180 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



much the fault of the forester as that of the lumberman, and 

 arose from a misunderstanding, the lumberman having the im- 

 pression that the forester, if he had his way, would prejudicially 

 interfere with his operations, and the forester blaming the 

 lumberman for destroying the forests. 



Now it is scarcely necessary to say that no intelligent 

 forester would be so unwise as to prevent the utilization of full 

 grown timber. His mission is rather to use his influence in such 

 a way that a permanent production may be constantly main- 

 tained. But nothing serves so well to unite people as a common 

 enemy, and that was not wanting in this case. The ubiquitous 

 forest fire, to which I have already referred, and which I believe has 

 destroyed in Canada, ten times as much timber as the lumber- 

 man has ever cut, furnished the rallying point. So alarming 

 was this destruction in every Province, that every citizen, worthy 

 of the name, became interested, and the authorities w^ere urged 

 to adopt a protective service. Never was a more reasonable 

 request made. The public, in m.ost cases, are the owners of the 

 timber, it being principally on unsettled lands still held by the 

 Crown, and even where timber berths have been sold to individ- 

 uals, the Government still receives a royalty on the cut. It 

 was pointed out that no city or town would think of doing 

 without a fire service for the protection of buildings, which if 

 burnt, could be rebuilt within a year or so, whereas, if a forest 

 is destroyed it takes a century to replace it. In this movement 

 for protection the lumberman became a forester. Again with 

 the permanent tenure of timber berths, the intelligent lumber- 

 man is not satisfied to ignore the growth of young timber that is 

 coming on to take the place of what he has removed, and the 

 day has now arrived M^hen I believe very many of our lumbermen 

 are beginning to so work their limits that the ground, which has 

 for ages been producing timber, one crop succeeding another, 

 may continue to afford him a continuous supply. 



We should not forget that the most reliable statistics show 

 that the world's supply of timber is fast diminishing, while the 

 demand is enormously increasing. Time will not permit me to 

 quote the opinions of many of the best authorities in the world, 

 backed by statistics on this point. I will only, however, trespass 

 on your time to quote from an article which appears in the last 

 July number of the "Nineteenth Century," written by Dr. John 

 Nisbet, (late of the India Forest Service), on timber planting on 

 waste lands in the British Isles, in which, after referring to the 

 fact that Great Britain had heretofore been able to supply her 

 timber through the enormous shipping facilities at her command, 

 goes on to say that "the whole economic position has been 

 entirely changed within the last thirty-five years, and the future 

 outlook has, of course, thereby become profoundly affected. 



