26 



CANADIAN I "/,/>//,> i.vxor/ ff/o.V 



direr hirch (BHnla alba) corresponding to white birch (Betula papyri- 

 OIK- imp.>rtaii- .-eially he-re, which has not an exact counterpart in 



Kurope. i.x the yellow Kirch (lii'luln lutea). 



*0l - is pine oc.-npies 41 per cent of the total forest area, the Nor- 



_'';. per cent, the larch 0'3 per cent, making a total of 66 per cent of 



:,,! n totiil of :;:;;; per cent of broad-leaved trees. 



Of this latter the heeoh with 14'ti JUT cent comprises the greatest proportion, oak 

 forming only 3*6 per cent of the whole. 



Originally the composition was somewhat different, the pine and beech and other 

 hardwoods occupying a greater and the spruce a comparatively smaller area. Although 

 the original growth determined to a great extent the system of forest exploitation 

 and reproduction, this was modified by a very creditable far-sighted commercial 

 policy of selecting those trees for special care and reproduction, the price of whose 

 timber was rising most in value. 



An early indication of this was shown, as the following table will illustrate. 

 *Per centual rise in price (large timber), (1875=100). 



Following is a table giving the rise in prices from 1745 to 1890. Values are cal- 

 culated both ways from 1875 ; in this year values are considered as 100. 



That is to say, in 1745 beech was double the value of spruce. Forty years later 

 that was almost reversed. Then the two rose in value in similar proportion, but the 

 spruce being the quicker growing tree was planted more extensively. In 1867 they 

 both rise but the spruce has a tendency to increase in price quicker. Then in 1875 

 they are equal, and finally in 1882 and 1890 and at the present time the price of 

 spruce at $28 per thousand in the wood and beech $18 clearly shows the difference. 

 Beside that, as soon as public men realized this, and guided by the advice of the then 

 ha If -foresters and half-huntsmen of the nobles, rational, conservative commercial 

 forestry was inaugurated. 



Previous to that, that is in the 18th century, cutting had been quite haphazard. 

 Definite plans were now made showing exactly what could be cut on certain areas per- 

 manently without endangering the existence of the forest. Diameter limits were at 

 tir-t used, or rather trees of a certain size. 



Now, this manner of using the virgin forest or growing timber u-ees is not only 

 Herman but is also germane to all countries where forestry is practised. It is in fact 

 the essence of forestry, as with a moderate climate such as ours a forest will reproduce 

 itself, and better still and more quickly if slightly assisted with the help of a few seed 

 trees left on each acre. 



This principle of cutting a forest with regard to getting a regular and annual 

 yield has been kept up from the start, both where planting had to be done to restock 

 the cut areas and also where the forest could be left unassisted to re-seed itself. 



And it is to this that the splendid financial results are due which each state in 

 that country now shows. 



Calling the growing trees in a forest the forest capital what they took and take 

 was and is only the interest or what actually grows each year in wood, and with in- 



Percentages taken from lectures in Europe. 



