Canadian Forestry Journal, April, iq20. 



175 



Yet his prediction came true. Using 

 the standard of his time, he was right. 

 In those days they were cutting trees 

 two feet in diameter. It apparently 

 did not occur to him that the use of 

 smaller trees would become profit- 

 able. If we were today dependent 

 upon trees two feet in diameter for 

 our timber or pulpwood supplies we 

 would be facing a famine. Except in 

 protected places, softwood trees of 

 that size are gone from the forests — 

 and they will never return. There 

 are very few areas of commercial 

 timber lands in the St. Lawrence 

 drainage basin and in the Maritime 

 Provinces that have not been cut over 

 at least once — most of them several 

 times, and some of them five or six 

 times in the past 60 years, and each 

 time smaller trees and more inferior 

 material were taken. Rising prices 

 of lumber made this possible. The 

 higher the price of lumber, the closer 

 the utilization of the forest. Trees 

 too small to be utilized today, may, 

 and in all probability will, be used 10 

 or 20 years from now. Estimates as 

 to the continuance of the spruce pulp- 

 wood supply are usually based on 

 trees 12 inches or more in diameter, 

 for this is the diameter limit below 

 which spruce trees may not be legally 

 cvit in Quebec, where the pulp and 

 paper industry is centered. Personal- 

 ly, I believe that the supply of spruce 

 trees of that class will not last very 

 much longer at the present rate of 

 increase in pulpwood production in 

 eastern Canada. In fact, the dimin- 

 ishing of the supply has already be- 

 gun. When the shortage of spruce 

 trees over 12 inches in diameter be- 

 comes acute, there will be at least 

 three courses open to the pulp and 

 paper companies. They may bring 

 ])rcssurc to bear to get the 12 inch 

 diameter limit removed so they can 

 utilize the smaller spruce trees in ihc 

 forest, or they may substitute other 

 woods for spruce. The latter ])r()ccss 

 lias already begun since increasingly 

 larger quantities of l)alsam arc used 

 each year. Owing to its susceptibility 

 to disease, liowe\-cr. it is ]irob;iblc 

 that balsam cannot bo dcpcndod ui)on 



to a great extent for future supply. 

 Woods not now extensively used may 

 be pressed into service, such as pop- 

 lar and birch. Enormous quantities 

 of these species, as yet practically un- 

 toched, are to be found in eastern 

 Canada. The making of pulp from 

 poplar requires a different process 

 from that of birch, and each in turn 

 a different process from that of 

 spruce. So if the hardwoods were used 

 instead of spruce, the pulp mills 

 would have to be reorganized, new 

 machinery installed and new pro- 

 cesses established. This would be 

 expensive, but it would be done if 

 necessary — and the consumer of pulp 

 products would pay the cost. 



Hudson Bay Prospects. 



The other alternative before the 

 pulp companies when the supply of 

 12 inch spruce gives out, would be 

 to move northward into the Hudson 

 Bay region and utilize the small, un- 

 dersized spruce to be found in the 

 north country, where thousands of 

 square miles are covered with spruce 

 from four to eight inches in diameter. 

 It has attained . full growth ; it will 

 never be any larger and might as 

 well be cut. As you know, the north- 

 ward migration of pulp and paper 

 mills has already begun. I believe it 

 will continue. I believe the next 

 generation will see" the center of the 

 spruce pulpwood industry on Hudson 

 Bay waters instead of on St. Law- 

 rence waters. The manufacturing 

 costs will be high, the trans])ortation 

 charges will be heavy — and the con- 

 sumer will foot the bills. 



Costs Must Keep Rising. 



11k> lumber industry in Ontario 

 and Quebec began on the shores of 

 the (Treat Lakes and the St. Law- 

 rence River, and it has been pushotl 

 northward ever since. The tact that 

 we have to go farther and farther 

 away from the markets for the supply 

 of our material has been reflected 

 year by year in the increasitig jirices 

 ot' lumber. The present high prices 

 of lumber arc a response to supply 

 and demand. The chances are that 

 unless we unilergo some great indus- 



