i \\\DJ\\ FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 

 oo 



All of which goes to show that when any ordinary care is given to the preservation 

 of the forests the loss by fire is when compared with their extent and value a mere 

 tr ij". ;n] e an investigation \v.>ull, I have no doubt, prove that more valuable 



timber is annually destroyed by fire in the province of Quebec than in the whole of 

 Europe in a quarter of a century that this great loss is chiefly due to the lack of a 

 :>er system* of forest administration. 



I neVer knew an instance where a forest fire or a fire of any kind burnt any longer 

 than fuel was supplied to it in a proper condition for burning. This is the whole gist 

 of the matter. 



So that where our forests have suffered most severely from fire it would be found 

 to be almost wholly due to the abominable manner in which lumbering operations were 

 carried on in the past, and that nearly all recent grand conflagrations were due to the 

 inflammable matter left by lumbermen in their operations, and that they and fraudu- 

 lent or deluded settlers and not the elements are primarily responsible for the greater 

 part of the losses caused by fires in the white pine forests of America, 



Ir was so in the great Miramichi fire in New Brunswick in 1825, and about 

 Moosehead lake in Maine the same year: it was the same in the great Poshtigo fire of 

 1871 in Wisconsin, and the great fires of 1871 and 1881 in Michigan; and also what is 

 called the Hinckley fire in 1894 in Minnesota. All these fires were in districts where 

 extensive lumbering operations had been carried on for years where the forests were 

 left filled with the dried tops, branches and other debris resulting from such operations. 



And to show that I have good reason for attributing the great fire losses to im- 

 prudent lumbering I will endeavour to give some exposition, imperfect though it may 

 be, of the manner in which the making of square timber was carried on in the pro- 

 vinces of Ontario and Quebec during the greater part of the past century, which makes 

 it apparent that it would be difficult to devise a process better adapted for insuring the 

 burning up of the pine forests of the country than that employed in the making of 

 square timber in the woods. 



The character of the timber required for this trade I give in the words of the late 

 Hon. James Skead, of Ottawa, for many years one of the most extensive operators in 

 this timber trade, as described by him just' forty fears ago (1865), together with the 

 yearly averages of the different kinds of timber cut for market, at that time, when he 

 said: 



" The square timber must be selected with great care, nearly perfectly straight, 

 and entirely free from knots, shakes or other blemishes. It must be hewed perfectly 

 square and must carry the same thickness throughout, a very slight taper indeed being 

 allowable." 



About one twenty-fifth of the standing pine is fit for square timber. It must 

 be totally free from blemishes of any kind over thirty feet of its length, and should 

 equare at least fifteen inches. 



The average yearly quantity of square timber then arriving at Quebec was, of 



*ZL ? Pine 17 ' 655 ' 000 cubic feet > red pine 2,566,000, oak 1,585,000, tamarack 



42,000, and birch 92,000; making a total amount of square timber of 



: feet, together with 250,000,000 feet board measure of sawed planks 



) board measure for home consumption, and 250,000,000 feet for 



ican market. The whole making 86,086,000 cubic feet, or over one million 



and three-quarter tons. 



At that time it would appear that the square white and red pine amounted to 

 me quantity when turned into feet board measure as was used for home 

 on or smpped m the shape of deals to Great Britain, or lumber to the 



6 tbr f rests for S( * uar * timber 



vln s or S( * uar * mer more 



all that taken off in saw-logs for the manufacture of lumber and 



tree that would make a stick of 100 cubic feet, or 1,200 feet board 

 saw mto deals fully double this amount, or 2,400 feet board measure, 



we jL Tr mt mA lumber ' and since * s } y ^e selected 

 ere taken and they were to be free from knots or other defects for at least 



