QUEBEC BUSY PLANTING SPRUCE AND PINE A TRIP TO 



THE NURSERIES 



FOLLOWING the close of the formal proceedings of 

 the quarterly meeting of the Newsprint Service 

 Bureau held in Montreal August 20, a party of 

 visiting members and others were taken on a motor-car 

 trip to Berthier and Grand Mere, Quebec, to inspect the 

 forest nurseries maintained in the former place by the 

 Provincial Government of Quebec and in the latter by 

 che Laurentide Company, Limited. 



Included in the party were Mr. George M. Knowlton, 

 of Knowlton Brothers, Watertown, New York, dean of 

 American paper makers, whose active connection with 

 the industry covers a period of sixty consecutive years; 

 Mr. E. B. Sterling, West End Paper Company, Carthage, 

 New York ; Prof. C. T. Hamill, New York State College 

 of Forestry, Syracuse, New York ; Mr. R. O. Sweezy, 

 consulting engineer and forestry expert, Montreal ; Dr. 

 J. S. Bates, Canadian Forest Products Laboratory, Mon- 

 treal ; Mr. Ellwood Wilson, forestry expert of the Lauren- 

 tide Company, Limited; Mr. R. S. Kellogg, secretary 

 Newsprint Service Bureau, New York ; Mr. A. L. Dawe, 

 secretary Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Mon- 

 treal, and others. 



Arriving at Berthier, two hours were spent in going 

 over the nurseries and plantation under the guidance of 

 Mr. G. C. Piche, chief forester of Quebec. The grounds 

 cover more than twelve acres in extent and are soon to 

 be considerably enlarged. They contain trees in various 

 stages of development, from seedlings of less than a year's 

 growth to some standing timber of a very fair size and 

 comprise a great number of varieties. Pine and spruce 

 specimens, however, predominate, experimental work in 

 the production of pulp woods being the strong feature of 

 the nurseries. Mr. Piche is producing upwards of 2,000,- 

 000 seedlings a year and i.as orders for the coming year 

 for 500,000 replants for the Laurentide Company and 

 1 ,500,000 for the Riordon Pulp and Paper Company. He 

 expects soon to be producing upwards of 5,000,000 

 seedlings a year, when he figures that the nurseries will 

 be on a self-sustaining basis. Not the least interesting 



exhibit was that comprising two acres of natural re- 

 growths of spruce and pine containing a large number 

 of young trees of less than nine years' growth averaging 

 about eleven feet in height, some of them reaching a 

 growth of twenty feet. In the plantation are many trees 

 of various ages which are all duly ticketed and numbered 

 and are subjected to constant observation and an ac- 

 curate system of record-keeping which, in time, will re- 

 sult in the accumulation of a great deal of valuable data 

 respecting growth, production, climatic influence, etc. 

 Mr. Piche conducts a school for forestry students at the 

 nurseries two months in each year, where young men 

 come for practical instruction in forestry. He reports 

 that there is an increasing interest in the science among 

 the youth of Quebec. 



The visitors were most favorably impressed by all 

 that they saw and left with expressions of admiration 

 for the work being carried on under the direction of 

 the Quebec Provincial Government, which they thought 

 might well be emulated by other governments. 



At Grand'Mere the visitors were introduced to the 

 reforestation work of the Laurentide Company by Mr. 

 Ellwood Wilson, the company's chief forester. They were 

 again greatly surprised and not a little pleased over the 

 extent and the seriousness with which this work is being 

 carried on. In their nurseries the company h n .s some 

 750,000 spruce and pine replants of from one to three 

 years' growth and about 250,000 seedlings just beginning 

 to make their appearance. Everything is carried out in 

 the most scientific manner, special attention being given 

 to the preparation of the soil, to its drainage and the 

 watering and care of the plants. 



The company is also engaged in some quite exten- 

 sive reclamation work in some nearby swamp lands by 

 which they hope to obtain an additional large tract for 

 reafforestation. The nurseries and swamp lands are 

 located within six miles of the company's mills and are 

 easily accessible thereto. 



rpHEY are going to hew close to the line in the timber 

 * forests of California, henceforth, but they are not 

 going to let the chips fall where they may. The import- 

 ance of the conservation of timber for construction pur- 

 poses in the United States war for freedom has brought 

 about a movement in the western lumber industry, which 

 has for its object the saving of the chips. 



Timber experts sent out by the federal government are 

 teaching real conservation to western saw mill opera- 

 tors. One of them, at least, is declared to have had 

 palpitation of the heart when he saw several hundred 

 thousand feet of high grade lumber converted into chips 

 in one of the forests of southern California. 

 010 



LUMBERMAN, SAVE YOUR CHIPS 



This expert proceeded to unburden his mind to the 

 timber owner declaring that in the eastern and southern 

 states a tract of lumber that would average 10,000 feet 

 to the acre, was considered a good stand. In this particu- 

 lar case, he found single red wood stumps in Humboldt 

 County containing 10,000 feet of lumber, the quantity of 

 stumps containing from 2,000 to 5,000 feet. 



Another thing to which these experts are calling the 

 attention of saw mill owners, is the great undercut, or 

 the waste that comes from cutting down the tree. In- 

 stead of the old fashioned ax which produced the chips 

 that fell where they might, federal experts are recom- 

 mending the use of saws of the cross cut variety. 



