Canadian Forestry Journal. March, IQ20 



123 



normal forest conditions. Many of 

 you are familiar \vith these waste 

 areas, with their misdirected efforts 

 at agricultural settlement. While a 

 large portion of our permanent forest 

 region is yet in undisturbed, virgin 

 condition, should we not begin to 

 think of managing this property with 

 some thought for the future? 



While you have a personal inter- 

 est as citizens in the administration 

 of the vast forest areas of the north, 

 I will now refer more particularly to 

 the forestry problems of older On- 

 tario. 



Township Conditions. 



Southern Ontario has some three 

 million acres of i^rivate woodlands 

 and over three million acres of waste 

 areas which can only be made pro- 

 ductive by reforestation. This older 

 I)ortion of the prc>vince has aliout 

 nine per cent, of indifferent woodlaml 

 with many townships having less 

 than five ])cr cent, of woodand. AA'hilc 

 ony of relative im]iortance it should 

 be pointed out that none of the im- 

 portant countries of Europe are so 

 low in percentage of woodands. Italy 

 has fifteen per cent.. France had 

 about eighteen per cent., and west- 

 ern Europe may be said to have from 

 fifteen to twenty ]-)cr cent, of forest 

 area. So far as the chief fi^rest i)ro- 

 ducts such as Imilding materials, rail- 

 way ties and ]nil]nvood supj^lies ar- 

 concerned, southern Ontario is aliso- 

 lutely dependent upon outside 

 sources. 1'he wood working indus- 

 tries of Southern Ontario are largely 

 dependent upon supplies of the more 

 valuable liardwoods from United 

 States. A\'e are fortunate in still hav- 

 ing suppies of soft woods in Northern 

 Ontario. These supplies are becom- 

 ing increasingly inaccessible and cost- 

 ly, so that it is a common sight t<i 

 see sontluvn pine and British Colum- 

 bia lumber successfully com])eting 

 with our native ])ine for building j)ur- 

 poses and construction. We an' in- 

 formed by the Forest .^er\ ice n\ \\\v 

 United States that the \irgin sup])ly 

 of south(>rn piiu' can onl\- last ab(~iut 

 fifteen \e;irs. and it i'^ eert.iin that 



the United States will soon cease to 

 export valuable hardwood in any 

 quantity. 



Must Look to Future. 

 The wood working industries of On- 

 tario use approximately twenty mil- 

 lion dollars' worth of raw materials. 

 It is urgent that we make sure of the 

 future supply of w-ood for these in- 

 dustries. 



The census of 191 1 gives the value 

 of firewood and fence posts used in 

 Ontario at $5,700,000. A large pro- 

 ]3ortion of this material comes from 

 the three million acres of private 

 owned woodlands in older Ontario. 

 AMiile many of you are fortunate in 

 being able to secure anthracite coal, 

 yet a large portion of our rural popu- 

 lation depend almost entirely on wood 

 as fuel. The frequent repetition of 

 coal shortages should make us seri- 

 ously consider the necessity of de- 

 veloping a policy of producing wood 

 crops upon every foot of non-agri- 

 culturrd soil in this older part of the 

 province. 



AVhat then is the forestry problem 

 for Southern Ontario? Protection 

 and improvement of the remaining 

 woodlands ; the replanting of waste 

 areas held by private interests and 

 the reforestation of the larger areai> 

 of pubic ands existing in older On- 

 tario. 



The improvement of forest condi- 

 tions on lands held by private own- 

 ers is a most dilficult iiroblem. 

 Private forestry on small ho'dings has 

 ])rovcn unsatisfactory even in the 

 older countries of Europe, because of 

 the long time clement in producing a 

 crop, .\rtificial stimulus l\v remitting 

 taxes has been tried in many coun- 

 tries, and has failed. Wo have an 

 Ontario statute giving numicipalitics 

 ]iower to remit taxes on womllands. 

 Init uo e\ident result has been ac- 

 ci >mplished. 



In democratic countries mandatory 

 measures must fail. riie most we 

 can ho]>e to i\o witii private wood- 

 land owners is to educate by bulle- 

 tins or other propagar.da and to 

 supph' state aid in securing forest 

 planting material at a low cost. 



