26 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



side of the Miramichi, between Chatham and Newcastle, the only 

 easily accessible place, perhaps, in New Brunswick where a large 

 grove of these fine trees may be seen, is a good evidence— and 

 many others might be shown — that the old settlers loved trees, 

 and spared them for adornment and shade near their dwellings. 



Though we may regret the wastefulness and improvidence 

 of former generations, the present duty is to preserve the rem- 

 nants of our woodlands, to create a sentiment in favor of trees, 

 and to protect and cultivate them in large forest areas, not only 

 for purposes of lumber, but to husband the water supply of the 

 country, maintam and increase its area of fertile soil, and re- 

 claim by reforesting, wherever practicable, the fire-swept wastes. 

 Nature cannot be looked to to restore our forests as they were. 

 Man must give his intelligent assistance ; and it would seem to be 

 wisdom to begin now, when the demand for wood products is 

 greater than it has ever before been in the history of the world, 

 and when the market value of these products is constantly on the 

 increase. 



The first step naturally is to exercise a close supervision on 

 our forests as they are, to restrain the output of lumber by judi- 

 cious cutting, to leave standing all trees not up to a standard 

 size, to get rid of undesirable trees, and the undergrowth that in- 

 terferes with the admission of light, and to protect the forest 

 from the danger of fire by removing all brush and refuse. The 

 latter is obviously so important a preventive measure that some 

 lumbermen — not by any means all — attend to this as a matter of 

 wise economy, and their care is rewarded by greater exemption 

 from fires, although, as in the case of a farmer freeing his fields 

 from weeds, he is not safe unless his neighbors follow his example 

 The forest region on the Little Tobique River, New Brunswick, 

 lumbered by Mr. G. F. Hale, is one that is kept in good condition, 

 and there may be others which have not come under the writer's 

 observation. 



The regeneration of our forests cannot of course be expected 

 from lumbermen, whose object it is to cull out the marketable 

 trees without regard to the improvement or protection of the 

 young growth. In individual cases such as that cited above, a 

 lumber operator, after years of cutting, may leave his forest de- 

 pleted of all the largest trees, but in such a condition under his in- 

 telligent management that it will prove a valuable asset to the 

 country. How desirable a condition of things! But such ideal 

 conditions may be realized if the forester is called in to the aid 

 of the lumberman, if a rigid system of supervision is instituted 

 by Government, and if instruction in forestry becomes a part of 

 our general system of education. Plants, trees and other out- 

 door things interest all healthy children ; and in our Nature-Study 

 course, if the study of trees could be made prominent, and em- 



