180 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



9 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON 



PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



SIR LOMER GOUIN, Premier of the 

 Province of Quebec, at the annual ban- 

 quet of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Asso- 

 ciation, made a very able address in which 

 he discussed the relations between the 

 licensees of Crown timber lands and the 

 Government He showed an accurate 

 knowledge of the industry and of the 

 necessity for putting the forests of the 

 Province on a basis of sustained yield. 

 Under his government the Province has 

 made remarkable strides in forestry and 

 he told of his sympathy with the move- 

 ment and his determination to aid it in 

 every way possible. He suggested that the 

 holders of timber lands should spend more 

 money on forestry work and in taking care 

 of their limits, and assured them that the 

 Government would help in every possible 

 way. He stated that the Government was 

 ready to provide instruction in technical 

 subjects connected with the industry just 

 as it had in forestry and commerce and 

 made a strong plea for the employment of 

 the young men of the Province in the 

 pulp and paper industry. The far sighted 

 and statesmanlike policy of the Premier 

 in regard to the forests is much to be com- 

 mended and as long as he holds his posi- 

 tion Quebec is assured of a sane and pro- 

 gressive forestry policy. 



The pulp and paper mills have always 

 tried to use local men for their work but 

 the instruction in many of the technical 

 schools is carried on more from the Euro- 

 pean point of view, and has not been up 

 to the standard maintained by the best 

 modern institutions. Progress is however 

 being made and the schools are rapidly 

 improving. 



The conference on forest protection held 

 under the auspices of the Quebec Forest 

 Protective Association was very success- 

 ful. Mr. Piche, Chief Forester of Quebec, 

 read an excellent paper. The principal 

 discussion was on railway fire protection. 

 For years the fires set by the Canadian 

 Government Railways have been numerous 

 and unnecessary and in marked contrast 

 to the number set by privately owned lines. 

 The situation has become almost intoler- 

 able and the owners of timberlands have 

 about reached the limit of their patience. 

 It behooves the men in charge of the Gov- 

 ernment lines to adopt a modern policy of 

 fire protection. The attitude of the local 

 officials has been entirely different from 

 their superiors and their co-operation with 

 fire protective agencies has been all that 

 has prevented disastrous fires. 



The St Maurice Forest Protective Asso- 

 ciation has continued its progressive policy 

 and has voted an extra half cent per acre 

 for protection during the coming season 

 and has voted $20,000 as a special fund to 

 clear of debris a strip of land one hun- 

 dred feet wide on each side of the right- 

 of-way of the railway passing through ter- 

 ritory under its jurisdiction. Close ac- 

 counts of cost will be kept and the work for 

 this season will be in the nature of an 

 experiment. This ought to be a great 

 help in preventing railway fires and is 

 a long step in advance in fire protection. 

 The work will probably begin as soon as 

 the spring danger season is over, by pil- 

 ing the debris ready for burning during 

 rainy weather or with the first snow next 

 fall. 



Mr. Piche made a most important an- 

 nouncement on behalf of the Department 

 of Lands and Forests of Quebec, i. e., that 

 any holder of Government timber lands 

 who wishes to begin reforestation on any 

 part of his holdings, would on presenta- 

 tion and approval of his plan by the Chief 

 Forester, be furnished the necessary plant- 

 ing stock free by the Government. This 

 he would plant under the direction of the 

 Government Forester, the total expendi- 

 ture to be deducted from the stumpage 

 dues payable to the Government for the 

 current year. This means that the limit 

 holder will furnish the cash for the work 

 but the Government would really pay for 

 it. This is a long step in advance and it 

 is hoped will be the beginning of exten- 

 sive reforestation. 



The Woodlands Section of the Pulp and 

 Paper Association at its annual meeting 

 made the following report and recom- 

 mendations. That the Executive Committee 

 of the Limit Holders Association of the 

 Province of Quebec should be constituted 

 an advisory committee to confer with the 

 Minister of Lands and Forests on all 

 matters relating to lands held under 

 license. That experiments be made in 

 clean cutting at the option of the limit 

 holder in conjunction with the Government 

 Forest Service, the sample plots upon 

 which such experiments are carried out to 

 remain a distinct forest reserve for a suffi- 

 cient length of time to permit of the re- 

 sults being studied. In order to increase 

 the output from the woods, all operators 

 are urged to utilize and remove all dis- 

 eased, lodged, blowndown and burnt trees 

 and all tops in their cutting areas if they 

 are of commercial value. That the per- 



sonnel of the Forestry Service be increased 

 and larger cash appropriations be made for 

 its maintenance and activities. That 

 operators be advised that there are for- 

 estry engineers, graduates of the Quebec 

 Forestry School, who might be available 

 where their services are required. Reso- 

 lutions were also adopted as follows : that 

 it is in the interest of Canada as a whole 

 and of the wood working industries in par- 

 ticular that the fullest information bt 

 made available as to the character and ex 

 tent of the forest resources of the Domin- 

 ion and as to the conditions which gov- 

 ern the growth and reproduction of the 

 commercially valuable tree species. That 

 the work of the Dominion Conservation 

 Commission along these lines, already un- 

 der way, be indorsed, with particular 

 reference to the survey of the forest re- 

 sources of the several Provinces, in co- 

 operation with the several Provincial Gov- 

 ernments, and the investigation of condi- 

 tions of growth and reproduction of pulp- 

 wood species in co-operation with the pulp 

 and paper companies, the Dominion For- 

 estry Branch and the Provincial Forestry 

 Services, and that proper financial provi- 

 sion for the continuation of these studies 

 on an adequate scale be made recommend- 

 ed to the Dominion Government. The 

 deep appreciation of the section of the 

 commercial utility of the work of the 

 Dominion Entomological Branch of the 

 Department of Agriculture, particularly 

 the section presided over by Dr. Swaine 

 and devoted to the study and extermina- 

 tion of forest insect pests, was expressed 

 and it was recommended that the respon- 

 sible minister provide sufficient funds in 

 the estimates for the current year to at 

 least double the number of parties in the 

 field. It was finally resolved that in view 

 of the large number of fires set by coal 

 burning locomotives, and the losses caused 

 by such fires, that the railways passing 

 through forest lands should be operated 

 electrically wherever there are water pow- 

 ers available. 



The death occured suddenly on Wed- 

 nesday, the fourth of February, of Mr. W. 

 C. J. Hall, for many years in charge of 

 fire protection in the Department of Lands 

 and Forests in Quebec and also in charge 

 of the Laurentide National Park. Mr. 

 Hall was one of the charter members of 

 the Canadian Society of Forest Engineers 

 and did yeoman service for the progress of 

 forestry especially along the lines of bet- 

 ter fire protection. He was also much in- 



