CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



By ELL WOOD WILSON 



The report of the Department of Lands 

 and Forests for 1921 is received and con- 

 tains some very valuable suggestions for 

 the better management of Quebec's forests. 

 The law that was passed at the last ses- 

 sion of the Legislature, to the effect that 

 anyone operating on Crown Lands, so- 

 called "limits," must, if he wishes to cut 

 in any other way than to the present diam- 

 eter limits, thirteen inches two feet above 

 the ground, for white and red pine, ten 

 inches for white spruce, seven inches for 

 black spruce, present a working plan for 

 the approval of the Chief Forester is a 

 long step forward in forestry practice. 

 When this is approved permission to cut 

 to different diameter limits or even to cut 

 clean may be granted. This law is not 

 only a good one for the public domain, 

 but also for the licensee. It prevents over 

 cutting and thus lengthens the life of the 

 timber supplies, insuring the permanence 

 of industries dependent on the forest, which 

 stabilizes and strengthens such industries, 

 putting them on a permanent foundation. 

 The government's idea is to ascertain the 

 amount of wood produced annually and 

 then to restrict the cut to that amount. 

 This will, of course, necessitate the map- 

 ping and estimating of the timber by licen- 

 sees and the preparation of working plans 

 in advance of logging, but the more prog- 

 ressive companies have already either 

 nearly completed such work or have it 

 under way. Almost all of the uncut stands 

 in Quebec are over mature and the areas 

 show an annual decrease in the amount of 

 timber rather than an increase and these 

 areas will never become productive until 

 they are cut. In many instances the ad- 

 vanced growth is sufficient to restock the 

 areas if they are cut clean. There are also 

 many areas in the north where only about 

 ten per cent of the timber ever reaches 

 the government diameter limit and these, 

 if the diameter regulation is enforced 

 would be practically closed to lumbering. 

 By cooperation with the government, prac- 

 tical plans for lumbering can be worked 

 out which will not only put limits on a 

 sustained yield basis but will make logging 

 cheaper and more profitable. Mutual con- 

 fidence on the part of the government and 

 the licensee will help both parties and 

 will be to their advantage. 



Simcoe County in Ontario has pur- 

 chased 1000 acres of land and has planted 

 part of it with white pine seedlings and 

 plans to restock the whole area, thus cre- 

 ating a county forest. The land was at 

 one time covered with white pine. It is 

 the aim of Ontario to encourage such 

 work and the Premier hopes to have a 

 forest for every county. 



Grand' Mere, Quebec, is trying to estab- 

 lish a municipal forest and it is hoped that 

 this plan will mature during the coming 

 year. 



A prize of $5,000 has been offered by Mr. 

 F. J. D. Barnjum for the best means of 

 combating the spruce bud worm and other 

 forest insect pests. This is the culmination 

 of his other offers of prizes for the best 

 essay on fire protection, the best work 

 done by individual fire rangers, and the es- 

 tablishment of the first municipal forest. 

 Mr. Barnjum is devoting his time, money 

 and energy to the cause of perpetuating 

 his country's forests and deserves all pos- 

 sible credit. If other men of means would 

 follow his good example, progress would 

 be much more rapid. 



The Canadian Air Board will place five 

 airplanes at the disposal of the Dominion 

 Forestry Branch for fire patrol in the for- 

 ests of Northern Manitoba. The station 

 will be at Victoria Beach, Lake Winnipeg, 

 and the patrol will extend as far west as 

 The Pas, near the Saskatchewan Boundary. 

 This will demonstrate the value of aircraft 

 for such work. 



Observations on the Canadian prairies 

 show that the trees are gradually advancing 

 westward, due to fewer prairie fire,s. The 

 trees push forward in islands but are hin- 

 dered by the prevailing winds, but in spite 

 of these progress is steady. 



The two cars of the Canadian Forestry 

 Association are doing splendid work, one 

 in British Columbia, for fire protection and 

 forestry, the other in the Prairie Provinces, 

 for tree planting. The cars have done ex- 

 cellent educational work and their equip- 

 ment is being steadily improved. 



A fire was discovered in a pine planta- 

 tion belonging to the Delaware and 

 Hudson Railroad about three miles south 

 of Plattsburg and was reported to the com- 

 mandant at the United States Army Bar- 

 racks at Plattsburg, who promptly sent out 

 a truckload of soldiers. They extinguished 

 the fire before a very great deal of damage 

 was done. This public-spirited action de- 

 serves great commendation and is in keep- 

 ing with army traditions. 



Mr. D. C. A. Galarneau, who inaugurated 

 the forestry department of the St. Maurice 

 Paper Company, has resigned his position 

 to become Assistant State Forester of 

 Massachusetts, with headquarters at 

 Springfield. 



The Dominion Forestry Branch has be- 

 gun the season's work at its various forest 

 experiment stations and with the appro- 

 priation made for this work should accom- 

 plish a great deal during the coming sum- 

 mer. Nothing is needed more at present 

 than accurate information about the growth 



of trees in the forest and in planted 

 stands, their diseases and insect enemies 

 and there is only one way to get such in- 

 formation and that is by the establishment 

 and continous study of sample plots cov- 

 ering all the various conditions. So little 

 work has been done along these lines that 

 each one must experiment for himself 

 Many questions affecting artificial regen- 

 eration are waiting solution, and many peo- 

 ple are waiting for authoritative informa- 

 tion before undertaking reforestation. 



A company is in the process of forma- 

 tion which will undertake all kinds of 

 aerial surveys. Photographs will be taken 

 for mapping and estimating timber, for 

 preliminary surveys for railroad, highway 

 and waterpower development, for town 

 planning, for rights-of-way for power lines, 

 and for checking the progress of river 

 drives and logging operations. This com- 

 pany will be known as the Fairchild Aerial 

 Engineering Company (Canada). It will 

 work in conjunction with the Laurentide 

 Air Service, Ltd., which will do all the fly- 

 ing. The head office of the Company will 

 be at Grand' Mere, Quebec. 



The President, Mr. G. Fujihara, the 

 Purchasing Agent, Employment Supervisor 

 and some other members of the Oji Paper 

 Company, of Tokio, Japan, visited Canada 

 during the month of March. This com- 

 pany is one of the largest in the world, 

 with a capital of $25,000,000, and operating 

 32 paper machines. The timber lands of 

 the company are on the islands of Hokkaido 

 and Saghalien. Conditions both in the 

 woods and in the mills are very similar to 

 those in Canada and they have about the 

 same species. This company has a for- 

 estry department, in charge of Mr. Kobay- 

 ashi, who has also visited Canada, and is 

 much interested in its work. The Presi- 

 dent is a director of the Japanese Forestry 

 Association. 



A very interesting pamphlet has just 

 been published by Mr. Henrick Carbonnier, 

 who, on behalf of the Swedish government 

 made a trip through the United States and 

 Canada in 1920. It is a book of 150 pages 

 and is excellently illustrated with photo- 

 graphs and maps. It also contains many 

 diagrams and tables and gives descriptions 

 of the forest types and conditions in diff- 

 erent parts of the country. Logging meth- 

 ods, mensuration, industrial uses of woods, 

 industries, exports and imports, forest poli- 

 cies and so forth are well covered. Mr. 

 Carbonnier was a close observer and his 

 book is interesting as showing what a 

 Swedish forester thinks of us and our 

 methods. 



