CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON 



PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



ON Monday, the fifth of August, a meeting was held at 

 La Tuque, Quebec, to discuss the handling of the forests 

 of Quebec from the standpoints of assisting natural repro- 

 duction and a sustained yield. Dr. Fernow and Dr. Howe, of 

 Toronto University, Clyde Leavitt, of the Dominion Commis- 

 sion of Conservation, and the writer, were present. Messrs. 

 Piche, Chief Forester of Quebec and Mr. Sorgius of the St. 

 Maurice Forest Protective Association were invited to attend, 

 but were unfortunately prevented. The studies of cut-over 

 lands, logged in accordance with the diameter limits fixed by 

 the Provincial Government made by Dr. Howe last summer and 

 continuing this year, show such a poor outlook for the future 

 that some steps must be taken immediately to improve condi- 

 tions if we are to have any adequate supply for the future. De- 

 struction of trees by insects and fungus diseases is taking a 

 place but little behind that of forest fires and it is evident that 

 some policy of cutting must be adopted which is economically 

 practical and silviculturally sound. Absolutely no advantage 

 inheres in a diameter limit. The supposition on which such 

 a policy is based is that all the trees below the limit set will be 

 left to grow and produce a second crop. Very good in theory, 

 but not true in practice. Dr. Howe's studies show that most of 

 the trees left under the legal limit are in reality old trees which 

 have been suppressed and probably will not grow any larger. 

 Spruce is very shallow rooted, as is fir, and when the larger 

 trees are cut out and the stands thinned, a very large percent- 

 age blow down and are lost. Then, too, when the debris from 

 logging is left in the woods, insects and fungi use it for breed- 

 ing places and it helps to increase their numbers. It is, in a' 

 way, like leaving the bodies of the dead to lie and decay among 

 the living. It would seem, therefore, that the rational policy 

 to be adopted would be to cut everything that was large enough 

 for pulpwood and to pile and burn the logging debris, or to 

 burn it broadcast, in small patches. It has been shown that a 

 light fire is probably advantageous for reproduction, although 

 this has not been definitely settled. Of course, steep slopes 

 subject to erosion could not be so cut and each section should 

 really be treated on its own merits and the methods of cutting 

 decided by a technically trained man with practical experience. 

 Sample plots should be laid out and treated in different ways 

 so that the best methods may be learned by experiment. Such 

 plots are already laid out and are being variously treated on the 

 lands of the Laurentide Company, Ltd., at Grand Mere and the 

 Provincial Government in co-operation with the Commission of 

 Conservation is laying out others this summer. The Province 

 of New Brunswick will also co-operate in this work. 



offered are four dollars and a half a day and free transportation 

 if the men remain six months. They must pay their own board, 

 which is promised at $1.20 per day. 



A new association which will be of great help to the Province 

 in forestry policy has just been formed in New Brunswick. 

 It is the New Brunswick Lumberman's Association, with head- 

 quarters at Fredericton, and it will have for its objects the 

 protection of the rights and the promotion of the interests of 

 the lumber industry, the formulation of an efficient system of 

 fire protection, co-operation with the Government and other 

 lumbermen in the protection and conservation of the forests and 

 the promotion of legislative and educational measures to con- 

 serve forest resources in general. 



A very interesting bulletin has just been issued by the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch on "Wood-using Industries of 

 Quebec." This was compiled by Messrs. R. G. Lewis and J. A. 

 Doucet. 



Mr. J. N. Stephenson, Editor of the Canadian Pulp and Paper 

 Journal, has just returned from a long trip to the west where 

 he visited the pulp and paper mills of the Pacific Coast and 

 also the various Forest Superintendents of the Dominion Gov- 

 ernment throughout the west. He says that pulp and paper 

 making is being undertaken on a large scale, especially in 

 British Columbia, and bids fair to become one of the most 

 important industries, as it has already in the east. 



The progressive Secretary of the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion, Robson Black, has thought out a good scheme for propa- 

 ganda in forest protection work, and through the courtesy of 

 the Canadian Pacific Railroad has obtained the use of a car 

 which will be fitted up with a moving picture machine, fire 

 pump, models of fire fighting apparatus, posters, pictures and 

 a- lecturer, speaking French and English. This car will 

 be sent into all the woodland districts where meetings 

 will be held. 



A special exhibit by the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association 

 will be made at the coming Toronto exhibition and will include 

 a good deal of forestry material. Sections showing the growth 

 of trees and seedlings of various ages will be shown to give 

 the public some idea of the time it takes to grow trees and the 

 necessity for an early start being made at reforestation. Mr. 

 A. L. Dawe, the Secretary is giving much attention to 

 such propaganda work among his members and the pub- 

 lic at large. 



The application of the co-operative idea has revolutionized 

 the whole aspect of forest fire protection in the province of 

 Quebec. The four co-operative forest protective associations in 

 that province now furnish protection to more than 44,000,000 

 acres of forest land, including about 80 per cent of the Crown 

 timber lands under license. 



The Imperial Munitions Board is advertising for lumbermen 

 in the Province of Quebec to go to British Columbia to work in 

 the logging camps getting out airplane spruce. The wages 



Mr. E. G. Poole, Superintendent of the Ontario Fire Protec- 

 tion Service has had good results with the portable fire pump 

 which he has among his equipment and can be transported on 

 his automobile and railway motor car. He has the pump work- 

 ing at Norembega where danger threatened from the burning 

 of the bark at the rossing plant and it is perhaps not too much 

 to say that the pump has saved a forest devastation in that 

 neighborhood. What can be really accomplished through care- 

 ful burning is instanced around Charlton, where under the 

 supervision of the fire rangers recently a territory of 800 

 acres was successfully burned over with the fire being 

 kept in control. 



MS 



