1 84 



Canadian Forestry Journal, April, iqso. 



The Forest Fire Melody Who Pays the Piper ? 



jSIorden, Manitoba. 

 In travelling through the length 

 and breadth of C^inada, the thing that 

 grips one most, is the ap])alling des- 

 truction on all sides, by forest fires. 

 Travel in whatever province you will, 

 it is the same story; thousands of 

 square miles of virgin forest l)urned 

 over year after year. So used has 

 the average Canadian l)ecome to 

 these conditions that he has looked 

 upon them as a kind of necessary 

 evil. But there is a day of reckoning 

 coming, and coming quicker than 

 most people think. No country was 

 ever blest with a finer forest, natural- 

 ly, than Canada, but we have squand- 

 ered it with a recklessness that is 

 nothing short of criminal. And the 

 end is already in sight. We have 

 been using our own share as well as 

 the share of future unborn genera- 

 tions, and now, when the big demand 

 for lumber and all building material 

 is on, there is already a big shortage 

 wit hprices soaring and no relief m 

 sight. Meanwhile, we allow the for- 

 est fires to run merrily on, year after 

 year, burning up millions of acres of 

 mature timber and millions of acres 

 of young growth as well. Strange 

 that any nation in its right mind 

 would allow this thing to contmue 

 year after year, especially when the 

 lumber and pulp industry is the 

 second in importance in Canada. 



We have millions of acres of non- 

 agricultural land in Canada that 

 should be growing a crop of young 

 timber right now, to tak ethe place 

 of the mature stand when it is gone. 

 In a great many instances nature 

 would reseed these lands if the fires 

 only were kept out, but every fire 

 makes this problem of reseedmg more 

 difficult on account of seed trees be- 

 ing killed over wide areas. _ 



I have in mind a tract of land m 

 eastern Manitoba, non-agricultural 

 covered with a heavy growth _ of 

 spruce, tamarac, poplar and jack pme. 

 i have cut logs in this forest over two 

 feet in diameter. This tract of tim- 

 ber was entirely killed by fire m 1897, 



and has^ljcen burned off several times 

 since. Today there is not a seed tree 

 left, and the site is to all intents and 

 purposes a desert. This can be dup- 

 licated in every province in the I^o- 

 minion today. 



I think what is needed most in 

 Canada today is a campaign of edu- 

 cation to show the ])eop]e the utter 

 folly of allowing this thing to go on. 

 The average Canadian has never 

 given this matter any thought. It is 

 a case of ne\'er missing the water till 

 the well runs dry. All power to the 

 Forestry Journal, as it is through in- 

 dependent mediums like this that we 

 nnist depend to educate the people to 

 needed legislation. It is verv s ddom 

 indeed, we find a Government in ad- 

 ^'ance of the people. 



— M. I. STEVENSON. 



SKINS AND TIMBER NET $168. 



London, Ont. — AA'illiam Elson.. a 

 farmer residing near Wingham, felled 

 a huge soft elm tree, and in the top 

 of it was the winter home of a family 

 of raccoons with three lusty young- 

 sters. Mr. Elson cut the tree into 

 three logs and had them sawed into 

 lumber. They yielded 2,804 feet, for 

 which he received $98.14 at $33 per 

 thousand. . Then the farmer sold the 

 skins of the coons for $70, making the 

 total amount he realized from the 

 tree and its occupants $168.14. Mr. 

 Elson feels he has established a re- 

 cord for high finance in furs and 

 luml)er. 





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