Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1919 



267 



TAXING TIMBER LANDS TO EXTINCTION 



At a meeting of the Society of American For- 

 esters at Albuguerque, New Mexico, at the be- 

 ginning of June, consideration was given to the 

 reform of drastic tax laws applying to timbered 

 areas. The following expresses the sense of 

 the meeting: 



"The passage of adequate timberland tax 

 laws, with a tax on the land as real estate and 

 another tax on the timber itself, but collected 



only when the timber is cut or harvested. It 

 was pointed out that all existing tax laws re- 

 gard timber as a part of the real estate itself, 

 instead of as a crop; that the timber is taxed 

 continuously, although it takes two centuries 

 in the southwest for western yellow pine to grow 

 from the seed to the mature tree ready for cut- 

 tmg; and that it is therefore unprofitable for 

 private owners to hold young timber for future 

 cutting." 



A WHOLESALE LAND-CLEARING EXPERIMENT 



According to a despatch in an Edmonton 

 paper, an experiment in clearing land of tree 

 growth by a wholesale burning method is be- 

 'ing undertaken under the direction of the Do- 

 minion Government in Northern Alberta. 



"Several townships are included in the area, 

 a large part of which is now covered with dead 

 poplar, having been laid waste by bush fires 

 a number of years ago. Enough men were 

 taken north to serve as an adequate fire-guard 

 force, and it is expected that the work will be 

 completed in the course of another few days. 

 The Alberta fire guardian's office has also sent 

 a representative to observe the progress if the 

 experiment and the degree of success with which 

 it is meeting. 



The purpose of the work is to ascertain 

 whether or not the clearing of land by burning 

 is feasible. In certain parts of the north coun- 

 try considerable tracts of potential farming land 

 are now covered either with brush or dead wood, 

 and the clearing of such land for agricultural 

 purposes has hitherto been a slow and some- 

 what expensive process. The Department of 

 Interior is therefore trying out the plan of con- 

 trolled bush fires, and the party now at work 

 in the Smokey River district will shortly sub- 

 mit a report as to whether that plan is practic- 

 able on such a scale and whether or not it is 

 any improvement upon the old-fashioned method 

 of cutting and piling for bonfires." 



THE NEW DEFINITION OF FORESTRY 



By Dr. Hugh P. Baker. 



Stories brought back from the war areas and 

 reports from Government bureaus in Washing- 

 ton show that France has suffered more than 

 any other European country in the drain upon 

 her forests. It has been well said that French 

 forests bore the brunt of the war. Other raw 

 products could be shipped much more easily 

 from other countries, but the products of the 

 forests because of their bulk and because of the 

 shortage of shipping facilities could not be im- 

 ported readily. Therefore, the French forests 

 were called upon to supply the French, Belgian, 

 and American forces in their operations along 

 the entire western front. At the close of the 

 war there were over 50,000 British, American, 

 and Canadian soldiers cutting timber from the 



French forests. This number was in addition to 

 the French engineers and civil population and 

 thousands of German prisoners who were used 

 in getting out and transporting timber products. 

 Twenty Years' Growth Gone. 

 It will be some time before we appreciate fully 

 what the drain upon the French forests result- 

 ing from the war actually means to France and 

 to the countries associated with her. The war 

 demands upon the French forests have been 

 estimated at seven times the normal production 

 of her forests. For the two years ending De- 

 cember, 1918, the total timber requirements of 

 the associated Governments were approximately 

 600.000.000 cubic feet of saw log timber. This 

 tremendous demand upon the French forests had 



