CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



By ELL WOOD WILSON 



In the discussion of forestry problems 

 there has always been a lack of basic in- 

 formation as to the rate of tree growth 

 yields per acre, and the best silvicultural 

 methods to employ in handling woodlands. 

 Foresters are much handicapped by not 

 knowing what will happen in certain mix- 

 tures when some of the species are removed 

 and it will require years of experiment to 

 get at the facts. Great strides in the es- 

 tablishment of research stations are be- 

 ing made and the information already ob- 

 tained is of great practical value. In Can- 

 ada there are now research stations, with 

 permanent sample plots, at Chalk River, 

 Ontario, conducted by the Dominion For- 

 estry Branch, at Bathust, N. B., operated 

 jointly by the Dominion Forestry Branch 

 and the Bathurst Lumber Company, at 

 Lake Edward, Quebec, by the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch and the Laurentide Com- 

 pany, and at Iroquois Falls, Ont., by the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch and the .^bitibi 

 Pulp and Paper Company. Next year the 

 Dominion Forestry Branch will establish 

 other stations in the West and the Quebec 

 Forest Service will cooperate with the Do- 

 minion Branch and the Laurentide Com- 

 pany in establishing plots for the study of 

 diflferent systems of cutting in the Lake 

 Edward District. A party of foresters has 

 just visited the Chalk River Station on the 

 Petawawa Military Reserve and found the 

 work most interesting and very well plan- 

 ned and carried out. Plots have been estab- 

 lished where poplar and birch which had 

 come up on old burns is being cut out, 

 for use in a match factory, the timber 

 being cut by the buyer under the super- 

 vision of the station. Plots where dif- 

 ferent methods of selection cutting are em- 

 ployed where different amounts of thin- 

 ning have been made, and probably, most 

 interesting of all, where experiments are 

 made to determine the conditions for in- 

 fluencing natural seeding. Plots have 

 been selected where, under different de- 

 grees of shade, the mineral solid has been 

 exposed to see if seed will take hold. The 

 results of these experiments are positive 

 and show that where the mineral soil is 

 exposed germination is much facilitated. 

 One of the most interesting things was the 

 study which has been made of the growth 

 of white spruce. In one stand, on thin soil 

 on a rocky ridge, a tree was cut, measur- 

 ing 23 inches on the stump and onlif 32' 

 years of age. From data collected in many 

 localities it seems that white spruce will be 

 far and away the best tree to plant for 

 pulpwood and it is probable that it will 

 in a short period grow faster and yield 

 more wood than even jack pine. This 

 species, with its immunity to most diseases 

 and its rapid growth on all sorts of sites 

 will make an ideal tree for planting. There 

 is a most comfortable house for the staff 



at Chalk River in an ideal location for the 

 work and much valuable information will 

 be collected as time goes on. 



A visit to the Harvard Forest School 

 forest at Petersham, Massachusetts was 

 also most interesting. Mr. R. T. Fisher 

 has done much interesting and valuable 

 work in forest investigation, especially 

 along the lines of selective cutting together 

 with some planting and a good deal of nat- 

 ural regeneration. All this work has been 

 done on a commercial basis and has not 

 only payed its way but has also resulted 

 in a marked increase in the value of the 

 property brought about by the removal of 

 the less valuable species and the encourage- 

 ment of the more valuable ones. The re- 

 sults of this work will soon be published 

 and will be of great interest to all foresters 

 and especially to those who are in charge 

 of commercial forests. 



Apropos of white spruce, a plantation of 

 this species at Oakdale, Massachusetts on 

 the Boston Reservoir area, in charge of Mr. 

 -Allardyce, covering about 27 acres shows 

 a height growth of about thirty feet and 

 a breast height diameter of about four 

 inches. The trees are very uniform in 

 height, very healthy, and well worth a visit 

 from any one interested in growing spruce. 



The Forest School of Toronto Universi- 

 ty under the direction of Dean Howe, 

 shows the largest registration on record, 

 22 first year men, 13 second year, 10 third 

 year, 12 in the graduating class and four 

 special students. 



A meeting of the Quebec Society of 

 Forest Engineers was held in Quebec City 

 on the 19th of December to which all the 

 Provincial Foresters were invited. 



A meeting of the Canadian Society of 

 Forest Engineers was held in Toronto on 

 the 27th of December, in connection with 

 the meeting of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and that 

 of the Society of American Foresters. 



The aerial survey made by Dr. Swaine 

 of the budworm damage to balsam fir 

 in Ontario was most successful. The area 

 affected was determined and also to a con- 

 siderable extent the degree of infestation. 

 In a few days flying information of very 

 great value was obtained which could not 

 have been acquired even through months 

 of survey work on the ground. A very 

 large area of balsam is affected and prob- 

 ably 99 per cent of the trees will be dead 

 in three or four years. As the balsam is 

 probably about 70 to 75 percent of the 

 total coniferous stand the loss will be very 

 serious. On this trip one of the planes 

 was unable to get off a lake owing to 

 hills close to the lake and had to 

 be landed rather suddenly on the water, 

 slightly injuring Mr. Arthur Graham, 

 manager of the Ottawa Forest Protective 



Association. The slat at the back of his 

 seat struck his back rendering him help- 

 less for two weeks and he had to be car- 

 ried out of the woods, more than fifty 

 miles on a mattress. He is now almost re- 

 covered. The plane was repaired fend 

 brought out. 



The problem of the utilization of this 

 dead balsam is a serious one. One large 

 limit holder has enough of it to practical- 

 ly run his plant for ten years and long 

 before that time it will have rotted and 

 will be a total loss. 



A questionnaire sent out by the Woo3- 

 lands Section of the Canadian Pulp and 

 Paper Association shows that of fourteen 

 paper mills reporting four were doing ex- 

 perimental work on new or improved log- 

 ging methods, three were experimenting 

 with steam or gasoline tractors, two with 

 power driven portable saws for use in the 

 woods, two with mechanical loaders, all 

 were willing to give the results of their ex- 

 periments, and all were willing to discuss 

 the project of assigning specific experiments 

 to different companies the cost to be di- 

 vided among all, or the project of estab- 

 lishing a central cooperative experiment 

 station. 



The Ontario Government has taken steps 

 to set aside forest reserves in Pakenham 

 and Darling Townships in Lanark Coun- 

 ty as municipal forests. The Town of 

 Grand' Mere, Quebec, is also considering 

 the purchase of a tract of land for a Mu- 

 nicipal Forest. 



The Dominion Forestry Branch has ar- 

 ranged to ship to the British Forestry 

 Commission a much larger amount of tree 

 seeds than heretofore. In the past the 

 amount has been about 1,000 pounds per 

 annum but this will be increased to a min- 

 imum of 3,000 ppunds and it is hoped this 

 will be further increased to almost double 

 that quantity. The British Columbia spe- 

 cies are giving splendid results in England 

 which has a very similar climate. A plant 

 for seed extraction is being built at New 

 Westminster, British Columbia. 



Very few people ever disturb the fire 

 notices which are posted throughout the 

 country printed in many languages includ- 

 ing Indian syllabic writing. This summer 

 in the West a ranger found one of these 

 posters turned over and covered with In- 

 dian writing. As he could not read it he 

 took it down and, fearing that it might be 

 a message to the Indians to disregard the 

 fire laws, showed it to several Indians ask- 

 ing them to read it. They only smiled 

 and refused to interpret it. This made him 

 more suspicious and he sent it to Ottawa. 

 The Official Interpreter also smiled and 

 wrote back telling him that it was a pro- 

 posal of marriage from a "brave" who 

 was too timid to propose in person. 



