30 



Caitadian Forestry journal, January, 1920 



zo that further operations of the property was 

 abapdonecl. 



I have in mind another hmit that had been 

 estimated to contain 16 cords to the acre, that 

 was examined by a very competent cruiser, who 

 found it ran rearer 16 acres to the cord, as he 

 expressed it. I can cite several cases where the 

 shrinking in estimates are just as strikmg as 

 those above enumerated. 



In connection with this phase of the subject, 

 1 cannot help thinking of the reply an old lum- 

 berman made when at one of the Canadian 

 For°nry meetings in Montreal. The question 

 of shortage in supply was being discussed, and 

 one of the members suggested that we did not 

 know what timber might be in the unex- 

 plored regions. The old lumberman replied 

 that "in any section that the Canadian lumber- 

 man did not know what there was, there wasn't 

 anything." 



WHAT ABOUT THE STORE OF WOOD? 



The great trouble with the paper mills in the 

 past has been that the management have been 

 devoting their whole thought and time to speed- 

 ing up their paper machines, installinp; new and 

 improved machinery, and improving their water 

 powers, all of which is, of course, very desir- 

 able; but while they have been doing this they 

 have lost sight of the most vital question, viz, 

 a supply of raw material to keep these mills 

 running. 



The newspaper publishers are not without 

 blame for the present shortage in newsprint, for 

 every time they have fought a legitimate ad- 

 vance in price, they have made it more difficult 

 and expensive for the mills to do business, 

 especially under government control and regu- 

 lation, and with regard to price it is not nearly 

 as surprising that newsprint has advanced from 

 2 to 4 cents per pound and higher, than it is 

 that eggs have advanced from 25 cents to $1.00 

 a dozen. A hen can be produced in a year, 

 while these trees that are being made into paper 

 have taken from 75 to 250 years to grow, and 

 as they are becoming more and more remote 

 from the mills, must necessarily become more 

 costly to pro^re. Think even of the cost of 

 toting supplies back into the woods, a distance 

 of 70 miles, the cost of which in many instances 

 amounts to from $50 to $60 per ton for haulage 

 alone! " 



Newspapers must accept the inevitable, as 

 all other legitimate lines of business have done, 

 and simply pass the cost along by increasing 

 the price of their papers and their advertising 



rates. The newspaper has become a public 

 necessity no one will do without it to-day, and 

 papers will sell just the same, whether the price 

 is, 2, 3 or 5 cents per copy. And when the 

 paper mills are forced to use some annual crop, 

 as a substitute for trees in making paper (which 

 is not far distant) paper instead of costing 4 

 cents per pound will cost 24 cents or more. So 

 far as the American publishers are concerned, 

 it is of course immaterial to them whether news- 

 print comes from Canada or the United States, 

 so long as they are assured of a paper supply 

 while the trees last. 



When the public begin to realize that this 

 timber, which is being cut to-day as if it were 

 an annual crop, has been growing from 75 to 

 250 years, and the only way it can be repro- 

 duced is by re-planting, planting with the pres- 

 ent high cost of labor amounts to a matter of 

 $12 to $15 per acre, to which must be added the 

 cost of the land, which is from $ 3to $10 per 

 acre, something will be done. This brings the 

 cost per acre of these plantations of tiny little 

 seedlings from $15 to $25, with an annual 

 charge for interest, taxes and fire protection for 

 at least a matter of 50 to 75 years before an- 

 other crop can be harvested. 



In addition to this there is a possible loss from 

 fire, and the spruce bud worm, and other enem- 

 ies; for it must be borne in mind that fire is 

 always with us, and the bud worm returns in 

 cycles of from 20 to 35 years, and further, that 

 each reocurrence, as the lands become harder 

 cut, increases in violence. 



INCREASE IN PRICE OF TIMBERLAND. 



As soon as the above facts are absorved, as 

 they are beginning to be quite rapidly at the 

 present time, timberlands will be selling on a 

 much higher scale than they are to-day, and my 

 prediction is that the biggest rise in timberland 

 values that has ever been known, will take place 

 within three years. 



There is not a commodity in the world that 

 IS selling so much below its real value as an acre 

 of timberland to-day. Think of a crop that 

 has been 50 to 250 years growing, and that 

 under most favorable conditions will take from. 

 50 to 75 years to reproduce with all the attend- 

 ant risks, and an actual cost of $75.00 to 

 $125.00, sellin gto-day at $10 to $15 per acre 

 of land and all, while an annual crop of cereal 

 or potatoes brings from Kl5 to S!00 or even 

 more per acre, above cost of planting and har- 

 vesting, and without the land. 



