82 C AX ADI Ay FORE^TKY ASSOCIATION. 



HOW LONG WILL OUR FORESTS LAST f 



The most plausible manner to answer this question is to compare the contents 

 of the forest with the yearly consumption, as shown by the census. And not to over- 

 step the limits of sound reality, we will take only the reduced quantities given for 

 that portion of our forests actually available and enjoying the advantage of accessi- 

 bility to railroads and waterways. Dividing the quantity in stock or in forest, by 

 the quantity of the yearly consumption, the quotient shows the number of years dur- 

 ing which the supply will last. This result is shown in the following table : 



Stock. Yearly -Consumption. Years. 



Pine, feet 37,900,000,000 460,631,484 82 



Spruce, feet 87,313 ; 438,000 641,239,520 137 



Cedar, shingles and square, feet 1,660,000,000 68,777,000 24 



Cedar ties, No 220,000,000 2,703,807 81 



Cedar posts, No 17,500,000 119,072 147 



Hard woods, feet 356,000,000 14,082,334 25 



Pulp wood, cords 176,783,966 526,865 334 



The number of years shows the mathematical period of duration, without taking 

 into consideration the various circumstances of a nature to shorten or to lengthen that 

 period. Fire, indiscriminate settlement, unwise or unlawful cutting, waste in lumber- 

 ing operations, the power of self-reproduction on the part of certain kinds of timber 

 and the extension of railways through the forest, are in this respect factors of potent 

 efficacy and deserving of the most serious consideration. 



For those who have given special attention to this matter it is a well known fact 

 that fire has destroyed many times more valuable timber than has the axe of the lumber- 

 man. This is especially the case with regard to pine. Before a committee of the Leg- 

 islative Assembly, Hon. Mr. Edwards stated as his ' candid conviction that at least 

 twenty times as much has been destroyed by fire as has been cut by the lumberman, 

 having regard to the destruction of young timber that was growing at the time of the 

 destruction.' 



That statement refers to the pineries of the Ottawa territory, which contain prac- 

 tically all the pin 3 we have in this province. If fire is allowed to continue its work of 

 destruction, it would not be safe to extend the duration of pine beyond forty or fifty 

 years. 



Then there are the inroads under the pretext of settlement. As far as can be 

 ascertained by the records in the Department of Crown Lands during the last sixty 

 years the regular lumber business has removed from the forests of Pontiac and Wright 

 about 18,000,000,000 feet of pine. If forest fires, caused chiefly by settlers in clearing 

 lands, have destroyed not twenty times, but only as much, the total removed by lumber- 

 men and destroyed by fire amounts to 36,000,000,000 feet, which would mean that under 

 the present circumstances as regards forest fires and the same rate of production by 

 the lumbermen the stock of pine now available in the upper Ottawa territory will be 

 gone within fifty years hence. Forest protection has been better for the last few years, 

 but the inroads of colonization are getting worse from year to year, so that there is 

 not much hope of improvement as regards the preservation of the pineries. And the 

 regular cutting by lumbermen will most probably increase as they have better means 

 to ship their products to the ports on the great lakes and thence to Chicago, which de- 

 mands more every year and pays higher prices as pine disappears from Michigan, Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota. 



All these circumstances considered, it may be said without exaggeration that fifty 

 years is the longest time which may be assigned to the duration of our pineries. Of 

 course, self reproduction of the forest might help prolonging that period, but there 

 is not much to expect from this source. Pine only reproduces in some sections, under 

 the most favourable circumstances, and it remains to determine whether, even under 

 these favourable circumstances, it will keep on reproducing. 



