Canadian Forestry Journal, May, ig20. 



233 



Can Canada Achieve Europe' s Profits? 



CANADA. 



GERMANY. 



□ 



Relative area of the forests of Germany and Canada. The German forests have been built up 

 from inferior waste lands and today produce a larger timber cut than comes from the whole of 

 Canada. 



Canada has more than 14 times as 

 mueh forest area as Germany. 



Canada's forests as a rule grow <m 

 better soils. 



Canada cuts from 500 million acre.s 

 three and a quarter I)illion board feet 

 of lumber a year. 



Cjlermany, in normal times, cuts 

 about five billion board feet from 

 just 35 million acres. 



In other words, Germany cuts more 

 timber each year than Canada, and 

 does so from one-fourteenth of our 

 forest area. 



Such facts are not in themselves 

 very remarkable, considering that 

 Germany has nearly eight times the 

 population of the Dominion. 



The kernel of the matter lies, not 

 in what is taken out of the forests 

 either of Canada or Germany. The 

 recuperative condition of the remain- 

 ing forest is the only factor that need 

 engage our attention. 



Investigative work on Canada's cut- 

 over lands has not been very exten- 

 sive, so that conclusions at best are 

 of a general nature. Enough is 

 known, however, to justify the asser- 

 tion that Canadian forest tracts (par- 

 ticularly east of the Rockies), once 

 cut-over, do not re-establish them- 

 selves satisfactorily. Second and 

 third crops follow either not at all. or 

 at too long intervals. The tendency 

 is towards deterioration of the more 

 valuable stands, a lowering of the 

 yield per square mile, a pr(K-css 

 which, of course, cannot be contem- 

 plated with comfort by any forest 

 owning goveniment, or any woc^d us- 

 ing industry. 



Their Re-investment Policy. 



The purpose of this article is not 

 to build up a case for the indiscrimin- 

 ate application of German forestry 

 methods to Canadian forests, but to 

 provide a sim])le illustration of the 

 fact that both France and Germany 

 have so operated their forest lands as 

 to extract enormous annual harvests 

 of logs while ensuring an increasing 

 richness of the capital stock. 



Germany's forests, like those of 

 France, are the product of intensive 

 scientific management, with control 

 of cutting, and attention to the repro- 

 duction of the most valuable species. 



While Canada has been cashing-in 

 on a ready-made legacy of virgin 

 timber, re-investing almost nothing 

 in replacement account. France and 

 Germany have put the chief stress 

 upon re-investment, upon future pro- 

 fits. 



As a consequence, Germany has 

 doubled her forest capital in the last 

 generation. Canada's forest capital 

 cannot be said to be nearly equal to 

 what existed a generation back. 



Of Germany's 35 million acres of 

 forest, 46 per cent, belongs to private 

 individuals, 2,2 per cent, to the state. 

 16 per cent, to communities, half the 

 remainder to the Crown and the rest 

 to corporations. 



Of Canada's more than 500 million 

 acres of forest (alunit half that be- 

 ing of merchantable type), not more 

 than ten per cent, belongs to private 

 owners. The Crown enjoyis regula- 

 ti\e jiowers over the remainder. 



In Germany, the tirst general for- 

 estry movement began about 1750. as 



