CANADIAN / '<>/,' />//,'}' \ssoci\rin\ 45 



But/ you will ask how can the forester be usefully employed here ? There are, I 

 imagine, three spheres of usefulness open to him : 



(1.) As superintendent of Crown forest lands; 



(2.) As an adviser of the lumberman; 



(3.) As a guide to the farmer. 



I do not need to elaborate the first of these heads very much. The field is almost 

 unlimited. Mr. Southworth, Director of Forestry for Ontario, tells us on this point 

 that there are in the province some 40,000,000 acres of lands suitable only for forest 

 reserves, with an estimated annual yield of some 6,000,000,000 feet in perpetuity, if 

 properly managed, I may add. Here is ample scope for the best energies of a i large 

 number of trained foresters in perpetuity also. 



If the lumberman here will take example by his far-sighted colleague of the 

 United States, who now begins to look forward to a second crop, he also will have 

 need of the forester, and if he is not disposed to assume this attitude, it is tne duty 

 of the Government to see that he conducts his operations in such a manner that there 

 may be a second crop for future generations. The case of the farmer is simple. What 

 he needs is knowledge, and this it is the function of the forester to impart. In order 

 to achieve any particular result in re-forestry, the farmer must be instructed in the 

 subject, and his work superintended and directed at least at the outset, just as it has 

 proved necessary and useful to instruct him in the art of dairying or the breeding of 

 stock. He will not acquire this knowledge by his own initiative, and it will be neces- 

 sary for the Government to encourage his efforts by providing expert advice and sup- 

 erintendence, just as it has proved necessary in other branches of agriculture. 



The first .practical step in the direction of securing a supply of home-bred Can- 

 adian foresters has not yet been taken by the Government. It means the establish- 

 ment of a Provincial School of Forestry, and the cost need not exceed at the outset 

 more than a few thousand dollars annually. Having regard to the vast interests in- 

 volved, to the certainty of profitable results, and the future prosperity of our country, 

 I can imagine no safer investment. 



The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, the whole question is open for discussion and we will 

 be glad to hear any remarks that members may make. 



Mr. BERTRAM. I would like to ask Mr. Both whether they are buying these lands 

 in Michigan from private parties altogether, and whether there are any wild land* in 

 Michigan belonging to the General Government. 



Mr. RoxH.T-In the first place the State of Michigan is not buying lands. The 

 State of Pennsylvania and the State of New York are to-day the only two states of 

 the Union that are buying lands. Michigan is establishing its forest reserves merely 

 out of taxes on title lands ; that is to say, a portion of the six million acres, of which 

 I spoke as being ' in soak ' for taxes. 



Mr. BERTRAM. Bought by the State ? 



Mr. ROTH. They are not bought by the State, exactly. An acre of land in 

 Michigan becomes delinquent for taxes. It is offered for sale by the tax officers. 1 \ 

 it is not bought by anyone the State buys it in as it were. It may re-advertise mid 

 sell them over again in five years. The acre of land so bought or redeemed is deeded 

 to the State of Michigan, not to the county, as is done in some states, and we have in 

 this way a large number of tracts, a great deal of land which is tax title land, and it 

 is from these tax title lands that the State has reserved now the forest reset 



