1925 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS 13 



fire and continued throughout the summer, the intention being to salvage the 

 entire lot so that in the ultimate analysis the real timber loss will be 

 infinitesimally small. 



The season opened very early and we began having spring fires in April. 

 This was owing to the dry condition in which the woods were left the previous 

 autumn, without any water in the swamps. The early opening of the fire hazard 

 required quite a large staff earlier than usual. During the middle of the summer, 

 however, the favourable weather with rainy periods throughout the most serious 

 summer months, enabled us to reduce the staff so that there was approximately 

 35 to 40 per cent less than the previous season. 



Another abnormally dry period occurred very late in the autumn, running 

 into the first few days of November, which required the maintenance of the 

 skeleton staff much later than usual. 



One of the outstanding features of this season's work was the introduction 

 of aircraft as a means of patrol and detection, especially for outlying regions, thus 

 enabling us to reduce the ground staff to a considerable extent. 



To inaugurate the Provincial Aircraft Service, owned, controlled and 

 operated by the Province, some fifteen H. S. 2-L flying boats were purchased. 

 Over 2,500 hours were flown in the season of 1924, comprising a mileage of 

 167,375. The aircraft was used for patrolling, surveying, sketching, photographing 

 and other purposes, and we have every reason to feel from our first year's experi- 

 ence that an important advance has been made in the policy of forest protection. 



Another feature of this season's work was the purchase of fifty mechanical 

 fire-fighting units in the shape of pumps and hose. This meant an expenditure 

 of some $50,000, but from reports gathered throughout many parts of the 

 Province, these pumps have more than saved their price in making it possible 

 to successfully cope with serious fires. The service now has 140 of such pumps 

 with 280,000 feet of hose. 



The total expenditure during the past season amounted to $864,000, which 

 is a little over $200,000 less than last year, and this expenditure included the cost 

 of all flying boats and maintenance in connection therewith. For closer details 

 see special appendix No. 40. 



Reforestation 



The various forest stations reported a very successful season for the develop- 

 ment of nursery work and the making of additional plantations, owing to favour- 

 able weather conditions. For instance, in the various nurseries there is a 

 total of 25,500,000 plants, of which about 6,000,000 are ready for final planting. 



During the past season there were a little over 3,000,000 plants sent out for 

 permanent planting, as follows: — 



Provincial Forest Station 437,280 



Municipal plantations 633,260 



Private landowners 1,954,671 



3,025,211 



Seed collecting was carried on during the autumn and a seed extracting 

 plant was completed at Angus, in Simcoe County, which lies in the centre of a 

 splendid region for collecting red and white pine. 



For complete details see appendix No. 40. 



