26 



THE FORESTER. 



January, 



we learn on good authority that the restored 

 lauds were rich in forest, and further that many 

 " bona fide settlers " by which in this case the 

 employees of lumber companies are to be under- 

 stood have since taken advantage of the " lien- 

 land " law and appropriated most of these lands, 

 leaving behind in the Reserve their original 

 claims, which had been cleared, not so much 

 for actual cultivation, as for all they were worth 

 in timber. 



This brings us to the Commissioner's recom- 

 mendation regarding an amendment to the lien- 

 land law. The Commissioner believes that the 

 difficulty can be overcome " by adding to the 

 clause which permits such selections the follow- 

 ing : Provided, That the natural state of the 

 tract relinquished has not been changed except 

 to such an extent as may have been necessary 

 in clearing the land for actual cultivation." 

 We do not agree with him. Such a provision is 

 too loose, and could be readily evaded ; for who 

 is to judge what "may have been necessary," 

 or what use will be made of the fresh selection ? 



Before considering the remaining recommen- 

 dations contained in the report we must note 

 an historical summary of forest legislation which 

 is not written in such term- as to emphasize 

 sufficiently t":e wholly inconsistent and seri- 

 ously injurious position of the public land and 

 Federal timber laws as they now stand in their 

 totality. 



Among the final recommendations we may 

 notice here as particularly important those 

 urging not less than the present appropriation 

 of $300,000 for the Forest Service; the enact- 

 ment of a law empowering forest officers, special 

 agents, and other officers having authority in 

 relation to the public lands, to make arrests, 

 without process in hand ; the enactment of a 

 general law " which shall repeal the numerous 

 conflicting and undesirable existing statutes re- 

 specting timber on the unreserved lands. With 

 regard to the second of these recommendations, 

 it should, we think, be pointed out that arrests 

 will not actually be made unless there is provi- 

 sion for the expenses which the officers must 

 incur in the discharge of this duty, by bringing 

 the offender to the nearest appropriate place of 

 imprisonment and trial. 



Report of the Royal Commission on Forest 

 Protection in Ontario, 1899. Toronto, 1900. 

 Pp. 29. Maps 1. 



The province of Ontario comprises 142,000,000 

 acres of which 120,000,000 acres are still owned 

 by the Crown. Much the greater part of the 

 province is not under cultivation. It is either 

 forested or more fit for the cultivation of timber 

 than for anything else. Fourteen million acres 

 are now under license to lumbermen, but the 

 land itself, after the licenses have expired, will 

 still be under the control of the Government. 

 The forest conditions in this region may be said 

 to resemble roughly those in our own Lake 

 States and in the Adirondacks. 



This present report is a brief account of the 



forest lands of Ontario, with statements of their 

 value aud importance to the country and recom- 

 mendations regarding their management. It 

 divides the provinces into three divisions : (1) 

 The agricultural section along the St. Lawrence 

 and south of the Georgian Bay ; (2) The Lau- 

 rentian or central section stretching from east 

 to west at the north of this, and including some 

 of the northern slope of the divide between the 

 Great Lakes and Hudson Bay, and (3) The 

 northern division comprising roughly the basin 

 whose streams flow into the James Bay. Fach 

 of these divisions has peculiarities of its own 

 which determine its interest in its forests. All 

 these are considered in a careful and practical 

 spirit. The summary of conclusions with which 

 the report ends is as follows : 



" 1. A large portion of the central division of 

 the province is more profitable from the stand- 

 point of public revenue as forest land then 

 under cultivation for farm crops, and as in addi- 

 tion to this it contains the headwaters of all 

 our principal streams, all that part of this di- 

 vision found upon this examination to be not 

 well adapted for farming should be added to the 

 permanent Crown Forest Reserves. 



"2. All licensed and unlicensed lands held 

 by the Crown where tourists, lumbermen or 

 prospectors are permitted should be patrolled 

 by fire rangers, and these rangers should be 

 controlled directly by the Government. 



"3. Suitable regulations should be enforced 

 to prevent too rapid or too close cutting upon 

 lands under license. 



" 4. No license in arrears for ground rent 

 should be renewed, but the territory if not suit- 

 able for agriculture should be added to the 

 Forest Reserves. 



"5. Fire notices in the English, French and 

 Indian languages should be posted along the 

 canoe routes throughout the territory north of 

 the Height of Land. 



"6. License holders should not be allowed to 

 cut any trees for logs smaller than will measure 

 twelve inches across the stump two feet from 

 the ground, except by special permission from 

 the Department of Crown Lands and under the 

 supervision of the district fire ranger." 



One of the most interesting parts of the report 

 is the large map of the province by M.J. Butler, 

 C.F., O.L.S., showing the distribution of the 

 forest and, roughl}', its character. The chapter 

 of the report on "Forests and Rainfall," also 

 by Mr. Butler, is not, as its title might imply, 

 an abstract discussion of this much-worked 

 topic, but a description of the different parts of 

 the province and their geological features with 

 considerations of the relation between the forests 

 and the rainfall. 



Publications Received. 



The Protection of Shade Trees in Towns and 

 Cities. Bulletin 131 of the Connecticut Agri- 

 cultural Station. New Haven. Pp.30. Illus- 

 trations 17. 



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