iS 



THE FORESTER. 



January, 



knots," and the lumber is often nearly 

 ruined by "black streak," the result of 

 the work of an insect which injures the 

 wood beneath the bark. The scar is 

 buried by subsequent growth of wood and 

 appears when the log is sawed as a bitter 

 black streak an inch or more long. But 

 these drawbacks are not universal and 

 doubtless when the influence of locality is 

 better known they may be largely avoided. 

 Until the timber is well introduced, its 

 friends will do well to grade carefully; 

 but grading, and the avoidance of certain 

 localities in cutting, should be all that is 

 necessary to make the Western Hemlock 

 marketable. Its recognition on its worth 

 and the possibility of selling it openly for 

 the many purposes for which it is admir- 

 ably adapted, would result not only in 

 certain wood industries being supplied 

 with material more cheaply than at present, 

 but in saving much standing Fir and 

 Spruce as well as Hemlock. For now to 

 meet the demand which the wasted Hem- 

 lock might satisfy, Fir and Spruce lumber 

 are used. 



Derelict Lands. The "Royal Commission 

 on Forestry Protection in 

 Ontario" in the course of its report (re- 

 viewed on p. 26) says : " No forest lands 

 should be left derelict. When a licensee 

 has practically abandoned his holding by 

 failing to pay his ground rent, the Gov- 

 ernment should resume possession and 

 begin active management of the territory 

 with a view of protecting future growth." 

 About six-sevenths of the land in Ontario 

 is still owned by the Crown and even in 

 the case of the ten million acres which 

 are under license to lumbermen the Gov- 

 ernment retains the ultimate control of the 

 land. In this happy situation it is easy to 

 speak of the Government's resuming ac- 

 tive management when the land is left 

 derelict, and the condition of things in 

 Ontario when compared to that in our 

 own Lake States looks delightfully simple. 

 And yet the contrast is not really as great 

 as it first appears to be. The lands which 

 have been cleared of all merchantable 

 lumber in Michigan, Wisconsin and Min- 



nesota, and which have been left by their 

 owners to be bought back, as it were, by 

 the State, through the accumulation of un- 

 paid taxes, are as completely derelict as 

 anything could be. Lumbering in these 

 regions is now followed chiefly by forest 

 fires, waste of young forest growth, ex- 

 haustion of the soil, and interference with 

 the flow of the streams none of which 

 evils are necessary and the States, though 

 private owners may hold the titles to the 

 land, are largely responsible for this. They 

 are also greatly interested in having the 

 lands kept permanently under forest and, 

 therefore, in acting one way or the other 

 in resuming possession of the lumbered 

 areas or in making it possible for those 

 who have cut off the first crop to hold 

 their lands for the second. 



There is no use blinking this fact any 

 longer. Now that the forest servants of 

 these States, unofficial or publicly charged 

 with forest investigations, are coming for- 

 ward with definite proposals, it is the duty 

 of the State Legislatures to give them its at- 

 tention and to take action on their sugges- 





tions. 



J* 



The Last Fif 

 teen Years. 



The century which has 

 just run out came so near 

 to slipping away entirely 

 without seeing any approach to forestry 

 or to an avowal of the communities' 

 interest in forest conservation in this 

 country, that to review it from the point 

 of view of the forester would be to hunt 

 far for very small game. It is true that 

 forest laws and attempts at what might be 

 called constructive forest management have 

 been on record for more than a century, but 

 only those of the last decade or decade and 

 a-half have much value or significance. 

 Yet the importance of some of these is such 

 that the 20th century will hardly be able to 

 estimate it fairly. 



The establishment of the National For- 

 est Reserves, of forest reserves and parks 

 in some States, and the passage of laws for 

 the protection of forest lands against fire 

 and for the encouragement of forest culti- 

 vation in others, are but well-meaning be- 

 ginnings. But when one considers to 



