CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON 



PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY. OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



'T'HE first regular meeting of the Wood- 

 1 lands Section of the Canadian Pulp 

 and Paper Association was held in the 

 Windsor Hotel, Montreal. The morning 

 session was taken up by the address of the 

 President, Gerrard Power, a report by Dr. 

 Howe, of the University of Toronto, on 

 the results of his summer's work on cut- 

 over pulp wood lands and an introductory 

 talk designed to start discussion on the 

 most pressing problems which confront 

 those in charge of woods operations. The 

 discussion which followed was most in- 

 teresting and the spirit of co-operation 

 manifested was most encouraging. Such 

 topics as the use of machinery for felling 

 and other woods operations: slash burn- 

 ing; the use of hardwoods for pulp and 

 other products; log rules and scaling; 

 labor and the respective merits of jobbers 

 or company camps were discussed. It was 

 felt and said that too long the woods opera- 

 tions had been carried on by rule-of-thumb, 

 antiquated methods and that the time 

 had come to bring this most important 

 industry up to date and even a little be- 

 yond. A scheme was discussed for having 

 a centra! co-operative bureau which could 

 try out new logging machinery and imple- 

 ments, study such questions as slash burn- 

 ing, planting vs. natural regeneration, the 

 utilization and transport of hardwoods, etc. 

 After a joint luncheon, the afternoon ses- 

 sion was spent in a discussion of the 

 prospective Government food regulations 

 for lumber camps and in ways and means 

 to bring into practical being some of the 

 points discussed at the morning session. 

 A resolution was passed asking the Com- 

 mission of Conservation to continue its 

 studies and sample plots on cut-over and 

 burnt forest lands and offering to contri- 

 bute toward the work. A committee was 

 also appointed to make a study of the log- 

 ging industry and to try and devise prac- 

 tical means for cheapening operations and 

 improving the condition in which cut-over 

 lands are left. This committee consists of 

 Messrs. Dalton, Grogan, Kenney, Kane and 

 Ellwood Wilson. Mr. Clyde Leavitt was 

 one of the guests of the meeting and gave 

 a very interesting address. 



| The mterest at present being taken in 



j the use of small tractors-, particularly those 



ot the caterpillar" variety, for handling 



logs is really remarkable. Many large and 



-hl aU j fi I? ,S in 6 , aStern Canada ha ve pur- 

 chased them and they have given excel- 

 lent sat.sfaction during the past summer. 

 Inerr performance during the winter in 

 intense cold and over the deep snow will 

 e watched with great interest. 



The Laurentide Company has laid out a 

 lumber of experimental plots where ex- 

 perimental plantings of a great variety have 

 been and will be made and it is hoped 

 that the Commission of Conservation will 

 Place a trained observer permanently in 

 charge of them. Spruce of several varie- 

 ties has been planted on different soils and 

 underplanted under differert light and 

 cover conditions, experiments with fertili- 

 zers are being tried, some new seedbed 

 experiments have been laid out, a large 

 peat swamp has been drained and differ- 

 ent methods of treating and planting it 

 will be tried. It has been noticed in the 

 draining of this swamp that black spruce 

 growing on it for a long time at an aver- 

 age rate of about three inches in height 

 per year, commenced to grow at the rate 

 of a foot .per year after the water level 

 was lowered. 



Mr. E. H. Finlayson, Supervisor for the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch in Alberta, 

 publishes a typewritten magazine for dis- 

 tribution among the men in his District 

 and those who have gone over seas. Its 

 motto is "Our only rival is our last issue." 

 It is a splendid example of what an inti- 

 mate local journal can do to keep men 

 together and build up an esprit de corps 

 and Mr. Finlayson deserves much credit 

 for the labor and time he spends on it. 

 The men at the front certainly appreciate 

 news items about their old work and locali- 

 ties. 



The special Fire Protection instruction 

 car which is going the rounds of the East- 

 ern Provinces under the auspices of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association, is meeting 

 with the most pronounced success. Mr. 

 Black, the secretary, who planned this work 

 deserves the greatest credit for the idea 

 and for the way in which it has been car- 

 ried out. 



R. H. Campbell, Director of the Dominion 

 Forest Service, while on a trip of inspec- 

 tion in the west and traveling on a power 

 speeder on the Hudson Bay Railroad at 

 night, ran into a fire-ranger on a foot 

 velocipede who was said to be traveling 

 without a light. Mr. Campbell was thrown 

 off and his skull fractured. He was taken 

 to the Hospital at La Pas and specialists 

 rushed there from Winnepeg. At last ac- 

 counts his condition was hopeful. Mr. 

 Campbell was indefatigable in visiting the 

 remotest corners of his bailiwick and it 

 is hoped that he may soon be able to take 

 up his work. 



693 



NEW BRUNSWICK FOREST SERVICE 

 IS INAUGURATED 



'T'HE formation of the New Brunswick 

 A Forest Service was recently announced 

 by the Minister of Lands and Mines 

 Hon. E. A. Smith. The supervision of the' 

 Inspectors and Rangers will be carried out 

 by a Provincial Forester and Fire Inspec- 

 tor, a Chief Provincial Scaler and a Chief 

 Provincial Game Warden. 



The Province, divided into 36 districts, 

 will be under the supervision of 5 inspec- 

 tors. Forest Rangers are elected by com- 

 petitive examinations. 



The Rangers and Inspectors were 

 obliged to attend both written and oral 

 practical examinations in logging, scaling 

 cruising, fire protection and game protec- 

 tion, also ability to prepare reports 



The Examining Board appointed by the 

 Advisory Committee consisted of R A 

 McFadgen, Fredericton, Chief Scaler of 

 the New Brunswick Railway Company 

 which owns over a million acres of Crown 

 Granted Forest Lands; Mr. J W Van 

 derbeck, an experienced timber cruiser 

 logger and woodsman of Millerton New 

 Brunswick, with the Provincial Forester as 

 Chairman of the Board. 



Over two hundred applications were re- 

 ceived for Permanent Forest Ranger posi- 

 tions; 139 were examined, and of this num- 

 ber 63 passed the examinations. The large 

 number that did not qualify was due to 

 the fact that many of the applicants pre- 

 sented themselves for examination who did 

 not have sufficient previous experience in 

 scaling, and as the scaling is one of the 

 most important duties of a ranger, the 

 Examining Board did not qualify any who 

 could not qualify on the scaling part of the 

 examination. 



The names of those who qualified in their 

 order of merit was then submitted by the 

 Examining Board to the Advisory Com- 

 mission, which made the selection abso- 

 lutely by merit without reference to poli- 

 tics or religion. 



Up to the present, 30 members of the 

 Permanent staff have been selected and 

 given their commissions. Their appoint- 

 ments will not be made permanent until 

 after a probationary period of satisfactory 

 service for six months from the date of 

 their appointment. 



The Forest Act which made possible the 

 selection of the Rangers and Scalers by 

 competitive examination is considered one 

 of the most advanced steps of legislation 

 that has been passed in Canada in recent 

 years. 



The development of the Forest Service 

 in New Brunswick will be watched with 

 interest by all those who are interested in 

 Forest Conservation and Forest Fire Pro- 

 tection. 



The new service is determined to protect 

 the forests from fire and although it does 

 not desire to prosecute anyone it will see 

 that the laws are enforced. 



