Canadian Forestry Journal, Januarij, 1917 



909 



order of predominance. The hi.i^h 

 percentage of spruce is due to its 

 prevalence in the northern interior 

 and plains region. 



60 Per Cent Waste Land 



Of the 250 million acres of land in 

 British Columbia, a very large per- 

 centage of it, 60 percent, is estimated 

 to be waste land from the standpoint 

 of agriculture or forestry due either 

 to its high altitude or to local site 

 conditions. Of the area which is 

 capable of producing forests, not 



over 8 percent, has any agricultural 

 value. Unfortunately, the forests on 

 a greater part of this forest land have 

 been destroyed by fire, only 35 percent 

 of the forest land carrying stands of 

 commercial value at present. These 

 forests reproduce well naturally, and 

 if protected from fire will supply 

 wood crops aggregating many times 

 the present cut of one billion feet 

 per annum. It is estimated that of 

 the species suitable for the manu- 

 acture of pulp this province can sup- 

 ply 250 million cords. 



THE CHRISTMAS TREE TRADE 



Is Government Regulation of Cutting Spruce and Balsam for 

 Decorative Purposes Practicable; the Children's Side 



Every year the Canadian Forestry 

 Journal is in receipt of many letters 

 from readers protesting against the 

 ruthless cutting of young spruce and 

 balsam trees for purposes of Christ- 

 mas decoration. The Association in 

 the past has taken objection to the 

 export of millions of these trees to 

 United States purchasers explaining 

 that the Canadian farmer, from whom 

 they were taken, was paid only a few 

 cents each and the country was often 

 a substantial loser in having so much 

 young growth destroyed. 



It is beyond doubt that the cutting 

 of Christmas trees becomes in some 

 cases an act of vandalism as was 

 recently reported from Hamilton 

 where hundreds of young spruces 

 from a semi-public park were cut 

 down and peddled about the city. 



That there is another side to the 

 story is suggested by the following 

 comments of Bristow Adams in "Am- 

 erican Forestry," and readers of the 

 Journal are invited to express an 

 opinion as to how any Government 

 regulation could lessen the waste of 

 evergreens each year for these decor- 

 ative uses, without clashing with an 

 undoubtedly vigorous public senti- 

 ment ready to resist the elimination 

 of the time-honored right to brighten 

 Christmas day with a festive tree. 



"Every year some one starts a cru- 



sade against the Christmas tree idea^ 

 and every year I wonder why they 

 do not do the same thing against the 

 Easter lily and the football-game 

 chrysanthemum. In Michigan there 

 is a nursery which grows Christmas 

 trees as a regular annual crop; in New 

 England the farmers cut hundreds of 

 thousands out of their fields for the 

 city boys and girls, some of whom 

 rarely get in any closer touch with 

 trees than they do in this holiday 

 season. Every year the dairy farm- 

 ers in the hill counties of New York 

 welcome the chance to get rid of the 

 spruces which work into their pas- 

 tures and use up space that might be 

 growing grass for the cows. The 

 more our family has thought about 

 the use of Christmas trees, the more 

 we have been in favor of them. 



"One person says, "let's all do 

 without Christmas trees; or, if we 

 must have them, let every one plant 

 two trees for the one that is used on 

 Christmas." Now that might be a 

 good idea in some few places. But 

 how about the many children who 

 live in tenements in the crowded parts 

 of the cities? Are they to go with- 

 out this one glimpse of greenness, 

 or attempt to make two trees grow 

 in a paved court-yard? Even in the 

 large and elegant apartment houses 

 the mighty janitor could not provide 



