1921-22 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS 257 



Several new roads were laid out on the property, necessitating the erec- 

 tion of two new bridges. Five miles of old road were cleared of brush, to facil- 

 itate fire-fighting work when needful. All fire roads were ploughed and cultiv- 

 ated, and an additional fire line of one-third of a mile in length was cleared 

 and broken up. 



Improvement Cutting. — On the 1,720 acres comprising the forest station, 

 approximately seventy per cent, consists of woodland. During favorable 

 weather in late fall and winter, improvement cutting was carried on, over an 

 area of forty acres. Weed trees and windfalls were cut down, after which they 

 were converted into logs and cordwood, the remaining slash being burned. 

 Trees that showed evidence of butt rot, fire scar, ill form, oppression and sen- 

 ility were removed and utilized to the best advantage. The aim was to leave 

 a stand composed of only sound, healthy, vigorous trees, thereby minimizing 

 fire hazard and preventing, to a degree, insect and vegetable infection. 



Protection {Disease and Insects). — Two men were employed during the 

 summer months in connection with the eradication of Ribes for the prevention 

 of the infection of nursery material with White Pine Blister Rust. No evidence 

 of either Pine or Ribes stage of the disease was found. Destruction of White 

 Pine Weevil was also carried on and all attacked leaders of trees in older planta- 

 tions were removed, in an attempt to lessen the destruction caused by this 

 insect. 



Labor. — One of the difficulties in building up a permanent staff has been 

 the lack of house accommodation, either on the Government property or else- 

 where. With the increasing number of dwellings being erected at the station, 

 this problem has been partially solved. For part time employment, which is 

 a big factor in work of this kind, the neighborhood contributes plenty of young 

 men. During the season, the personnel comprised, besides the manager of 

 the station, a foreman, an under-foreman, 2 teamsters, a fire ranger, and 28 

 workmen. 



Tree Planting. 



Private Planting. — The work of tree distribution to private owners through- 

 out the province was again carried on during the spring. The species avail- 

 able for distribution for the season of 1921 were as follows: Scotch pine, black 

 walnut, butternut, red oak, white ash, sugar maple, white elm, and black locust. 



Last year some fifty odd applications more than the branch could fill, 

 were received. 225 separate operations were supplied. The number of trees 

 for these amounted to 291,769 of all species. In terms of acres, this would 

 represent, at six feet spacing, 240 acres of reforested land. 



Government Planting. — Owing to the fact that the demand for planting 

 material throughout the province was so great this year, little permanent plant- 

 ing was done at the forestry station at St. Williams. A mixture of Scotch pine 

 and European larch was planted, covering an area of 5 acres, and 10,000 white 

 spruce were planted in mixture with red oak. 



A plantation of 3 acres was set out in Leeds county, with the co-operation 

 of the council of Elizabethtown Township, where a sand ridge had been in- 

 conveniencing traffic on a county road for years. This plot will serve as a 

 demonstration plantation for land owners in the neighborhood, who are threat- 

 ened with drifting soil. 



Extensive planting work was also carried on in connection with reclaiming 

 the sand banks of Prince Edward County. These banks consist of a finger- 



17 L F. 



