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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



ELLWOOD WILSON 

 SECRETARY, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



The recent meeting of the Canadian For- 

 estry Association in Ottawa was a very suc- 

 cessful one. The chief topics of discussion 

 were the white pine blister rust and the proper 

 disposal of debris left by logging operations. 

 The inroads the blister rust is known to 

 have made have not been extensive, but 

 further examination may show other af- 

 fected areas, especially on the south shore 

 of the St. Lawrence River, near the north- 

 ern boundaries of New Hampshire and Ver- 

 mont. The main areas at present affected 

 are the Niagara Peninsula, the Trappist 

 Plantation of pine at Oka and a small area 

 near Montreal. None of these is threaten- 

 ing from the standpoint of merchantable 

 white pine, but must be watched to prevent 

 the spread into the forests. A resolution 

 was passed asking the Dominion and Pro- 

 vincial Governments to make the necessary 

 appropriations for scouting and prevention. 

 The question of the disposal of logging de- 

 bris came up for discussion and it was 

 pretty generally conceded that burning is 

 the best method and that it is very impor- 

 tant from the standpoint of fire protection 

 and protection from insects. The Dominion 

 Entomologist says that the logging debris 

 is one of the best breeding grounds for in- 

 sects. A committee was appointed to study 

 these matters thoroughly and to report later. 

 The same committee will take up the ques- 

 tion of the introduction of civil service 

 regulations in the outside service of the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch and the For- 

 estry Branches of the Provincial Govern- 

 ments which have not already been put on 

 that basis. The banquet held in the evening 

 was a very successful and enjoyable one 

 and the speeches were better than the 

 year previous. 



At the meeting of the Commission of 

 Conservation questions of general interest 

 were discussed, including agriculture, fish- 

 eries and forests the proper planning of 

 towns and cities. This latter subject is' one 

 of the most important of the activities of 

 the Commission and does not mean simply the 

 making of ground plans for cities, but the 

 proper planning for all the activities which 

 make up the life of the community. Proper 

 location of manufacturing and residential 

 quarters, parks, playgrounds, etc., in accord- 

 ance with the topography of the site selected 

 and for the greatest efficiency of community 

 life. Planning for proper drainage, streets. 

 water-works and power and light lines. The 

 work also covers villages and farming sec- 

 tions so that the agricultural population 

 will have proper roads and that the farms 

 will be laid out to give the right proportion 

 and location of arable land, pasture and 

 woodlots and will have accessible schools, 

 churches and railway stations. All over the 

 country the sole reason for the lay-out of 



our towns and cities and farms seems to 

 have been to make it easy for the surveyor. 

 No one seems to have used any imagination 

 or foresight. 



Several very important recommendations 

 in regard to necessary forestry work were 

 made by the Commission : that the Govern- 

 ment of New Brunswick should consoli- 

 date its present forestry and fire protection 

 work under a central organization with 

 properly trained staff: that Ontario should 

 endeavor to organize cooperative fire pro- 

 tective associations to work with its fire pro- 

 tection Branch : that Quebec should take 

 better measures for the protection of its 

 forest lands not yet under license : that 

 Nova Scotia should appoint a trained For- 

 ester : that British Columbia should start a 

 forest school : that the Dominion Govern- 

 ment should put into force proper forestry 

 regulations in connection with cutting 

 operations on licensed timber berths, with a 

 view to ensuring the perpetuation of the 

 forest ; and that both Dominion and Pro- 

 vincial Governments should put into force 

 regulations which will place their forestry 

 and fire protection systems on the basis of 

 appointments and promotions for merit only. 



The report of the Commission of Con- 

 servation upon the investigation of the for- 

 est resources of British Columbia is nearly 

 completed and will soon be ready for publi- 

 cation and also the report upon the forest 

 resources of Saskatchewan. An investiga- 

 tion of the condition of cut-over pulp wood 

 lands, the timber left, the increased growth 

 after the thinning of the stands, the amount 

 of the probable future cut after periods of 

 years and other matters in connection there- 

 with will be undertaken during the coming 

 summer in cooperation with the Laurentide 

 Company, Limited, and the Canadian Pulp 

 and Paper Association. 



There is a great necessity for the founda- 

 tion of a really good ranger school in Can- 

 ada. We have enough schools to turn out 

 trained foresters, but there are no men who 

 can fill the places of rangers acceptably 

 every forester must train his own. The 

 teaching in such a school should be emi- 

 nently practical and should aim at giving 

 the class of men who work in the woods the 

 theory of elementary surveying, forest men- 

 suration, English and French, simple ac- 

 counting and mathematics. They should 

 also be trained in woodcraft. This sounds 

 strange, but it is a fact that men who have 

 lived and worked in the woods all their 

 lives are strangely deficient in some branches 

 of this art and in trained observation. They 

 have many superstitions. 



The Annual Meeting of the full Pulp and 

 Paper Association and of the Technical 

 Section in Montreal was most successful. 

 The reports of the various sections showed 



much work accomplished during the year 

 past and much benefit from cooperation 

 and the exchange of ideas. Especial inter- 

 est was shown in forestry matters and some 

 work will be done along this line during the 

 coming year. At the luncheon, Sir George 

 Foster, Minister of Trade and Commerce, 

 made a most excellent speech in which he 

 told the members that trade after the war 

 would be large and would require that they 

 prepare early for it and cooperate in hand- 

 ling it. He also said that while the sur- 

 plus of exports over imports was very large 

 now owing to war conditions, after the war 

 it would drop back and with our heavy war 

 debt we must work hard and increase pro- 

 duction and export so as to make the bal- 

 ance of trade in our favor. 



On February first and second at the 

 Windsor Hotel in Montreal was held the 

 first Forest Protection Conference ever held 

 in Eastern Canada. All phases of forest 

 protection were discussed, from fire, from 

 insects and from fungi. The white pine 

 blister rust came in for much discussion. The 

 problem of slash burning as a fire prevent- 

 ive measure and also as a means of pre- 

 venting insects from increasing was touched 

 upon and different views brought out. The 

 use of aeroplanes for discovering and locat- 

 ing forest fires and the use of telephones in 

 reporting them and summoning aid were 

 interestingly presented. The development 

 of mechanical aids to fire fighting was 

 shown and much interest was excited by 

 the Johnson portable gasoline combined en- 

 gine and pump, weighing only about ISO 

 pounds. This pump was in use during the 

 past season by the Dominion Parks Branch 

 and the St. Maurice Forest Protective As- 

 sociation and did splendid service in check- 

 ing fires which would have otherwise re- 

 quired large crews of men to prevent from 

 spreading and so saved large sums of money 

 which would have been spent in fire fighting. 



M. Allerdale Grainger, for the past two 

 years acting chief forester, has recently 

 been gazetted upon his appointment as chief 

 forester, in succession to H. R. MacMillan. 



Dr. W. W. Walkem, in an article appear- 

 ing in a recent issue of the Vancouver Daily 

 Province, gives a striking instance of the 

 durability of Douglas Fir. In the course of 

 some excavation work between Vancouver 

 and New Westminster, a Douglas Fir several 

 feet in diameter was found buried under 

 twenty feet of water-washed gravel and 

 sand, overlaying glacial-worn rocks and 

 moraine, presumably contemporaneous with 

 the glacial period. The tree had to be cross- 

 cut twice to permit the passage of the steam 

 shovel, and the wood was found to be per- 

 fectly sound. On the surface were other 

 fir trees growing which were many 

 centuries old. 



