Reforestation of Waste Lands. 



Important meeting in the united Counties of Northumberland 

 AND Durham, Ontario. 



A significant meeting — the first of the 

 kind in Ontario — was held at Cobourg on 

 June 9th, when the subject of the re- 

 forestation of waste lands was discussed. 

 The counties of Northumberland and 

 Durham, which are united for municipal 

 purposes, have within their bounds about 

 fifteen thousand acres of sand lands 

 lying along the ridge which is the water- 

 shed between Lake Ontario and the 

 Trent Valley. The ridge extends from 

 Burketon Station, on the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, easterly to Rice Lake, 

 a distance of about thirty miles, and 

 varies from half a' mile to four miles in 

 width. A magnificent growth of pine 

 was cut or burned ofT this ridge and for 

 a good many years fairly profitable 

 farming operations were carried on upon 



it ; but latterly the soil has been growing 

 poorer from year to year until very few 

 farmers are left on the ridge, and these 

 are struggling against adverse condi- 

 tions which are making them poorer 

 every day. Buildings and fences have 

 very generally disappeared and areas of 

 ' 'blow " sand have developed which are 

 in some cases encroaching on the good 

 land adjoining. The source of the 

 streams flowing into Lake Ontario and 

 the Trent River has been affected so 

 that nearly every spring there is great 

 destruction to bridges and other pro- 

 perty by floods, followed by drought Jn 

 midsummer and autumn. ;M 



The council of the united counties of 

 Northumberland and Durham took the 

 initiative in calling a meeting of re- 



[Photo by courtesy Farm and Dairy, Peterboro 



Drifting Sand in Durham county, Ontario. The hill shown in the cut is being blown away since the trees 

 were removed. The road is blocked, and the sand is destroying orchards and fields beyond. 



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