' \\ADIAN FORK *T U\' ASSOCIATION 91 



the problem, and it is quite evident that crops of wood can be raised on the prairie 

 quite sufficient to meet the requirements of the settlers. The reports of Mr. Dennis 

 and Mr. Saunders, who recently resigned the position, I believe, as Deputy Minister 

 of Public Works, and who is to be associated with Mr. Dennis in this irrigation work, 

 are extremely interesting, and if by this means of irrigation they can bring under 

 cultivation large tracts of country that are new, and have been considered in the past, 

 semi-arid if these tracts can be brought under cultivation for grain crops, and also 

 for the propagation of trees, a very important economic purpose will be served. And I 

 think it might be well to have this paper of Mr. Dennis's published in bulletin form, 

 such as Mr. Stewart suggested should be done this morning in reference to another 

 paper, in order that the information contained in it may reach a wider circle of readers 

 than can be reached in the ordinary publication of it in the transactions of the Asso- 

 ciation. 



Mr. A. H/ D. Koss. Mr. President, I might say that I am a new member of this 

 association. The paper prepared by Mr. Dennis strikes me as being a first-class one. 

 I am familiar with Southern Alberta, having spent a summer there with a Dominion 

 survey party, and I can see quite clearly that to maintain these irrigation works the 

 thing is not so much a question of reforestation as the preservation of the forest there. 

 Now, I think the main point may be summed up in that. The real point is to pre- 

 serve the forest there now, to make the irrigation works of use in the future. 



Mr. CHAIRMAN. If there is no further discussion on this paper, I will call upon 

 Professor Hutt, of Guelph, for his paper on ' Some Ontario Forest Problems.' 



SOME ONTARIO FOREST PROBLEMS. 



PROFESSOR H. L. HUTT, ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



Professor HUTT. It may seem rather late in the day for me to bring on a paper of 

 this kind, on some of the forestry problems in Ontario, when we have been discussing 

 these for the last two days, and I think by this time we have some of thtm pretty well 

 threshed out. However, it is not my fault that I am last on the programme, and if I 

 should happen to sum up some of these problems and put them in a different light than 

 they have been presented, I may not be out of place after all. 



Ontario is a large province, presenting a'great variety of conditions with regard 

 to its forests and farms. We sometimes hear its partg spoken of as newer and older 

 Ontario. For the purpose of our discussion, I want to make a little different dis- 

 tinction and speak of its settled and unsettled portions. In the settled parts the land 

 is owned by the settlers private individuals who have purchased it, either directly 

 or indirectly, from the Crown. In the unsettled part the land is still held by the 

 Crown. This difference in the ownership of the land gives us two more or less dis- 

 tinct types of forestry problems with which we have to deal. They might be called 

 Crown lands forestry problems, and farm forestry problems. 



On the greater part of the Crown lands nature has left us a rich heritage in the 

 form of valuable forests. The sale of timber from these forests affords the government 

 its chief source of revenue. Whether we are making the best use of this heritage or 

 whether we are wasting it, is a much discussed question by the two great political 

 parties. And it is well it is discussed, for it is a very important matter to us that 

 these forests be not wasted, and such that a profitable source of revenue be maintained, 

 for all time to come. I do not intend to enter upon a discussion of this phase of the 



