Canadian Forcslrij Journal, April, 1917 



1047 



materials, the limilcd inroads of foreign timber, and the check furnished by 

 public forests. 



Too great a burden of timberland investments is thus the first cause of 

 instability in the lumber business. Excessive mill capacity, poor financing, 

 and low average efficiency in manufacture and merchandising add to its 

 weakness. The combined result is an ill-adjustment of lumi)cr production 

 to the requirements of its market. Competition in manufacture is not only 

 keen but often destructive. 



In the Northwest the "heavy load" of stumpage is at the bottom of the 

 situation. Mills have been constructed solely because timber owners can 

 no longer pay taxes and interest on their stumpage without income. In 

 other words, for one of the underlying causes of weakness we must go back 

 to the public land policy of the United States. 



Lumbering is perhaps the most "American" of our manufacturing in- 

 dustries. In its individualism, its encouragement of small independent busi- 

 ness units, its hearty competitoin, and the rugged, forceful qualities it has 

 derived — it expresses many National economic and social ideals. Its fail- 

 ings are those which go with this type of enterprise. 



One of the fundamental causes of the periodic overproduction of lumber 

 is lack of common understanding of the situation and of a general conception 

 of the effective wav to meet it. 



No Standard Practice For Slash 



Mr. R. D. Prettie, Superintendent 

 of Forestry for the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, Calgary, Alberta, speaking 

 of the problems of slash disposal in 

 a recent paper, said that the ques- 

 tions that would come to the mind 

 of any one reading a description 

 of a slash disposal operation would 

 be as follows: — 



1. Are >our conditions the same 

 as the writer's? 



2. Where is he logging? 



3. What is the extent of the opera- 

 tion? 



4. 

 try? 



5. 

 fire 



6. 



7. 



What is the nature of the coun- 



Is that countrv subject to great 

 risk? 

 What about the rain fall? 

 What are species of trees? 



8. Is the amount of slash ex- 

 cessive? 



9. Is there need of burning after 

 logging? 



10. W'hat burning has been done 

 to date? 



11. What is the cost and against 

 what account is it charged? 



12. How does burning compare 

 with contract lopping? 



13. Is broadcast burning recom- 

 mended? 



14. Is a universal law^ practicable? 

 The C.P.R. logging operations are 



on the Bull River in British Columbia, 

 the country is rough and the logging 

 is expensive. The fire risk in the 

 Crows' Nest and Boundary country 

 is probably as high as anywhere on 

 the continent. The rain fall is very 

 light, most of the precipitation being 

 in the form of snow. There are 

 periods of hot, dry winds that blow 

 continuously for days at a time. 



Fir, spruce, jack-pine, tamarack 

 and bull-pine occur in about the order 

 given. 



