100 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



their own limits. During the past season the average prices paid the 

 settler were $4 per cord for poplar, and $5.50 for spruce and balsam. 



In addition to the pulpwood there is a small trade in basswood 

 and poplar for excelsior, and cord wood, for fuel, to various Ontario 

 towns and cities, as well as a small quantity of tanbark, which is shipped 

 to factories at Acton, Toronto and Omemee. An example of close 

 utilization is seen in the shipment of fire-killed pine, with cull pine and 

 hemlock, to Toronto brickyards, from certain points along the Hali- 

 burton branch of the Grand Trunk railway. There are also a few 

 small cooperage plants at Marmora, Deer Lake, Glanmire and Kin- 

 mount, but elm, the species most largely used, is getting scarce. 



In the wake of the lumbering operations, fire has followed, so that 

 to-day over one-half (57.3 per cent) of the forested area is composed 

 of poplar stands, the majority of them 15 to 30 years old. These, with 

 the hardwood areas, which as yet have been but little exploited, con- 

 stitute the future source of wood supply in this region. The hardwoods 

 cover one-third of the total forested area. 



The future of the lumbering of the region lies mainly in the utiliza- 

 tion of the poplar and maple. Some of the lumbermen, when discussing 

 with them the possibilities of future industrial development, claimed 

 that the maple, owing to seam and black heart, is unprofitable. But 

 it must be borne in mind that the handling of hardwood is a proposition 

 of so different a nature from pine lumbering, that success cannot be 

 expected where it is treated as a minor adjunct to a softwood business. 

 Hardwoods as a whole are more defective, and the closest utilization 

 of every log, not of maple only but of all the species, for the particular 

 product for which it is best smted, is necessary to secure proper returns 

 in the hardwood business. The field for the development of local 

 minor wood-using industries, especially the manufacture of small 

 woodenware, has not, as yet, been developed, although waterpower is 

 available everywhere. 



The other species, poplar, now covering some 560,000 acres as a 

 result of past fires, will, in the coiu-se of 15 to 20 years be mature, 

 and ready for manufacture into pulp, matchwood, etc. It represents 

 a forest resource of great value, not only owing to the great quantity 

 in almost pure stands, but also on account of the favourable conditions 

 of transportation and water-power manufacture. 



Despite the deterioration during the last forty years in the character 

 of the forested area of the Trent watershed this region still possesses 

 much forest wealth — one worthy of conservation by progressive methods 

 of treatment. 



