SOME NOTES ON FORESTRY IN ONTARIO. 



The Department of Agriculture of Ontario in 1908 took 

 a step in advance when the sum of five thousand dollars was 

 granted for special reclamation work in Norfolk County. The 

 Department five years ago began giving farmers assistance in 

 waste land planting on the farm. This year the policy of ac- 

 quiring non-agricultural lands where such exist in large con- 

 tiguous areas has been adopted. 



The first land purchased was a one hundred acre farm, 

 south half of Lot 24, Con. 5, in Walsingham Township, Norfolk 

 County. It is two miles from St. Williams, on the G. T. R., 

 and is situated on the border of a sand formation some 3,000 

 acres in extent. In the adjoining Township of Charlotteville 

 there is another contiguous area of about 3,000 acres. It is 

 safe to say that in South Norfolk there exist 10,000 acres which 

 eventually must be used for forest production. This does not 

 include the numerous small parcels scattered throughout other- 

 wise good agricultural soils, and which would not be included 

 imder provincial management. 



The illustration on the opposite page shows one type of 

 this Norfolk county waste land. The knoll is gradually being 

 blown away and a few white pine stumps still stand to prove 

 what could be originally grown in this soil. The forester 

 must remember, however, that it was a different soil which 

 produced these stumps. It w^as sand with a large admixture of 

 humus. 



The prevailing type of forest growth in this area, where 

 cultivation has not been attempted, is composed of oaks of 

 various species, namely, Dwarf Chinquapin, white, yellow and 

 red (Quercus prinoides, alba, velutina and rubra) with white 

 pine. In low situations where fires have been especially bad 

 the poplars are prevalent. Less common species found are clack 

 gvrai, (Nyssa silvatica), chestnut, butternut, black walnut, 

 white ash, black ash, bitter and shagbark hickory. 



It is interesting to note that the above farm which left 

 the possession of the Crown in 1804 returned to the Crown in 

 1908 and has been settled over 100 years. It comes back much 

 the worse for wear as may be seen in the illustration. 



Probably about one-quarter of this non-agricultural belt 

 in Walsingham township has been cleared and attempts made 

 at cultivation. It was originally a w^hite pine type, but cutting 

 and continual burning has gradually changed it into a scrub 

 oak type with scattered white pine. The scrub oak and older 

 white pines withstand the ground fires, but the young pine seed- 

 lings are burned out at regular intervals. Last summer upon 



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