1924 



Canadian Forcstrij JournaL Xorcmber, 1918 



field to meet the British, French and 

 Belgian demands for pit props, sleep- 

 ers and heavy timber, and believe 

 that Canada's sailing ships now under 

 construction will solve the transporta- 

 tion problem. They claim that we 

 must produce to meet European 

 requirements not according to our 

 own ideas, and failure to do this in 

 the past has been our greatest handi- 



cap in developing trade. South 

 Africa is another market for Canadian 

 timber. There can be no question 

 of the enormous requirements for 

 Britain, France and Belgium after 

 the war; the only question is whether 

 this trade can be captured for Canada. 

 Canadians here believe it can and 

 are preparing to make the attempt. 

 T. H. Blacklock. 



The New Birth of Forestry 



By Dr. Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor, Michigan 



Science of Forest Management Brought Into 

 Limelight by Wa'rs Exigencies — A Brief History 



Forestry is entering a new phase; 

 it is leaving the era of propaganda 

 and entering one of business. It is 

 leaving a period when a very small 

 number of good people, mostly not 

 owners of forest and without material 

 interest in forest — advocated the 

 practice of forestry, and they did 

 this at a time when billions of feet 

 of timber were without market value 

 and when millions of feet of timber 

 were, of necessity, unused and de- 

 caying in our woods, and when the 

 men in charge of public affairs, quite 

 generally, could see no use in any 

 special public efforts, and the owners 

 of timber were still finding it much 

 harder to sell than to buy. 



In Europe, forestry developed out 

 of necessity; it started in the days of 

 Charlemagne and took 1,000 years to 

 grow into a science, an art and a 

 business. Its entire development 

 came before the advent of the rail- 

 way; it came in a time when it was 

 impracticable to haul timber over- 

 land, even for a short distance of 

 20 miles, and when as early as the 

 year 1400 it was difTicult in some 

 localities to get building timber, 

 while not 100 miles away millions 

 of feet were without any market 

 value. 



In our country, forestry came, 

 ready made, from Europe. Its intro- 

 duction really came after the year 

 1870; it came long after the railway 

 had become a success and was rapidly 



extending over the land. In our 

 country it was not the village, town 

 and the State which was in danger of 

 real timber — and even fuel — famine 

 which saw itself driven to forestry by 

 necessity, but, as stated before, it 

 was a handful of far-seeing, well- 

 meaning people who had become ap- 

 prehensive and felt it their duty to 

 call attention to the rapid destruction 

 of the forest and the utter lack of 

 any effort at its replacement. 



France Since 1420. 



As early as 1420, France had a 

 state forest law of 76 articles and a 

 state forest organization. At that 

 time, even the written compilation of 

 village and town laws, including 

 forest laws of Central Europe, were 

 over 100 years old. All public 

 authorities, village, city and the 

 multitudinal forms of autocratic au- 

 thorities, by this time realized clearly 

 that the forest was entirely different 

 from the field; that timber and fuel 

 land and care and. a long period of 

 were necessities; that it require 

 time to grow timber; that it was 

 hopeless to leave it to individual 

 likes and dislikes, and that it was 

 necessary for public authority to 

 step in and use its authority and 

 exercise its providential functions. 

 The policies were promptly expressed 

 in law; and the laws were in keeping 

 with the times, simple and direct. 

 Clearing of forest was forbidden; 



