1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



559 



esters of the present day as well 

 founded. 



M. Melard, in a recent work enti- 

 tled The Insufficiency of the World's 

 Supply of Timber, says : "There are 

 but few countries in the north tem- 

 perate zone at present able to supply 

 large quantities of timber. Five are 

 in Europe, namely, Austria-Hungary, 

 Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Rus- 

 sia ; two are in North America, name- 

 ly, Canada and the United States., It 

 has been shown that the available sur- 

 plus of Austria-Hungary, of Russia, 

 and the United States, is seriously 

 threatened by increase of population 

 and by industrial development, and 

 that of Norway by the abuse of the 

 axe. There remain only three sources 

 in which confidence can be placed for 

 yet a little while ; these are Sweden, 

 Finland, and Canada. They are ab- 

 solutely and hopelessly insufficient. If 

 Sweden, Finland, and Canada were to 

 attempt to supply all the countries 

 which reach out their hands for tim- 

 ber their normal production, and their 

 forests, too, would be disposed of 

 completely in a very short time, reve- 

 nue and capital alike." He concludes 

 with the remark that " a timber fam- 

 ine is thus within sight." 



Considering all these facts it seems 

 to me certain that not the least valu- 



able part of many limits is the younger 

 growth which at present, as I have 

 endeavored to show, scarcely pays the 

 cost of cutting, and that the owners 

 of timber, especially of white pine, 

 would only be acting with the fore- 

 sight they show in other details of 

 their business if they gave greater at- 

 tention to this matter than heretofore. 

 The time has arrived when the man 

 who directs the lumberman's opera- 

 tions in the woods should have, in ad- 

 dition to his practical knowledge of 

 how to cut and take out logs to the 

 best advantage, also some knowledge 

 of the tree itself, the manner and rate 

 of its growth and how to cut the other 

 timber so as to foster that growth. In 

 other words, he should be a forester 

 as well as a practical logman, and it 

 is fortunate that many young men, a 

 majority of whom have been brought 

 up in our rural districts, are now 

 studying forestry in the colleges of 

 the United States and Europe and 

 spending their vacations in our lum- 

 ber, woods, studying the practical part 

 of the business ; and I would strongly 

 adivse our lumbermen to avail them- 

 selves of the assistance of such men 

 where in addition to their theoretical 

 knowledge they prove themselves to be 

 practical as well. 



