Editorial 



CANADIAN FOREST PROTECTION 



PROTESTS from many different sources, following 

 the frightful forest fires which destroyed hundreds 

 of lives and millions in property, have been pouring 

 in on the Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines of On- 

 tario, Canada, about the present system of fire-protection 

 of the forests. Boards of Trade of many cities and 

 towns in the Province, deeply stirred by the fire losses, 

 have sent recommendations urging a complete reorganiza- 

 tion of the protection system. The most important recom- 

 mendation is that a system of permits be arranged like 

 those in vogue in British Columbia and Quebec. These 

 require that before a settler can burn his " slash," i. e., 

 the trees and brush which he has cut down in order to 

 clear his land, he must obtain a written permit from the 

 fire-ranger in his district, so that the fire-ranger may be 

 there to see that the brush is properly piled, that it is not 

 too near the forest or houses and that the weather con- 

 ditions are favorable. It works no hardship on the set- 

 tler, in fact it is of material assistance to him, because 

 the ranger is an expert, and will help him to burn his 

 slash in the easiest way and to put out the fire if, by any 

 accident, it assumes dangerous proportions. 



The Ontario Government has nothing against the sys- 

 tem itself, but fears that it will antagonize the settlers and 

 thus lose votes. Experience has proved that this is not 

 the case, as, wherever the system has been inaugurated, 

 the settlers would not go back to the old way where any 

 careless man could endanger the lives and property of all 

 his neighbors. It is certainly to be hoped that the Min- 

 ister will show a progressive spirit and that he will realize 

 that the good of the Province and the protection of its 

 lives and property are far more important matters than 

 any political considerations. 



In this connection it is necessary to protest against 

 the haphazard placing of settlers on any and every kind 

 of land, regardless of whether it is fit for cultivation or 

 not. In the " clay belt " of Ontario, while the soil is 

 admittedly agricultural, it is so difficult to bring under 



cultivation that the ordinary method of selling lands to 

 settlers, just wherever they choose to locate, is a bad 

 one. Settlers have been allowed to take up lands in a 

 very scattered fashion, so that there are now large num- 

 bers of isolated farms. This makes it difficult and ex- 

 pensive for the government to open up roads and makes 

 it practically certain, as was shown by the recent terrible 

 forest fires, that, in case of a general conflagration, the 

 settler will likely lose his life and certainly all his property. 

 The proper and common-sense way would be to open up a 

 certain section, build proper roads, lay out lots with 

 some reference to the topography of the country, set aside 

 forest reserves, which would serve to supply building 

 timber, fencing and fire-wood, and compel the settlement 

 of the whole area so prepared before allowing any 

 settlement elsewhere. 



In Quebec there is, in spite of the excellent system 

 and the fire-protection associations, still much work to 

 be done. In the districts outside of those patrolled by 

 the cooperative associations there have been some very 

 serious fires, particularly near Escalana on the National 

 Transcontinental Railroad, where a fire sixty miles long 

 was burning recently and, had it not been stopped provi- 

 dentially by rain, would have made it very difficult for the 

 Saint Maurice Forest Protective Association to have pre- 

 vented its entering their territory. The same was true 

 of a large fire in the neighborhood of Saint Felicien on 

 Lake Saint John, where the Association was compelled to 

 maintain a large force of men to prevent the fire entering 

 its property. The whole valley of the Saguenay River, 

 famed for its scenic beauties, was burnt, and the smoke 

 was so thick that navigation was impossible for several 

 days. The Minister of Lands and Forests of Quebec, the 

 Honorable Jules Allard, realizing these grave dangers, 

 is at present engaged in an effort to correct them. His 

 untiring efforts to get a better system of fire prevention 

 and his marked success are in eloquent contrast with the 

 actions of the Ontario officials. 



THE WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST 



THE blister rust, which is capable of rendering the 

 growing of white pine throughout this country com- 

 mercially impractical, did not come to our shores 

 unheralded. As early as 1908 Dr. C. Alvin Schenck, for- 

 ester for the Biltmore estate, warned certain foresters 

 against importing white pine nursery stock from Ger- 

 many, protesting that this disease would surely be in- 

 troduced and would ravage the native forests. At that 

 time there was no federal law or board controlling the 



importation of nursery stock, and the introduction of the 

 chestnut bark disease from China went undiscovered 

 until the chestnut trees began to die near the source of 

 infection, New York City, with results known to all. 

 This species is doomed, for there is no method of com- 

 bating the disease. 



Importations of white pine continued, in spite of this 

 warning, which was not generally understood, until the 

 Superintendent of Forests of New York, C. R. Pettis, dis- 



827 



