92 



The Canadian Forestry Journal. 



Storms break the trees, avalanches of 

 snow overwhelm them. But the great- 

 est agent of destruction, the one which 

 has left its mark broad and deep over 

 the forests from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, is the forest fire. The scene of 

 towering rampike and tangled brule, of 

 barren rock and dreary sand waste, 

 which characterises so much of our forest 

 districts, is a sad commentary on the 

 wastefulness and prodigality with which 

 we deal with the resources nature has 

 supplied to us. The trail of the pro- 

 spector, the advance of the settler, the 

 construction of the railway, all have 

 been the precursor of the fire, and, even 

 with the greater interest awakened at 

 the present day, it is doubtful if the 

 destruction will be permanently and 

 effectively stayed. 



All the provinces, as well as the 

 Dominion, now have fire patrol systems 

 which have done good work, but the 

 public are still careless, the railways are 

 a serious danger, and the fire ranger, 

 even if he be honest and capable, has 

 generally too large a territory to cover. 

 Besides, it is impossible to supervise 

 effectively the work of the fire ranger, 

 and naturally the work is not always 

 done thoroughly and honestly. 



In the prevention of fires, you, gentle- 

 men, going out into, or into the neigh- 

 borhood of, the forested districts of 

 Dominion territory can be of assistance 

 by impressing the fire danger on those 

 you meet and by giving us information 

 as to the working of the protective 

 system in the districts through which 

 you travel. I have to acknowledge 

 valuable information and suggestions 

 already received from inembers of your 

 profession and will be glad to receive 

 such in future. We have not by any 

 means attained perfection and we wel- 

 come any fair suggestion or criticism. 



In return let me give a hint from an 

 experience of one of our fire rangers. 

 He discovered a fire one day a little off 

 a survey line, and, on extinguishing the 

 fire and making a careful examination, 

 he found that it had eaten along a bog 

 underground from a fire on the survey 

 line. The surveyor in charge was a care- 

 ful man and had given strict instruction 

 about extinguishing fires, and it was 

 thought that this fire was extinguished. 

 It shows the need of constant watchful- 

 ness and thorough measures for ex- 

 tinguishing fires. 



Another respect in which the mem- 

 bers of your Association may be of 

 assistance to the Forestry Branch is by 

 their reports on the timber in the dis- 

 tricts surveyed by them. Valuable 

 reports are being furnished by some 

 surveyors and these reports are being 

 plotted on sectional sheets. Such 

 reports accompanying, returns of survey 

 would in time give a good idea of the 

 timber in the districts covered. 



How Much Wood Do We Use? 



But why should the public take an 

 interest in the preservation and pro- 

 pagation of the forests? What purpose 

 do they serve? 



In the first place they supply wood 

 material. And wood is useful for so 

 many purposes that it would be idle to 

 attempt to enumerate them. The floors 

 we tread, the seats we sit upon, the 

 finishing of our houses, the newspapers 

 we read, and a thousand and one con- 

 veniences come from the forest. And 

 in spite of all the substitutes that have 

 been found for wood the total quantity 

 used is steadily increasing as well as the 

 total per head of population. 



The figures of consumption in Canada 

 are not very reliable or complete, but 

 taking the total of the last census, 1901, 

 the product was about nine billion feet 

 board measure and the annual con- 

 sumption now is probably near to 

 double that quantity. Of this quantity 

 about four billion feet board measure 

 was for sawing into lumber and there- 

 fore from trees of a size suitable for that 

 purpose. 



In the United States the consump- 

 tion for the year 1907 was forty billion 

 feet board measure of sawn lumber and 

 the total of all forest products would 

 bring the figures up to probably five 

 times that amount. It is considered 

 by the United States Forest Service 

 that that country ha? reached its max- 

 imum of production and each year here- 

 after will see a decline, the deficiency 

 resulting from which must be supplied 

 elsewhere. 



Europe as a whole is an importing 

 continent. I am not able to give the 

 present quantities, but for the period 

 from 1895 to 1899 the total net imports 

 of European countries were 12,012,500,- 

 000 feet board measure, Great Britain 

 leading with more than half and Ger- 

 many coming second with over one- 



