174 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, iqso. 



figures, he will see that the apparent 

 revenues are maintained not by the 

 collection of royalties, but by selling 

 stumpage, that is. by reducing the 

 capital stock. Unless the forests of 

 Ontario are growing faster than we 

 believe they are. we are becoming 

 poorer each year by such treatment. 

 When we consider the enormous des- 

 truction by fire of standing timber and 

 especially the young growth, the des- 

 truction by windfall and insect dis- 

 eases, and the apparent deficiency of 

 natural regeneration on unburned 

 cut-over lands, it seems apparent to 

 us that we are constantly reducing 

 our forest capital, but I must confess 

 that we have not as yet sufficient 

 statistical data as the result of inves- 

 tigation and research to make such a 

 statement as a scientific fact. The 

 ' Commission of Conservation at Ot- 

 tawa at the present time is making a 

 survey of the forest resources of On- 

 tario. This work will probably last 

 about five years. At the end of that 

 time we will know more about our 

 own conditions than we do at 

 present. 



The Forest Service of the province 

 of Quebec also is gradually acquiring 

 data with regard to the forest re- 

 sources of that province. The pro- 

 vince of New Brunswick is making a 

 very detailed survey of its resources. 

 This will be completed within a few 

 years. Now, the province of New 

 Brunswick is also, in co-operation 

 with the Commission of Conservation 

 at Ottawa, making a systematic study 

 of the rate of growth of the forests. 

 When the province knows by actual 

 measurements just how much timber 

 it has and how fast it is growing it 

 will be able to practise forestry ; 

 which means, in general, the taking 

 from the forest each year only an 

 amount equivalent to the annual 

 growth and leaving the forest capital 

 to continue that growth indefinitely, 

 as it will do if protected from fire and 

 from disease. 



Our Capital Stock Declining. 

 I have already referred to the fact 

 that the destruction of forest capital 

 by repeated fires has been so great 



that it is probable that it, in combina- 

 tion with the amount of material 

 taken away by logging, results in the 

 depletion of the capital stock. For 

 several years I have been engaged in 

 the study of the amount of young 

 material and its rate of growth on 

 cut-over, unburned pulpwood lands in 

 Ontario , Quebec and New Bruns- 

 wick. The studies have been made in 

 the mixed forest type, hardwoods as- 

 sociated with spruce and balsam. I 

 find that as a rule in this type there 

 are not nearly as many young spruce 

 trees to make the future crop as has 

 been taken away by logging opera- 

 tions. The usual condition is about 

 one-third as many. I find also that 

 these areas which have been cut-over 

 several times in the past forty years 

 are accumulating spruce wood at a 

 much slower rate than it is being cut. 

 On the average as much spruce has 

 been cut in the past forty years as it 

 has taken nature about 250 years to 

 produce. In other words, the annual 

 growth in the past forty years has 

 been only about one-sixth as great 

 as the harvest. These results apply 

 only to a definite type in definite river 

 valleys. We do not know wjiether 

 they are representative of the condi- 

 tions in the whole of eastern Canada. 

 It is very important that we should 

 know, and only until such studies 

 have become much more extensive 

 than they now are can we predict 

 with reasonable accuracy the duration 

 of our forest resources based on the 

 present annual consumption. 



What Lies Ahead? 



Owing to recent discussions of the 

 subject in the press. I suppose you 

 would be much interested to know 

 how long the supply of pulpwood in 

 our eastern forests will last at the 

 present rate, or at the expected in- 

 crease in the rate, of consumption. 

 Estimates have been made which ex- 

 tend all the way from 15 years to 

 1,000 years. About 30 years ago a 

 prominent lumberman predicted that 

 the timber supply of eastern Canada 

 would not last twenty-five years — 

 and we still have some timber left. 



