Woodland Taxation. 167 



a conservative lumbering of the present stand must in all cases be 

 regarded as the basis of the forest policy. Such natural regenera- 

 tion is to be preferred as being vastly cheaper and in many if 

 not most cases quite as efficient as artificial planting. 



All methods of natural re-seeding of forests — and they are 

 many to suit the many varying conditions found in the forest — 

 agree in at least one thing, viz: that trees which, under a clean- 

 cutting system, might be cut and removed at a profit must be left 

 on the the ground in greater or less number that they may main- 

 tain the production of the soil by growing to a larger size them- 

 selves, and by seeding up the spaces opened by the removal of 

 their neighbors. 



Any method of taxation, lease, or sale of woodlands which 

 makes it in the interest of the operator who controls for the 

 time the standing timber to cut clean or to cut the more valuable 

 species only without regard to the future of the forest, is evident- 

 ly prohibitive of any system of natural re-seeding. 



The virgin stands of timber on the public lands of the different 

 Canadian provinces are disposed of under some form of lease or 

 license, which although differing widely in detail, are in all cases 

 practically the same in principle. The timber is paid for under 

 these leases as follows; (i) by a payment of certain "stumpage 

 dues" of so much per M on the amount of material removed 

 at the time of logging; (2) a ground tax or "rent" of so much 

 per square mile per annum; and (3) where the limits have an 

 estimated value over and above the "stumpage dues" and 

 "ground rent," and are put up at public auction, a portion of the 

 value of the timber is paid for in a third form, termed "bonus," 

 which of course varies very greatly according to the location and 

 character of the timber sold. In recent sales in this province the 

 "bonus" has proved to be the largest portion of the market 

 value of the stumpage sold. 



Before discussing the influence of these financial conditions 

 on the manner of cutting which the Itmnberman may adopt, it 

 must be admitted that in justice to himself he must cut according 

 as he will receive the greatest financial return for himself and his 

 family. It may also be assumed that being a lumberman, and 

 in most cases also a mill owner, he has a very real interest in 

 the protection and development of the forest as a log producer 

 in perpetuity. The fact that lumbering in Canada has in the 

 past been almost uniformly destructive to our forests is due not 

 to any lack of interest in the future of the forest on the part of 

 the lumbermen, nor even chiefly to a lack of knowledge of how 

 to care for the woods— though doubtless this has contributed — 

 but primarily to a lack of security from fire and from theft (by "tim- 

 ber sharks," who in the guise of settlers steal his timber); and 



