1886 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, 1918 



away' as some people carelessly 

 remark. It is bought in the open 

 market and the price creejis higher 

 every year," 



Which is best; a Forest or a Farm? 



■'Let us ask you, in turn, a question: 

 Which is the most important leg of 

 a Ihree-legged stool? 



■"Dame Nature is a very wise 

 provider. When she made the Prov- 

 ince of Ontario she decided there 

 should be plenty of farm land, plenty 

 of lakes and rivers, plenty of beauti- 

 ful valleys and plenty of forests. 

 Dame Nature understood these 

 things far better than we do. She 

 first made eight or ten acres of stoney, 

 sandy, gravelly soil on which trees 

 alone could grow. Farm crops would 

 perish on such land. Then she made 

 to or three acres close by for farm 

 crops." "I hope," said she when the 

 job was finished, 'T hope that no 

 farmer will ever try to place his farm 

 on the timber-soil for I want that 

 soil to grow big trees to make big 

 lumber and pulp mills, and at the 

 same time I want the farmer to use 

 every acre that will grow wheat and 

 oats and barley and potatoes." 



But how can I tell these lands apart? 

 "That is a good question, because 

 there are no fences strung between 

 them and any boy or girl might 

 easily choose in error. Some of the 

 good farm land has trees growing on 

 it at present, and much of the timber- 

 land (set aside by Dame Nature so 

 carefully) has been stripped of trees 

 and now lies bare and useless. The 

 only way to make sure is to consult 

 the Provincial Government's experts, 

 the Agriculturists and the Foresters, 

 The trouble is that thousands of 

 families have already 'located' on 

 land that was made for growing 

 timber and will never produce good 

 crops of anything but timber. This 

 is a great misfortune because Ontario 

 has millions of splendid acres ready 

 for the farmer — ^acres that will make 

 plenty of money for their owners," 



How big were the Forests in my 

 ||p great grandfather's day? 



"That might easily be 120 years 

 ago. A long time for a human 



being, but a mere day's journey in 

 the life of a forest. Forests were 

 made to last forever. Trees are 

 born and grow big and die, but their 

 children keep the family going for- 

 ever. At least that is what Dame 

 Nature intended. Many European 

 nations keep repeating and repeating 

 their splendid forests for hundreds 

 of years. They are never allowed to 

 burn down or to grow poorer, pAxry 

 citizen takes pride in keeping them 

 strong and vigorous and the tree 

 cutting is carried on with utmost 

 care. 



"In great-grandfather's day, the 

 forests of Ontario were very much 

 greater than at present. Forest fires 

 have stripped millions of acres and 

 only in recent years have we grown 

 more careful of the precious timber. 

 Of course, in the old days people 

 thought the forests were so vast as 

 to be proof against destruction. How 

 absurd that was! Then, too, 120 

 years ago, a tree was not worth so 

 very much. They used to burn in 

 their fireplaces walnut logs that are 

 worth ?>500 each. No wonder that 

 a forest fire was counted a trifling 

 thing," 



How big are the Forests today? 



"You do not want a string of figures 

 do you? Suppose we put it this way: 

 'The forests of Ontario are great 

 enough., make the people prosperous 

 and happy, but not great enough to 

 survive any more destruction by 

 fire,' Does that make it ])lain? 

 Ontario does not own a single acre 

 of timberlands that can be spared 

 to the Fiend of Fire," 



What is a Fire Ranger? 

 "He is a public servant. His 

 dut3', unlike that of a policeman, is 

 not to arrest people. He seeks to 

 prevent fires rather than to act as a 

 fire fighter. He knows how simple it 

 is to stop a fire from starting and how 

 difTicult and dangerous to meet a 

 raging line of flames and prevent it 

 from spreading. While the fire 

 ranger must carry out w^hat the law 

 requires, he wants to help everyone, 

 not to hinder. That is why he is 



