Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1920. 



299 



Municipal Council to Cover 1 000 Acres 

 of Sand With Trees 



By " A hmik," Agricultural Contributor, Toronto Globe. 



The County Council of Simcoe has 

 arranged to buy 1,000 acres of sand 

 plains in the district north of Barrie for 

 purposes of reforestation. This is 

 merely a beginning. It is the intention 

 to add to the area to be planted from 

 time to time. It is understood that the 

 Provincial Government will supply seed- 

 lings for planting and do the work of 

 planting free of cost. The work of car- 

 ing for the seedlings, after planting, 

 will also be undertaken by the pro- 

 vince, but the cost of this will, be 

 charged against the county. When 

 the trees mature these, as well as the 

 land, will be the property of the county. 



This is the most practical method by 

 which a policy of reforestation in older 

 Ontario can be carried out. It is a co- 

 operative method ; it unites the interest 

 of two public bodies, one local and the 

 other general, for common benefit. 



The site selected for the beginning of 

 what should be a great province-wide 

 development is, too, admirably chosen. 

 The soil is a sandy waste, wholly unsuit- 

 ed for agricultural purposes, but admir- 

 ably adapted for the growing of pine. 

 In fact, it was once covered with pine. 



But the sand plains north of Barrie do 

 not furnish the only location where such 

 work as is proposed in Simcoe county 

 can be advantageously carried out. In 

 a recent trip through Durham county, in 

 connection with the Scriven memorial 

 service. Premier Drury saw a somewhat 

 similar location in the sandy ridges 

 paralleling Lake Ontario. In addresses 

 at Milbrook and Omemee, the Premier 

 suggested the application to this section 

 of the policy being applied in his own 

 county of Simcoe. 



To Simcoe will go the honc^r of being 

 the pioneer in actual work of reforesting 

 the waste lands of the province. It will 

 be no small honor if Durham takes se- 

 cond place in the line. And the Farm- 

 ers' Government of Ontario could leave 

 no more fitting and lasting memorial of 

 its term in office than a number of Pro- 



vincial-county forests scattered all over 

 the Province. 



To the whole Province, as an almost 

 immediate effect of such work, would 

 come benefits in the form of effect on 

 climatic conditions and water supply. To 

 Province and counties would come event- 

 ual profits from the timber created. A 

 three-quarter-acre block of second 

 growth pine, seventy years old, in Sim- 

 coe county, recently sold at a price that 

 represented an annual rental during the 

 period of growth of $7 per acre — more 

 than the rental value of good agricultural 

 land. And that is only part of it. Such 

 forest plantations as proposed may in 

 time be made the means of forming the 

 centres of industries that will afford a 

 good Hvelihood where a proper living 

 cannot be made by attempts at using 

 sand plains or sand hills for agricultural 

 purposes. 



The ball is off. Keep it moving. 



SASKATOON TO THE FORE! 



This season has already seen an un- 

 precedented demand on the part of the 

 citizens of Saskatoon, for shrubbery and 

 small trees for planting purposes, states 

 the city gardener. Plans are under way 

 in the city to cope with the greatly in- 

 creased demand, and this year there will 

 be more than 200,000 trees and shrubs 

 planted at the city greenery. 



Cuttings which are planted this year 

 consist of poplar, honeysuckle, lilacs and 

 willows, and judging from results on a 

 small scale in the past, this will soon 

 grow to a matter of primary interest in 

 Saskatoon, where the love of beautiful 

 homes has grown rapidly iluring the 

 past year or two. 



In addition to this the parks hciard has 

 purchased large c|uantities of elm trees 

 and caranganas. These will be cultivat- 

 ed with special care, as well as distribut- 

 ed to the citizens who wish to purchase. 

 Thev are being handled at the cost price, 

 the aim of the board being to clear ex- 

 penses and beautify the city at all events. 



