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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON 



PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF FOREST ENGINEERS 



LATE, in 1919, Mr. Robson Black, of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association, wrote 

 Sir John Stirling Maxwell, suggesting an 

 Imperial Forestry Conference. The Brit- 

 ish Forestry authority took up the matter 

 and invited the British Dominions and 

 Colonies to send delegates, and 35, from 

 all parts of the world, met in London on 

 the fifth of July. There were present 54 

 associate delegates. Canada was repre- 

 sented by Messrs. E. H. Finlayson, Forestry 

 Branch, Ottawa; Clyde Leavitt, Commis- 

 sion of Conservation; Robson Black, Can- 

 adian Forestry Association; Mr. Kilbey, 

 Canadian Government Railways ; M. A. 

 Grainger, Chief Forester British Columbia; 

 Avila Bedard, Assistant Chief Forester, 

 Quebec, and Ellwood Wilson. The meet- 

 ings were held under the Chairmanship of 

 The Lord Lovat, K. T., K. C. M. G., D. S. O., 

 Chairman of the British Forestry Com- 

 mission. The first day was spent in visit- 

 ing the British Empire Timber Exhibition, 

 and the second, in a visit to Kew Gardens, 

 the celebrated Royal Botanic Gardens and 

 Aboretum in London. The opening session 

 of the actual work of the conference was 

 held in the morning of the seventh of July, 

 in the historic Guild Hall, and address- 

 es were made by the Lord Mayor of Lon- 

 don, Lord Milner, the Lord Lovat and 

 several of the delegates. The Forestry 

 Commissioners entertained the delegates at 

 lunch and in the afternoon in the Council 

 Chamber of the Guild Hall, the delegates 

 presented their reports on the forest re- 

 sources of the various Dominions and 

 Colonies. These meetings were very im- 

 pressive and especially the afternoon ses- 

 sion when a mass of information on the 

 forest conditions and resources of so large 

 a part of the world was brought together. 

 No such authoritative statements had ever 

 been prepared and the conference had 

 before it up-to-the-minute data for the 

 study of forestry and timber supplies the 

 world over. In the evening the delegates 

 were entertained by the Forestry Students 

 Society of Oxford, Cambridge and Edin- 

 burgh Universities. At this banquet, Sir 

 William Schlich spoke most interestingly. 

 The next day the delegates left for a trip 

 through the Crown Forests of Dean, High- 

 meadow and Tintern, as the guests of the 

 Forestry Commission and spent three de- 

 lightful days in tramping through Dean 

 Forest situated in the West of England 

 and in getting acquainted with one another. 

 The Forest of Dean lies between the 

 Rivers Severn and Wye in the west part 

 of the County of Gloucester. This forest 



contains 18,700 acres under management 

 and also a freehold of 15,594 acres, but, 

 owing to the legal position, only 11,000 

 acres of the forest can be enclosed at any 

 one time, so that the whole area cannot 

 be placed under management. This area 

 has been reserved as a forest since the 

 earliest time the term "forest" originally 

 meaning an area set apart for hunting and 

 having little "of its present meaning. This 

 forest was originally oak and was used fo- 

 supplying timber for wooden ships. 



The greater part of the actual forestry 

 work was first undertaken in 1808, and by 

 about 1832, 11,000 acres had been planted 

 up. In the early days the trees, on ac- 

 count of naval requirements, were grown 

 with large spreading crowns in order to 

 obtain knees for ships. After wooden 

 ships were discontinued an effort was mad<: 

 to grow the trees taller and straighter. A 

 great many plantations of exotic species 

 have been made, including Douglas fir and 

 Sitka spruce. These two species make 

 remarkable growth and those of the dele- 

 gates who were familiar with British Col- 

 umbia said that the growth was certainly 

 equal if not greater than that in their 

 native habitat. 



Oak is perhaps from one to one hun- 

 dred years old, and the coniferous species 

 from one to eighty years old. 



The delegates were quartered in Speeche 

 House, still belonging to the Crown, and 

 in which in early times the old Verderer's 

 court was held for trying cases of crimes 

 against the Forest Law. These were very 

 severe in the early days, and a man would 

 lose his life or be mutilated for killing a 

 deer and often a hand was cut off for 

 killing rabbits or smaller animals. 



The prices received for wood cut in these 

 forests are rather interesting: Oak over tr 

 inches, forty cents per cubic foot felled, 

 lying in the road. Oak under six inches to 

 ten inches about twenty-four cents per 

 cubic foot felled. Beech, seventeen cents 

 per cubic foot felled ; Larch, thirty cents 

 per cubic foot felled ; Spruce, twenty-two 

 cents per cubic foot felled; wood, for use 

 in the mines, hardwood, $10.00 per ton: 

 free on rail and coniferous species, $12.00 

 per ton, free on rail. Hardwood, cut into 

 cord wood $5.00 per ton, free on rail. 



The forest is in charge of a deputy sur- 

 veyor, with a head forester and thirteen 

 foresters with definite beats and charge of 

 gangs working in these beats. The aver- 

 age number of workmen employed is 140 

 to 160. 



The receipts in the Forest of Dean, for 



the period 1908 to 1918 amounted to $3 

 000, and the expenditure $440,000, making 

 a deficit for ten years of about $50,000. 



The Forest of High Meadow comprises 

 about 3,580 acres, of which 3,349 are under 

 timber. This was purchased by the Crown 

 in 1817 and further purchases were made 

 in 1824 and 1828. At the time of purchase, 

 the timber was between 50 and 60 years 

 old, and about a thousand acres were 

 planted with oak between 1825 and 1850. 



Larch has been freely introduced in 

 groups among the oaks to replace the 

 matured standards cut out, but in most 

 cases the groups were too small and the 

 surrounding oaks were tending to close in 

 over the larch. In 1911, a system of clear 

 cutting and replanting at the rate of ap- 

 proximately a hundred acres per year was 

 begun. A new working plan is now in 

 course of preparation for these woods. The 

 best of the soil will be given over to oak 

 and the remainder will be planted with 

 conifers and ash. 



The prices ruling in the woods are 

 practically the same as those in the Forest 

 of Dean, but there is a larger quantity of 

 good oak timber which sells up to 52 cents 

 per cubic foot in the woods. 



The excess of receipts over expenditures 

 for the period of 1908-1918 amounts to 

 about $1,000. 



The Forest of Tintern, situated on the 

 left bank of the River Wye, between the 

 towns of Monmouth and Chepstow were 

 purchased from the Duke of Beaufort in 

 1901 and contain 3,200 acres. The object of 

 management since 1914 has been the pro- 

 duction of coniferous and hardwood tim- 

 ber of good quality and also a supply of 

 small wood for local turnery industry. A 

 great bulk of the material which is cut in 

 the wood is used for mining purposes. 

 This applies to both hardwood and smaller 

 coniferous poles. The better class larch 

 poles are sold for telegraph purposes. The 

 smaller hardwood material is utilized in 

 the manufacture of chair legs, et cetera. 

 Practically all the material is felled by 

 the Crown and is disposed of to timber 

 merchants. The prices run somewhat high- 

 er than in the other two woods. 



The balance of receipts over expendi- 

 tures for the ten-year period has been 

 $36,000. 



On July 10, the main body of the dele- 

 gates returned to London while a special 

 committee of thirteen remained at Tintern 

 Abbey to discuss the policy and general 

 conduct of the conference just in session 

 This meeting was held in the Beaufort 



