1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



291 



The Canadian forests have never been 

 called upon to pay the enormous tribute 

 to multiplying industries that our forests 

 have ; but they have been decimated by 

 the speculative lumberman and the im- 

 provident settler, and ravaged by fire 

 until those which are most accessible 

 bear little resemblance to their primeval 

 state. 



But it is not too late for the Canadian 

 people to preserve what is left of their 

 great timber reserves, and by a vigor- 

 ous and judicious system of reforesta- 

 tion they may be able to meet every de- 

 mand for their best timber for a long 

 time to come. They are awake to the 

 responsibility and are taking measures 

 to preserve what is left and to reforest 

 the waste places. In this connection I 

 quote from an interesting memorandum 

 addressed to the commissioner of crown 

 lands by Thomas Southworth, clerk of 

 forestry for Ontario. He says : 



' I have devoted a great deal of time 

 and study to the question of the feasi- 

 bility of restoring and preserving the 

 growth of White Pine upon lands not 

 adapted for settlement which have been 

 wholly or partially cleared either by 

 lumbering operations or by fire. Until 

 lately such a measure has not been con- 

 sidered possible except at an outlay 

 which, under existing circumstances, 

 would preclude its adoption. Recent 

 investigations, however, have thrown 

 new light on the matter by dispelling 

 the erroneous views formerly current, 

 and still held by some, as to the natural 

 process of forest reproduction. It was 

 popularly believed that when the orig- 

 inal pine forest was destroyed and the 

 soil remained uncultivated the succeed- 

 ing crop of spontaneous vegetation con- 

 sisted in all cases of trees of a less val- 

 uable character, such as Poplar, Birch, 

 Bird Cherry, and Jack Pine, and that 

 some natural law precluded a second 

 growth of White Pine. The circum- 

 stance which gave color and plausibility 

 to the theory was that in the majority 

 of cases lumbered-over lands were sub- 

 jected to the ravages of fire, frequently 

 more than once, which swept away not 

 merely the undergrowth, but the seeds 

 deposited in the forest soil, so that when 

 after the lapse of years vegetation again 



appeared the lighter seeds, carried long 

 distances by the wind, were the first to 

 occupy the soil. 



' Careful examination of many cut- 

 over tracts and information derived from 

 various sources afford abundant evidence 

 that while the result of repeated fires 

 may be to utterly destroy the White 

 Pine so as to prevent its spontaneous 

 reproduction, the first crop will natur- 

 ally, and as a rule, be succeeded by a 

 speedy growth of its own kind, and 

 that, where protection from fire is af- 

 forded, these seedlings supply the va- 

 cancy left by the removal of the origi- 

 nal forest and furnish a merchantable 

 crop within a reasonable time. Already, 

 there are large areas of cut and burned 

 over land on which young White Pines 

 are found intermixed with less valuable 

 trees, which only require to be guarded 

 against forest fires to yield a profitable 

 crop long before the present virgin tim- 

 ber resources of Ontario are exhausted. 

 Even after a district has been burned 

 over, White Pine or Spruce will spring 

 up where the seeds latent in the soil 

 have not been burned, or where enough 

 of the original trees remain to furnish 

 seed. Near the village of Plevna, in 

 the county of Addington, a tract of land 

 of considerable extent has been with- 

 drawn from settlement on account of 

 the valuable crop of young pine timber 

 which has grown up during the past 

 twelve or fourteen years' immunity from 

 fires. There are many such tracts 

 scattered throughout the province, un- 

 suited for general agriculture, which 

 will in due course contribute to the 

 timber supply. 



' The problem of reforestation is 

 greatly simplified when it is understood 

 that all that is really required to be 

 done in most cases to secure a certain, 

 if somewhat tardy, restoration of the 

 original forest growth is to allow the 

 reproductive energy of nature to have 

 full play, with immunity from fire. So 

 long as it was supposed that when the 

 first pine crop was removed the second 

 growth was invariably of an inferior 

 and comparatively valueless character, 

 and that nothing short of artificial plant- 

 ing at enormous cost would restore the 

 pine growth, it is not surprising that a 



