1034 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1917 





-f 



''Rapid Deterioration''; a Timelp Warning 



j 



♦ — " — '■• 



One of the important subjects en- 

 gaging the attention of the Advisory 

 Council for Scientific and Industrial 

 Research, recently appointed by the 

 Dominion Government is the pre- 

 servation of the forests of Eastern 

 Canada. "These, contrary to the 

 opinion which prevails generally, are 

 not inexhaustible," says an official 

 announcement of the Council: 



"They have already been seriously 

 depleted and are rapidly deteriorat- 

 ing in character. In most of the 

 leading countries of Europe the for- 

 ests, whether owned by the- Govern- 

 ment or by private interests, have, 

 by the application of modern scientific 

 knowledge, been immensely improved 

 in character, and instead of being 

 plundered and then abandoned, have 

 been converted into assets of enor- 

 mous national value, and which year 

 by year yield large revenues to the 

 Government, or to their private own- 

 ers, which are as regular and as con- 

 tinuous as those from any other gilt- 

 edged investment, the forest all the 

 time being maintained with its capital 

 unimpaired. 



"Different methods of forest man- 

 agement have been adopted in differ- 

 ent parts of Europe to secure this 

 splendid result. The Canadian for- 

 ests present special problems of their 

 own. The Council has recommended 

 that certain investigations be at once 

 carried out through the Forestry 

 Branch of the Department of the 

 Interior, to ascertain which of these 

 methods can best be applied to the 

 Canadian forests for the purpose of 

 stopping the destruction which now 

 threatens them, and making them a 

 great and permanent source of wealth 

 to the people of the Dominion. 



"As has been mentioned, other 

 important problems are now under 

 consideration by the Council, but 

 require further examination before 

 the Council is in a position to take 

 oction with reference to them. 



"This excellent work which will 

 all help in giving to Canada the 

 place which she should occupy in 

 the industrial world, should receive 

 the hearty support of the whole pub- 

 lic of the Dominion." 



+« — » — 



-«— .* 



Great Forest Development for Russia 



The development of the timber 

 business in Siberia and Eastern Rus- 

 sia is engaging the attention of the 

 Russian people. In a recent article 

 in The Economic World, of New 

 York, Samuel McRoberts, vice-presi- 

 dent of The National City Bank of 

 New York, in referring to Russia 

 timber supply, said: 



"Russia s forests have hardly been 

 touched, and comprise to-day the 

 great timber reserve of Europe, the 

 empire having practically all of the 

 surplus timber available outside of 

 Canada and the United States. She 

 exported in 1913 some $84,000,000 

 worth of timber products. 



"Europe must go to Russia for 

 timber when the inevitable rebuild- 

 ing program begins, and will afford 

 Russia a wonderful opportunity to 

 realize upon the latent wealth of her 

 forests. This will require an enor- 

 mous outlay of capital for the build- 

 ing of railroads, port facilities, steam- 

 ships, sawmills, pulp mills, and all 

 those things inciclental to the manu- 

 facture and transportation of timber 

 products. The development of Rus- 

 sia's railroads since the beginning of 

 the war has been at a standstill; and 

 even now they are inadequate in 

 her most developed territory. The 

 opening up of Turkestan and Siberia 



