1706 Canadian Forestry Journal May, 1918 



Slacker Lands in War Times 



By J. A. Mitchell, U. S. Forest Service 



The great menace of fire unquestion- 

 ably is to the future of our limber 

 supply. In the pincy woods, par- 

 ticularly, repeated fires are fatal to 

 the establishment of reproduction: 

 while in the hardwoods the trees, 

 though not always killed, arc stunted 

 and deformed and laid open to fungus 

 and insect attack. As young growth 

 seldom has an immediate commercial 

 value, its loss is usually ignored — the 

 fact that a crop has been destroyed, 

 being overlooked. The loss in such 

 a case is as real as if merchantable 

 timber were destroyed — the destruc- 

 tion of a ten-year-old stand postpon- 

 ing under present conditions, the date 

 of a possible harvest from fifteen to 

 twenty years, if not indefinitely. At 

 the same time, the land burned over 

 has, to all intents and purposes, been 

 rendered unproductive for a corres- 

 ponding period. Herein lies the im- 

 portance of fire protection from an 

 economic standpoint, for no poten- 

 tially productive land should be al- 

 lowed to lie idle. The community 

 has a right to and will, sooner or 

 later, demand that it be producing 

 something. 



Ontario Fire Rangers 



Of the personnel of the Ontario 

 fire ranging force this year the Toron- 

 to "News" says: 



The force this year consists of 1200 

 men, about seventy-five per cent, of 

 those engaged coming from northern 

 Ontario, many of them being exper- 

 ienced woodsmen. The remaining 

 twenty-hve per cent, is composed 

 chiefly of returned ,soldiers. In the 

 last two or three years fewer stu- 

 dents have been engaged for this work 

 and this year none have been taken 

 on the stall. 



Last year a number of returned sol- 

 diers, suffering from shell shock, were 

 ])laced on the staff. They were 

 taken from hospitals where they were 

 being treated. The work in the 

 north was found very beneficial to 

 them, and this year an additional 



number has been engaged. No men 

 who have been exempted from mil- 

 itary service ur boys under military 

 age are being employed this year. 

 The department feels that if men of 

 those ages are fit for fire-ranging they 

 are fit for farming, too. Most of the 

 men are married or are over military 

 age. They range in age from thirty- 

 eight to hfty-five. It is necessary to 

 secure the men by April 15, otherwise 

 some of them would be aw^ay hunting. 

 This year the department is adding 

 further equipment to several of its 

 stations. Last year automobile 

 trucks were experimented with, and 

 they were found to be very satisfac- 

 tory, as it is possible for a truck to 

 carry twelve men with all equipment. 

 These trucks are stationed at such 

 places as Cochrane. This year five 

 more trucks have been added. 



FOR BETTER PRAIRIE HOMES 



"The demands that were made 

 during the year on the Mitchell 

 Nurseries at Coaldale, twelve miles 

 from Lethbridge, for trees, shrubs and 

 small fruit plants give evidence that 

 farmers' households are improving 

 their home surroundings and adding 

 to their material comfort. The men 

 folks on the farm are usually in- 

 different in such matters, and they 

 do not seem to appreciate the fact 

 that the money value of a farm is 

 greatly increased if the house and 

 buildings are surroujided with trees; 

 for so long as the human eye will 

 invitingly wander to a bluff of trees, 

 so long will an asset of this nature 

 have an actual money value; the 

 farm animals and poultry, too, ap- 

 preciate the shade. 



The womanfolks have too long 

 been contented with promises that 

 the trees will be planted "next year"; 

 but trees do not grow on promises, 

 although they always do well on 

 summerfallowed land. 



The bleak and uninviting appear- 

 ance of the country school houses 



