Canadian Forcstrij Journal, Fcbruarij, 1918 



1529 



The Fuel Merchant's Point of View 



How many difficulties face the 

 wood fuel merchant in any private 

 attempt to relieve the coal shortage 

 was interestingly outlined at the 

 "Wood Fuel Symposium" of the 

 Canadian Forestry Association, m 

 Montreal, February 7th, by Lt.-Col. 

 H. Jekyl of Montreal and Lachute, 

 an extensive wood fuel wholesaler. 



"Ordinarily, the demand for fuel 

 wood is small." remarked Col. Jekly. 

 "Last fall I contracted for a large 

 supply of fuel wood and found the 

 demand very little so that I was 

 obliged to dispose of much of it to the 

 chemical plants. Coal is much cheap- 

 ei, as prices now stand. We are 

 paying farmers as much as 38.50 a 

 cord deliveied to the railway siding. 



"Another factor is storage space 

 within the limits of a large city. 

 Space in Montreal is too precious for 

 storage of large quantities of wood 

 fuel. The fuel merchant can store 

 very much more coal in a given area. 

 At present the local yards are nearly 

 all full of cordwood. 



"If there were some guarantee to 

 take the wood off our hands should 

 the market fall, we would be glad to 

 make ample provision, but just now 

 we feel that as soon as the war ends 

 the market is sure to sink. 



"Cars for cordwood transport are 

 exceedingly hard to get. I have been 

 able to ship only two cars out of a 

 pile of 2000 cords and hence must 

 hold that wood over until next vear." 



EDUCATING THE FARMER 



Lt.-Col. Harkom, Melbourne, P.Q. 

 who followed Lt.Col. Jekyl, observed 

 that most of the wood for fuel came 

 from farmers' woodlots and the price 

 had gone up from four to eight dollars. 

 As many farmers gave only 96 cubic 

 feet of wood for a "cord " it brought 

 the price for a standard cord of 128 

 cubic feet up to $11. At the same 

 time, the farmer who could not do his 

 own cutting was obliged to pay three 

 dollars a cord to get his trees felled 

 and sawn. Col, Harkom took issue 

 with the common practice of cutting 



the woodlot clean, leaving the area 

 unproductive for perhaps one hund- 

 red years. "We are leaving to 

 posterity a big war debt and it is our 

 duty to leave them the means where- 

 by they can pay it." The farmers 

 ought to be educated so as to realize 

 the potential value of a flourishing 

 woodlot and take profits from it 

 without ruining the capital stock. 



LUMBERMEN CONCLUDE 

 AN ACTIVE YEAR 



The tenth Annual Meeting, of the 

 Canadian Lumbermen's Association 

 was held in Montreal on Tuesday, 

 February 5th and proved the most 

 successful in the history of that 

 active organization. The meetings 

 were largely attended as was fully 

 justified by the progressive reports of 

 the Presidenf, Secretary and Treas- 

 urer, and by the programme of new 

 work to which the Association com- 

 mitted itself for 1918. One project 

 which was received with hearty favor 

 was a formation of a War Service 

 Committee which will act in an ad- 

 visory capacity to the Dominion 

 Government, and will be competent 

 to furnish at a moment's notice 

 whatever may be asked for in regard 

 to the lumber manufacturing re- 

 sources of the country. Excellent 

 addresses were given by Mr. H. L 

 Thomas of Ottawa, on the "Ontario 

 Workmen's Compensation Act," and 

 by Mr Holt of Chicago on the 

 "Feeding of Men in the Lumber 

 Camp." The report of the secretary 

 Mr. Frank Hawkins, showed that 

 during the year the Association had 

 undertaken many constructive en- 

 terprises and had carried them 

 through to success. The session was 

 regarded by all present as constitut- 

 ing a red-letter day in the history of 

 the Canadian Lumbermen's Associa- 

 tion. The President for 1918 is Mr. 

 W. Gerard Power. 



On Tuesdav evening a bancpiet was 

 held at the Windsor Hotel, Mr. W. E. 

 Bigwood, the President, acting as 

 toastmaster. 



