highest 

 figure in production. 



Canada the Loser. 



As things have worked out, however, the ad- 

 ministration of the best timber areas on Domin- 

 ion Lands has been left under the administration 

 of the old timber office which has in view mainly 

 the collection of revenue and the timber opera- 

 vision and wtih almost no regard for the con- 

 tions have been carried on with little or no super- 

 ditions that will follow the operations or for 

 the production of a new crow. This means 

 that the present crop of mature timber which 

 does not cover more than thirty per cent of the 

 area usually shown as timbered is being steadily 

 reduced every year without any careful consid- 

 eration of what IS to follow or how the crop is to 

 be perpetuated. 



This Rule a Failure. 



The diameter limit for cutting trees is in- 

 tended as a step toward perpetuating the forest 

 but even if enforced is found to be an utter 

 failure in most conditions. Its success depends 

 a great deal on the original composition of the 

 forest and on how the selection of trees for 

 cutting is made. In many cases where there 

 is much strong wind a selection system of this 

 kind is an utter failure for the trees left usually 

 go down with the first wind storm. In such 

 cases a system where small compact blocks of 

 forest are left has to be substituted. 

 First Considerations. 



Before any tract or forest is put up for sale 

 or operations authorized on it thorough informa- 

 tion should be obtained on the following points: 

 (1) The probability of a market for the pro- 

 ducts; (2) the conditions of climate, wind and 

 soil; and (3) the composition of the forest as 

 to tree species and the relations they serve to- 

 ward one another. It is only after information 

 of this kind, which will vary considerably on 

 every tract of forest, has been obtained that the 

 formulating of a proper working plan designed 

 to perpetuate the forest and increase its pro- 

 ducton is possible. Operations under the For- 

 estry Branch in timber on the forest reserves 

 which was not disposed of prior to the estab- 

 lishment of the reserves are now being carried 

 on on the principle last outlined and the sooner 

 such methods are adopted generally for forests 

 on Dominion lands every^vhere the greater hope 

 there will be for the future of the timber business 

 on such lands in Canada and the nearer we will 

 come to a proper administration of this great 

 natural resource. 



