70 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



measured by the distance it is able to look ahead and make 

 provision for the future, and in Canada the time seems to have 

 arrived for a more systematic and scientific study of the con- 

 ditions of reproduction and development of our forests, so that 

 sufficient data may be available on which to base plans of 

 management for the future. The attention of the world, and 

 particularly of the great republic to the south of us, is being 

 directed to our forests which are rich with a great variety of 

 trees and constitute one of our most important sources of 

 wealth. But it must be remembered that wood, in one form or 

 another, is an absolute necessity in the present stage of our 

 civilization, that our people use enormous quantities of it, and 

 that during the twentieth century our population is almost 

 certain to reach the eighty million mark. Hence, it will be 

 seen that, even with our great forest areas (much of which is 

 of inferior quality), we must adopt a more scientific method 

 of management if we are to make anything like adequate pro- 

 vision for the home consumption, and leave a fair margin for 

 export to other countries. It is only by a general and far-reach- 

 ing system, based upon an adequate, scientific and practical 

 grasp of the whole situation in all its aspects that our people can 

 hope to avert the evils which have overtaken other lands as 

 a result of the disappearance of their forests. Hence, there 

 has arisen the necessit}^ for a class of men with a training of 

 a highly technical nature — men thoroughly grounded in the 

 principles of silviculture, lumbering, milling, transportation, 

 political economy, etc., and with a clear conception of the 

 relations of things that at first sight do not seem to be related 

 even in the remotest degree. In other words, Canada needs 

 schools to train foresters to undertake the proper management 

 of her vast forests, and to prevent their ruthless destruction 

 by fire and axe. 



To the objection that there is no room for trained foresters 

 in Canada we would reply that, some thirty ^^ears ago when 

 President Loudon and a few other far-sighted gentlemen ad- 

 vocated the establishment of an Engineering School in connec- 

 tion with Toronto University, they were told that there was no 

 need for it, and that such a movement simply meant the stranding 

 of a lot of young men at the end of their courses in engineering, 

 without hope of employment. Fifteen years later when Profes- 

 sor Goodwin and others advocated the establishment of a School 

 of Mining in connection with Queen's University, they were 

 told the same thing, and to-day there are still plenty to tell 

 us it is perfect madness to establish a Provincial School of 

 Forestry in Ontario, in Quebec, in New B unswick, or anywhere 

 else. The fact remains, however, that neither Toronto nor 

 Queen's University can meet the demand for graduates from 

 their technical schools. The training received in both institu- 



