368 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Sepicnibcr, 1919 



IS THERE PROFIT IN PLANTING TIMBER TREES ? 



B^ C. C. Pichc, Chief of Forestry Service, Quebec, 

 Before Woodlands Section, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. 



^ublic Prosperity Demands it and Financial 

 Rewards Invite it — A Thorough Study 

 of a Live Topic. 



5i7x million acres in Quebec, useless for agriculture, demand immediate re-planting ivith trees. 

 Docs it pay to plant a timber crop ? Mr. Pichcs conclusions are strongly in the affirmative. 

 Who shall reforest the cut-over lands? Several solutions arc suggested. 

 Legislation is needed to protect the tree planter from a ruinous increase in local assessment. 



We must consider the question of a progres- 

 sive policy of reforestation for the Province of 

 Quebec. 



It is rather surprising that a country so rich 

 'in forests as ours it should be necessary to dis- 

 cuss this point, but those who have travelled 

 throughout the country have been surprised to 

 see how quickly the forest has disappeared from 

 the shores of the St. Lawrence and also how 

 the cost of lumber and pulpwood has always 

 been on the increase. 



First of all, the plantations require so many 

 decades to produce results that it will prevent 

 many persons from investing part of their 

 money in this operation. Yet, in Europe many 

 of the old families have retained their rank 

 through the revenues that they derive in the 

 management of forests planted by their an- 

 cestors. 



There is no reason why farmers, large cor- 

 porations, the towns and the government 

 should not consider this matter in a broad view. 

 There is no use in hiding the truth: there are in 

 this province millions of acres of land that have 

 been impoverished either by improper cultiva- 

 tion or by wasteful lumbering, whilst others 

 have been ruined by repeated fires. According 

 to the census reports there would be about three 

 million acres of such lands owned by private 

 people here that would require immediate re- 

 forestation. It is certain that upon the tim- 

 ber limits there is also a certain quantity, but 

 as we have no definite survey of same we can 

 only say that its area is very large, perhaps 

 equivalent to that of the private lands. 



Why Plant the Waste Lands? 



The reasons that would induce us to plant 

 the lands not fit for cultivation would be the 

 following: 



1 . To establish a forest cover on these lands 

 so that they may be again put into value and 

 rendered productive of revenue ; 



2. To prevent ,as in the case of shifting sands, 

 the devastation of the adjoining lands; 



3. To increase the amount of timber per 

 acre in the woodlots or timber limits. The 

 studies made of cut-over lands show that, in 

 numerous sections, the stock left is very low 

 and if we consider the forest as a capital, it 

 will naturally take many years before the com- 

 pound interest accruing each year by the annual 

 growth of the taxes will form a sufficient amount 

 of timber to pay the expenses of lumbering the 

 tract a second time; 



4. It will be necessary, in many cases, to in- 

 troduce new species in the forest, especially 

 in the glades which will increase its wealth; 



5. To protect the headwaters of streams; 

 it is a well-known fact that the forest is a 

 great power to retain the moisture and regulate 

 thereby the seepage ; 



6. To shelter the basin of the waterworks. 

 It is not necessary for me to insist upon the 

 good qualities of the water that is found in the 

 gentle streams shadowed by trees in compari- 

 son to the poor water found in the ugly brooks 

 running in the open ; 



7. To furnish th enecessary supply of tim- 

 ber for the farmers and also for the lumbermen 

 or papermakers. The increased development 

 of the lumbering industries, especially that of 

 pulp and paper mills, has produced such a big 

 demand upon the forest that we can see, within 



