1602 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1918 



very badly. People who talk glibly 

 about the housing question forget how 

 near the heart of that question this 

 matter lies. A dip into the literature 

 of the United States would show them 

 that it was the forest which solved 

 for the builders of that country the 

 problem of comfort and cheapness. 



When Peace Comes 



While the needs of peace will make 

 themselves gradually felt and in- 

 creasing prices will tend to provide 

 the required supplies, it is otherwise 

 with international disputes, and it is 

 against the sudden shock of these that 

 the statesman will have specially to 

 prepare. Whether they take the form 

 of war or of trade boycotts, it is 

 certain that the defensive strength of 

 this country will depend on its ability 

 to dispense with imports for a limited 

 period. We have at present three 

 million acres of wood, of which per- 



haps two million are or might be 

 coniferous forest worked on economic 

 lines. I cannot tackle the estimate 

 in detail. I can only state my belief 

 that if these two million acres were 

 made fully productive, the afforesta- 

 tion of another million and a half 

 acres would make us reasonably safe. 

 Possibly others here, who have de- 

 voted more study to the subject, will 

 agree in this conclusion. The cal- 

 culation is one which any one may 

 make for himself, imports being 

 reckoned in loads and a load represent- 

 ing pretty fairly the average annual 

 production of an acre of well-managed 

 coniferous wood. Whatever the pre- 

 cise amount to be afforested may be, 

 it constitutes a considerable change. 

 I may leave it to othes to discuss 

 today how it can be introduced with 

 the least possible disturbance into 

 the complicated structure of our 

 national life. 



Pine Blister a Mighty Menace 



Fire, waste, unskilful lumbering, 

 and, above all, the blister rust, 

 threaten to deprive Canada of one 

 of its greatest sources of wealth. 

 Prof. J.^H. Faull, of Toronto Forest 

 School, told an audience gathered un- 

 der the auspices of the Royal Cana- 

 dian Institute in Toronto recently. 

 While fire, waste and unscientific 

 lumbering have in the past done much 

 to lessen Canada's income from her 

 white pine forests, the speaker said, 

 the great menace of the present hour 

 is this comparatively new pest, the 

 blister rust, which was introduced into 

 America from Europe about twelve 

 years ago. Fortunately it requires 

 two hosts to complete tis growth, 

 and by the elimination of one of the 

 hosts the pest may be very effec- 

 tively combatted. 



The white pine blister and its 

 destructive consequences, oddly 

 enough, is the result of a strong 

 move for reforestration which swept 

 Canada and the United States a 

 little more than a decade ago. The 

 slogan of this movement was 

 "Plant white pine", which is the 



basic tree of the Canadian forests, 

 and the immediate result was that 

 the stocks of ssedlings in the hands 

 of American nurserymen were de- 

 pleted. Som3 years previous a re- 

 forestration movement had swept 

 through Europe, and large stocks 

 of white pine seedlings had been 

 imported from America. This blister 

 rust disease had always existed in 

 the Ural mountains, but its ravages 

 there were not serious. When white 

 pines were set out in Europe, how- 

 ever, the disease became very virulent 

 and attacked practically all the im- 

 ported stock. When, during the re- 

 forestration movement in Canada and 

 the United States, American stocks of 

 seedlings became depleted, the nur- 

 series sent buyers to Europe for 

 the purpose of securing enough young 

 trees to meet the demand in America. 

 The Europeans were shrewd enough 

 not to inform the buyers of the 

 ravages of the blister rust, and large 

 stocks of seedlings were imported 

 and distributed throughout the white 

 pine districts. The disease requires 

 about three years before it begins to 



