Forestry in Canada. 



89 



cutting or fire, poplar, birch and cherry 

 first fill up the ground, though later they 

 may be followed by pine and spruce if 

 there is any seed left uninjured in the 

 ground, or if there are any seed trees to 

 furnish a supply. If the heavier canopi- 

 ed hardwoods, such as maple, beech, 

 etc., are left, the chances of the conifer- 

 ous forest are poor, as the sprouting 

 qualities and frequent seed supply give 

 the hardwoods the' advantage. If, how- 

 ever, the first gro\\i;h is only poplar, 

 cherry and white birch, the conifers will 

 in time overtop them and re-establish 

 their supremacy. Recurring fires, how- 

 ever, will destroy this young growth and 

 leave the case for the coniferous forest 

 hopeless by natural processes. Such a 

 condition exists over the greater portion 

 of the Riding Mountain Forest Reserve 

 which has been carefully examined by 

 the Forestry Branch. Spruce has, 

 through frequent fires, been replaced by 

 poplar, and there is not now sufficient of 

 the former tree to provide a seed supply 

 for reproduction, and, as a matter of 

 fact, over the greater part of the reserve 

 there is practically no new growth of 

 spruce. Similar conditions exist and no 

 doubt have been noticed by many of you 

 in other parts of the Dominion. 



The sowing of the seed is provided for 

 by two methods, the natural and the 

 artificial. These have been worked out 

 thoroughly in Eitropean countries — 

 with the greatest thoroughness in 

 Germany, but also in Austria, France, 

 Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. 

 The natural method provides for the 

 leaving of seed trees (mature trees from 

 which the seed may scatter), either by 

 selection or strip cutting. In the selec- 

 tion method the trees are gradually 

 thinned out, there generally being two 

 thinnings before the final cut. The 

 second thinnings open the ground to the 

 light and the seed which then falls has an 

 opportunity to germinate and finally, 

 when the last stand is removed, there is 

 a good growth of seedlings coming on. 

 In the strip method the forest is divided 

 into strips corresponding in number to 

 the age of maturity of the forest. The 

 first strip is cut clean and seeds in from 

 the second. Next the second is cut and 

 seeds in from the third, and so the cycle 

 goes on until at the final cutting of the 

 last strip the first strip is again ready for 

 cutting. But these methods imply that 

 the seed years must be watched and the 



cutting made to correspond. This is the 

 easiest and the cheapest method, and it 

 is to natural methods we must look for 

 the reforesting of the greater part of 

 Canada, as the cost of any other method 

 would make it impracticable. 



Artificial methods are planting and 

 sowing. Both involve the gathering of 

 seed, which is extracted from the cones 

 in a drying house such as has been 

 established by the Forestry Branch at 

 Indian Head, where the cones are spread 

 on trays in a warm temperature which 

 causes them to open and shed the seed. 

 This is afterwards winnowed and cleared 

 of its wings. In the planting method, 

 which is adopted largely in Germany, 

 the seed is sown in beds in a nursery and, 

 after one transplanting, the trees are, 

 at three of four years of age, finally set 

 out in the forest. This is, however, a 

 slow process. A German forester who 

 plants forty acres in a year is doing well, 

 but it would take a long time at that 

 rate to make an impression on Canada's 

 vast areas. It is also expensive, even 

 with the Germans using female labor at 

 3? J cents per day, and in Canada would 

 be much more so. Considerable plant- 

 ing has been done in New York State at 

 h cent per tree, or about S6 per acre. 

 Fancy replanting Northern Ontario or 

 Quebec at this rate per acre ! 



Sowing may be done by broadcast 

 seeding or by the seed-spot method. 

 Broadcast seeding is the cheapest, but 

 is wasteful of seed, as it is most like 

 natural seeding which ' 'of fifty seeds 

 brings but one to bear." It is best done 

 on the snow in spring. In the seed- 

 spot method the mineral earth is stirred 

 up by a hoe in spots a few feet apart by 

 one man, while another follows dropping 

 a few seeds into the prepared place and 

 pressing the earth down on them with his 

 feet; or the seeds may be dropped on 

 the surface of the ground and covered 

 with a handful of sand. Trial of this 

 method was made last year on the 

 Forest Reserves in the tt'est with fair 

 results. A good supply of seed was 

 obtained last fall and it is proposed to 

 extend the experiment during the 

 present year. 



Factors in Tree Growth. 



When the seed germinates it first 



strikes downward, forming a root to give 



the seedling a firm hold on the ground 



and supply it with moistiu-e. Pushing 



