84 tAXADIAX FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



her which to-day would be worth at least $3,390,000. The country thus laid waste 

 is now a worthless desert, where no settler would care to locate, so that this land is 

 lost to all purposes. 



In his evidence before the Colonization Commission, last year, Mr. J. G. Gillies 

 swore that his firm has lost in the same manner one hundred million feet of pine 

 in the Temiscamingue country, which represents a loss of $1,130,000 to the govern- 

 ment, the woodmen and the limit 'holder. The late Mr. Alexander Lumsden mention- 

 ed two other similar cases where, in order to clear a few acres of bad lands in the 

 Lake Kippawa region, fires were lighted that destroyed more than one hundred and 

 twenty million feet of pine. 



If this system is allowed to continue any longer, the prospect of our pineries is 

 not bright. 



Our spruce forests have suffered considerably from the same cause. In the north* 

 eastern part of the province, the trouble is with the Indians. For the purpose of 

 signalling or creating blueberry plains to attract bears, or through negligence in camp- 

 ing, they start fires which destroy every year vast areas of forest. In regard to this, 

 Dr. Low, in his valuable report on the Labrador peninsula, mentions facts deserving 

 the consideration of all those who take any interest in the preservation of our forests. 



HOW TO PRESERVE OUR FOREST WEALTH ? 



Many propositions have been submitted for the preservation of our forests, 

 amongst which are cultivation and replantation. In the province of Quebec, these 

 methods are neither desirable nor practicable. First of all, the government has not 

 the means to carry on a system of sylviculture on such a footing >as to produce ap- 

 preciable results. In the second place, where reforestation would be perhaps the most 

 needed, our public lands are in the hands of capitalists who have invested their money 

 in forest as a business matter and who cannot reasonably be expected to adopt any 

 new system of forest management, unless the ultimate returns are shown to be greater 

 than those accruing from the ordinary methods of lumbering. As plainly stated by 

 Professor Fernow, the only reason for lumbermen and most private owners to adopt 

 forestry, is the financial one, and here, as it is the case in the United States, every 

 plan of forest management must be in a measure a compromise between the owner 

 of the forest and the scientific forester. It is also a matter of compromise between 

 the government and the limit-holder. The object of the latter is to cut as much tim- 

 ber as possible without injuring the productive power of the forest, but he will most 

 willingly leave a certain amount of capital invested in forest in the form of growing 

 wood, obtaining his returns from the sale of merchantable timber after the necessary 

 period of growth has passed, if he has the guarantee that his holdings will be fairly 

 protected against dishonest encroachments under the pretext of colonization and 

 against fire, which is the natural consequence of those encroachments. 



Therefore, in the province of Quebec forestry as a practical matter is limited 

 to protection against fire and the inroads of timber pirates raiding the forest under 

 the pretense of promoting colonization. ' Rules,' says Professor Fernow, ' which are 

 considered axiomatic abroad must often be set aside, and frequently results which 

 could be obtained by the expenditure of a small amount of money must be satisfied 

 because the owner of the forest cannot afford to make the investment. A sustained 

 yield, an allotment of the forest into divisions, a permanent road system, the accessi- 

 bility of all parts of the forest at one time, fire lines, improvement cuttings, and the 

 like, which are usually considered a part of forest management in Europe each must, 

 in many instances, be given up as impracticable, for the present.' 



Those sane and practical remarks apply to our province as they do to the state 

 of New York, and should guide our action in matters of forestry. All our efforts 

 should tend to the organization of a thoroughly effective system of protection against 

 fire and the classification of our public domain into woodlands and farming lands, 



