4 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



be given the most careful consideration by all seriously interested 

 in the future of the country ? 



In the older districts too severe denudation has already re- 

 sulted in dangerous freshets in the spring time, and the failure 

 of springs and streams in the summer, when their need is most 

 felt, losses from violent windstorms have increased, and the 

 supply of wood for fuel and domestic purposes is diminishing so 

 rapidly that it will soon become altogether inadequate, if some 

 measures are not taken to ensure renewal. The condition that 

 is thus being brought about by artificial means exists naturally 

 in the prairie districts. Here the need of wood for fuel and shel- 

 ter is felt from the beginning. The direct bearing which the 

 shelter afforded by a strip of timber has on agricultural produc- 

 tion is clearly shown by the comparative results on sheltered and 

 unsheltered plots recorded in 1900 at the Indian Head Experi- 

 mental Farm, where the shelter meant a doubling or trebling of 

 the yield, while on soine exposed places the crops were a com- 

 plete failure. 



The esthetic value of trees has an influence on one side of 

 life which it is well that Canadians should not neglect. The beauti- 

 fying of the home, the embellishment of the city street, the orna- 

 mentation of the park and roadside, with the graceful forms, 

 the beautiful foliage and the grateful shade of forest trees, 

 brings to each of these a charm and attractiveness which cannot 

 but have an elevating effect on the national life by awakening 

 the sense of beauty and attaching the affections of the people 

 more strongly to the homes and haunts of their native land. 



In laying down the programme of its principles, the Canadian 

 Forestry Association kept all these questions in view. In brief, 

 the statement of its objects is: To advocate and encourage judi- 

 cious methods in dealing with our forests and woodlands; to 

 awaken public interest to the deteriorating effects of wholesale 

 destruction of forests; to consider and recommend the expjlora- 

 tion, as far as practicable, of the public domain, and its division 

 into agricultural, timber and mineral lands, with a view to de- 

 voting the public lands to the purposes for which they are best 

 fitted; to encourage reforestation and the planting of trees on the 

 prairies, in cities, towns and villages, and throughout the coun- 

 try; to collect and disseminate for the benefit of the public, re- 

 ports and information bearing on the forestry problem in gen- 

 eral. 



The Forestry Association, although it is consolidating 

 the influence of those favoring better forest manage- 

 ment, is not the pioneer in this movement. Such a movement 

 has been supported and advocated for many years by earnest 

 and far-seeing citizens of the Dominion, most of whom have now 

 identified themselves with the Association. Bv writings, bv ad- 



