ICULATION: 11,300 COPIES MONTHLY. 



ROBSON BLACK, Editor. 



tanadian forestrp Journal 



VOL. XVI. 



KINGSTON, CANADA. JUNE, 1920. 



No. 6 



Has the Hour Arrived for Constructive 



Forestry 



By Ellwood Wilson, Chief Forester; The Laurentide Company, Grand Mere, P.Q. 



Quebec Government is now pre- ^ 

 pared to assist operators aiming 

 at a sustained yield. 



Canada has, in the past 10 years 

 made great progress in' the conserva- 

 tion of its timber resources and should 

 be proud of it. By conservation I mean 

 rational utilization and elimination of 

 waste. Forest fires are not as frequent 

 or as disastrous as formerly, though 

 much can still be done along these 

 lines. A beginning has been made at 

 mapping and classifying our forests. 

 A strong public sentiment has been 

 aroused and much educational work 

 done. In actual practical utilization 

 however, practically nothing has yet 

 been done, logging methods have not 

 changed since lumbering started and 

 much valuable wood and many valu- 

 able by-products are still going to 

 waste. Logging is an engineering 

 problem and should be carried out by 

 trained engineers. In order to insure 

 a supply of timber it must be carried 

 out according to certain well defined 

 principles which come under the head 

 of Forestry. Lumbering should be 

 conducted by forest engineers. There 

 has been prevalent for many years 

 the idea that only men brought up in 

 the woods, who were rough and handy 

 with their fists and had gained their 

 experience by handling an axe or a 

 peavy, could handle logging opera- 

 tions. As well expect a civil engineer 

 to have learned his profession with ri 



pick and shovel or an h}draulic en- 

 gineer with a level and trowel. The 

 trouble with the so-called practical 

 man is that he has learned all he 

 knows by experience and has general- 

 ly no knowledge of underlying princi- 

 ples. When confronted with a situa- 

 tion which has never previously come 

 under his experience he either applies 

 his experience literally or is entirelv 

 at a loss. He Avorks by rule of thumb 

 or precedent. The trained man on 

 the other hand, knows the fundament- 

 al principles and soon learns to apply 

 them generally. 



Now there is one basic principle 

 underlying the use of our forest re- 

 sources, that of a sustained yield. That 

 is to say we have built up the lumber 

 industry and the pulp and paper and 

 wood using industries which are ab- 

 solutely dependent on wood as raw 

 material. It is inconceivable that af- 

 ter a period of years, only a moment 

 in ilio life of a nation, we should scra]> 

 these industries. Take the Province 

 of Quel)ec as an example. The great 

 bulk of its area is good for nothing 

 but to grow forests. .\re we going to 

 deliberately gi\o u]> our lumber in- 

 dustry, our pulp and paper industry 

 after fifty years? W'iiere will our 

 wood using industries get tlicir suji- 

 ]ily oi' r.iw material? W here will our 



