328 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



cover and getting the number of trees of each species and 

 their heights. When this work is finished we shall have 

 a reliable legend for reading the photographs. We have 

 another party studying photographs taken over brush 

 and farm lands which it is proposed to buy for refores- 

 tation and find this photographic work of the greatest 

 value. Building, lot lines, cleared land, swamp, brush, 

 roads, fences ( stump land and drainage ditches all show 

 up with remarkable clearness, and photographs are most 

 useful in buying the land as they give more information 

 than the owner has himself. 



The illustration shows a photograph which was taken 

 at a low altitude of a piece of land which had actually 



are contemplating similar work carry out their programs 

 a very large area will be covered by the end of the sum- 

 mer. Aerial work will also prove of value in studying 

 the problems of water storage for power and irrigation 

 projects and for the location of new railway lines and 

 cut-offs for existing lines. The planes will also be of 

 value in logging operations, enabling the superintend- 

 ent to make more frequent trips to his operations and 

 to keep in closer touch with his men. Then in case 

 of accidents in the woods, the injured can be brought 

 out without delay. 



Little has been said about the value of the planes in 

 fire-protection as we had little opportunity to demon- 

 strate it, but from the work done in the west and my 





\ . pl . 







'Jtum a* 



\/ 



A CONTOUR MAP OF THE AREA COVERED BY THE PHOTOGRAPH ON THE PRECEDING PAGE 



had a contour map made of it (see page ), and the 

 contrast is very interesting. 



For making maps and estimates of the enormous areas 

 in eastern Canada which have not yet been surveyed, 

 aerial work will prove of the greatest value and will 

 make it possible to secure in a very few years information 

 about the timber lands so sorely needed and which cannot 

 be had in any other way except at a prohibitive cost and 

 after many years of labor. It is proposed during the 

 coming season to cover from three to four thousand 

 square miles of territory and if other companies which 



own experience in sighting a fire from the air and investi- 

 gating its origin, I feel sure that the planes will soon do 

 away with ground patrols almost entirely. 



Aerial work is bound to be of great use in many ways 

 in the near future but I venture to say that in no depart- 

 ment will it prove of more value than in forestry, espe- 

 cially in giving what is so sorely needed a sufficiently 

 accurate inventory of forest resources in a reasonable 

 length of time and at a reasonable cost. It will do away 

 with much of the drudgery and monotony of forest 



reconnoissance. 



