14 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Jan.-Feh., 1912. 



ways showed little interest in this subject 

 they in this erred in common with all 

 other interests from the governments down 

 to the woodlot owner. 



Practically all accomplishments in for- 

 estry in the United States and Canada 

 have taken place in ten years and the 

 most important within the last five years. 

 Our forests are still far from safe, but 

 governments and individuals are now ac- 

 tive, and another ten years should remove 

 the fire menace. 



Tliere are various reasons why railways 

 have been too frequently the caiise of for- 

 est fires. No spark arrester has yet been 

 designed which will check all sparks and 

 yet give the locomotive free draft. Log- 

 ically all inflammable material should be 

 removed from the right of way, but this 

 is very difficult, especially in new rail- 

 ways through forests. The right of way 

 is too narrow for a safe fire belt even if 

 cleared to mineral soil. 



There is no reason for the belief that 

 railways deliberately permit fires to start. 

 They are the heaviest losers when forests 

 burn. They lose freight, and tourist trav- 

 el, and are beseiged with damage claims. 

 Under the impetus of the conservation 

 movement in the United States, the fed- 

 eral and state governments, the timber 

 owners and railways are now co-operating 

 to reduce this loss. 



The most effective methods are the re- 

 moval of debris from the right of way, 

 regular patrol, systematic reporting of 

 fires by train crews, trackmen, etc., the 

 use of oilburniug locomotives, the keeping 

 of ash-pans and spark-arresters in good 

 condition. The clearing of land adacent 

 to the right of way with a fire guard on 

 each side 200 feet from the tracks has 

 been very successful. 



During 1911 only one fire was reported 

 as having been caused by the Pennsylvania 

 Kailroad Company, and this was found to 

 have occurred beyond the range of sparks. 



Mr. Sterling closed by quoting the reso- 

 lutions of the Forest Fire Conference held 

 in Portland, Oregon, in December, 1911. 

 These recommended that all debris be 

 cleared from rights of way, a track 

 patrol both night and day during dry sea- 

 sons; increasing of efficiency of spark ar- 

 resters and the use of oil-burning locomo- 

 tives in forest districts where practicable; 

 that no ashes be dumped from trains in 

 motion; that the furnishing of men from 

 section crews to fight fires be expedited; 

 that fires be reported by train crews at 

 the first station passed; that there \-c co- 

 operation between governments and rail- 

 way's both in preventing and fighting 

 fires, and also in securing data as to con- 

 ditions and as to best methods of meeting 

 the problem in each locality. 



Prof. John Macoun suggested the use of 



brine as a preservative for wood, and Mr. 

 Sterling observed that one United States 

 railway company had some thousands of 

 ties in pickle in Great Salt Lake. 



Mr. G. C. Piche, Chief Forestry En- 

 gineer of the Quebec Department of 

 Lands and Forests, then spoke briefly. He 

 began by expressing the regret of Hon. J. 

 Allard, Minister of Lands and Forests of 

 Quebec, at his inability to be present at 

 the convention. Mr. Piche then touched 

 on different lines on which the province 

 was making progress in forestry matters. 

 In their province the re-organization of the 

 forest service had been followed by the 

 establishment of a forest school, and they 

 were now going on to further measures. 

 One of these was a combined forest and 

 water-power service. Progress had been 

 made in the creation of township forest 

 reserves, which now numbered eleven, 

 with a total area of 120,000 acres, and 

 which they hoped soon to extend. Eefor- 

 estation was also engaging their attention 

 and next s]iring they hoped to start that 

 work at Lachute and possibly at Berthier. 

 Eeduction of waste in methods of lumber- 

 ing was also engaging their attention. 



Mr. Ellwood Wilson urged the need for 

 the establishment of a school for forest 

 rangers, which would, in the course of a 

 few weeks, give pupils some elementary 

 notion of forestry along with matters in- 

 volved in their daily routine, such as the 

 management of canoes, etc. 



Mayor Hopewell, of Ottawa, and Mr. E. 

 D. Prettie, of the C. P. E. forestry depart- 

 ment, were also to have spoken, but were 

 detained. 



The session adjourned at 12.30 p.m. 

 Thursday Afternoon. 



The first business taken up at Thursday 

 afternoon's session was the report of the 

 nominating committee, which recommend- 

 ed the following as office-holders for the 

 year 1910-11:—' 



Patron — H.R.H. tlie Governor General. 

 Honorary President — Rt. Hon. R. L. Borden. 

 Honorary Past President — Rt. Hon. Sir Wil- 

 frid Laurier. 



President — .John Hendry, Esq., Vancouver. 

 Vice-President — Hon. W. A. Charlton, Toronto. 



Territorial Vice-Presidents. 



Ont. — Hon. W. H. Hearst. 

 Que. — Hon. Jules Allard. 

 N.B. — Hon. .J. K. Flemming. 

 N.S. — Hon. G. H. Murray. 

 Man. — Hon. R. P. Roblin. 

 r.E.L ::,;„. J. a. Matheson. 

 Sask. — His Honor G. W. Brown. 

 Alta. — Hon. A. L. Sifton. 

 B.C. — Hon. W. B. Ross. 

 Yukon — Geo. Black, Commissioner. 

 TV/ror-v^Ti^io — "P "n_ AVilson. 

 Keewatin — His Honor D. C. Cameron. 

 Ujigiiva — His Grace, Mgr. Bruehesi, Arcli- 

 bishop of Monti'eal. 



