Canadian Forestry Journal, April, 1919 



189 



HOW TO CONTROL FIRES STARTED BY SETTLERS 



The following statement by Hon. Jules Allard, 

 Minister of Lands and Forests of Quebec, rela- 

 tive to Quebec's great success in securing the 

 co-operation of settlers in protecting the forest 

 is commended to our Alberta members who have 

 been doing invaluable service in impressing upon 

 the Alberta Government the need of a similar 

 law to control forest fires in the timb'^red dis- 

 tricts. Alberta is now the only Canadian pro- 

 vince lacking such a law and must be content 

 to assume all risks attendant thereto: "This 

 forest fire law obliging settlers to take out burn- 

 ing permits, misunderstood at first, is now con- 

 sidered, even by the settlers themselves as a 

 beneficent law and in the majority of cases set- 

 tlers, I am pleased to say, readily submit to it, 

 realizing that it is in their interest as well as in 

 the interest of the license to protect the forest 

 where they find employment during the winter 

 and which is really a protection for their lands, 

 while at the same time it assures all the parishes 

 law constitutes, I do believe, one of the best 

 a supply of wood goods. The application of this 

 means of impressing on the settlers the import- 

 ance of being careful when burning their slash. 

 To show how readily the settlers comply with 

 this law, it would suffice to say that in the ter- 

 ritory under the supervision of the Southern St. 

 Lawrence Forest Protective Association (West- 

 ern section), 2,143 settlers asked for permits in 

 1918 as compared with 700 in 1917. Those 

 who provide themselves with these permits — it 

 goes without saying pay more attention when 

 burning their slash than those who do not take 



out permits. As an instance — in a given ter- 

 ritory, 4 per cent only of the former as against 

 25 per cent of the latter — were responsible for 

 fires having caused damage to the neighboring 

 property." 



Cutting Down the Causes. 



According to Mr. T. W. Dwight's excellent 

 review of forest fires in Canada and their causes, 

 the years 1914 and 1915 in Quebec showed that 

 40 per cent of the fires were caused by settlers, 

 and in 1916 this percentage fell to 6 per cent. 

 This was due to the inauguration of a settlers' 

 burning permit law in 1916, and to the efficient 

 administration of it by the two forest protective 

 associations. In the district of the earlier estab- 

 lished association not a single fire was caused by 

 settlers in 1916. The co-operation of the settlers 

 was sought, and at the end of the season the 

 relations between them and the associations 

 were better than before the permit law went into 

 effect. 



A similar reduction in the percentage of fires 

 due to lumbering may be noted. The greater 

 proportion of these were caused in the past by 

 river-drivers. In 1916, in the St. Maurice valley, 

 the companies forming the association did not 

 allow the river-drivers to build smudges or to 

 smoke outside of camp, and in that valley not a 

 single fire was caused by them. 



Ontario's Good Work, 



9,590 permits were issued, principally for 

 settlers' clearing fires --an increase of 17.5 per 

 cent over 1917. hTere were five prosecutions 

 and five convictions for burning without permit. 



THE MIRACLE OF A COMMON LOG 



Undoubtedly the common log is one of the 

 mainsprings of civilization. The European war, 

 however, has demonstrated in a unique way the 

 complete dependence of the military power of 

 the Allies on the versatility of the tree. 



Who that watches an aeroplane in flight rea- 

 lizes that the varnishes, the "dope" that covers 

 ihe wings, comes from methyl alcohol, a pro- 

 duct of distillated hardwood? Who that has 

 noted the merciful administration of chloroform 

 in the trenches gives a block of hardwood credit 

 for the anaesthetic? So with creosote oils as 

 antiseptics, charcoal for heating in the dugouts 

 and trenches and supplying absorbents in gas 

 masks, acetone as a solvent in cordite manu- 

 facture, pine tar, oil and pitch in shipbuilding 



these and a hundred other essentials began with 

 distilling hardwood logs. No pair of soldier's 

 shoes, nor saddle nor harness was turned out 

 without oak or hemlock bark for tanning. The 

 waste sulphite liquor of pulp mills gives toluol 

 for the famous T.N.T. From the same source 

 comes ethyl alcohol for explosives. No pair of 

 optical lenses was cemented together without 

 calling in Canada balsam. 



In the direct application of the tree we find 

 a war contribution quite as notable: railway 

 ties, pit props to hold up dugouts, lumber for 

 trench revetments, structural timber in build- 

 ing cantonments, boxes and crates for shipping 

 shells and supplies, spruce, pine and birch for 

 airplanes, excelsior for packing and mattress 

 filling; "wood, wool" for wound dressings. — R.B. 



